it is the belief that a person grows closer to God through learning or knowing. So the more you learn, the smarter you become and the closer you are to God.
Gnosticism was debatable the first sect of Christianity which developed out of the ancient Egyptian religion and had Jesus Christ as its Savior, and the one true path to everlasting life. Evidence has been found of them from before 40 BC and it is widely believed that their Savior was not a real person but rather an expression of the Creator through which they could communicate. They highly valued knowledge of spiritual things and of the way the universe works. they could be labeled the first modern scientists in a way but their focus was strictly on returning to the Source of creation. they have many beliefs which i wont go into, but you can read more about them at the site provided. hope this helps
From my very limited understanding, I believe that Gnostics study and respect not only the Bible but the books that have been left out of it as well.
I have recently begun to explore this path myself and reading the books that were intentionally omitted is quite intriguing.
Gnosticism has been defined as a mystical religion . It is a mixing of rites and myths from a variety of religious traditions, combining Occultism, Oriental Mysticism, astrology, magic, elements from Jewish tradition, Christian views of redemption, and even aspects of Plato's doctrine that man is not at home in the bodily realm.
Gnosticism is a blanket term for more than 40 heresies in the early days of the Christian church.
While different in many ways, they had the following themes in common:
1. Jesus is NOT God.
2. Matter is evil. Some Gnostics taught that matter was the creation of an evil being co-equal to God.
3. What you needed for salvation from the evil of matter was not baptism but knowledge (Gnosis) of the esoteric secrets and rituals that Jesus secretly taught to His Apostles but the which they did not share with the "masses". However, if you follow this guy or that one who DOES have the secret knowledge and pledge your undying loyalty to him (whoever), he will teach you all the secret knowledge and rituals you need to lift yourself from the evil of matter and join (in some cases, rejoin) the elect spirits in some heavenly sphere or other.
All these heresies were designed to produce elitist types who could look down their oh-so-sophisticated noses at the great unwashed masses and snicker, "I know something you don't know. But I'm not telling you, you dung-beetle, you." Or words to that effect.
As for its spirituality, while they all purportedly gave lip-service to the concept, the only real spirit they promulgated was the spirit of hubris.
Gnosticism is not Satanic, and is a broad range of movements that are a natural extension of Greek philosophy teaching that matter is corrupt and spirit is pure. Gnostics tended to be Abrahamic in their religion, but instead of seeing Christ as an atonement, they saw him as revealing mysteries that once understood, and initiations once practiced, would empower one to overcome the corruption and mortality of the flesh.
And CHRIS, 1 John was not about Gnosticism. It was about DOCETISM, the belief that Jesus' physical body was an illusion, as was his crucifixion; that is, Jesus only seemed to have a physical body and to physically die, but in reality he was incorporeal, a pure spirit, and hence could not physically die. To wit: 1 John 4:1 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2 By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has COME IN THE FLESH is from God, 3 and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God.
The word gnostic comes from the Greek word "nosies" which means knowledge. The original gnostic sects believed that the material world is evil and souls become trapped in it, and the soul needs to learn how to escape. There was both Christian and non-Christian gnosticism. Gnosticism has been given a bad name because there are no surviving gnostic books, only books against gnosticism, written by early church fathers. The original gnostic belief was that matter is evil and spirit is good. Gnosticism was based on the Gospel of John, today's Christianity adjusted it to suit their beliefs. Originally, gnosticism was not considered to be a bad thing until religion made a few adjustments. Now it is.
I think narcoses gave a educated reply here. Gnosticism was a philosophical and spiritual trend in the ancient world and although it has been associated with a branch of early Christianity, there were ChristianIanoups throughout the ancient world that fit the definition of Gnostic because the focus was on achieving gnosis--or direct spiritual insight about the nature of reality. I recommend a book called The Gnostics by Tobias Churton, who is a British scholar on the history and varieties of Gnosticism. The earliest form of Christianity may have been Gnostic and some Gnostics did not think of Christ as an historical person but as a way of thinking about God as a redemptive principle. Some Christian Gnostics, especially the later ones (Valentinian and Ophite Gnostics) believed that the world was created by a lesser, secondary god (a demiurge) who caused spirit to be trapped in matter and be subject to the suffering, ignorance, and general problems of life in the body in the world. Gnosis and an inner realization of the Christ-principal was a way to get beyond the corruption of the body and reunite with spirit. Valentinian Gnosticism also had a complex cosmology and spiritual hierarchy. Gnostic Christianity and what became standard Christianity vied for control for several decades and then Roman politicians decided to go for one kind and criminalized all other persuasions of Christianity and paganism (and then set about vilifying and killing folks who didn't fall in line with the state religion). Gnosticism has gone down in history as a form of heresy but it is just an umbrella term for a certain philosophy that was not accepted by the powers-that-be when Christianity became the State religion.
What is gnosticism - what is it about spiritually?
