If you are a true believer, or maybe even a person with a lively imagination, it’s not that hard to think that the fires, floods, and videos of police brutality are god’s way of telling us that we have a fallen angel in our midst. All these disasters may seem like an exaggerated gesture to get our attention, but that’s the problem with fallen angels.
The problem, actually there is more than one, is that fallen angels are still angles and they look a lot like regular angels, or at least at first glance. It’s not that easy to tell the difference, especially for some Christians, or so it seems. There are signs: like when they hold the Bible upside down, but these rarely make people realize what’s going on. Also, fallen angels tend to hide behind their promises, even though the promises are actually lies.
There are different theories about fallen angels. The one I like is that their fall was not an accident. They didn’t simply slip off a cliff or something like that. They decided to fall. Why? That’s a good question. Could be rebellion. Maybe they felt they were not getting the attention they deserved. That would mean that the reason for their devious behavior is to get attention, which puts god in a kind of catch-22. If god pays attention, then they see that being devious works so they will be more vicious, but if god doesn’t pay attention, they think they have to be more vicious to get attention; like playing golf while thousands die of covid-19.
The problem is not just about getting attention. That problem easily morphs into a mood of resentment. Dealing with resentment is really tricky. The philosopher, Friedrich Nietzsche, wrote about it, but he thought it was the weak that resented the strong. The weak paraded their meek virtues as superior to the strong vices of the powerful. That’s not what we are facing here. Or is it? The person who sits in the most powerful office in the world resents and hates those who live in a different world than the one he cherishes. The intertwining of power, hate, resentment, and what we could call a kind of disgust, all make for senseless behavior, like a dog chasing its tail.
Maybe Nietzsche is right. We have a small man in a big suit. If so, he will never get enough attention to make it fit.
You would think that fallen angles were loners. You cannot really trust them. So, it’s a bit mind-boggling when one gets a large following. I suppose they bask in his resentment or rebellion. It’s like if god cannot deal with me, then no one else can either. Their cry for freedom easily covers a number of sins, especially the sins of injustice.
Maybe the problem is that fallen angels don’t have a real home. They don’t belong. One could have some sympathy for them, if they were honestly searching for a home. But then they would not be “fallen angles.”
If god had fingers, and I have seen paintings where he has, my guess is that he has them tightly crossed hoping that we will clear the White House and disinfect it from its particularly odious climate of injustice.