Although most Gnostics considered themselves Christians, some sects assimilated only minor Christian elements into a body of non-Christian Gnostic texts. The Christian Gnostics refused to identify the God of the New Testament, the father of Jesus, with the God of the Old Testament, and they developed an unorthodox interpretation of Jesus' ministry. The Gnostics wrote apocryphal Gospels (such as the Gospel of Thomas and the Gospel of Mary) to substantiate their claim that the risen Jesus told his disciples the true, Gnostic interpretation of his teachings: Christ, the divine spirit, inhabited the body of the man Jesus and did not die on the cross but ascended to the divine realm from which he had come. The Gnostics thus rejected the atoning suffering and death of Christ and the resurrection of the body. They also rejected other literal and traditional interpretations of the Gospels.
Gnosticism refers to a religious movement that teaches humans are divine souls trapped in a material world created by an imperfect god, the demure, who is frequently identified with the God of Abraham.
In order to free oneself from the inferior material world, you need nosies, or esoteric spiritual knowledge.
Some sects say Jesus of Nazareth is an embodiment of the supreme being who became incarnate to bring nosies to the earth. However, other sects (the Notzrim and Mandaeans) Jesus is considered to be a false messiah who perverted the teachings entrusted to him by John the Baptist.
You can sum Gnosticism beliefs into one simple phrase that it believes in Hidden meanings.The nut case who said Jesus was a Gnostic must be deeply disturbed as he taught nor practiced none of the Garbage they mentioned.There are quite a few Protestant Churches that practice a form of Gnosticism but you have to get into there theology to see it.Churches such as 7Th day Adventist,Jehovah's Witnesses and others i can not think of right off the top of my head are some.
According to Gnostic Christianity, their main belief is that 'As we are , God once was. As God is, we will become'. This is a belief of the LDS (Mormon) religion.
Gnostic Christianity claims that they have documents that give the oral teachings of Jesus, the stuff he is supposed to have taught in private. These teachings, they claim, elevate the reasoning mind to that of the will and reasoning of God.
This is supposed to be the real truth, the truth that sets people free. They claim that when mind and spirit seek the same ends, doing on earth what is done in heaven will not be an idealistic goal but will be a practical reality.
They claim that Jesus' secret teachings justify a nonjudgmental system of logic which will add new powers to the mind and will expand consciousness of reality in new ways. According to them, Jesus' system of logic facilitates a quantum leap into mental space that our present judgmental system of logic cannot access. They have a five stage model for this evolution of human consciousness.
Please be aware that I emphatically disagree with Gnosticism in general and this so-called Gnostic Christianity in particular. As a Bible believing Christian I consider this to be a heresy.
What are the three beliefs of Gnosticism?
