What do gnostic christians believe about divorce?

Question

I'm having trouble finding out what gnostics belief about divorce can anyone help me?

Answer 1

****Those who are attached to the flesh and to the world are addicted to the flesh and serve the flesh.



Here in the Gospel of Thomas
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
As Jesus said, "How miserable is the body that depends on a body, and how miserable is the soul that depends on these two."
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------



***A christian should not be subservient to the needs of the flesh:



As it is written in the Gospel of Thomas
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
47. Jesus said, "A person cannot mount two horses or bend two bows.

And a slave cannot serve two masters, otherwise that slave will honor the one and offend the other.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------



****Hence marriage based upon lust for the body is not real marriage at all, but instead is ''like'' a drug addiction. Many people marry for reasons based around the flesh and the need to provide for flesh addictions. They go to church and pretend to make lifetime vows, but the contract is based upon self deceit. People wrongly marry for many reasons that relate to their attachement and addiction to sense gratification.

****Jesus often talked about recognising the inner self.



Gospel of Thomas:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"There is light within a person of light, and it shines on the whole world. If it does not shine, it is dark."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



***It is explained like this: A person is like a vase that contains a light. Those who are in ignorance see themselves as the vase. Their vase is made of clay, and so the light within is prevented from shining and lighting the way.

***Those who have recognised the inner light, and the nature of the world know that the body is just a temporary set of clothes. They recognize the inner self, and so their vase is made of glass. The light within them shines out and lights the path for others also.

***Once people die, their soul moves on, and their bodies die. That is why in the marriage ceramony one vow's to remain together until death. The Gospels say that after death, marriage ends. There is no marriage that lasts through death. When the soul mature's reconcile with the holy spirit that also resides within the body.

***Gnostics know that reincarnation happens, and each soul starts a new life, and has a new opportunity to get closer to God and eventual salvation. One has to achieve full liberation before one can enter Gods kingdom. This requires knowledge attained through the word of God. The spiritually liberated (through physical death) accend to the spiritual kingdom of God, in order to attain salvation. At salvation, the two half's of the soul are re-attached.

***This is the marriage which is eternal. Gnostic recognise a male and female aspect to God, and hence all living beings have a cognate male/female soulmate. The Kalbalah documents suchs belief's, so they have routes in Judaism, and the ancesters of Judaism

***Every soul has two parts: male and female. However, until you are spiritually self realized, you will not recognise your other half (your soul mate). The soul must grow and mature before salvation can occur. This may take millions or billions of lifetimes for any soul to achieve. Salvation will bring the two half's of the soul back together producing androgenous being. The story of Adam and Eve shows that originally the soul was split in two.



Hence Jesus said: GoT
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jesus said to them, "When you make the two into one, and when you make the inner like the outer and the outer like the inner, and the upper like the lower, and when you make male and female into a single one, so that the male will not be male nor the female be female, when you make eyes in place of an eye, a hand in place of a hand, a foot in place of a foot, an image in place of an image, then you will enter [the kingdom]."
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------


***Indeed, many of the female apostles within Jesus' inner circle were jealous of Maryam Magdalane's relationship with Jesus. As we see in the Gospel of Phillip, Jesus explains why he loves Mary more than other women.



**Gospel of Philip**
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
As for the Wisdom who is called "the barren," she is the mother of the angels. And the companion of the Saviour is Mary Magdalene. He loved her more than all the disciples, and used to kiss her often on her mouth. The rest of the disciples were jealous. They said to him "Why do you love her more than all of us?" The Savior answered and said to them,"Why do I not love you like her? When a blind man and one who sees are both together in darkness, they are no different from one another. When the light comes, then he who sees will see the light, and he who is blind will remain in darkness."
The Lord said, "Blessed is he who is before he came into being. For he who is, has been and shall be."
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------



***Those that have spiritual vision can see their soulmate as a 'lock fits a key'.

***In terms of marriage in the material world:
The key use of marriage is to provide a serious commitment between two people with the primary interest as safeguarding the needs of any offspring.

***Jesus told his disciples that having offspring was not a blessing, but a tremendous burden and responsibility.



Here in the Gospel of Thomas:
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
79. A woman in the crowd said to him, "Lucky are the womb that bore you and the breasts that fed you."

He said to [her], "Lucky are those who have heard the word of the Father and have truly kept it. For there will be days when you will say, 'Lucky are the womb that has not conceived and the breasts that have not given milk.'"
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------



A childs is dependent upon his parents, and so although men and women may fall out with each other, they must not separate to enjoy other relationships. The child comes first, and that is why even covenants made in error must be maintained for the benefit of the offspring made in error. Ignorance can cause people to split thus causing lasting harm to the child. The parents key responsibility is to their child, not to themselves. Everyone makes mistakes, and it is good to take responsiblity for one's errors.

***That said, if a marriage produces no offspring, and the couple realize they don't really fit each other, then there is no reason not to disolve the contract. Law's should be flexible to fit the circumstance. Many people marry when they are not mentally together enough to realize what they are getting themselves in to. However, once a person realizes their true spiritual nature, they have no valid reason to marry due to lust, or physical convenience.

***The spiritually self realized person who marry's wrongly commits adultary. Marriage itself is not formed by ceremony at a church but rather; it is recognized here on earth upon immediate realization of one's true male/female soulmate. Great suffering is realized by a liberated person whom see's his soul mate, and then procedes to enjoy relations of the flesh for satisfying the body.

Answer 2

The Gnostics did not believe in biblical literalism but searched out a deeper meaning. The Bible, under canonical laws, restricts divorce to adultery and desertion. As for fornication, how can one fornicate if one is married? Well, you could, but I don't think anyone was thinking about it 2,000 years ago.

Answer 3

Try getting your hands on the book "Lost Christianities" by Bart D. Ehrman He covers Gnostic's in there.

Answer 4

In anyones religion, divorce means - to seperate.

Answer 5

HOW.... about what... JESUS .... Said... on the Subject...!

(Mark 10:11-12) And He [ JESUS ] saith unto them, Whosoever shall DIVORCE his wife, and marry another, committeth ADULTERY against her.

(Mar 10:12) And if a woman DIVORCE away her husband, and be married to another, she committeth ADULTERY.

Thanks RR

Answer 6

God said if you divorce without the cause of fornication you commit adultery,fornication is sex outside of marriage,any other cause God will not accept.

Answer 7

I don't know, but here's a nice picture of my Church: http://www.stmargmaryoak.org/cc05/22.jpg