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This is something I have been meaning to post for awhile but, until today (I have a cold) I didn't have the time. Billow the green line, I will post what Gnostic Christianity means to me and my ideas on it and why I practice it...needless to say, it is a LONG post, since most folks don't know what Gnostic Christianity is exactly anyway and have never read the ancient Gnostic gospels, so I should explain as best as I can...I guarantee you it will be quicker than reading a book on it, if it's any consulation to you. Read it if you like, or, if you already know the gist of Gnostic Christianity, just ask me what ever you like as long as you keep it respectful.
First, to understand what Gnostic Christianity means, I will have to start with the creation MYTH, which is just that, a MYTH. I mean "Myth" with an uppercase "M", as in story passed down to us which tells a absolute truth about the universe and human nature using a story to do so, as opposed to myth (lower case "m") which is a old lie people go one believing because they don't know any better...are pittbulls ALWAYS violent? That's a myth. Was There a state of near animal level ignorance humanity once lived in called the Garden of Eden? That is a MYTH.
So, from the top...
In the beginning...in a time so far into the past, it is also the futre. A time farther removed from us in time and space than anything else can be...in another place, that is close to us and yet far away...before there was form...before there was the concept of "concept"...there was LIGHT, and all was of and in the light....how can one explain it? One cannot. All was in harmony, and all was one. It cannot be measured in human terms, I cannot say that it is "bigger than the universe" for it's form is different than that of the universe. It is so vast, that it's tiny, so huge, it's small, so empty it's full. It exist in a different kind of reality from ours so that no human or god could ever truly comprehend it. I will call it Pleroma (the Fullness in Greek) from now on.
From the Pleroma came the two poles of it's self, like Yin and Yang or positive and negative, and the two poles had a kind of communication and/or interaction between one another. This communication became Sophia, and somehow, she gained sentience, unlike the rest of it, which was more like "The Force" from Star Wars than a personified deity....well, maybe not. If Pleroma is sentient, it is a kind of sentience that we could never hope to understand. We trying to understand it would be like one of my white blood cells trying to understand my life as a human being. Imagine the gulf between yourself and a white blood cell...than multiply the size of that gulf by hundred billion, and that is the difference between youself and Pleroma. In short, we can never hope to comprehend it.
The new, more limited sentience, Sophia explored hersel and saw that she was alone besides Pleroma. She, out of loneliness, curiosity or anyone's guess, committed the first mistake: She created, through the stuff of Pleroma, the Archons, or the petty rulers who would become the Elohim, or plural of God. These beings were created in her attempt to understand herself and the Pleroma, which she was still existing in/a part of/one with. Seeing these things, she was disgusted, and sought to keep them away from her. So, she seperated them from Pleroma...it was the first time anything would be seperated from the Pleroma. She flung them aside, wrapping them in an orb devoid of the Pleroma before they could fully awaken...there were allot of them, with one being bigger than the rest...this one, her last or first creation, appalled her more than the others.
So, Sophia collected them all in this little orb of darknes...and looked into the orb in horror. For in the orb, the beings awoke, and saw they were alone. The little orb, from their prospective, was not so little, and, led by the BIGGEST AMONG THEM, looked around and said..."LET THERE BE LIGHT!" But their light was not the light of Pleroma, who they did not know, but a mockery of it. They were called "Elohim", the plural form of god spoken of in Genesis...in Genesis chapter 1:28, it reads, "And God blessed them (humans) , and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth."
This was BEFORE the garden of Eden and Adam, the alleged "first man". What the other people who were told to "be fruitful and multiple" referer to were the ones created by all the archons or deities that in Hebrew reads "Elohim", and chapter two deals with the one Yahweh, called "Elohim", or the singular of God. The deities are called Archons (petty rulers) by the Gnostic
Now, chief among the Archons was the big one, Samael, who would become the God of the Hebrews and later Muslims and Nicene Christians. Sophia looked in horror at her mistake. Seeing the horror that was creation Sophia looked closer and saw that Samael and the Archons were going to create sentient beings to be their pets/playthings/slaves. She looked on in horror and, with resolve, took a piece of Pleroma, a place called Barbelo, and made it her "nest" so to speak....but also her husband, master, and life line. It is the last connection she has to Pleroma. So, Sophia descended into the abyss that we call "reality", which was contained in the little ball she made, and remains here still, on another plane of the little orb we call "the Universe" and she will not rejoin THE GREAT LIGHT as long as the archons and Samael are there, punishing innocent beings called humans. SHE was the original sin, not man, and she is trying to redeem herself by saving us from "reality".
