Have you investigated Gnostic Christianity?

[GreatestIam]

sort of like Buddhist Christianity and atheist Christianity and Hindu Christianity, I expect......

Most of those follow the Abrahamic habit of discriminating against women and gays so you may be right.

Regards
DL

lol....most of "those", like "gnostic Christians", simply don't exist.....

Get a life.

Regards
DL

 

[MaryL]

I am an agnostic ex-Christian. Is that close enough? Please. God and his son and the resurrection. And the mystic Buddhist thing with reincarnation. Not buying this for a second. You are dead, boom DEAD and that is it. No afterlife, no resurrection, no nothing. Sorry kids, live it up. This is as good as it gets, as far as we know

 

[PostmodernProph]

Most of those follow the Abrahamic habit of discriminating against women and gays so you may be right.

Regards
DL

lol....most of "those", like "gnostic Christians", simply don't exist.....

Get a life.

Regards
DL

can't I keep the one I have?......are you taking it away?......

 

[PostmodernProph]

I am an agnostic ex-Christian. Is that close enough? Please. God and his son and the resurrection. And the mystic Buddhist thing with reincarnation. Not buying this for a second. You are dead, boom DEAD and that is it. No afterlife, no resurrection, no nothing. Sorry kids, live it up. This is as good as it gets, as far as we know

it may be interesting to compare explore the meaning of "gnostic" by looking at the meaning of "agnostic"......instead of being uncertain what to believe, the gnostics are certain you should believe everything.......

 

[Picaro]

Darrell Bock's The Missing Gospels: Unearthing the Truth Behind Alternative Christianities is a pretty good primer for lay persons on the Gnostics versus orthodoxy.

[ame="http://www.amazon.com/Missing-Gospels-Unearthing-Alternative-Christianities/dp/0785212949/sr=8-1/qid=1162407627/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/002-6764535-4555261?ie=UTF8&s=books"]The Missing Gospels: Unearthing the Truth Behind Alternative Christianities: Darrell L. Bock Ph.D.: 9780785212942: Amazon.com: Books[/ame]

It's a pretty good synopsis of the problems with claiming the Gnostics were around from the beginning. They weren't, which is why their literature is not cannon or even considered as Christian. If you're interested in where Gnostics fit in, then this is a good starting point.

A brief interview with Bock here:

Beliefnet: Gnostic Gospels, Gnostic Bible, Gnostic Wisdom - Beliefnet.com

Why the Gnostic Gospels Lost

'Yes, history is written by the winners,' says Bible scholar Darrell Bock. 'But sometimes, the winners deserved to win.'

An atheist's review of Bock's book here:


The Missing Gospels by Darrell Bock (Review)

What, then, of Bauer’s claim?

Bock summarizes Bauer’s thesis into two points (p 49):

1. Originally, there were many “Christianities” – not a single orthodoxy with occasional minor heresies branching out from it. From the very beginning, heresies were dominant in some regions.
2. Orthodoxy developed only because Rome used its power to squash the other Christianities.

First, do these alternate Christianities go back as far as orthodoxy? No, Bock says. All of Bauer’s claims for dominant heresies in the first century have been debunked by modern scholars,6 and none of the recently discovered heretical Christian texts are as old as Paul’s letters and the Synoptic Gospels, which contain orthodox traditions.
Now, let me add to Bock’s case against Bauer: The alternate Christianites also display more theological development away from Christianity’s roots: Judaism. We may never know for sure what the 1st-century Jewish Galilean ascetic prophet named Yeshua7 preached, but it is almost inconceivable that any such person would preach anything like Gnosticism or Marcionism.
Second, did Rome create the orthodox church? No, Bock says again. Early orthodox Christianity can also be found in Jerusalem and especially Syria, from which our earliest known orthodox bishops and liturgies come. Moreover, Bauer’s main piece of evidence for Roman control – the letter of 1 Clement from a bishop of Rome to the church in Corinth – is flimsy. The letter is not a “ruling” but a persuasive letter, like the letters of Paul.8
As Bock notes, both Bauer’s work and the newly discovered gospels do make important contributions to our understanding of early Christianity. But the two central claims of Bauer and the “new school” of Christian origins – that the earliest heresies had just as much claim to legitimacy as the orthodox tradition, and that Rome created orthodoxy by crushing the alternate forms – are either false or totally lacking in evidence.

 

[GreatestIam]

Picaro

Thanks for the info. Well done.

The reason more Gnostic writings did not get into the bible is because Constantine's church burned them and murdered the ancient gnostic Christians who did not convert. Most did as not being literalists, they knew that any myth could be internalized and that that is how the pineal gland is activated and how enlightenment begins.

As to Christianity deserving to win. Rome won, not religion. Rome wanted dumbed down sheep and that is what they created. The dark ages were dark for a reason as the thinkers religion, Gnostic Christianity, had been almost killed off. But thinkers will always pop up in a population.

Regards
DL

 

[GreatestIam]

PostmodernProph

"the gnostics are certain you should believe everything".

I would say that Gnostic Christians like myself would say to take all religions as myths until one suffers an apotheosis. Only after that should anything of the unseen world be believed. Gnosis means knowledge and we live by knowledge and not imagination the way most Christians.

The trick is to internalize the myth. That is what activates the pineal gland and brings enlightenment.

How can Gnostic Christians, who are perpetual seekers, believe in anything of the myths. If we did, it would make us idol worshippers like most Christians and that kill any chance of finding God.

Please stop lying about those whom you do not know or understand. Ask a Gnostic instead of speculating but know that even in Gnosticism, there is a variety of beliefs. Every God is different and we all have that spark of God within us.

Regards
DL

 

[PostmodernProph]

PostmodernProph

"the gnostics are certain you should believe everything".

I would say that Gnostic Christians like myself would say to take all religions as myths until one suffers an apotheosis. Only after that should anything of the unseen world be believed. Gnosis means knowledge and we live by knowledge and not imagination the way most Christians.

The trick is to internalize the myth. That is what activates the pineal gland and brings enlightenment.

How can Gnostic Christians, who are perpetual seekers, believe in anything of the myths. If we did, it would make us idol worshippers like most Christians and that kill any chance of finding God.

Please stop lying about those whom you do not know or understand. Ask a Gnostic instead of speculating but know that even in Gnosticism, there is a variety of beliefs. Every God is different and we all have that spark of God within us.

Regards
DL

gnosticism is the smorgasbord of religion......this look good, we'll incorporate this....oh, that's shiny, it would look good over here......

 

[GreatestIam]

Nothing like one who will not see.

Regards
DL