MovieChat Forums > Michael (1996) Discussion > NOT to be confused with REAL angels!

NOT to be confused with REAL angels!

posted 18 years ago by jimor
86 replies | jump to latest

"Michael" is the name in the Bible for the Arch-angel (chief of all angels), who is today the spirit person who was known as Jesus when he was upon earth. The name means in the original Hebrew "Who is like God?" Well, the Archangel is like God the Almighty, being His only begotten Son. Therefore nowhere in this comedy is there any intention to reflect Godly qualities! Anyone unfamiliar with the Bible might get the false impression that angels are brash, crude, beer guzzlers with turkey feathers bleached white to serve as wings. They might also think that it says somewhere in the Bible that an angel can only materialize "26 times" as they have Travolta saying in this film. Nothing could be further from the truth. As one Commenter says: "the film is somewhat irreverant;" that is a vast understatement. Nothing about the angel supposedly depicted here should be taken as literally as truth. The writing betrays that they neither knew the Bible well, nor cared about it.

If one wants the truth about angels, consult this article as well as an accurately translated Bible: http://www.watchtower.org/library/w/1995/11/1/the_truth_about_angels.htm
If you have little familiarity with real Christianity, there is no substitute for going to the source. The movie "Michael" may be amusing, but amusement need have little to do with truth, as in this case.

[–] JaxArcher 18 years ago

Thanx for clearing that up buddy ;P

**Don't take life too seriously, you'll never get out alive**

[–] 18 years ago

[deleted]

[–] MoWilly 18 years ago

Of course! How could I be so foolish? and I thought it was just a fantastical movie.

[–] barky_04 18 years ago

obviously this is just joho trash.... Jesus of Nazareth was not the angel Michael, according to Chistian thought. If he was than all christians would be idoltorous, thus self condemning themselves to hell.....PWN3D

[–] s4088035 18 years ago

"the truth about angels." You're such a dick, jimor. way to do your Christian duty by telling people not to think angels are alcoholic. Oy, ve.

[–] rizdek 18 years ago

so, jimor, did you like it or not?

[–] mgkhantra 18 years ago

""Michael" is the name in the Bible for the Arch-angel (chief of all angels), who is today the spirit person who was known as Jesus when he was upon earth"

Jimor I hope u know ur really stupid to have made this comment, Michael and Jesus are not the same at all that is a very wrong statement u made. Jehovas witness believe them to be the same so if ur Jehovas Witness then I can understand especially because they dont believe in Jesus as the son of God but if u arent then u are stupid

[–] duenne 18 years ago

JESUS CHRIST is NOT an angel! He is the only begotten Son of God. The angels bow before Him.
I do agree that the portayal of the angel, Michael offends me as a Christian. His behavior is not that of a Heavenly angel.

[–] Slmanson301 18 years ago

First, Christ was not the Son of God. Christ was God in human form. God chose to become human in order to experience humanity, presupposing one is a believer, or has read anything remotely scholarly on the subject. And the entire business is a mystery, and meant to be one. Second, how do we know how angels behave? According to some scholars, they've been engaged in war with each other for centuries. Third, did anyone notice that this was a "Brought to You By Hollywood," and intended to entertain and make money movie? Whatever value or nonvalue anyone took, or did not take, from the thing, it was meant to be about small miracles, and the sometimes orchestrated events that bring people together despite their best efforts to remain isolated. It's nothing to do with "real" angels, or who God is or is not. It's a little, bittersweet movie with both comical and touching moments. Even in its weakest moments, the music and the dog carried the movie quite well. If you want to watch films about angels and God, avoid commercial films. They are, generally speaking, neither about reality, nor are they about God, presuming that He is a reality. They're commercial products meant to sell to mass audiences. Brother.

[–] XfeedXyourXheadX 17 years ago

You are partially right. Christ is in fact, God's Son. He did also come to Earth as God in human form.

"Man who catch fly with chopsticks accomplish anything," RIP, Pat Morita.

[–] kittencatt7 13 years ago

There is only one problem with your assertion that "Christ was God in human form" and that "Christ was not the Son of God." If Christ wasn't the son of God, then pray tell, WHO was Christ speaking to during his crucifiction when he said "Father, forgive thme for they know not what they do." Luke 23: 34.

And why do the Catholics, when making the stations of the cross say "The Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost." That, to my way of thinking means that there are three, not one single, or even two different spirits.

