Why is Gnosticism bad? Gnosticism lacks discrimination against women, correct? Isn't that a good thing?

Answer 1

Correct, and yes it's a good thing. Scholars agree that the majority of gnostic writings were written by women. Also, women played an extremely important role in the early gnostic church, they were viewed as completely equal. ie. according to their scriptures, Mary Magdalene was teaching the male disciples.

Answer 2

LOL, far from that. There is the place in the Gnostic Bible that says that for woman to be perfect should become a man or something that nature...

I do not think that anything that keeps us from entering heaven is a good thing in the long run.

Answer 3

Gnosticism means different things to different people.

ANARCHO-GNOSTICISM - A major component of gnosticism is the rejection of external authority in favor individual intuition and personal sovereignty. As such, it meshes very well with Anarchism as a philosophy, and also provides an excellent spiritual framework for what would otherwise be a secular ideology.

Gnosticism is a philosophical and religious movement which started in pre-Christian times. The name is derived from the Greek word "gnosis" which literally means "knowledge." However, the English words "Insight" and "enlightenment" capture more of the meaning of "gnosis." It is pronounced with a silent "G" (NO-sis). Gnosticism is not factual, intellectual, rational knowledge, such as is involved in mathematics and physics; that would have been more accurately represented by the Greek world "episteme." Rather, Gnosticism involves the relational or experiential knowledge of God and of the divine or spiritual nature within us. A visitor to this web site wrote: "...we believe that gnosis-knowledge requires ultimate transcendence of the merely intellectual to be actualized."

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."


The movement and its literature were essentially wiped out before the end of the 5th century CE by Catholic heresy hunters and the Roman Army. Its beliefs are currently experiencing a rebirth throughout the world, triggered in part by the discovery of an ancient Gnostic library at Nag Hammadi, Egypt in the 1940s, and the finding of the Gospel of Judas at El Minya, Egypt, in the 1970s.

Answer 4

Because, since at the outset, the RC Church said so. That's it!

Go ahead. Read as many Gnostic Books as you can. You will only gain a much rounder picture of certain events that were observed by others.

Peace be with you.

Answer 5

Gnosis (a particular mystical experience in a reunion event) should not be confused with Gnosticism. Gnosticism is a culture rape of Gnosis just as defined religions are a rape of spiritual/metaphysical experiences.
Jim.

Answer 6

Gnosticism is only "bad" because the 1st Ecumenical Council at Nicea defined one of its core beliefs as heretical.

Basically, those councils were political forums to denounce a rival Christian group. BUT because they were sponsored by the Byzantine Emperors, their word was what became accepted as correct,

Answer 7

do to a bunch of power hungry impotent old men gnosticism was forced to go under ground and eventually wiped out. most early christian churches where ran by women and this made most men jealous. i am sad to say that most churches still discriminate against women

Answer 8

Gnostic systems are typically marked by:

The notion of a remote, supreme monadic divinity - this figure is known under a variety of names, including 'Pleroma' and 'Bythos' (Greek 'deep');
The introduction by emanation of further divine beings, which are nevertheless identifiable as aspects of the God from which they proceeded; the progressive emanations are often conceived metaphorically as a gradual and progressive distancing from the ultimate source, which brings about an instability in the fabric of the divine nature;
The subsequent identification of the Fall of Man as an occurrence with its ultimate foundations within divinity itself, rather than as occurring either entirely or indeed partially through human agency; this stage in the divine emanation is usually enacted through the recurrent Gnostic figure of Sophia (Greek 'Wisdom'), whose presence in a wide variety of Gnostic texts is indicative of her central importance;
The introduction of a distinct creator god, who is named as in the Platonist tradition demiurgos.
Evidence exists that the conception of the demiurge has derivation from figures in Plato's Timaeus and Republic. In the former, the demiurge is the benevolent creator of the universe from pre-existent matter, to whose limitations he is enthralled in creating the cosmos; in the latter, the description of the leontomorphic 'desire' in Socrates' model of the psyche bears a strong resemblance to descriptions of the demiurge as being in the shape of the lion.
Elsewhere this figure is called 'Ialdabaoth', 'Samael' (Aramaic sæmʕa-ʔel, 'blind god') or 'Saklas' (Syriac sækla, 'the foolish one'), who is sometimes ignorant of the superior God, and sometimes opposed to it; thus in the latter case he is correspondingly malevolent.
The demiurge typically creates a group of coactors named 'Archons', who preside over the material realm and, in some cases, present obstacles to the soul seeking ascent from it;
The estimation of the world, owing to the above, as flawed or a production of 'error' but nevertheless as good as its constituent material might allow. This world is typically an inferior simulacrum of a higher-level reality or consciousness. The inferiority may be compared to the technical inferiority of a painting, sculpture, or other handicraft to the thing(s) those crafts are supposed to be a representation of. In certain other cases it is also perceived as evil and constrictive, a deliberate prison for its inhabitants;
The explanation of this state through the use of a complex mythological-cosmological drama in which a divine element 'falls' into the material realm and lodges itself within certain human beings; from here, it may be returned to the divine realm through a process of awakening (leading towards salvation). The salvation of the individual thus mirrors a concurrent restoration of the divine nature; a central Gnostic innovation was to elevate individual redemption to the level of a cosmically significant event;
Knowledge of a specific kind as a central factor in this process of restoration, achieved through the mediation of a redeemer figure (Christ, or, in other cases, Seth or Sophia).

Answer 9

The root motives of it are pride, man thinking he can do it on his own rather than humbling himself, confessing his inadequacy and inviting the Holy Spirit to help him.

Answer 10

... You would certianly think so.