From Barbelo, she managed to throw some of the essence of Pleroma into the otherwise flawed creation. Like a otherwise cheap watch that has some nice gold links, creation has some of Pleroma in it thanks to her efforts. HOWEVER, she is incapable of being completely powerful within creation, for Samael and the Archons hold sway here, but she can manifest some power on our plane of existince, but she is far from all-powerful.
And so, Samael and the Archons (Elohim) created humanity to be their ignorant pets, for they (the Archons) either ignored or did not know of Pleroma and Sophia. However, Sophia snuck into humans during the creating Pneuma, or the divine spark, during the beginning of creation. It is a glowing ember of the great fire that is Pleroma that lies within each of us. Seeing the Samael, the greatest of the Archons, had kept a few humans seperate in his "Garden of Eden", Sophia personally intervened. She sent her first messenger, the Serpent, to allow humanity to have the knowledge that Samael had tried to deny them. Samael, enraged, kicked Adam and the first saint, Eve, out of the Garden of Eden...and so, the long war began.
Many other messengers came after the Serpent, Buddha, Lao Tzu, and Mani. All came from Sophia, who grabbed a piece of Pleroma through Barbelo and breathed her own Gnosis (learned, divine understanding) into it and sent it down to earth to walk amongst and as men.
The greatest of all her prophets was the one born of her own power and the power of Pleroma and not of man, the one born to the virgin Mary. The one named Christ. Unique among the prophets, he was the son of Pleroma who came to those people trapped by Samael, greatest of the Archons. He lived and died spreading his gospels so that through living his message we too can develop a learned understanding (Gnosis) and develop the divine spark of the Holy Spirit (Pneuma) to achieve oneness with THE GREAT LIGHT, both in this life and the next.
So, I am a gnostic Christian. I follow the teachings of Christ and the COMPLETE GOSPELS which the church of Samael (or the God of the Old Testament) tried to burn. The greatest trick the devil ever played was not convincing the world he doesn't exist, but was convincing the world that he is NOT our creator.
As a Gnostic, I believe that I must develop Gnosis which DOES NOT mean "read the secret book and go to heaven for free" but means learned understanding. When you understand Christ you can achieve freedom...and to undertand Christ you must live by his words. It's like learning to drive: read the book all day, but unless you get behind the wheel, you ain't gonna learn.
Studying the gospels, meditation on the gospels, pursuing the Sacrements ( Eucharist, Baptism, rites) prayer, and living as Christ teaches allows us to develop the Holy Spirit, or "pneuma". By doing so, we can both life a better life here on this HARSH WORLD CONTROLED BY A CRUEL CREATOR and escape this world entirely after death and join the GREAT LIGHT...this is not the "heaven" in the Nicene (mainline) Christian sense, but rather Nirvana of Buddhism. If I play my cards right, I get to be annihilated. Well, oneness with Pleroma does destroy us in the sense that transcendents is so great that we are no longer any piece of what we once were, hence, one could say that we are destroyed.
But...BUT this religion is not all about the "pie in the sky when you die" but also about "eating your pie while walking in a room filled with people you don't like". Practicing Gnosticism allows me to look at life differently and handle life's challenges better in this life. Prayer, meditation, following the teachings of my liberator Christ, these things have made my life immersibly better.
Keep in mind That I consider the creation Myths to be just that, a Myth (upper case "M") and think that this is just an allogorical story meant to teach ideas about life and our place in the universe. Since someone is inevitably going to say the old "where's the proof! I'm an Emo kid and love My Chemical Romance but hate religion because there is no proof blah blah blah...," let me say this now...In Gnostic Christianity, I have something that is "irrational": I believe in Christ who came from a divine being and that I have a Inner Light and I can pray to cultivate it AND something that is "rational": That I use philisophical ideas given to me by Myth (Christ and creation Myths) that I use to better develope my Super Ego (Inner Light or Pneuma) through daily affirmations (prayer)
Why should I sit there and seperate the rational from the irrational? That would be as pointless as color-coding my M&Ms. I could do it, but I am having so much fun eating them all at once, that I see no need to...and like most humans, I am a spiritual creature and need some kind of spirituality to believe in.