Finally, if Christ was God, then tell me, when Christ prayed, and I am certain he did this, who did he pray to? One does not normally pray to one's self and there is a big difference between praying and talking to one's self.

For the record, I am not religious but last time I checked, a father can not be his own son, nor can a son be his own father (but given modern technology, who knows... that may be the next medical miracle).

Just a few of my thoughts and observations.

[–] Royalcourtier 11 years ago

If Lucifer is a fallen angel, then some angels at least engage in worse than bad behaviour! But remember angels have free will, so they can misbehave. However Archangel Michael would presumably be better behaved!

[–] Doc_Holiday_Muses 17 years ago

Of course the poster is a JW. Look at the "watchtower" link they give. Haven't you ever had one of them shove those magazines down your throat?

I sleep now

[–] spencerthetracy 8 years ago

All cults always attack Jesus as the Son of God or God Himself. They hate the very idea that Jesus sits at the right hand of God. They believe that Jesus is the spirit brother of Lucifer (Satan) if you can believe it.

Kay: Senators and presidents don't have men killed.
Michael: Oh, who's being naive, Kay?

[–] scotlion 17 years ago

the link he gives has in it watchtower. watchtower is a key term used by JW

btw ALSO not christian.

[–] hoerner63 18 years ago

You're an idiot.

[–] dr foo 18 years ago

Great comment! You should go through every movie here (let me suggest alphabetical order) and tell someone they're an idiot. I'll bet you wouldn't be wrong more than half the time anyway.

[–] skylark_King-1 17 years ago

More than half the time from what I've read on these boards!

[–] the_phoenyx 18 years ago

I'm sorry to tell you all this. But the bible is nothing more than a made up story. Just like Lord of the rings, Star Wars, or any of the other great fantasy stories out there. The only difference is that the bible wasn't written for entertainment. It was written as a way to keep people in line. Now I know alot of you will dissagree with me. But, if anyone on this planet has any, and I mean ANY proof that I'm wrong. Bring it forward, as you will be the first person in history to do so. And I don't mean some BS story you heard about, or something that only you can see.

OK, now that I have that out of the way. Who cares if Micheal differs from what is said in the bible. This is a movie, it's meant to be fun and enjoyable. Not to preach the lies of the bible. So just sit back and enjoy the show.

[–] fee_tambo 17 years ago

well said.

[–] XfeedXyourXheadX 17 years ago

How dare you? Even non-believers believe that Jesus existed. Christians believe that Jesus Christ was God's only Son (read John 3:16). The point of being a Christian is not to prove that Christ is God's Son. If that was the case, the whole world would already be convinced. No; The point is faith. What is faith? It goes a lot deeper than looking it up in some piece of Merriam-Webster crap. Faith is basically believing in something whether it is concrete or abstract. As a Christian I choose to believe in not only God, but His Son as well.

I don't have a freaking Ph.D in this, because it's not required to be a Christian. The first few words in the Bible (Yes, it's capitalized) are, "In the beginning God..." That isn't the complete verse, but contrary to most verses, context doesn't matter in this. God was there in the beginning. He never started, and He'll never ever end. That is what Christianity is all about my friend.

God's Word is not just a set of rules. It's the Truth. And I don't mean what I am about to write as an insult, but as the plain truth.

If you refuse to accept any of this, and continue to ignore God and His awesome power, you can burn in Hell.

(If that last word got bleeped out, it is H*ll.)

"Man who catch fly with chopsticks accomplish anything," RIP, Pat Morita.

[–] willjohn 9 years ago

The fiery Hell was an invention of Greek Pagans.

[–] Pantstrovich 7 years ago

The fire, brimstone and gnashing of teeth version of the concept of Hell was an awfully boring one.

I like Dante's version better.

However, I don't think the ancient Greeks had anything as boring as Prodestant Hell either.

They had Tarturus, which was described as a dark place to imprision and torture those who threatened the gods.

Before Catholicism (and a bunch of stuff that led up to it), Virgil (Roman dude) described Tartarus as "a gigantic place, surrounded by the flaming river Phlegethon and triple walls to prevent sinners from escaping from it. It is guarded by a hydra with fifty black gaping jaws, which sits at a screeching gate protected by columns of solid adamantine, a substance akin to diamond – so hard that nothing will cut through it. Inside, there is a castle with wide walls, and a tall iron turret. Tisiphone, one of the Erinyes who represents revenge, stands guard sleepless at the top of this turret lashing a whip. There is a pit inside which is said to extend down into the earth twice as far as the distance from the lands of the living to Olympus. At the bottom of this pit lie the Titans, the twin sons of Aloeus, and many other sinners. Still more sinners are contained inside Tartarus, with punishments similar to those of Greek myth."

