Ask a Gnostic Anything

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since it says ask anything I will… I mean no disrespect but, have you studied Christian theology or history in any real way? are you familiar with the history of gnosticism and its various manifestations over the centuries? Are you aware of some of the sometimes horrendous abberations it has resulted in over the years? Did you discover this through careful study and consideration or merely from a love of exotic and novel beliefs simply for the sake of feeling different or special? that sounds harsh but that is the impression I recieve from self professed “gnostics” most of the time. Modern “gnosticism” consists of a set of beliefs from the past misunderstood by the modern mind and kept vague enough for adherents to paste and project whatever values they please upon it.
 
ProdglArchitect said:
But you specifically stated that your belief structure hinges on the Bible being a mythology. If the Bible is a factual account of history, then your beliefs are errant and need to be revised. Given this fact, I think it’d be pretty important to you to study the history of the Bible to determine if it is or is not factual.
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So you know for a FACT that Jesus walked on water, made the blind see, resurrected from the dead, etc.? What role does faith play in your spiritual practice?
 
ProdglArchitect said:
But you specifically stated that your belief structure hinges on the Bible being a mythology. If the Bible is a factual account of history, then your beliefs are errant and need to be revised. Given this fact, I think it’d be pretty important to you to study the history of the Bible to determine if it is or is not factual.
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[Pressing Like button] 🙂
 
rasbat said:
since it says ask anything I will… I mean no disrespect but, have you studied Christian theology or history in any real way? are you familiar with the history of gnosticism and its various manifestations over the centuries? Are you aware of some of the sometimes horrendous abberations it has resulted in over the years? Did you discover this through careful study and consideration or merely from a love of exotic and novel beliefs simply for the sake of feeling different or special? that sounds harsh but that is the impression I recieve from self professed “gnostics” most of the time. Modern “gnosticism” consists of a set of beliefs from the past misunderstood by the modern mind and kept vague enough for adherents to paste and project whatever values they please upon it.
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I studied Christian Theology extensively for three years, Judaism for one, and Islam for another. I then spent four years studying the philosophies of various Eastern schools of thought. The past three years have been devoted to study of Gnosticism.

As for the charges of wanting to feel “special” or “different”-please…do not insult me by psychologically trivializing my spirituality to that of an insecure teenager
 
Hodegetria said:
Does your belief system have anything to do with WICCA or Wicca type practices such as spells, (good or evil), communicating with the spirit world, invoking “nature” etc?
Thankyou.
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There are some Gnostics who are involved in magic, Tarot, and alchemy. I can link you to some articles if you’d like. Personally, this has never been an area of study that I felt would increase my spiritual potential
 
thanks for answering, I just wanted to know. and the insecure teenager thing was right on point as that is exactly what I was implying. that is the usual demographic of modern “gnosticism”. There is indeed nothing trivial at all about a belief system which endangers souls.
 
Sophia_Christ said:
Thanks Indifferently! I look forward to connecting with everyone here 🙂
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Since you have stated your study of Eastern Religions (Buddhism, Hinduism, etc), what is different about your version of Christian Gnosticism from some strains of Hinduism or Buddhism (there are some which consider Jesus another guru or god or whatever)
 
Sophia_Christ said:
So you know for a FACT that Jesus walked on water, made the blind see, resurrected from the dead, etc.? What role does faith play in your spiritual practice?
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I know it as well as you can know anything from history prior to the creation of recording devices, and my faith comes from accepting that through God these things are possible, while not fully understanding how.

Christ is the Answer: #734: Reasons to Believe

This program goes into fine detail about why we can conclude that the accounts of the Apostles are trustworthy, and about why denouncing them as fabrications is a fairly irrational position to hold. That’s an mp3 download, but you can also find it on the ave maria radio website. This episode was last played on December 4th, 2014.
 
ProdglArchitect said:
I know it as well as you can know anything from history prior to the creation of recording devices, and my faith comes from accepting that through God these things are possible, while not fully understanding how.

Christ is the Answer: #734: Reasons to Believe

This program goes into fine detail about why we can conclude that the accounts of the Apostles are trustworthy, and about why denouncing them as fabrications is a fairly irrational position to hold. That’s an mp3 download, but you can also find it on the ave maria radio website. This episode was last played on December 4th, 2014.
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:D:thumbsup:
 
Is the material world totally without value? To be escaped from at any cost?
 
Denise1957 said:
Do you mind if I ask about why it is that you are focused on an explanation of the origin and existence of evil?
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Not at all!

In short, I came to a point in my spiritual journey where I accepted that this universe has a creator. So, naturally the elementary question arose as to how this creator could design a world in which there was genocide, pedophilia, disease, etc. and I found there were two reasonable explanations:
  1. This universe was created by a perfect, benevolent being who uses Earth as a sort of prison house for creatures that have accrued bad Karma in past lives. Through proper spiritual disciplines, man can transcend this world of suffering and enter into a heavenly realm. This is the teaching of the Vaisnava schools of Hinduism.
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  2. This universe was created by an imperfect being; therefore the creation is imperfect. Hence, all the sufferings in the world. However, human beings have one foot in one door and one foot in the other-meaning they have spiritual potential but may also be conditioned by material nature. By devoting all of our energy towards the spiritual we can transcend the phenomenal world and enter into a heavenly realm. This is the Gnostic teaching.
I eliminated the first option because I could still not wrap my head around the concept of a perfect, benevolent being creating such a miserable world for us and knowingly placing us in it.
 
rasbat said:
thanks for answering, I just wanted to know. and the insecure teenager thing was right on point as that is exactly what I was implying. that is the usual demographic of modern “gnosticism”. There is indeed nothing trivial at all about a belief system which endangers souls.
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You are welcome and I apologize if I sounded flippant in my response. I am just sensitive to generalizations about my beliefs (I’m sure as a Catholic you can understand that) because I have encountered the same cheesy, ‘New-Agey’ so-called Gnostics that you have described and I reject their interpretation as inauthentic
 
SyroMalankara said:
Since you have stated your study of Eastern Religions (Buddhism, Hinduism, etc), what is different about your version of Christian Gnosticism from some strains of Hinduism or Buddhism (there are some which consider Jesus another guru or god or whatever)
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There are many parallels to Eastern religions. I would say what separates Gnosticism from Buddhism and the most popular Hindu school of Advaita Vedanta is the fact that Gnostics acknowledge duality. These Eastern schools say that there is one monistic source which underlies all of reality and that the appearance of multiplicity is a mere illusion to be transcended. Gnostics believe that while there is one singular source from which everything is emanated, the appearance of multiplicity is very real, yet should still be transcended. So, as you can see it is a very subtle difference.
 
Sophia_Christ said:
I studied Christian Theology extensively for three years, Judaism for one, and Islam for another. I then spent four years studying the philosophies of various Eastern schools of thought. The past three years have been devoted to study of Gnosticism.

As for the charges of wanting to feel “special” or “different”-please…do not insult me by psychologically trivializing my spirituality to that of an insecure teenager
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That’s not an insult and he already said “no disrespect”. YOU came here, named Sophia (Wisdom) Christ inviting questions. I assume it’s not too much to ask about your credentials as well as motives, both for coming here and your choice of spirituality.

BTW, thank you for answering my question about Wicca.

Edit: Oops, sorry rasbat, I did not see your response above.
 
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