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My understanding is that archangel Lucifer was cast out of Heaven was because he refused to accept the humans and that was a sin in God's eyes. This tells us that angels can be bad.

From what I'm told, humans can commit no sin that God will not eventually forgive. He sees all sins equally. When a human doesn't seek forgiveness, that human's soul goes to Hell. In Hell, the soul is tortured, tormented and corrupted. It eventually becomes a demon.

So a demon is eventually a human soul and thus, God can still forgive the human if it takes a path of redemption.

But the question is, would God forgive a demon and allow it entrance into Heaven?

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  • Yahoo Answers has a similiar question: If Angels can fall from God can Demons rise to heaven?
    – Rodia
    Commented May 12, 2018 at 20:17
  • 4
    "It eventually becomes a demon." Do you have a source for this?
    – yannis
    Commented May 14, 2018 at 11:52
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    Perhaps this should be on Christianity.SE; there are certainly differing opinions. Commented May 17, 2018 at 9:09
  • 1
    @TimLymington We try to tread lightly when talking about Christian mythology because not all adherents appreciate this conception or approach.
    – DukeZhou
    Commented May 17, 2018 at 16:07
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    AFAIK, humans are not gone to hell until the last judgement. This makes paragraphes 2 and 3 false. Indeed, if paragraph 3 is false, question acquires another meaning. And, well, christianity does not even give an answer where did the angels come from, as well as demons.
    – rus9384
    Commented Jun 27, 2018 at 22:09

5 Answers 5

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If an angel can fall, can a demon rise?

According to most Christian teaching and traditions, the short answer is no.

Your question however does pose certain interesting perplexities to say the least.

First of all, I would like to make it clear that the Gospels do mention that there is such a thing as an unpardonable sin that man can commit.

The unpardonable/unforgivable sin or “blasphemy of the Holy Spirit” is mentioned in Mark 3:22–30 and Matthew 12:22–32. Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, people can be forgiven all their sins and every slander they utter” (Mark 3:28), but then He gives one exception: “Whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; they are guilty of an eternal sin” (verse 29). - What is the unpardonable sin / unforgivable sin?

Most theologians believe that the unpardonable sin the refusal of God's mercy and forgiveness and thus the individual condemns itself to hell of the damned because it refuses to be pardoned by god for it's sins. Thus the soul in hell becomes damned (not a demon) in hell who shares the company of Satan and all his demons for all eternity.

In Roman Catholic teaching there are six sins that blaspheme against the Holy Spirit. They are: 1. Despair (believing that one's evil is beyond God's forgiveness); 2. Presumption (glory without merit, that is, hope of salvation without keeping the Commandments, or expectation of pardon for sin without repentance); 3. Envying the goodness of another (sadness or repining at another's growth in virtue and perfection); 4. Obstinacy in sin (willful persisting in wickedness, and running on from sin to sin, after sufficient instructions and admonition); 5. Final impenitence (to die without either confession or contrition for our sins), and 6. Impugning the known truth (to argue against known points of faith, and this includes misrepresenting parts or all of the Christian faith to make it seem undesirable). - Eternal sin (Wikipedia)

For most denomination, the souls of men in hell are there for eternity and are known as the damned, not demons. The one notable exception is in Mormonism.

The other sense in which Mormons sometimes use the word "hell" is as a reference to what they call Outer Darkness, which is reserved for Satan and his spiritual minions, together with a few human beings that qualify as "sons of perdition."

Although this would be close to the classical conception of Hell, the Mormon belief is that very few will go there, for the bar to be sent there is quite high. One must have a sure knowledge (beyond faith) that Jesus is the Christ, and then reject him anyway in the face of such a knowledge. This is Judas Iscariot territory and really beyond the capacity of the average person to achieve.

Mormons also believe that just because you're dead doesn't mean the game is over. They take seriously the Descensus (mentioned in the Apostle's Creed), and believe that Jesus descended into the Spirit World during the three days that his body lay in the tomb to initiate the preaching of the Gospel to the spirits there, and organized this postmortem evangelization so that it continues even today. So even those who never had an opportunity to hear the Gospel will have such a chance in the next life.

Further, Mormons believe that there are certain necessary, salvific ordinances (what other Christians would call "sacraments"), that one must receive to achieve the Celestial (or highest) Kingdom. That is why Mormons perform these sacraments vicariously for the dead in their temples.

So, for instance, if a deceased person is baptized for the dead, that doesn't mean that person is considered a member of the Church or a Mormon; it simply means that the sacrament has been performed on his or her behalf and he or she has the option to accept it, but also the freedom of will to reject it.

So Bell's formulation that "everyone will have a place in heaven, whatever that turns out to be" is one that resonates with me, and I think he's on the right path.

