What is the idea behind the Gnostic religion?

Question

How does it differ, or not, from any other Chritian religion?

Answer 1

Gnostics believe that they have secret knowledge about God, humanity and the rest of the universe of which the general population was unaware. It became one of the three main belief systems within 1st century Christianity, and was noted for four factors by which differed from the two other branches of Christianity: Novel beliefs about Gods, the Bible and the world which differed from those of other Christian groups.
Tolerance of different religious beliefs within and outside of Gnosticism.
Lack of discrimination against women. Although Jesus treated women as equals, and Paul mostly did the same, the other Christian belief systems started to oppress women in later generations.
A belief that salvation is achieved through relational and experiential knowledge. In the words of The contemporary Gnostic Apostolic Church, humanity needs to be awakened and brought "to a realisation of his true nature. Mankind is moving towards the Omega Point, the Great day when all must graduate or fall. This day is also the Day of Judgment in that only those who have entered the Path of Transfiguration and are being reborn can return to the Treasury of Light." 2

Answer 2

Gnosticism is essential a grown-up version of the childhood taunts: "I know something you don't" or "I've got a secret and I'm not going to tell you." The Da Vinci Code of late is an example.
Gnosticism is not limited to Christianity, but there have been many Christian gnostics.
The idea of secret knowledge appeals to our desire to be special, different, better. Some people do it with head knowledge, others try to do it on the stock market, the ponies, or poker. There is an "extra" OT and 2 levels of extra NTs of books that didn't make it into the Bible. Some people love reading such stuff. The end times series in bookstores attests to the thrill of being on the "in."
Gnostics - the knowers, they really should know better, eh what?

Answer 3

The term `Gnostic` from the Greek,gnosis means knowledge, is used to describe several Christian sects with different and sometimes rival ideas.
Basically they shared a dualistic view of human nature that relied on the superiority of spiritual knowledge over created matter.
The Gnostics believed that the material world was created by an inferior deity and was therefore alien to God, they also rejected the human nature of Christ and insisted that He was purely a spiritual being, some went so far as to say that the fallen Angel Lucifer created the world of man and that God in Jesus felt obliged to step in and save it.
The Gnostics were denounced as a heretical sect and lost ground eventually.

Answer 4

Interesting - Father K has the best answer so far, I'm not vying for the 10 points. I just found this interesting because I thought maybe you mistyped "Agnostic", and I didn't realize there was a Gnostic religion as well.

Answer 5

Gnostics regarded nature and the material world as flawed, corrupt, if not downright evil. They claimed that the natural world was created by a lesser deity, the Demiurge, not the true God who dwells in another realm outside space and time. The human soul, originating as a divine spark in the higher world, finds itself fallen captive to matter, exiled in the realm of the senses. Spiritual development means extricating oneself from enmeshment with matter and returning to the Source.

Don't you people know about Wikipedia or Internet for that matter???

Answer 6

Gnostics were early Christians. They believed that a person could have direct knowledge of God through a process called "Gnosis" or "knowledge." They believed that the body is totally corrupt and its all about the spirit. That's the basics, somebody else will probably have a more thorough answer.

Answer 7

All religions are based on universal truth up to their several points of deviation. Only ONE claims to be abolutely true and trustworthy. That takes personal investigation. That said, your work load has been pared down considerably.

Answer 8

I believe I read that they believe that our spirits are good, but are trapped by our wicked bodies, and one of their goals is to free the spirit as much as possible.

I also read that this belief became very much blended with some early Christian beliefs which is what led to things like monks that either hurt themselves or denied themselves basic physical comforts.

That's what I read anyway.

Answer 9

I'm Gnostic myself; the guy who posted the 3rd response is ignorant really about the whole movement. First off a Gnostic believes Salvation is through direct experience/acquaintance with the source of their being/expression, and this inner source of light/knowledge departed from a realm of being that was not of this world, was known as "gnosis" - experiential knowledge and hat this knowledge sustains one in this world that they categorized as corrupted since it is a reflective reality which is in reverse to the real reality in all ways, controlled by laws or what they would refer to as the God of this world, or the Demiurge, that they believed was the OT God's allegorical personification the "law of karma" in action.

They also called the Demiurge Samael which means false god. They saw as I said the God of the OT as the force/laws of this world which keeps man earth bound, ignorant/organic minded, mechanical, and chained in prison of the body. However they traditionally felt that the God of the OT and the Father revealed through Jesus to be an entirely different God, even that this OT God was so ignorant, and crazy that he didn't know this God because he was not created by the father. They called the OT God deranged and they really didn't care much for the OT. The father being the Aeon that is above this all and it is said that mankind’s spirit is from this father and the demiurge tried to capture this essence in his earth, making the bodies/prisons. Although there is much, much more to all of this, the cosmology is impressive to say the least, but what must be understood is that Gnostics DID NOT see this as literal, they knew scriptures for the most part was allegory relating aspects of mind and being necessary to invoke one to seek inward for "gnosis". Gnostics held that mankind had a higher divine self that wasn't of this world and they we in this world was a lesser aspect/state of that self in this world. They held importance of the dynamics of male/female as being the pattern of all things, "male/female/child" - "active/passive&reflective/neutralizing". Gnostics seek to know their higher divine natures, so they could know God since they felt that was the only way. Also that we abide within God, in a way, like we abide within the mind of God and that God isn't corporeal but like a mind it embraces all within it. But there are many different allegorical characters like Sophia the female god that created the demiurge on accident and then you have the Demiurges offspring he created called archons.

Anyways there are many different types of Gnosticism, traditionally speaking their were Sethian Gnosticism, Gnostic Christians to name a couple. But they did not call themselves Gnostics, that's what people labeled them to fit them in a certain category. The Gnostic Christians were just merely mystical Christians to be honest. They were mostly killed off by the whole Constantine movement to make Orthodoxy the main branch, but many of them hide away their text because at the time all the text that weren’t the text edited and chosen at Nicea were destroyed mostly. And interesting fact a man name Valentinus was branded a Gnostic, but he was respected throughout the whole church in 2 A.D, so much that he almost became the bishop of Rome in his day. He was a disciple of one of Paul’s disciples named Theudas and said he taught him the mysteries that Paul kept from the entry level seekers he called carnal minded. Esoteric knowledge and direct experience is the key to Gnosticism, to prove all things in yourself and come to know through your own efforts.

They didn't reject the human nature of Jesus, that was an allegory to them to reference that the true nature of man is not identified with the flesh. Most held the belief that Jesus became one with the indwelling logos or "SON of God Aeon" at the baptism scene and it directed his movements. Baiscally he became one with the mind of God was there belief.And they didn't have a dualistic perception, that is the common ignorance by people that dont know. Basically "many of their sects" felt that there was a divine pattern, male/female/child as I mentioned, and that what was to be done on earth was making the lower nature, or earthly nature complete and harmonized with the upper, to create a third product which would be the completed result.

Only 1 person realy throughout this whole thing knows anything about gnosticism. Don't listen to these other people, they are speaking pure nonsense. I'm a gnostic so i know what's it is about. Unlike the ignorance that is of the Church gnostics seek knowledge and understand and experience as the means to an end.

Answer 10

It does not differ from any other religion. It just means "Don't Believe that ****! Have a good day.