Where Paulides loses me is at the idea of “fallen angels”. He doesn’t define this term, and seems to rely on the reader/listener to bring their IYKYK sensibilities to the discussion. As someone raised in the Episcopal, and later on, the Presbyterian (USA) church, I am well acquainted with the concept, but he is pretty much on the fundamentalist dog-whistle track with that.
But…to attach much credibility to the whole idea requires a belief in the inerrancy of scripture, especially Old Testament writings. I don’t have too much faith in the Bible being mostly more than an assemblage of allegorical oral traditions…selectively edited by those paying for the work (Looking at you, Emperor Constantine). How the whole idea of angelic transgressors is relevant to solving the problem is left unsaid. It smacks of superstition to me, and is a typically Western solution to explain anything outside of man’s rational experience. If we are relying on Jesus to explain Bigfoot to us at the Rapture, I for one find this less than satisfying.
Not wanting to move the discussion too far down this path, as faith is a very sensitive topic to delve into, but do any have opinions to help illuminate what exactly Paulides feels, and Carpenter felt, and how this is at all relevant or useful?