A flaw of my psychy? Perhaps...but a flaw I admit and therefore am able to work around. A man with a limp claiming that he is not lame will move allot slower than a man with a limp who understands he has a limp and uses a crutch to walk.
Also, since my faith does not involve suspending believe in science ( Pleroma is a parallel universe as physics explains in the "brane world theory" Brane cosmology - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia , natural forces created the world and the creation myth is an allogory and evolution did indeed happen) and does not make me a slave to Dogma (the scriptures were meant to be debated and personally interrupted, and we frown on hierarchical institutions that rob personal freedom) and does not make me depend on divine intervention more so than depend on myself (the most important deity in Gnostic Christianity is the Gnostics own Pneuma, or inner deity, so, in a way, I am my own God) I see no reason to not believe, as it has none of the three biggest flaws in most religions and it has a bunch of net gains for my life
I have always been drawn to the Gnostics. Some Gnostic teachings are incredably interesting to me and I would lean toward myself if I was inclined to religion at all. I really enjoyed reading this, thanks for posting.
I have always been drawn to the Gnostics. Some Gnostic teachings are incredably interesting to me and I would lean toward myself if I was inclined to religion at all. I really enjoyed reading this, thanks for posting.
Thank you! If you have any questions, just ask...that's what I'm here for
There is something I would like to ask. I'm wondering what is the source of your information? How do you know these things are actually true. I mean , I understand you have the gospels of Thomas and Mary and so forth but is there another source? Did someone have a revelation of some sort? Or is this a personal jouney and your truth is revealed to you through meditation or whatever. I've only ever stumbled across Gnostic writing when I've been reading about other things and have never heard your beliefs laid out like that. I'm fascinated how people come to their conclusions to the point where it becomes a fixed belief...I've never been able to do that.
Also , I saw on another thread you telling a Christian that their belief comes from darkness and that their god was an egotistical bully or words to that effect. While that might be true to you, do you really think it's appropriate to put down other peoples beliefs like that? I mean, one of the biggest problems I have with Christians is that they behave this way. You place your belief above theirs but then act in the same way. To me that puts you on the same playing field ,if that makes sense. I'm not attacking you or trying to get a reaction or anything like that I just wonder if you are aware that your behaving like that makes you look just as negative as the religion you are putting down.
There is something I would like to ask. I'm wondering what is the source of your information? How do you know these things are actually true. I mean , I understand you have the gospels of Thomas and Mary and so forth but is there another source? Did someone have a revelation of some sort?
The Gnostic Gospels are other gospels besides the ones in the New Testament which give a more complete account of the life and teachings of Christ. There is the Gospel of Thomas, Mary, and also Pistis Sophia, Thunder the Perfect Mind, the Gospel of John, the Gospel of Phillip, The Secret (or 'reveled', depending on the translation) book of John etc.
What would become the Catholic church supressed these books and ideas, because they were of the belief that Christ was the son of the god of the Old Testament, while Gnostic believe that Christ was the son of that which came before the creator and the god of the OT is a cruel tryrannt, or a devil like figure.
Many people have had revelations in Gnosticism, like the prophet Mani and Buddha and Simon Magus. Only Christ, however, was the begotten son of Pleroma.
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Or is this a personal jouney and your truth is revealed to you through meditation or whatever. I've only ever stumbled across Gnostic writing when I've been reading about other things and have never heard your beliefs laid out like that.
I just stumbled upon it one day...I was on the internet and someone on this TV thing mentions Gnosticism and I said to myself "what's that any way? I've heard of it...google?" and I did...that was at about eight oclock at night and at the crack of dawn I finally collapsed and fell asleep after spending hours reading and reading.
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I'm fascinated how people come to their conclusions to the point where it becomes a fixed belief...I've never been able to do that.
For me, I am a Gnostic because it answers all the big questions no other belief system I have studied answers to my satisfaction...Why does evil exist in the world? Because the creator of the world is evil. What is the meaning of life? We were created to provide a sick kind of entertainment for the creator, but we can grow beyond our created purpose and join the GREAT LIGHT in this life and the next. Why is sin "sin"? Because it weakens us spiritually and makes it harder for us to join the GREAT LIGHT, not because some god will punish us for sinning. What if all this is a myth? It may be, but it doesn't matter because it works spiritually.
