Gnosticism, what do you think?

Question

Anyone have any negative thoughts about it, it seems like alot of gnostics I know study the kabbalah and look for deeper meanings to things....I recently discovered the concept via some friends and it is a very different apporach. Perceiving reality due to personal experience seems legit. Your thoughts.....
Also, I'm not interested if you think it is heretical or "Not the word of god".....it seems like the first christians were mystics....
Anyways, this is all new to me and I am curious...

Answer 1

Unlike agnostic, which takes the easy way out. Saying they don't say there is a God, and don't say there isn't. Gnosticism is a belief in God through personal experience.
None of mans religions are perfect however. Because they are distorted through time by mans wisdom. I find Gnosticism to be
as close to reality as there is, considering it's a belief sysytem.
But I find that some of it's teachings are still in story fashion.
Because people in the past couldn't understand simple things
like physics in those days. Metaphysics is basically Physics
of the spiritual world. Because there are still Laws at work there.
Like magnetism. This is a profound spiritual force, at work through all the dimensions, and the source of what determines
how good and evil affect human life.

Answer 2

i like gnosticism. i was going to be religious, i would be gnostic

AGNOSTICISM is the philosophical view that the (truth) values of certain claims,(particularly theological claims regarding the existence of God, gods, or deities), are unknown, inherently unknowable, or incoherent, and therefore, (some agnostics may go as far as to say) irrelevant to life. The term and the related agnostic were coined by Thomas Henry Huxley in 1869, and are also used to describe those who are unconvinced or noncommittal about the existence of deities as well as other matters of religion. The word agnostic comes from the Greek a (without) and gnosis (knowledge). Agnosticism IS NOT TO BE CONFUSED WITH a view specifically opposing the doctrine of gnosis and Gnosticism—these are religious concepts that are not generally related to agnosticism.

GNOSTICISM is a descriptive term used to identify a common belief among various religious movements and groups that likely originated in prehistory and became most active in the first few centuries AD. [citation needed] The key to understanding the core belief of these movements is provided by the term gnosis, a Greek word expressing a type of understanding/consciousness gained through personal experience. It is through this type of transcendental experience that followers of Gnostic belief systems ("Gnosticism") seek escape from ignorance and thus the mundane

Answer 3

I like the general flow and ethos of gnosticism, yet thoroughly dislike organisations that claim to be "gnostic" like the O.T.O.
many people I have met that are Thelemites (O.T.O) have been smug, conceited and so very full of ego it put me right of them. I don't think there is any room for ego in spirituality. I am very interested in learning Kabbalah, I have a lot of info on the basics, yet don't have any clue about "living it" or how to apply it to my own life.
I'd also love to learn more about Gematria.

Answer 4

From what I've read About the gnostic gospels is that they were written 200 or more years after the time of Christ. This wouldn't make them as reliable as the accepted Christian gospels.

Answer 5

Agnostics maybe, NOT GNOSTICS.

Gnosticism was a second century perversion of Christianity.

And to Mr Too sleezy, no, Paul DID NOT write about it. It didn't exist until the second century.

Answer 6

The way is narrow; the path is straight.

It is a simple path, but it is a clearly-defined path. Do not lead yourself astray with thoughts of "other gospels."

The Bible even repeats it twice in a row so you won't miss the point:

Galatians 1:8,9: But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed! As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, he is to be accursed!

Answer 7

The quest for secret religious knowledge is exciting, but futile.

Why not try to get a handle on all the non-secret knowlege regarding your Christian faith, before you set off on a crusade that may well result in your demise?

Answer 8

Paul speaks of it in the new testament. it was a cult then and it is still a cult now. Its really "gnot" worth bothering with.

Answer 9

I don't Gno about Gnosticism that much.

Answer 10

nevber heard