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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To ask if you believe in angels

86 replies

Lovebendicks · 18/06/2011 07:28

Thought about this when reading another thread & just wondered what people thought. I do believe in angels but have never seen one.....

OP posts:
Lovecat · 18/06/2011 10:46

I think I do. I'm Catholic and I do believe in God and the Devil, so I would like to believe that they exist too. I find the idea rather comforting.

Now let me tell you DH's weird story and see what you think...:o

About 17 years ago, DH contracted NHL (non-hodgkins lymphoma), a particuarly nasty and pervasive variety that had spread to all his glands and was destroying his blood cells.

He was given 6 years to live as a top estimate - he could have chemo, it would go away for approx 3 years but would definitely come back, he could then have more chemo and perhaps get another 3 years, but then it would come back and by then the chemo would have destroyed his liver and kidneys so he couldn't have any more treatment.

As you can imagine, we were pretty devastated. We'd been married 3 years and trying to start a family (I was 28 at the time) and it felt like the end of everything. However, he embarked on the initial chemo to shrink the enormous tumour in his spleen and, while he was in recovery from that, his work had arranged for him to have an internet connection put in at home (it was all dial up back then) so that he could, if he felt up for it, work from home.

He looked up his condition and found that an American university had invented a radical new treatment for NHL, and were testing it in 3 sites worldwide - the university itself, Berlin, and St Barts in London. DH asked his doctor if he could be put forward for the program, he applied and was accepted.

The treatment went ahead, he was basically radioactive for 3 months, when he came home I had to move out (slept on a friend's sofa) and could only see him for 20 mins a day to begin with, he wasn't allowed near the elderly or the very young or ill, it was all a bit traumatic.

Before he went in for the treatment, despite being an aetheist all his life, he asked me to buy him a bible. I was actually quite pissed off with him at the time, despite being Catholic myself I kind of felt that he should stick to his principles and not 'cave' to Christianity purely because he was scared of dying. Which probably makes me a horrible Christian, I should have been pleased, but I wasn't... However, I got him the bible. In the meantime me, my mum, her church, my church and lots of other people were praying for him.

However.... and this is the weird bit....

Again, just before the treatment, he was home and I wasn't, there was a knock at the door. Two men were stood there, men he's never seen before or afterwards, dressed quite casually, nothing odd about them but (this is DH's account of what happened) they just emanated this sense of peace and reassurance. They said to him that they'd heard he'd been through some very hard times, and that there were hard times to come, but that they were here to tell him that everything was going to be all right. That he would be okay. And that he shouldn't worry about a thing, the power of prayer was a positive force for him.

He said (and he is not a superstitious or 'woo' kind of person in the slightest) that he instantly felt 'uplifted', warm and totally at peace. They left and he carried on feeling that way, right up until he was told he was in full remission, that all the cancer cells had been destroyed. Then he told me about it, because he'd felt embarrassed to do so before then.

(I, being a cynical moo, asked him if they were JW, but he said not (and to be fair they always come suited and booted) and they weren't selling anything either.)

Soooo... angels? Random blokes spreading goodwill? Hallucination? I don't know. But it makes me feel happy to think that someone might be watching over us.

Adagoo · 18/06/2011 10:47

Nope.
the real world is exciting and special enough for me.

LetThereBeRock · 18/06/2011 10:48

I'm always bemused when people credit angels/God/Jesus/Flying Spaghetti Monster etc with saving them from harm,finding their purse,a parking space or a win on the lottery. What's so special about them? Why them and not the others who lose a family member,lose their job,have an accident etc? Weren't they worthy of help?

Bearinthebigwoohouse · 18/06/2011 11:05

I do, it's probably one of the least off-the-wall things I believe in! You maybe aren't going to see one how we picture them Lovebendicks, but there are all sorts of ways of realising that they are around you. Have a google - there's all sorts of information out there.

CheerfulYank · 18/06/2011 11:08

That's lovely, lovecat . :)

onagar · 18/06/2011 11:08

When people speak of guardian angels presumably they are the ones that protect you? Yet as any priest will tell you, god cannot interfere with anything that happens without breaking his own rules.

It's an important part of religion as without that rule people would ask awkward questions like "if there's a god why did he let those people die" and stop giving money to the church

Believing in guardian angels (or thinking that prayers can be answered) is calling god a liar.

Bearinthebigwoohouse · 18/06/2011 11:13

I do believe that there are some things they just cannot influence because they are pre-destined.

nothingnatural · 18/06/2011 11:17

Lovely story Lovecat. Not sure it offers proof of angels but it is a lovely story, and how wonderful that your dh recovered.

izzywhizzyletsgetbusy · 18/06/2011 12:40

We are currently experiencing 'life' on the material plane. A lot of entities/beings who have never incarnated on this physical plane are attracted to us and take great interest in our doings.

