do we really have a good angel & a bad angel over our shoulders?

Question

i heard this from a priest when i was little, that, there are two angels over our shoulders whispering "do this" and "don't do that" before we do things. he said that those were "good" and "bad" angels? is this true?

Answer 1

Your priest was quoting from the apocryphal book The Sheppard of Hermas. This book was considered canon by many prominent catholic saints in the first centuries of the church, including Clement, Jerome, Francis, to name a few. Many prominent church fathers considered it divinely inspired and it's power over our consciousness is encapsulated by the two angels story. We see a good angel and a bad angel pop up everywhere, it's a powerful symbol in pop culture yet few know the original source of the story. It was rejected at the Nicene council because it said that spiritual fulfillment came from within and everyone had to find their own spiritual path. This contradicted the idea that the church and its rituals were essential to salvation. Those who say that the Nicene council picked scripture based on political agenda often point to this book, and quite rightly so. The passage is Hermas's Mandate 6 second part. here's the full book of Hermas, it's quite fascinating.
http://www.pseudepigrapha.com/LostBooks/hermas.htm

Oh and I'm an atheist, incidentally; and I've read all of the bible, the apocrypha, the pseudepigrapha, the koran, the vedas, and whatever else I can find; and I studied religion and theology in university for the fun of it while the kids were babies. So some of us atheists do know our bibles and biblical history, maybe more so that many who go to church every sunday.

Answer 2

BismiLLAHir Rahmanir Raheem

well in the teachings of Islam, there are no bad angels.
God created angels from light to follow everything HE commands to them without question, HE also created the jinn (created from a smokeless fire) and men (created from clay) and gave them the freewill to chose either to fol ow HIS commands or to follow their own personal desires and passions. Now the bad that whispers us bad things to do is plainly Satan, and Satan is not an angel, he is a jinn who disobeyed GOD and asks reprove by tempting humans to disobey GOD just like the way he did.

Answer 3

No we don't. Although angels do exist but they are only God's servants and messengers. It really depends on yourself to act... according to the wishes of your heart or of your mind. But whatever you do, always put God ahead and you will never go wrong.

Answer 4

U cannot prove it and u cannot disprove it. But defintly, before we do something bad or good, something prickles n tickles at the back of our minds.

I think it will be better if u just left questions like these un-answered.

Answer 5

no its not true - i'm sure he only told you that because you were little - but there are angels and demons that will try to influence you one way or the other - try to do the right thing

Answer 6

Allah swt purely is familiar with. yet i in my opinion wish this is the forged deeds. that are greater desirable than the bads. inshaALlah. and Allah swt is maximum merciful. so no remember how undesirable you think of you would be, constantly circulate returned to Him swt and repent, as many cases. with deep inetention of no longer wanting to do it returned. Wassalam.

Answer 7

In the literal sense? No. It's just you either listening to your conscience or not

Answer 8

No.

Angels don't exist. Like gods, they were invented to help control people.

Answer 9

yes like in the cartoons

Answer 10

Its called a metaphor.