It answers the questions like no other path ever could, so I am Gnostic.
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Also , I saw on another thread you telling a Christian that their belief comes from darkness and that their god was an egotistical bully or words to that effect. While that might be true to you, do you really think it's appropriate to put down other peoples beliefs like that? I mean, one of the biggest problems I have with Christians is that they behave this way. You place your belief above theirs but then act in the same way. To me that puts you on the same playing field ,if that makes sense. I'm not attacking you or trying to get a reaction or anything like that I just wonder if you are aware that your behaving like that makes you look just as negative as the religion you are putting down.
I am not trying to attack any one else's faith. I am just saying that, from my belief, the Creator is Yaldabaoth, the blind god. It is hard to seperate stating a statement of belief that the Creator is evil while not attacking someone who worships the Creator and their religion.
And yes, "Christians" often do behave badly. In the words of Thomas Jefferson "if Jesus was alive today, the last thing he would be is a Christian"
The Gnostic Gospels are other gospels besides the ones in the New Testament which give a more complete account of the life and teachings of Christ. There is the Gospel of Thomas, Mary, and also Pistis Sophia, Thunder the Perfect Mind, the Gospel of John, the Gospel of Phillip, The Secret (or 'reveled', depending on the translation) book of John etc.
What would become the Catholic church supressed these books and ideas, because they were of the belief that Christ was the son of the god of the Old Testament, while Gnostic believe that Christ was the son of that which came before the creator and the god of the OT is a cruel tryrannt, or a devil like figure.
Many people have had revelations in Gnosticism, like the prophet Mani and Buddha and Simon Magus. Only Christ, however, was the begotten son of Pleroma.
I just stumbled upon it one day...I was on the internet and someone on this TV thing mentions Gnosticism and I said to myself "what's that any way? I've heard of it...google?" and I did...that was at about eight oclock at night and at the crack of dawn I finally collapsed and fell asleep after spending hours reading and reading.
For me, I am a Gnostic because it answers all the big questions no other belief system I have studied answers to my satisfaction...Why does evil exist in the world? Because the creator of the world is evil. What is the meaning of life? We were created to provide a sick kind of entertainment for the creator, but we can grow beyond our created purpose and join the GREAT LIGHT in this life and the next. Why is sin "sin"? Because it weakens us spiritually and makes it harder for us to join the GREAT LIGHT, not because some god will punish us for sinning. What if all this is a myth? It may be, but it doesn't matter because it works spiritually.
It answers the questions like no other path ever could, so I am Gnostic.
I am not trying to attack any one else's faith. I am just saying that, from my belief, the Creator is Yaldabaoth, the blind god. It is hard to seperate stating a statement of belief that the Creator is evil while not attacking someone who worships the Creator and their religion.
And yes, "Christians" often do behave badly. In the words of Thomas Jefferson "if Jesus was alive today, the last thing he would be is a Christian"
The Gnostic Gospels are other gospels besides the ones in the New Testament which give a more complete account of the life and teachings of Christ. There is the Gospel of Thomas, Mary, and also Pistis Sophia, Thunder the Perfect Mind, the Gospel of John, the Gospel of Phillip, The Secret (or 'reveled', depending on the translation) book of John etc.
What would become the Catholic church supressed these books and ideas, because they were of the belief that Christ was the son of the god of the Old Testament, while Gnostic believe that Christ was the son of that which came before the creator and the god of the OT is a cruel tryrannt, or a devil like figure.
Hi victorianpunk,
The Catholic church had nothing to do with it. The Gnostic Orthodox contention existed contemporaneous with Paul and John who rejected it.
You can see this very much described by Irenaeus: Against Heresies in the 2nd Century AD very much before Rome.
