I was raised a Christian, and attended a Lutheran School most of my life.
However, I never felt the spirit in me.
Feeling that the church had failed me, I became an atheist.
That didn't fulfill me either.
Recently I picked up a book called "The Jesus Mysteries," which happened to cover the practice of Gnosticism.
Interestingly, when Christianity began, there were two types: Literalism and Gnosticism.
The catholic church were literalism's, as they interpret ted the story of Jesus as a biography.
The Gnostics, however, treated it is a myth full of spiritual truths, and the goal to be attained was literally to become the Christ.
I found the practice very interesting, and I wish it were belief that would have won out in the beginning- as Gnosticism was a very peaceful religion.
Unfortunately, the literalism's were, believe it or not, much more aggressive- and they eradicated the gnostic churches, writings, and followers.
Any thoughts?
Thank you everyone for all the positive contributions.
I never seen such civil and robust responses in the R&S section.
Gnosticism was one of the first forms of Christianity, out dating even the catholic church. The current church's ancestors took great pains to eradicate ALL of their rivals in the theistic world. The gnostic weren't the only casualties of this spiritual war...
Well it is shown that the Gnostics predate any other Christian sect. The adopted a lot of different religious ideology and I believe, if i remember correctly, they trace back 200 years before Jesus was even said to exist. I could be mistaken on the time frame though.
I wonder this too and recently posted a similar question. I'm trying to find out whether gnosticism died out because it's not the "right" way and is really heretical or if it just lost out in a vote and was unfairly destroyed. Because I agree with the spirituality of gnosticism as well.
So I'll hope you get some good answers!
EDIT:
Here's my question, so you can see the answers to that too.
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=Ag2J4YagaDhwvDNvY..2Osfsy6IX;_ylv=3?qid =20080330210951AAKpoAL
I wondered the same thing at one point, if gnosticism was the real deal. It's not. We know from the Bible that Paul warned Timothy about the gnostic gospel saying that there was nothing secret, no special knowledge to get you into heaven. Interesting that gnosticism assumes that we grow and become and that's the way of the universe. In a way that's true, but not true of God. That's another place they cross the line of truth and shrink God to manlike.
But the goal of Christianity is to become like Christ. 1 Jn 3 Blessings on your journey.
No, it's not... Gnosticism didn't exist until the second century. Read the proponents and opponents at http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/
... Yes, some of the philosophies existed from classical times, but they were not in any way introduced into Christianity until early in the second century. At that time, many FORGERIES of "gospels" were written which:
1. contradict scripture
2. attempt to introduce gnostic philosophy into the church
These documents, called by theologians "topography," or "false author" were written not to spread the Gospel of Jesus, but to bolster false claims about him and his teachings.
It is a big subject to cover, but Gnosticism was not an option when Christianity began, but in the very early days of Christianity. It was one of the heretical concepts that sprang up in those times, and I think you have a good understanding of it. You may be attracted by those ideas, but they weren't the truth. It wasn't just a matter of which idea won, or who was more aggressive. It just wasn't truth. It is a very mystical faith, and sounds interesting, but the idea of becoming "the Christ" is really leading their followers down a dead-end path. There is one Christ, who was fully God and fully man, and he did die for our sins and rose from the dead. Gnosticism is a religion of works, through "special knowledge". <*)))><
The Gnostic's did not consider JC a human, rather that of a spirit. The orthodox had to make JC a human; [the priest craft had to make JC a human in order to survive as a religion], as there was no proof - just stories back then. People were uneducated and had lots of superstitions and beliefs so it was pretty easy to dupe them.
The Gnostic's were very interesting and some of their ideas were included in the orthodox ideas. I enjoyed both the books. Bart Ehrman has a good one called 'Misquoting Jesus'. Good reading.
Gnosticism is really whitewashed pantheism, and does not reflect the monotheistic truths of the faith. Gnosticism promotes a progression of beings into "godhood", and Denys that only One is God. God, according to Gnosticism, is not someone humans should emulate, He is someone to Become! Ultimately, this is the same temptation offered by our Enemy at the Garden of Eden: "When you eat of this tree, you shall become like God." We can all see where that ended up!
Judaism stood out from the many different religions around it because it LACKED a pantheon. "Hear, O Isreal, the Lord your God, is One God," and again "I am the LORD thy God. Before me there was no other, and after me no one comes!"
The Church Fathers who stood opposed Gnosticism were not faced with a "sibling rivalry", or same-aged branch of Christianity, when they faced off against these "theologians". Gnosticism is an ancient lie, and may well be the foundation for the various pantheistic cults found around the world: "you, too, can ascend to Godhood, for the gods come down to us often!" What is gnosticism, if not the absolute enemy of absolute truth? Calling the history of the church a "help full myth" is not a compliment: it is a pillow-soft accusation of deceit: "Your story isn't really true".
If Jesus didn't really rise from the dead, why were the people who had spent time with Him willing to leave their entire "normal" lives behind, and face torture and death for His sake? If what we do doesn't really matter, so long as we are "nice people", why bother with a lifestyle change?
I think so. NT is full of gnosticism, you just have to have a handle. Most of the times when Jesus says something weird, and the Christians don't get it and make up things to justify it, it's the gnostic Jesus talking. It's safe to say that the 2 groups influenced each other. You have for instance in the NT a devil who owns all the kingdoms of the world and offers it to Jesus (who can own the world except for Yahweh?). You also have a Jesus who says he must be lifted up like a serpent. But then you also you have one gnostic writing where Jesus actually does get crucified. So they influenced each other. I think the truth is somewhere in the middle. Just remove all the Jewish/Roman mythology, all the miracles and other nonsense (IE human blood sacrifice etc), and what you have left is the real Jesus, a spiritual gnostic, one who was out to destroy ignorance, one who is very similar to the Buddha, that's the one I like.
I very much believe in the Gnostic viewpoint.
Of course that's like saying you're a protestant as there are many versions of Gnosticism.
Specifically I love the Cathar version of Gnosticism.
The Cathars were the guys the Catholics invented the first inquisition for so they could commit genocide.
In the early 14Th century we were called the Buddhist of the west.
Like Buddhist we seek enlightenment, which we call Gnosis.
We believe that Jesus was a human just like you but enlightened.
Gnosis is a cosmic event!
We are pacifist.
We believe no one goes to hell.
We are accused of elitism by those who believe in elitism, as Gnostics have no Bishops, Popes, Deacons, nor Priest.
We are accused of studying secret knowledge because what We believe is so hated that the Catholics were determined to keep it secret even if they had to kill every last one of us.
We were even accused of cannibalism by the very faith that claims to drink the blood of Christ and eat his body at every mass.
We are beautiful.
We believe that each of us is a potential Christ and that striving for less is like being a Buddhist that doesn't search for enlightenment. The trick of course is to see past illusion as the Christ part of you is always there and requires no alteration. Your objective isn't to learn to love more so much as to find all the things that block the love that already exist in you and remove them. The big war for a Gnostic is against fear and ego.
We Cathars follow our conscious first and the scriptures second if at all because we consider all scriptures to be inspirational, not the "Word of God"; because we know the "Word of God" is the breath of life that made us living souls and we treat everyone as if they are divine as all people are divine.
I hope you continue to look into what we believe.
I love an inquisitive mind and a wholesome heart.
The truth calls from within you.
The Gnostic faith isn't dead and never can be killed.
EDIT: Oh and yes the Essens (a Jewish Gnostic sect) not only existed for about 200 years before Jesus but also was the sect which both John the Baptist and Jesus were part of.
Gnosticism- The original Christianity?