I don't believe that a just God would subject people to eternal physical torment for ever and ever, especially when in many cases people simply did not have an opportunity to learn of the Gospel in this life through no fault of their own. - Mormon Damnation

Although Mormon theology allows for a soul in hell to be saved and eventually taken up into heaven, it should be noted that the Church of Latter Day Saints is not recognized as a Christian denomination by many other Christian communities.

In most Christian Churches, the term demon signifies a devil such as Lucifer, Satan, Beelzebub, Zebulun, Meridian or Asmodeus as well as all the other evil spirits in hell who are damned for eternity for their sins.

But then there is Origen!

Did Origen believe in the salvation of the devil? He clearly believed that all rational souls were able to be saved (Contra Celsum 4.99) and this would, on Origen's view of the nature of demonic forces, have included the devil and his demons. So the accusation was stirred up that he taught the salvation of demons. But, in a letter to his friends in Alexandria he explicitly denied that he thought the devil and his demons would be saved. So did he or didn't he? Tricky.

Perhaps the following passage explains how he could maintain both positions:

"For the destruction of the last enemy must be understood in this way, not that its substance which was made by God shall perish, but that the hostile purpose and will which proceeded, not from God but from itself, will come to an end. It will be destroyed, therefore, not in the sense of ceasing to exist, but of being no longer an enemy and no longer death. For to the Almighty nothing is impossible, nor is anything beyond the reach of cure by its maker.” Peri Archon 3.6.5 - Origen on the Salvation of the Devil

An interesting storyline: The YouTube movie, Dark Angel The Ascent Full Moon has the basic story line of a demon raising to earth in order to try to do good! Movies never lie!

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In the Chrisian scope of affairs, if you don't deem Origen to be a "heretic" - yes- :

transcription below

Origen was the author of the most effective argument against the punishing terror of God's wrath as recounted in St. John's Apocalypse. With his doctrine of 'Apokatastasis Panton', the resurrection of all beings (a quote from St. Peter in Acts 3:21), he integrates the conditions of spirituality, i.e. the primordial creation and the goodness of all beings, into the course of world time. Thus the world's end in terror is transformed into a concept of eternity in which earthly time participates. This eternal time appears as a recurrence of all beings; hence the whole world's history becomes a cyclical return of cosmic periods.8 St. Jerome described Origen's doctrine as follows:
"Origen not only presupposed a connection from beginning to end but also from end to beginning. From the end emerged a beginning and from the beginning an end. This as things change, so that the one who is now man can become a demon in another world; the one who is a demon could, if he behaves negligently, be bound to a more dense body so that he becomes a man. This an archangel can become a devil and a devil an archangel again."9

Schmidt-Biggemann, Wilhelm. 2011. Philosophia perennis: historical outlines of Western spirituality in ancient, medieval and early modern thought. Dordrecht: Springer.

According to Plutarch, whether cacodaimones (willing evil) of agathodaimones (willing good) - yes:

  1. Better, therefore, is the view of those who take the stories about typhoon, Osiris and Isis to be the experiences neither of gods nor of men, but of great daemons. These are said by Plato, Pythagoras, Xenocrates and Chrysippus, following the early theologians, to be stronger than men and in power to surpass greatly our nature, although they do not posses the divine element in a pure and unadulterated form, but joined in one with the nature of the soul and the perception of the body. This perception is susceptible to pleasure and pain and to whatever experiences are inherent in change, experiences which disturb some people more than others; for daemon like men, vary in virtue and vice.

The noble and good daemons again are called by Hesiod ‘holy daemons’, ‘guardians of men’

  1. Empedocles say that the daemons also pay the penalty for their mistakes and failings:

    The ether’s might pursues them to the sea, The sea spews them to land and land drives them To rays of the tireless sun, and he in turn Hurls them to whirls of ether; one power takes Them from another; hate they arouse in all, Until, thus punished and purified, they assume again the place and order assigned to them by nature

She herself and Osiris were transformed through their virtue from good deamons into gods, just as later Heracles and Dionysus were.

Source: Griffiths, John Gwyn, and Plutarchus. 1970. Plutarch's De Iside et Osiride. Cambridge: Univ. of Wales Press.

