Ask a Gnostic Anything

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joe371 said:
When I asked the following I was referring to what you call the true God; I’m aware of what is required vis-a-vis Jesus?🙂

Does a person have be open to such a personal revelation i.e. how can a person, regardless of religion, open him/herself up to receive said revelations form God?
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God reveals Himself in different forms and experiences based on the tradition one adheres to. The point is to strive for a mystical union with Him and there are methods of doing this in every religion.
 
joe371 said:
When you say the following are you admitting that Jesus is God the second divine Person of the Trinity i.e. are you admitting that the Holy Trinity is God in view of what you said below from other posts: "I acknowledge the omniscient and omnipresent nature of Christ? If there is not Trinity, then there is no Jesus, ultimately!
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I never denied the trinity on the conventional level. This is a way for us to conceptualize the nature of the revelation that has been given to mankind. However, on the ultimate level there is ONLY God. Not three, but one.

It’s a theory of two truths-conventional and ultimate.
 
Sophia_Christ said:
God reveals Himself in different forms and experiences based on the tradition one adheres to. The point is to strive for a mystical union with Him and there are methods of doing this in every religion.
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OK. When you say that “God reveals Himself in different forms and experiences based on the tradition one adheres to” are you referring to the Trinitarian God?
 
joe371 said:
This getting confusing. So, in spite of the fact that the holy Trinity, ultimately, does not exist as you said in post 101, the holy Trinity, nevertheless, “created you and I in his image”?
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No. Jehovah created you and I in his image as stated in Genesis. This image is flawed by nature. Jehovah is not God the Father mentioned in the trinity.
 
joe371 said:
OK. When you say that “God reveals Himself in different forms and experiences based on the tradition one adheres to” are you referring to the Trinitarian God?
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God reveals Himself in the form of the trinity to Christians, but this is not how God is experienced by other religious traditions.
 
Sophia_Christ said:
I never denied the trinity on the conventional level. This is a way for us to conceptualize the nature of the revelation that has been given to mankind. However, on the ultimate level there is ONLY God. Not three, but one.

It’s a theory of two truths-conventional and ultimate.
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You said “at the ultimate level there is no trinity”. However, the holy Trinity does in fact exist, as well as the true God, something the Trinity is not. OK.

Moving slowly here: So, the true God who created everything, also created the Trinity - correct?
 
Sophia_Christ said:
God reveals Himself in the form of the trinity to Christians, but this is not how God is experienced by other religious traditions.
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You mean the true God, i.e. the uncreated God, (who is not knowable) reveals Himself in the form of the imperfect trinity to Christians, but this is not how God is experienced by other religious traditions?
 
Denise1957 said:
So, Sophia is not a created being. I take it, too, that her emanation (Jehovah) is also not created. And yet, this non-created being (Jehovah) somehow created the entire universe. How is it possible that an emanation (like the sun’s rays) can create an entire universe?
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Because Jehovah mistook himself to be the true God and therefore tried to mimic His creative energy. He then created the world which is flawed; reflecting his flawed nature.
 
meltzerboy said:
This sounds close to the Baha’i religion.
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Nah, the Baha’i religion says that there is really no difference in the teachings of Catholicism, Judaism, Hinduism, etc. Gnosticism is not that staunchly pluralistic.
 
Denise1957 said:
It’s also a very common theme in new-age beliefs. I would say that a majority of new-agers believe in this.
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That is an uninformed statement. Gnosticism has been around as long as Catholicism first of all. Plus, do a little research and you will see many differences between New Age beliefs and Gnosticism.
 
Sophia_Christ said:
That is an uninformed statement. Gnosticism has been around as long as Catholicism first of all. Plus, do a little research and you will see many differences between New Age beliefs and Gnosticism.
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I said that it’s a common theme in new-age beliefs. I know that you don’t consider gnosticism to be new-age. That’s fine. I wasn’t referring specifically to gnosticism (though I personally believe that it’s new-age, but then my definition of new-age is quite broad).
 
joe371 said:
You said “at the ultimate level there is no trinity”. However, the holy Trinity does in fact exist, as well as the true God, something the Trinity is not. OK.

Moving slowly here: So, the true God who created everything, also created the Trinity - correct?
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God is the father mentioned in the conventional concept of the Trinity. The other two aspects came forth as a result of the true God.
 
Denise1957 said:
I said that it’s a common theme in new-age beliefs. I know that you don’t consider gnosticism to be new-age. That’s fine. I wasn’t referring specifically to gnosticism (though I personally believe that it’s new-age, but then my definition of new-age is quite broad).
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My apologies-I thought you were implying that Gnosticism would fall under the category of New Age (according to a definition that was not broad, i.e. the New Age movement).
 
joe371 said:
You mean the true God, i.e. the uncreated God, (who is not knowable) reveals Himself in the form of the imperfect trinity to Christians, but this is not how God is experienced by other religious traditions?
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Precisely.
 
Sophia_Christ said:
Because Jehovah mistook himself to be the true God and therefore tried to mimic His creative energy. He then created the world which is flawed; reflecting his flawed nature.
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Judaism also believes that the world which G-d created is not perfect BUT it believes that G-d intentionally created it that way so that mankind might, through its free will, perfect G-d’s creation in a kind of partnership with G-d.

WHY would the real G-d create a flawed G-d Who mistakes Himself for the real G-d and then proceeds to create a flawed world? What might be the purpose of this?
 
Sophia_Christ said:
My apologies-I thought you were implying that Gnosticism would fall under the category of New Age (according to a definition that was not broad, i.e. the New Age movement).
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That’s okay. You have to admit, though, that the idea of God revealing himself in different forms based on the tradition one adheres to is something that gnosticism has in common with mainline new-age views, right?
 
meltzerboy said:
Judaism also believes that the world which G-d created is not perfect BUT it believes that G-d intentionally created it that way so that mankind might, through its free will, perfect G-d’s creation in a kind of partnership with G-d.

WHY would the real G-d create a flawed G-d Who mistakes Himself for the real G-d and then proceeds to create a flawed world? What might be the purpose of this?
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That is interesting, but I also find it to be a cold utilitarian view. All those who suffered throughout history were just casualities in this grand plan? Why did the Jewish god feel the need to teach this lesson to his creation? Why wouldn’t he just create them endowed with this perfect knowledge?

In order to answer the second part of your response, it is necessary to distinguish between creation as Jehovah enacted it and the creation of the God of Gnosticism. Gnostics believe that God created Sophia who was an emanation from Him and an expression of His divine energy. Sophia then created Jehovah. So the true God is removed on a few levels from Jehovah.
 
Denise1957 said:
That’s okay. You have to admit, though, that the idea of God revealing himself in different forms based on the tradition one adheres to is something that gnosticism has in common with mainline new-age views, right?
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Sure. I would bet that there are some coincidental parallels between Catholicism and the New Age movement. The fact is that Gnosticism has existed as an ideology since the 1st-2nd century and therefore should not be associated with the mainstream New Age movement.

Plus, there are differences in the brand of pluralism that New Agers and Gnostics advocate.
 
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