If you have "heretical" - gnostic beliefs akin to Buddhism can you still be a Christian?

Question

As revealed in the Gnostic Gospels, the first Christians had beliefs surprisingly similar to Buddhist and Eastern philosophies. By contrast modern Abrahamaic faiths seem quite dogmatic and compulsory. A profound question arises: How much of what we take for granted as being "Christian" truly derives from Christ's actual teachings?

Answer 1

Yea u can so long as u belive in jesus christ

Answer 2

First off for the Idiot who says the bible is 100% true..he is wrong...the bible much like every other form of religion is just one groups interpretation of what they believe to be true. The bible was written almost 60 years after Jesus died and Christianity didn't become a legal religion until 300 years after he died. The gnostic gospels are not that similar to buddism, they believe in Jesus but they have a teaching of an inner relationship with God rather then using a church as a middle man. They also claim to be the teachings of Jesus and the words of Jesus as well. This is a long subject to get into but if anyone would like to Further discuss this feel free to Email me @ [e-mail]. I have read all the Gnostic gospels as well as the bible so feel free for open discussion.

Answer 3

Christian belief has such a varied and blended past, being a Buddist and Christian at the same time is just fine. For it was long ago the Christian sect chose a different path from God's Word and has incorporated many different pagan practices through the years.

How much? Very little if any at all. Jesus' teachings we very Jewish, both then and now, as read from the New Testament. But the Church has removed the jewishness from these teachings and replaced it with Greek thinking. So while the Church "teaches" from Jesus' teachings, what is being taught has nothing to do with God, His Torah or His commandments.

Answer 4

The true answer is no,to be a true christian one has a sound and profound belief in the following facts 1. Jesus Christ is the only begotten son of the living God.
2.Jesus gave his life on the cross willingly to bring salvation to lost humanity.
3. Jesus was raised from the dead by the power of the Holy Ghost after three days of absolute death.
4. Jesus is now alive and his word is absolute truth.
These are the required basics to christianity and to believe any thing contrary to this is as you said heretical and not in line with sound christian beliefs.
Today there are so many so-called "christian beliefs" that one could become very confused however the well read christian knows from whence comes his truth and who his Lord is. so confusion is of the devil. Go figure.....

Answer 5

Buddhism is a non-theistic religion and the Buddhists I know welcome Christians to their temple. If it works the other way around, I'm not sure... it would likely depend on the church and how open-minded it was.

Gnosticism, now largely a dead religion but still existing in small pockets in Iran I believe, is not non-theistic. So it's not exactly apples and apples when comparing it to Buddhism. And the Gnostic version of Genesis is an eye-opener, including a serpent-god offering the fruit of knowledge as recompense to humans for the mistake the other god made in trapping eternal souls in mortal shells... thereby turning the story upside-down, making the creator-god evil and the knowledge-god beneficent.

So if you're Gnostic, you can't be Christian, not by any modern definition. Actually not by any definition. ;) If you're Buddhist, then possibly, depending on the tenets of the Christian faith you ascribe to.

Answer 6

I believe the Buddhist know Christ better than many of us Christians do. The essence of God's will is still in the Bible, however it contains only those which the compilers wanted us to know and believe in. The real truth of Christ's teachings is inside us, if we seek inwards. Saul was a literate man. His knowledge of the scriptures did not change him. It was the voice of Christ from within that transformed him into Paul. The Bible itself tells that it was the scribes and Sadduces who were most critical of Jesus during His time.

Answer 7

The bible was actually compiled (not written) to combat the Gnostic's. The root of gnostic is to know. The gnostic cult believed that they could know God. Funny, sounds a lot like the current day church.

Good luck dude, and be blessed.

Answer 8

I don't think so my friend. In Christianity God is accepted and we are suppose to love God and we are suppose to have a relationship with Him. Buddhist do not acknowledge God, even though they have a view of the absolute truth still they can not say God. In other words they don't believe God to be personal, they see the absolute as impersonal. Buddhist do not believe also in the soul. That is a big difference. In any case I would say that Christianity is closer to Hinduism than it is to Buddhism.
Concerning your other question I do not know if you are familiar with sanatana dharma, that is the eternal engagement of the soul, supposedly the souls business is just one.

Answer 9

That is a made up religion based off a lot of eastern religions, and basically the same religion as some really old one with diffrent names. I'm sick so I dont have a memory, but its distrubling similar.

But you can be buddhist and anything else really. Buddhism is a way of life, not a religion. It can be combined with anything or left alone.

Answer 10

Gnostic teachings are total wrong. They are just some early cults. They bible is 100% true. Thus if you want to be a Christian, you should drop such beliefs.

Answer 11

My answer to your first question is 'No'. You need to study the Bible, the four Gospels in the New Testament in particular, to know what Christ's actual teachings are. One thing is clear, it may be dogmatic but never legalistic, it may be ideal but not compulsory.