Moreover, the hierarchy of Gods, demons, angels, heroes and humans was different in pagan times, check out Iamblichus the Theurgist:

  1. Hypercosmic Gods
  2. Liberated Gods
  3. Encosmic Gods/Celestial Archons
  4. Archangels
  5. Angels
  6. Daimons
  7. Sub-Lunar Gods/Archons
  8. Heroes
  9. Purified Souls
  10. Mortals

Source: Kupperman, Jeffrey S. 2014. Living theurgy: a course in Iamblichus' philosophy, theology and theurgy.

based on

Iamblichus, Emma C. Clarke, John M. Dillon, and Jackson P. Hershbell 2004. Iamblichus, De mysteriis. Leiden: Brill.
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    I see why many consider Origen a heretic Commented Feb 22, 2019 at 2:17
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And yet in the book of Job Satan also known as Lucifer in some texts is seated with the archangels because God beckoned him to come and as an Angel of God he responded and then made a deal to tempt Job to prove he would turn against God if bad things happened to him. If God truly was angry with Satan or Lucifer then why would he allow him in his company, also if one thing can be good and turn bad then another can be bad and turn good. That would be like saying you rebelled against your parents and got into drugs and horrible things and they would never love you or let you in their house, if we are created in God's image with his sense of forgiveness then no parent can hold a grudge against their child whom they love and Lucifer was the most beloved of them all.

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Considering the attribute of "justice" of God, a devil can redeem himself, because if there is a process for the fall, there is the process for the ascent for sure. This is the short answer for "would God forgive a demon and allow it entrance into Heaven?", following the logic of justice, you can sin and you can be redeemed.

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First let's examine your question.

My understanding is that archangel Lucifer was cast out of Heaven was because he refused to accept the humans and that was a sin in God's eyes. This tells us that angels can be bad.

Lucifer was cast out of heaven for thinking he could be God or overthrow God. He deceived a third of the angels, all of which (including Lucifer) were cast of out heaven. Hence, why they are called "fallen angels." They all saw God, and knew who he was, and yet still thought they could overthrow Him.

From what I'm told, humans can commit no sin that God will not eventually forgive. He sees all sins equally. When a human doesn't seek forgiveness, that human's soul goes to Hell. In Hell, the soul is tortured, tormented and corrupted. It eventually becomes a demon.

As mentioned by other answers, there is indeed an unforgivable sin. This unforgivable sin is blaspheming the Holy Spirit. I highly recommend you read this article. Basically, blaspheming the Holy Spirit is to "attribute the work of God’s Spirit to the devil." (quote from the linked article)

When people say that God treats all sin equally, they are somewhat in error, as there is an unforgivable sin. However, clarification is needed as to what sin is. A sin is essentially an act of rebellion/disobedience against God. All humans are born with a sinful nature that causes us to have a tendency to commit sin. This does not remove our responsibility from us, for we have the freedom of will to resist this tendency or to embrace it. Each act of sin is, in a sense, "equal" because God does not condemn humans for their acts of sin but for their Sin. By default, we are going to go to Hell. But God, in His love, does not want to condemn us but rather, to spend eternity with us in a relationship with us. This is why He made us. So He sent His Son, Jesus, to die a brutal death on the cross for our Sin so we won't have to be condemned for it. But for this amazing gift to be applied to us, we have to accept it.

So a demon is eventually a human soul and thus, God can still forgive the human if it takes a path of redemption.

A demon is a fallen angel, it is never a human soul or spirit. Actually, don't say soul, this is an idea from the Greeks and is not in the Bible. Spirit is more accurate. There is the body and spirit which are interestingly connected.

But the question is, would God forgive a demon and allow it entrance into Heaven?

When an angel has rebelled against God (and are now considered a demon), they are not given this opportunity that we have to be forgiven. Had Jesus been part angel and part man, along with being God, then yes angels/demons could have that opportunity. But this is not the case. Jesus is 100% man and 100% God. Thus only humans have the opportunity to be forgiven.

Why can't demons be forgiven? Because they have seen the fullness of God's power and glory, yet still have rebelled against Him and have tried to (futilely) overthrow Him. The same is not so with us humans. While Adam and Eve saw God, they did not see the fullness of His power and did not try to overthrow Him. Also, they were created in God's image, but angels were not. So God, having created humans specifically to be loved by Him and to be in a relationship with Him, gave them a second-chance through Jesus.

Hopefully this clarified some things, and answered your question. More so, I hope this made sense.

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  • What do you mean by, "Jesus is 100% and and 100% God?" Commented Apr 18, 2019 at 21:17
  • @andrewjohnson When I said Jesus is 100% man and 100% God, I mean that while He is a human, He is also God. He is not part God, part human. Rather, He is God with wearing human flesh, in a manner of speaking. Commented Apr 19, 2019 at 1:09
  • Since Jesus is fully human and yet perfect, His sacrifice was eligible to atone for (or cover) the sins of a human. And since He is fully God, His sacrifice is able to atone for all the sins of every human. Since He is not part angel, His sacrifice does not cover their sins. This is another reason why fallen angels cannot be forgiven. Commented Apr 19, 2019 at 1:15

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