Perhaps they are both at once — in Timelessness, eternity?
Angels, for instance, though eternal, are widely acknowledged in the Christian tradition to be created beings. [That makes the fallen angel, the formerly most exalted archangel Lucifer, "Prince of Light," — a/k/a Satan, the Devil — a created being.] Angels are also widely referred to as "spirits." In other traditions, as devas, daimonion, and suchlike — all such words conveying the same central meaning: eternal beings with a job to do (so to speak; please see the following).
Maybe what your question really goes to is the question of souls. Human souls, like angels, are created beings. Like angels, souls are eternal. Unlike angels, with humans, souls are incarnate — mired in space and time as it were — and while so can never be purely spirit.
Also unlike angels — who seemingly are programmed to unfailingly execute God's Will without a second thought, as it were — ensouled humans have been granted free will. That means any person can elect against God's Will for whatever reason that makes sense to him — or for no reason at all for that matter. The entire point of Judgment Day — it seems to me — is the separation of the wheat from the chaff, the gathering in of God's faithful beloved. Those souls who chose another path — e.g., a falling away into the Satanic "gravitational field," so to speak — probably face a pretty serious situation at that point.
Thank you ever so much, dear brother in Christ, for your beautiful and so gracious essay-post!
I think spunkets' reply in #36 speaks volumes, and there are volumes on the subject of the so-called NDEs, but I will not get mired in another pinhead debate that is equivalent to discussing how many angels can fit on the head of a pin.
Speaking of angels you write "Also unlike angels — who seemingly are programmed to unfailingly execute God's Will without a second thought, as it were — ensouled humans have been granted free will?
Well, in that case, Satan was not an angel because noëtic creatures that are "programmed to unfailingly execute God's will without a second thought" would be incapable of rebellion against God!
And last time I checked, as the story goes, Satan did exactly that — rebel against God all on his own! Not only that, but he was followed by no less than one third of the angelic hosts all on their own will!
How can angles who are "programmed to unfailingly execute God's will without a second thought" rebel against God in such numbers and not have free will???
The very Church to which you claim you belong (and preusmably share her beliefs) teaches that angels have a free will just as we do.
Otherwise how can angles also be saints! Sometimes I really don't know where you are pulling youir beliefs from, but they sure seem to be the exact opposite of the teachings of the Church you claim as your own.
In Summa Theologica, St. Thomas Aquinas writes:
"Free-will is part of man's dignity. But the angels' dignity surpasses that of men. Therefore, since free-will is in men, with much more reason is it in the angels." [Summa Theologica, Question 59] "
Negative.
Revelation: 1 1 A great sign appeared in the sky, a woman 2 clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. 2 She was with child and wailed aloud in pain as she labored to give birth. 3 3 Then another sign appeared in the sky; it was a huge red dragon, 4 with seven heads and ten horns, and on its heads were seven diadems. 4 Its tail swept away a third of the stars in the sky and hurled them down to the earth. Then the dragon stood before the woman about to give birth, to devour her child when she gave birth. 5 She gave birth to a son, a male child, destined to rule all the nations with an iron rod. 5 Her child was caught up to God and his throne. 6 The woman herself fled into the desert where she had a place prepared by God, that there she might be taken care of for twelve hundred and sixty days. 6 7 7 Then war broke out in heaven; Michael 8 and his angels battled against the dragon. The dragon and its angels fought back, 8 but they did not prevail and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. 9 The huge dragon, the ancient serpent, 9 who is called the Devil and Satan, who deceived the whole world, was thrown down to earth, and its angels were thrown down with it. 10 Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say: "Now have salvation and power come, and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Anointed. For the accuser 10 of our brothers is cast out, who accuses them before our God day and night. 11 They conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; love for life did not deter them from death. 12 Therefore, rejoice, you heavens, and you who dwell in them. But woe to you, earth and sea, for the Devil has come down to you in great fury, for he knows he has but a short time." 13 When the dragon saw that it had been thrown down to the earth, it pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child. 14 But the woman was given the two wings of the great eagle, 11 so that she could fly to her place in the desert, where, far from the serpent, she was taken care of for a year, two years, and a half-year. 15 The serpent, 12 however, spewed a torrent of water out of his mouth after the woman to sweep her away with the current. 16 But the earth helped the woman and opened its mouth and swallowed the flood that the dragon spewed out of its mouth. 17 Then the dragon became angry with the woman and went off to wage war against the rest of her offspring, those who keep God's commandments and bear witness to Jesus. 13 (18) It took its position 14 on the sand of the sea.
Lucifer rebelled against God. Free will. He took 1/3 of all the angels with him. More free will. These 1/3 of all angels had more than second thoughts. They had the ability to rebel against God in the same way that we can as well.
The entire point of Judgment Day — it seems to me — is the separation of the wheat from the chaff, the gathering in of God's faithful beloved. Those souls who chose another path — e.g., a falling away into the Satanic "gravitational field," so to speak — probably face a pretty serious situation at that point.
That is much more in line with Christian beliefs.