Gnostic Christianity?

I read this article somewhere and it got me thinking.....deeper... there is so much out there... and we argue and fight wars without knowing.......... too much about the subject.

Gnostic Christianity - What does the Bible say?

Let us look at what Gnosticism Christianity is before we figure out what the Bible has to say about the topic. First of all, Gnosticism is NOT Christianity. Gnostics proclaim God is both man and woman; Mary Magdalene is elevated to the status of the first and greatest Apostle, and is Jesus' wife and divine companion.


Now can you believe that?


Gnosticism goes back centuries before the Christian era, possibly as early as the fifth Century, B.C. A belief system developed in ancient Syria and Persia that held salvation of the soul could be achieved by attaining a deep, mystic, and divine knowledge.


According to their beliefs, humans are divided into a three-tiered hierarchy. Those possessing this knowledge, or gnosis, were a superior form of human being whose present and future destiny were not intertwined with those humans, that, for whatever reason, did not "know."

Those humans too influenced by matter were doomed.

Then somewhere in between were those who did not yet possess the gnosis, but could yet be saved.


Y'all following me here? O.K.


Rather than believe in the good of creation, Gnostics regarded matter and, in fact, the whole universe, to be a defilement of the deity -- the god of light/spirit.

They taught that the ultimate end would be to overcome matter and be reunited with the parent spirit and realm of light/energy.

This would not be achieved by submission to God's laws or through grace (God's forgiveness of man's sins) by acceptance of the living Christ -- the Son of God and Redeemer. Redemption or salvation would occur by awakening the sleeping gnosis (knowledge/wisdom) or "God within" -- through deep thoughts, reflection, and meditation thereby freeing the good spirit imprisoned within the evil physical body.


Now there is something to meditate over, don't you think?



Gnosticism spread to Egypt during the 2nd and 3rd centuries, A.D. It presented a major challenge to orthodox Christianity. Can we say Gnostic Christianity is claimed within the pages of the Bible?

Most Gnostic sects professed Christianity, but their belief sharply diverged from those of the majority of Christians in the early church, In that there were those who did not believe the virgin birth, or that Jesus was the Son of God, or Jesus was resurrected to Heaven, or Jesus was the Creator, or that Jesus made atonement for our sins.

I would say no, we couldn't, because the Bible clearly lays claim to the above statements.


Concentrate now..... meditation time is over....


Gnostics also believed that mankind was wholly evil and some sects even renounced marriage and procreation. (Now that never caught on....especially the procreation part, I think that branch of the sect eventually died out!)


They also believed in two gods, one evil god and one good god. Their teachings are believed to have influenced Saint Augustine in the development of his theology of "total depravity" of mankind and concept of God. For nine years St. Augustine adhered to Manichaeism, a Persian philosophy proclaimed in southern Babylonia (Iraq) that taught a doctrine of "total depravity" and the claim that they were the "elect." He then turned to skepticism.


We have skeptics to this day.....


Next, Augustine was attracted to the philosophy of Neoplatonism. He blended these beliefs with his later Gnostic Christian teachings. His teachings were in turn passed on to John Calvin in his extensive study of Augustine's writings. It is very easy to follow the trail of John Calvin's theology from the pagan religion of Mani in Babylonia to his writings in France and Geneva.
Now there is an other branch that one could explore!


In 1945 an Egyptian peasant found 12 codices containing more than 50 Coptic Gnostic writings near Naj'Hammadi, Egypt. It has been determined that these codices were copied in the 4th century in the monasteries of the region. It is not known whether the monks were Gnostics, or were attracted by the nature of the writings, or had assembled the writings as a study in heresy.(Which in my opinion is more likely)

The evidence is clear that the Gnostics had a major influence in writing the Alexandrian manuscripts of the Egyptian region.


Those sands of time have buried much history....


By the 2nd century, Christian Gnostic teachers mixed their mythology with Platonic metaphysical speculation and certain heretical Christian traditions. The most prominent Christian Gnostics were Valentinus and his disciple Ptolemaeus, who, during the 2nd century were influential members in the Roman Church. By the end of the 3rd century Gnosticism as a distinct movement seems to have largely disappeared.


I blame the lack of procreation, it should never have been banned.



Any views on this one?

I know that the study of religion goes very deep. DAffyD. I had a father in law who passed about 3 years ago that studied all his life. He wrote a book called "Mohammed the Myth" which was very interesting.