2. He has also laid it down as a truth, that the SAviour was without birth, without body, and without figure, but was, by supposition, a visible man; and he maintained that the God of the Jews was one of the angels; and, on this account, because all the powers wished to annihilate his father, Christ came to destroy the God of the Jews, but to save such as believe in him; that is, those who possess the spark of his life. This heretic was the first to affirm that two kinds of men were formed by the angels,--the one wicked, and the other good. And since the demons assist the most wicked, the Saviour came for the destruction of evil men and of the demons, but for the salvation of the good.They declare also, that marriage and generation are from Satan.(2) Many of those, too, who belong to his school, abstain from animal food, and draw away multitudes by a reigned temperance of this kind. They hold, moreover, that some of the prophecies were uttered by those angels who made the world, and some by Satan; whom Saturninus represents as being himself an angel, the enemy of the creators of the world, but especially of the God of the Jews.
1 Timothy 3-4
14 These things I write to you, though I hope to come to you shortly; 15 but if I am delayed, I write so that you may know how you ought to conduct yourself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth. 16 And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness:
God[c] was manifested in the flesh,
Justified in the Spirit,
Seen by angels,
Preached among the Gentiles,
Believed on in the world,
Received up in glory.
1 Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, 2 speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron, 3 forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from foods which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. 4 For every creature of God is good, and nothing is to be refused if it is received with thanksgiving; 5 for it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.
One may date this dispute with Gnostics to around 50 AD based on Paul's letter to Timothy.
This is something I have been meaning to post for awhile but, until today (I have a cold) I didn't have the time. Billow the green line, I will post what Gnostic Christianity means to me and my ideas on it and why I practice it...needless to say, it is a LONG post, since most folks don't know what Gnostic Christianity is exactly anyway and have never read the ancient Gnostic gospels, so I should explain as best as I can...I guarantee you it will be quicker than reading a book on it, if it's any consulation to you. Read it if you like, or, if you already know the gist of Gnostic Christianity, just ask me what ever you like as long as you keep it respectful.
First, to understand what Gnostic Christianity means, I will have to start with the creation MYTH, which is just that, a MYTH. I mean "Myth" with an uppercase "M", as in story passed down to us which tells a absolute truth about the universe and human nature using a story to do so, as opposed to myth (lower case "m") which is a old lie people go one believing because they don't know any better...are pittbulls ALWAYS violent? That's a myth. Was There a state of near animal level ignorance humanity once lived in called the Garden of Eden? That is a MYTH.
So, from the top...
In the beginning...in a time so far into the past, it is also the futre. A time farther removed from us in time and space than anything else can be...in another place, that is close to us and yet far away...before there was form...before there was the concept of "concept"...there was LIGHT, and all was of and in the light....how can one explain it? One cannot. All was in harmony, and all was one. It cannot be measured in human terms, I cannot say that it is "bigger than the universe" for it's form is different than that of the universe. It is so vast, that it's tiny, so huge, it's small, so empty it's full. It exist in a different kind of reality from ours so that no human or god could ever truly comprehend it. I will call it Pleroma (the Fullness in Greek) from now on.
From the Pleroma came the two poles of it's self, like Yin and Yang or positive and negative, and the two poles had a kind of communication and/or interaction between one another. This communication became Sophia, and somehow, she gained sentience, unlike the rest of it, which was more like "The Force" from Star Wars than a personified deity....well, maybe not. If Pleroma is sentient, it is a kind of sentience that we could never hope to understand. We trying to understand it would be like one of my white blood cells trying to understand my life as a human being. Imagine the gulf between yourself and a white blood cell...than multiply the size of that gulf by hundred billion, and that is the difference between youself and Pleroma. In short, we can never hope to comprehend it.
The new, more limited sentience, Sophia explored hersel and saw that she was alone besides Pleroma. She, out of loneliness, curiosity or anyone's guess, committed the first mistake: She created, through the stuff of Pleroma, the Archons, or the petty rulers who would become the Elohim, or plural of God. These beings were created in her attempt to understand herself and the Pleroma, which she was still existing in/a part of/one with. Seeing these things, she was disgusted, and sought to keep them away from her. So, she seperated them from Pleroma...it was the first time anything would be seperated from the Pleroma. She flung them aside, wrapping them in an orb devoid of the Pleroma before they could fully awaken...there were allot of them, with one being bigger than the rest...this one, her last or first creation, appalled her more than the others.
So, Sophia collected them all in this little orb of darknes...and looked into the orb in horror. For in the orb, the beings awoke, and saw they were alone. The little orb, from their prospective, was not so little, and, led by the BIGGEST AMONG THEM, looked around and said..."LET THERE BE LIGHT!" But their light was not the light of Pleroma, who they did not know, but a mockery of it. They were called "Elohim", the plural form of god spoken of in Genesis...in Genesis chapter 1:28, it reads, "And God blessed them (humans) , and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth."