(Wikipedia, because I'm too tired to find something more legitimate to quote from.)

So when the Romans started blending their stolen Greek hodge-podge with their new religions (which would eventually lead into Catholicism), they added some bits of Tartarus into some of their new holy scripts, but they called it Tartaroo (because copyright? lol), which was now where fallen angels go.

Somewhere in there was also Judiasm, which had a sort of purgatory based on this, called Gehenna.

Later, Christians took Gehenna and turned it into boring fiery Hell, and like to say "gnashing of teeth a lot." :p

There was a lot of blending and bending over time. It gets confusing.

I'm also tired, as I mentioned, and may have made some mistakes.

(Not going to argue with anyone about any of this being real. I'm only interested in this stuff from an academic point of view. Argue amongst yourselves with that and leave me out of it; thank you.)

[–] scotlion 17 years ago

ANY proof. I shall take you bait and bluff ;-) but in all honesty if you want logical, hhistorical proof as well if you consider yourself truly intellectual and open minded... I suggest reading Joch Mcdowell's 'evidence that demands a verdict' Mcdowell wrote it while trying to dispriove christianity and in his research became a christian as well as did Lee Strobel) or his 'more than a carpenter' and Anything by the philosopher Francis Schaeffer. I suggest starting with Schaffer's 'the God who is there' and "he is there and he is not silent'

but to the person who said people can go to hell..that is for God to decide. either way I pray God blesses you and you live in peace.

adieu

[–] skrall-991-949327 10 years ago

It always amazes me...amazingly...that people think they know how God works. From jimor to the_phoenyx. You want "proof". Youw ant to stick your finger in the wounds of the zombie Jesus.

Let me ask you this...if you were "God"...this supremely powerful being...would you make yourself obvious? Or would you make yourself a mystery? A journey? I think I;d do it just to be amused by people such as yourself. People who think they know it all. People who mock and ridicule other people for their beliefs, but have as little idea (proof) as those they mock. Hypocrites.

I'm not saying The Bible has it perfectly right. Man is imperfect, and I think religions MAY have screwed things up along the way. But, it does not mean "God" does not exist. Seven "days" of creation might mean 7 eons. A god "day" might mean millennia. This "lifetime" of ours might be a blink of an eye.

If you don't find something, the chances are just as great that you aren't looking in the right place as that it doesn't exist.

But hey....I do want to thank you for sharing your awesome knowledge of the universe. You just know everything! Amazing! Thanks.

[–] thomas-simpson-1 18 years ago

Actually archangels are the second choir of angels just abover guardians, your possibly thinking of seraphims, they being the ninth and highest choir of angels.

dont use the zed word!

[–] mgkhantra 18 years ago

Christ was the sone of God and he was God too, THe holy Trinity. and angels dont fight eachother unless u refer to them as fighting Fallen angels then yes. and the bible is not made up it has history that has been proven to of actually happened. And the body of Saint Peter who was one of Jesus's apostles

[–] AbsintheSinner 17 years ago

and the bible is not made up it has history that has been proven to of actually happened.

If I tell you a story that I was partying a few months ago in Hollywood and I ran into Lindsay Lohan and convinced her to take a few shots with me and claimed that was why she's in rehab, are you going to believe that too? You can look up the facts of the case and see that Lohan was in Hollywood and she was drinking and she's in rehab, but part of the story having actual people or taking place in real locations doesn't make the whole story about me being there with her and causing it true. People claim the bible is true because they've found that there were real historical figures with names talked about in the bible or because some of the cities mentioned have been found. That doesn't mean that the PARABLE described there actually happened.

Most films made today refer to some real people or places, but that doesn't mean that in two thousand years, historians should look back and say "well because Houston TX was a real place and NASA was a real organization, then all of the events described in the film 'Armageddon' MUST have actually happened".

When you learned in school that Heinrich Schliemann had discovered the ancient city of Troy, did you automatically believe that every one of the events in The Iliad must be true, simply because the story referred to a real city that had been sacked? Theseus seems to have been the actual name of an Athenian political figure, so should we believe that means he must have really slain a minotaur, just because he existed? No, but you believe the events in the bible really happened for that same reason because you want to.