He could have you doubting your very existence after a few minutes. Just kidding. He was a very deep man.

These things that you point out are very interesting and there is a ton of stuff out there that can make you wonder about things you shouldn't.

Thanks for the great read!

My dearly beloved Father was a fundamentalist Christian who lived his simple life in the the Love of God, Jesus and his family.

My wife says he was the most honest, compassionate man she ever met and thinks he could have walked on water. He found great joy in helping others

I didn't realize this until I got much older and it was too late to tell him how much I loved him.



Don't wait until it is too late to express your feelings for others, family or friends.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCVw8Qjeg84&ob=av2e

Mohammed the Myth

Why, indeed, was the Mohammed story invented, by whom, and to what end? The story of the Hegira, Mohammed’s flight from Mecca to Medina allegedly in 622, provides a clue. “No prophet is mentioned in the Koran as often as Moses, and Muslim tradition always emphasized the great similarly between Moses and Mohammed.The central event in the life of Moses, though, is the Exodus of the oppressed Children of Israel out of Egypt, and the central event in the life of Mohammed is the Exodus of his oppressed congregation out of Mecca to Medina …Hmmm? The suspicion is great that the Hegira appears only for this reason in the story of the Prophet, because his image should emulate the image of Moses.”
Furthermore, “the image of Jesus is also seen as a new Moses. The connection of Mohammed to the figure of Jesus is presented in Islamic tradition through his daughter Fatima, who is identified with Maria … The Line Fatima-Maria-Isis is well known to research. With the takeover of Mecca, Mohammed at least returns to his point of origin. Thus we have a circular structure typical of myth, in which beginning and end are identical. This Gnostic circular structure represents the concept that the soul returns to its origin. It is separated from its origin, and must return to it for the sake of its salvation.”

My further thoughts are in this poem which I wrote some years ago....

The Eternal Wanderer


Consider this yea men of learning as an answer to that mortal yearning.
Of what happens to us when we die, do the age old answers satisfy?
In my musings I have pondered thus, there is more to this than just being us.
One must first understand that one is a soul, so let’s put aside other rigmarole.


Fix these two things deep in your mind, you are a body, with a spirit of the eternal kind.
As the body changes from child to man, the spirit is unchanged in this time span.
The soul is unborn, eternal, undying, it has but one aim and is constantly trying, to re-enter the abode of the Heavenly Host, to be at peace and at one with the Holy Ghost.


The body, a mere vehicle to carry the soul, be that body a man, a mouse or a mole
Now think on these things for you know that it’s true, the spirit oft attempts what the body can’t do.
Delve deep in your mind and think of your youth, your soul’s still as young, now come, tell me the truth!
Your body has aged and your limbs may feel sore, but the spirit within you wants to do more.

The Spiritual soul has one major quest that is to qualify in order to rest, t hus it moves on from its bodily host, searching, aye searching for what it needs most, and so as this frail body breaks down and dies, the soul and that spirit to another womb flies.
To develop once more in the natural way, such is the role our soul has to play.
Then that life and that force emerges again, to take temporary abode in the bodies of men.
And so it will be until we understand our destiny’s ruled by His Divine Hand.
We must divest ourselves of materialistic need, only then can that restless Spiritual seed
Cease to travel that eternal road, and rest in peace within His abode.
The first step to heaven is what we must learn, it’s not, what can I get, or how much can I earn.
There’s YOU and the body you wear like a coat, the two things are separate and this you must note.
As the coat wears and it comes time to discard, YOU move into another, comprehension’s not hard.
It’s the acceptance of logic and life’s natural law, it’s learning new concepts never spoken before.
It is treading a new path to reach the same goal, it’s the realisation, that YOU are your SOUL.
The body we inhabit is a temporary shell, it is what we do in it that creates Heaven or Hell.
The stage that we’ve reached now in the body of man, is a stage far removed from when YOU first began.
In each of those separate, yet different lives, your soul went on searching and still yet it strives,
For Spiritual perfection somewhere on that road, so that it may return to His Heavenly abode.

CONTRADICTIONS

Contradictions are what make us ask
Are we fit to complete this task
Is this journey upon which we embark
To test our faith, or a walk in the park?
Of all the writings left to us
Are any of them worth all the fuss?
Plants and animals all live and die
Why should it be different for you or I?
We are but an entity on this earth
Then its dust to dust, for what its worth.
Enjoy the life span you've been allotted
In religion, get not besotted
It is all but words devised by man
And will not enhance this short life span.