'Angels' can appear in many guises and just because you haven't seen an immediately recognisable winged being, doesn't mean you haven't had an encounter with an 'angel' - or a 'devil' for that matter.

AgainWhen · 18/06/2011 13:01

no

hugeleyoutnumbered · 18/06/2011 13:15

i believe, its that simple

noblegiraffe · 18/06/2011 13:30

I think it's a bit of a shame that the amazing scientific research and brilliant doctors that helped Lovecat's DH along to recovery are eclipsed by a couple of guys who may or may not have turned up at the door.

letitlie · 18/06/2011 14:19

I believe, but everyone has their right to an opinion. I also believe in the white feather theory, and before anyone wants to ridicule me, I am not weak-minded, it is just a belief I hold.

izzywhizzyletsgetbusy · 18/06/2011 14:46

Where do you think 'amazing scientists' and 'brilliant doctors' get their inspiration from, noble?

Although in this life we perceive ourselves as 'separate individuals', we may each be part of a group of 'souls'* that, together, form a 'whole soul' (there's no words I can find to adequately describe what I'm trying to get across), and we may currently be living another life or lives simultaneously or with some overlap.

As Einstein's theory demonstrates, space and time are not separate and it may be that the 2 guys who turned up at the door were 'other soul entitites' of the scientists/doctors who treated Lovecat's dh.

I believe that all things are possible, and there is no limit to the extent of our imagination other than the restrictions that we, ourselves, place upon it.

*The use of the word 'soul' in this context does not equate to religious belief.

Lovecat · 18/06/2011 14:52

:o Noble, not at all. DH still goes for regular check-ups at Barts Oncology unit (of the many people who tested the treatment he's only 1 of 2 still living :() and the people there are all amazing, we are forever grateful to them.

That was kind of just the background to the random blokes appearing story and the really odd sense of warmth, peace and reassurance he got from them telling him it was going to be okay. They didn't know him from Adam, they weren't promoting a church or religion, he's never seen them again. It was just a bit odd, that's all, and he's a very rational, logical man, but he felt something there.

LetThereBeRock · 18/06/2011 15:34

Izzy,step away from the mushrooms.

LetThereBeRock · 18/06/2011 15:35

Where's SGB? I thought she'd have been here by now.

izzywhizzyletsgetbusy · 18/06/2011 15:41

Too late LetThereBeRock, but I've left the doors of perception open for you, and any others who care to follow.

LilQueenie · 18/06/2011 15:41

yes I do. What I dont believe in is adults laughing and poking fun at others for thier beliefs. Grow up.

LetThereBeRock · 18/06/2011 15:45

I don't have to respect anyone's beliefs,only their right to hold them. I'm not going to say anything about anyone who gets some comfort from the thought that XYZ is a sign that their loved one is watching over them, even if I don't share their belief, which is why I avoided the life after death thread and others like it,as much as it pains me to do so,but anything else is fair game imho.

noblegiraffe · 18/06/2011 15:57

Where do I think amazing scientists and brilliant doctors get their inspiration from?

From a lot of bloody hard work, a lot of studying and a lot of thought about the subject.

Do you think that all clever ideas and insights are attributable to supernatural forces?

noblegiraffe · 18/06/2011 16:02

Lovecat, I'm glad your husband got the reassurance he needed. Is it possible that it was a dream?

My mum says that once when she was younger, her flat was on fire and she says that she was woken by the sound of her mum telling her to get up and she escaped the fire. She was in London and her mum was in another country.

I think this was her brain subconsciously registering that something was wrong, and communicating this to her conscious brain in a way that would get her attention.

I expect if her mother had been dead, people would have attributed this to her mother being an angel looking out for her.

mamalovesmojitos · 18/06/2011 16:04

No.

izzywhizzyletsgetbusy · 18/06/2011 17:22

"Do you think that all clever ideas and insights are attributable to supernatural forces?"

Not at all, Noble, but then I don't believe in the supernatural, nor do I believe that anyone who is prepared to put in a lot of bloody hard work, a lot of studying and a lot of thought about the subject will necessarily become an amazing scientist or a brilliant doctor.

noblegiraffe · 18/06/2011 18:08

But izzy, it seems you do believe in the supernatural. The material world is the natural world. You say you believe in beings that have never incarnated in this physical plane. That makes them supernatural (beyond nature).

No, obviously hard work and studying and thought are not enough to make a brilliant doctor. It takes talent too.