This was BEFORE the garden of Eden and Adam, the alleged "first man". What the other people who were told to "be fruitful and multiple" referer to were the ones created by all the archons or deities that in Hebrew reads "Elohim", and chapter two deals with the one Yahweh, called "Elohim", or the singular of God. The deities are called Archons (petty rulers) by the Gnostic
Now, chief among the Archons was the big one, Samael, who would become the God of the Hebrews and later Muslims and Nicene Christians. Sophia looked in horror at her mistake. Seeing the horror that was creation Sophia looked closer and saw that Samael and the Archons were going to create sentient beings to be their pets/playthings/slaves. She looked on in horror and, with resolve, took a piece of Pleroma, a place called Barbelo, and made it her "nest" so to speak....but also her husband, master, and life line. It is the last connection she has to Pleroma. So, Sophia descended into the abyss that we call "reality", which was contained in the little ball she made, and remains here still, on another plane of the little orb we call "the Universe" and she will not rejoin THE GREAT LIGHT as long as the archons and Samael are there, punishing innocent beings called humans. SHE was the original sin, not man, and she is trying to redeem herself by saving us from "reality".
From Barbelo, she managed to throw some of the essence of Pleroma into the otherwise flawed creation. Like a otherwise cheap watch that has some nice gold links, creation has some of Pleroma in it thanks to her efforts. HOWEVER, she is incapable of being completely powerful within creation, for Samael and the Archons hold sway here, but she can manifest some power on our plane of existince, but she is far from all-powerful.
And so, Samael and the Archons (Elohim) created humanity to be their ignorant pets, for they (the Archons) either ignored or did not know of Pleroma and Sophia. However, Sophia snuck into humans during the creating Pneuma, or the divine spark, during the beginning of creation. It is a glowing ember of the great fire that is Pleroma that lies within each of us. Seeing the Samael, the greatest of the Archons, had kept a few humans seperate in his "Garden of Eden", Sophia personally intervened. She sent her first messenger, the Serpent, to allow humanity to have the knowledge that Samael had tried to deny them. Samael, enraged, kicked Adam and the first saint, Eve, out of the Garden of Eden...and so, the long war began.
Many other messengers came after the Serpent, Buddha, Lao Tzu, and Mani. All came from Sophia, who grabbed a piece of Pleroma through Barbelo and breathed her own Gnosis (learned, divine understanding) into it and sent it down to earth to walk amongst and as men.
The greatest of all her prophets was the one born of her own power and the power of Pleroma and not of man, the one born to the virgin Mary. The one named Christ. Unique among the prophets, he was the son of Pleroma who came to those people trapped by Samael, greatest of the Archons. He lived and died spreading his gospels so that through living his message we too can develop a learned understanding (Gnosis) and develop the divine spark of the Holy Spirit (Pneuma) to achieve oneness with THE GREAT LIGHT, both in this life and the next.
So, I am a gnostic Christian. I follow the teachings of Christ and the COMPLETE GOSPELS which the church of Samael (or the God of the Old Testament) tried to burn. The greatest trick the devil ever played was not convincing the world he doesn't exist, but was convincing the world that he is NOT our creator.
As a Gnostic, I believe that I must develop Gnosis which DOES NOT mean "read the secret book and go to heaven for free" but means learned understanding. When you understand Christ you can achieve freedom...and to undertand Christ you must live by his words. It's like learning to drive: read the book all day, but unless you get behind the wheel, you ain't gonna learn.
Studying the gospels, meditation on the gospels, pursuing the Sacrements ( Eucharist, Baptism, rites) prayer, and living as Christ teaches allows us to develop the Holy Spirit, or "pneuma". By doing so, we can both life a better life here on this HARSH WORLD CONTROLED BY A CRUEL CREATOR and escape this world entirely after death and join the GREAT LIGHT...this is not the "heaven" in the Nicene (mainline) Christian sense, but rather Nirvana of Buddhism. If I play my cards right, I get to be annihilated. Well, oneness with Pleroma does destroy us in the sense that transcendents is so great that we are no longer any piece of what we once were, hence, one could say that we are destroyed.
