Ask a Gnostic Anything

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Sophia_Christ

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Hello everyone!

I am a Christian Gnostic-Ask me anything at all
 
Or bring up points of contention so we can participate in a lively (and friendly) debate!
 
Assuming Gnosticism is correct; why did God let it sort of die out to the point that barely anyone accepts it?
 
First, what do you believe? “Gnostic” generally has the connotation that one believes that salvation comes by coming to know your “real self” and escaping the “prison” of the physical world. Is that what you mean by gnostic? What other beliefs do you have? For example, do you believe that Jesus had a physical human body, or that he only appeared to be human?

Second, do you accept the canon of the Bible as laid out by the Catholic Church, or possibly the Orthodox or Protestants, or do you treat as scripture those gnostic “gospels” such as the Gospel of Mary, the Gospel of Thomas, the Gospel of Judas, and the Gospel of Philip which most scholars agree post-date the four gospels found in the New Testament? What other religious texts, if any, do you accept as holy?

Third, what is the history of your belief system? Can you trace its history through time, or is it a modern movement that has attempted to reconstruct Gnostic Christianity from historical texts?

Thank you for your willingness to answer questions!
 
dronald said:
Assuming Gnosticism is correct; why did God let it sort of die out to the point that barely anyone accepts it?
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Gnosticism was suppressed by the powers that be in the beginning of the 3rd century AD. It has existed since then in esoteric circles across the world. There has also been an exponential incline in Gnostic interest ever since the discovery of the Nag Hammadi scriptures in 1945. I believe this trend will continue as more resources are made explicitly available.
 
fnr said:
First, what do you believe? “Gnostic” generally has the connotation that one believes that salvation comes by coming to know your “real self” and escaping the “prison” of the physical world. Is that what you mean by gnostic? What other beliefs do you have? For example, do you believe that Jesus had a physical human body, or that he only appeared to be human?
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Your definition of Gnostic is correct. Different Gnostic schools have different interpretations on of Jesus depending on their orthodoxy. The school that I subscribe to sees the question of whether Jesus was purely spirit, purely human, or both as irrelevant. The Gnostics interpret scripture as myth; not in the sense that they are not true but that they are symbolic stories with a purpose.
 
Sophia_Christ said:
Your definition of Gnostic is correct. Different Gnostic schools have different interpretations on of Jesus depending on their orthodoxy. The school that I subscribe to sees the question of whether Jesus was purely spirit, purely human, or both as irrelevant. The Gnostics interpret scripture as myth; not in the sense that they are not true but that they are symbolic stories with a purpose.
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So… doesn’t that all fall apart with the fact that Jesus Christ was a real, historical figure? No serious scholar disputes this reality.
 
Sophia_Christ said:
Gnosticism was suppressed by the powers that be in the beginning of the 3rd century AD. It has existed since then in esoteric circles across the world. There has also been an exponential incline in Gnostic interest ever since the discovery of the Nag Hammadi scriptures in 1945. I believe this trend will continue as more resources are made explicitly available.
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Does this mean you define “gnostic” in the traditional sense of having access to a secret pool of knowledge that most people are unaware of?
 
fnr said:
Second, do you accept the canon of the Bible as laid out by the Catholic Church, or possibly the Orthodox or Protestants, or do you treat as scripture those gnostic “gospels” such as the Gospel of Mary, the Gospel of Thomas, the Gospel of Judas, and the Gospel of Philip which most scholars agree post-date the four gospels found in the New Testament? What other religious texts, if any, do you accept as holy?
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Gnostics view the Old Testament as a revelation of experience brought about by devotion to Jehovah. In order to understand this, it will be necessary to explain the Gnostic position on Jehovah. He is seen as the ‘Demiurge;’ a flawed creator who is a product of the true, deific God who is the original source of everything. The logic is that Jehovah is imperfect because the world is imperfect. In addition, this explains why he has flawed characteristics such as jealousy.

We see the Gnostic Gospels (Thomas, Judas, Mary Magdalene, etc.) as the highest expression of the truth in Christian terms as these put the mainstream Old Testament texts into the proper context.
 
fnr said:
Third, what is the history of your belief system? Can you trace its history through time, or is it a modern movement that has attempted to reconstruct Gnostic Christianity from historical texts?

Thank you for your willingness to answer questions!
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Gnosticism has been documented as existing throughout history-If you would like, I could dig and find you an article outlining this history.

Thank you for your questions!!🙂
 
ProdglArchitect said:
So… doesn’t that all fall apart with the fact that Jesus Christ was a real, historical figure? No serious scholar disputes this reality.
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I have never done any serious research on the historicity of Jesus because it is not important to my theology. What is important to me is the esoteric statements made by Christ in the Gnostic gospels and the miraculous stories found in scripture can be taken as myth that have a lesson attached to them.
 
how do you define this term you have introduced, Christian Gnosticism?

after answering that, I would ask of you how many others do you know of who agree with your definition?
 
I thought all the answers would be: “That’s for me to know and for you to find out.” 😃 😉
 
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.
 
So you believe in your own personal interpretation of the Bible? And do you believe in the ten commandments or are they rules that you don’t follow?
 
Sophia_Christ said:
I have never done any serious research on the historicity of Jesus because it is not important to my theology. What is important to me is the esoteric statements made by Christ in the Gnostic gospels and the miraculous stories found in scripture can be taken as myth that have a lesson attached to them.
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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.
 
eddie_too said:
how do you define this term you have introduced, Christian Gnosticism?

after answering that, I would ask of you how many others do you know of who agree with your definition?
Click to expand...
In short:
  • There was an original spiritual unity which came to be split into many
  • The universe was created as a result of this division
  • There was a feminine energy from God that was involved in this creation
  • The world is an impediment to spiritual development
  • The universe imprisons man through moral and natural laws
  • Mankind can be personified as Adam because his chief characteristic is ignorance
  • Within each man, there is a ‘divine spark’ from the original source of existence which means there is a possibility for awakening
  • What brings about this awakening is experiential Knowledge (as opposed to obedience, faith, or good works)
  • Upon awakening, it is realized that one’s previous life was analogous to a bad dream
  • Knowledge is not the gathering of information but is brought about by revelatory experience
  • The observation of commandments or dogma does not lead one to salvation
And this gnosticism is Christian because we interpret it in light of the Gospels of St. Thomas, Judas, Mary, etc.
 
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