Biblical Angels

Across various books of the Bible, the first interaction between an angel and a human is sometimes presented as a terrifying or shocking experience for the humans involved.  This is largely because of the potentially exotic, alien appearance and the abnormality of such a visitation instead of hostility shown by the angel to the human they reveal themself to; Biblical angels, despite having superhuman abilities, do not often threaten or kill humans.  Their appearance can nonetheless be far more difficult to describe than many Christians believe.  Ultimately, some Biblical angels share more similarities with the eldritch creatures of Lovecraftian cosmic horror than they do with mainstream artistic representations of angels.

Ezekiel 10, for example, describes two kinds of angelic beings, neither of which match the conventional, popular look of angels in much of Christian and secular art.  The standard depiction of an angel is just a portrayal of an often attractive man or woman with wings, which presents angels as mostly relatable creatures other than their role as divine messengers or warriors.  True Biblical angels look more like (compared to humans or other animals) bizarre extraterrestrials with a more explicitly supernatural presence.  Each category of angels in Ezekiel 10 affirms that, as is the case with hell, morality, and almost everything else, even the popular ideas about Christianity one would likely find in much of the church are thoroughly unbiblical.

What do these angels of Ezekiel 10 actually look like, though?  The more exotic type angelic entity is described as looking like a wheel intersecting a wheel that is covered with eyes (Ezekiel 10:10).  Unlike the cherubim, the wheels are not even humanoid, though the cherubim also have numerous eyes scattered around their frame.  The cherubim are said to have human-like hands, but also four faces, one being distinctly angelic, one being a human face, one being the face of a lion, and the other being the face of an eagle (10:14).  Although the cherubim and wheels scarcely resemble each other, one thing they have in common is an appearance that would shock and perhaps intimidate many people who hypothetically viewed them.

If a person saw such a being outside of a portrayal in entertainment, the experience might trigger an enormous existential crisis or make them terrified that at any moment, they might encounter the being again.  The outcome for many would probably not be very different from the consequences of seeing the alien entities of cosmic horror, which emphasizes foreign beings that transcend at least some human concerns and limitations: sheer terror, extreme confusion (though any rationalist who has thought about the logical possibility of such beings would not necessarily be confused to any extent, even if he or she was frightened), and a desire to revisit their worldview would likely be experienced.

The revelation of Lovecraftian extraterrestrials and the manifestation of Biblical angels in the scriptural texts ironically are more alike than some might think.  That many people assume that Biblical angels must resemble the conventional artistic look ascribed to them exemplifies how so many are willing to just assume the contents of a book like the Bible or Quran without actually reading it.  Some angels of the Bible appear as relatively humanoid, but not all of them.  Whether it is the Bible, Christian theology, science, or broader philosophy, the typical person is neither a rationalist nor willing to go any further than the shallow misconceptions embraced by a culture of imbecilic non-rationalists.  Christian angels are actually one of the more trivial aspects of theology/philosophy that this happens with and yet still exemplify it well.