But...BUT this religion is not all about the "pie in the sky when you die" but also about "eating your pie while walking in a room filled with people you don't like". Practicing Gnosticism allows me to look at life differently and handle life's challenges better in this life. Prayer, meditation, following the teachings of my liberator Christ, these things have made my life immersibly better.
Keep in mind That I consider the creation Myths to be just that, a Myth (upper case "M") and think that this is just an allogorical story meant to teach ideas about life and our place in the universe. Since someone is inevitably going to say the old "where's the proof! I'm an Emo kid and love My Chemical Romance but hate religion because there is no proof blah blah blah...," let me say this now...In Gnostic Christianity, I have something that is "irrational": I believe in Christ who came from a divine being and that I have a Inner Light and I can pray to cultivate it AND something that is "rational": That I use philisophical ideas given to me by Myth (Christ and creation Myths) that I use to better develope my Super Ego (Inner Light or Pneuma) through daily affirmations (prayer)
Why should I sit there and seperate the rational from the irrational? That would be as pointless as color-coding my M&Ms. I could do it, but I am having so much fun eating them all at once, that I see no need to...and like most humans, I am a spiritual creature and need some kind of spirituality to believe in.
A flaw of my psychy? Perhaps...but a flaw I admit and therefore am able to work around. A man with a limp claiming that he is not lame will move allot slower than a man with a limp who understands he has a limp and uses a crutch to walk.
Also, since my faith does not involve suspending believe in science ( Pleroma is a parallel universe as physics explains in the "brane world theory" Brane cosmology - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia , natural forces created the world and the creation myth is an allogory and evolution did indeed happen) and does not make me a slave to Dogma (the scriptures were meant to be debated and personally interrupted, and we frown on hierarchical institutions that rob personal freedom) and does not make me depend on divine intervention more so than depend on myself (the most important deity in Gnostic Christianity is the Gnostics own Pneuma, or inner deity, so, in a way, I am my own God) I see no reason to not believe, as it has none of the three biggest flaws in most religions and it has a bunch of net gains for my life
Well the fact that your gospels were written some 200 years after the death of Christ on the cross, I can see why they were rejected. And since you believe the Bible is just a Book of made up stories, which really means lies, again I can see why they were rejected. If even one Bible story is a fable, why would anyone believe any of it? The prophecies of the Bible are all true, and the God of the Bible would not fabricate stories. That is the kind of thing the men of this world do, that is not the kind of thing the God of the universe does. If the Bible is filled with fables, why are all of it's prophecies true?
Well the fact that your gospels were written some 200 years after the death of Christ on the cross, I can see why they were rejected. And since you believe the Bible is just a Book of made up stories, which really means lies, again I can see why they were rejected. If even one Bible story is a fable, why would anyone believe any of it? The prophecies of the Bible are all true, and the God of the Bible would not fabricate stories. That is the kind of thing the men of this world do, that is not the kind of thing the God of the universe does. If the Bible is filled with fables, why are all of it's prophecies true?
First of all, ALL THE GOSPELS WERE WRITTEN LONG AFTER THE "DEATH" OF CHRIST. DEAL WITH IT. They were not "made up" as much as they were what happened when someone finally sat down and wrote the oral traditions which had been around since the Cross.
The Gospel of Thomas is older than Revelation...THIS IS A FACT. The other gospels are very old, dating from the the first and second century, or the pre-100 ADs to the year 100 AD. THIS IS ALSO FACT.
Second...let me state this again and set in RED what I think you over looked, and try to explain...
Quote:
First, to understand what Gnostic Christianity means, I will have to start with the creation MYTH, which is just that, a MYTH. I mean "Myth" with an uppercase "M", as in story passed down to us which tells a absolute truth about the universe and human nature using a story to do so, as opposed to myth (lower case "m") which is a old lie people go one believing because they don't know any better...are pittbulls ALWAYS violent? That's a myth. Was There a state of near animal level ignorance humanity once lived in called the Garden of Eden? That is a MYTH.
Like I said, the Bible tells as Myths, which is a story that tells an ABSOLUTE TRUTH. Many fundamentalist types think that every analogy, allegory and metaphor in the Bible is true, and have such a low opinion of our Lord and Liberator Christ that they think he was somehow not intelligent enough to use metaphor.