The bible is a fictional story, set in contemporary locations, with parables intended to convey a significant meaning or lesson or moral, not unlike Aesop's Fables. It was never intended to be regarded as an historically accurate book detailing real events. Jesus may or may not have existed, Moses may or may not have existed, or Abraham or the Magdalene or Noah or anyone else who played a significant role, but whether or not they existed isn't important, it's what you learn from the stories told about them that matters. "Love thy neighbor" is an important lesson whether is comes from an historical Jesus or an allegorical Jesus. The story of Adam and Eve is representative of beginnings and is supposed to convey the importance of god's love or whatever, it does not mean you're supposed to belive that every human on the planet is truly descended from only two people, nor that women are realy made out of tasty ribs. Noah's plight is symbolic of the dangers of hedonistic excess, only a simpleton would truly believe that two of every animal that every existed fit one one boat.

If the bible is only important to you because you interpret it as literal truth, or it's more significant if the events really happened, then you are taking the wrongs things from it.

[–] reborn_raptor 15 years ago

That is thought-provoking indeed. Thank you for your thoughts.(NOT meant to be passive-agressive, I like it when a new way of thinking about ordinary things is discussed.)

[–] Benicky 12 years ago

the bible, creation vs science evolution

They both have completely unexplainable things.

to believe in religion you need to have blind faith
Evolution has and ever expanding infinite universe.
How can something that is infinite get bigger?

Point is people have believed stories from both sides forever
Even though they are from all over the planet they all have some version
of the basic same story.

What do I think?
I have no problem not knowing the answer

If there was a god and he could make a baseball, could he make a real old one?

To everyone bashing the original poster. He was just making a point based on his beliefs and was trying to help. people just can not take things or opinions without attacking one another anymore and that is why we don't have to worry about global warming. We will never make it long enough to matter.

[–] eeoulo 12 years ago

AbsintheSinner, this is so well said on every level!!

It's nice that the Bible, and other religious writings, have been a positive influence on so many peoples lives. I've been touched and guided by many great literary and theatrical works as well.

[–] jimor 18 years ago

I'm sure Mr. Simpson is trying to be helpful, but he is misinformed as to Angels in the Bible. True, the churches of Christendom may well subscribe to fiction that passes as their tradition, as in their positing various "choirs" of angels, such as "guardians," but nowhere in the Bible are any "nine" choirs of Angels listed. The two words translated 'Angel' in the Bible (Hebrew 'mal'akh', and Koine Greek 'aggelos') both mean 'messenger' and such is often the duty of Angels in general. In addition to this classification, there are only two other classes mentioned: Seraphim, and Cherubs.

The term 'Archangel' is best characterized in Jude 9, where the primacy of this, the spirit form of God's only-begotten Son is made clear. Sometimes the wording of Dan. 10:23 is misconstrued to imply that there are many 'archangels', but 1Thess. 4:13 clarifies this when it speaks in reference to Jesus Christ, and there was only one Jesus Christ, of course. The term 'archangel' is never found in the plural.

[–] horatiohornblower 18 years ago

Youre lost....saying that Jesus and Micheal are the same is "Angel Worship" and it IS referred to in the bible, namely when Michael appears and as he is being praised states plainly "Do NOT worship me, I am merely another of His servents."

[–] jimor 18 years ago

It would be inappropriate and unfair to this movies web site to continue a religious discussion here, especially on so complicated a topic. Anyone seriously interested in why I refer correctly to Jesus as now being Michael, may privately E-mail me by clicking on my name and being thus taken to my address. Make sure your subject line says something like 'Jesus is Michael' or it will not be opened. Note that I am not interested in debates; only those who honestly want to know. This is the last I will say on this topic here.

[–] mgkhantra 18 years ago

Jesus is not Michael get ur theology correct even well educated scholars on theology even athiestic ones can tell u that ur wrong

[–] sayam_f 18 years ago

mgkhantra, jimor has every right to see the bible the way he do, there's nobody who can tell you how the bible is supposed to be seen. The jews, chatolics protestans, muslims (not really christianity, but more or less the same concept)
and in this case wich I believe is jehovah's witnesses.
everybody of those factions are 100% sure of how they see the bible/koran (in the muslims case) is the truth, so who has the authority to say wich way is the right way.

[–] 18 years ago

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[–] 18 years ago

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