Here's a good way of looking at it: If Noah spoke modern English and said "I looked out, and it was raining cats and dogs for forty days, and forty nights" and it was written down in just those words, than today, there would be fundamentalists foaming at the mouth at the pulpit declaring
"IT RAINED TABBIES AND PUGS FOR FORTY DAYS AND FORTY NIGHTS AND IF YOU DON'T BELIEVE THAT TO BE LITERAL TRUTH, THAN YOU'LL BURN IN HELL!!!!!!"
Was there literally a dragon in the Garden of Eden that told Eve to eat the apple of knowledge that the demiurge (the creator or satan) had denied her? # No...do I believe that humanity has been punished by it's creature ever since it learned to question it's place in the Universe? Yes. Do I believe that the world was literally made in seven days?...yes and no. Yes, in that it was made in seven of the Demiurge's "days" but not our days...after all, in Genesis 1:19 it clearly shows that the creator(s)*
created the Sun on the Forth day...hence with no day there to mark the passage of one day with and no humans around yet to count the days, those four days could have been four billion years in our time...which makes scientific sense, because most astronomers feel that our star, the Sun, is a pretty yound star, so the light was around before the Sun, with the Sun coming after the light.
Another way of looking at it is like this...when a yound child, let's say five years old, asks his parents "where do baby's come from?" what do they say? "from their mommy's stomach". Is that true? Yes and no. Yes, because the baby does come from within the mother in that general area of the body, and no, because the baby actually grows in the mother's placenta and not the stomach. Did the parents "lie" to the kid? No...they just said it in terms that the kid could understand.
Did the authors of the Bible "lie" about all those Myths? No. They just said it in terms that the people of that age (lacking the sciences) could understand.
Would it make sense for an adult to "have faith in his parents" and therefore deny the existince of the placenta? No. Does it make sense that we in the modern world should "have faith" in Scripture and deny the existince of evolution? No, for the same reasons...
Hence, it is more than possible, and actually, the intelligent thing to do to approach the Scriptures with our brains turned ON.
Also, assuming that you think the god of the old testament, the Creator (Samael, Saklas, Satan) is the same God of Christ, and if you are talking about the creator...than do look here. Why ohh why would a "loving creator" do this to an innocent child who's only crime is to be born in our cruel world?
Behold the mighty hand of our "loving creator". Justify it all you want, but there is no LOGICAL WAY that a loving God, the GOD OF CHRIST could do that to someone fresh out the womb. The God of Christ was not the Tyrannt god of Moses, as Christ even hinted at in the NT approved Gospels...if he had only one father, Christ would not of said "our Father, who is in heaven" instead, he would of just said "our Father". He was obviously showing the difference between his God, the GOD OF gOD's, Pleroma and the none-heavenly father, or Samael of the OT...
Also, if you look at Matthew 4:8, Satan offers Christ the world if he would give up his mission...how can he offer that which he does not own? And if you point to Matthew 4:7, 4:4 and 4:10 as proof that Christ followed the God of the OT, look closely to what is being said...he never says "I will follow the Scriptures" (the OT) but instead says "NO, THE SCRIPTURES SAY..." and than throw them at him. He was mocking Satan, the Creator, using the words of his own books of the OT!
But as I have said before, people are going to believe what they want to believe, no matter what I say.
Any other questions?
# In Genesis 3:14, Yaldabaoth punished the "serpent" and curses him to "crawl on his belly"...so before the punishment, at the time it offered Eve the Apple of Knowledge, before it "crawled on it's belly" what did the "serpent" do and look like? Like this maybe...
And funny, one of the other Gnostic religions, Buddhism, teaches that the Dragon is the bearer of knowledge and light...
coincidence?...
* [Elohim in Herbew is the plural form of the word "god" which is used up until the singular of God, Elohm, is used staring at Genesis 2. Hence, gods created man and told them to "be fruitful and multiply" why the god of the Isrealites created Adam and Eve in the Garden...and that is where Cain's mysterious wife came from, she was a creation of the other gods.]
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. Read it if you like, or, if you already know the gist of Gnostic Christianity, just ask me what ever you like as long as you keep it respectful. 
. Well, oneness with Pleroma does destroy us in the sense that transcendents is so great that we are no longer any piece of what we once were, hence, one could say that we are destroyed.
