The church declared the gnostics to be heretic. Why?

Question

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.


The Gnostics were not about control.

My earlier question about the Gnostics was reported.

How much do you want to bet it was NOT reported by an atheist? I'll bet it was reported by someone who does not like athiests (lol) though..

Answer 1

Gnosticism is merely Hellenistic Pagan philosophy combined with Judeo-Christian symbolism and terminology...

it has little to do with what Christ actually taught...

Answer 2

"Gnostic" was a derogatory label placed on certain people by those folks who came to consolidate power in the emerging church institution. Irenaeus started the "gnostic" namecalling. The tag may or may not fit any specific bunch of people that you could draw a circle around and assign to this or that "camp". Indeed, some modern scholars are questioning whether the label is useful.

Much of what we have heard about "gnostics" and "gnosticism" has been uttered by their opponents. From an early date, their opponents said they were corrupters of the true faith. I don't recall anyone accusing them of having weapons of mass destruction, but I suppose that if they had said that, later scholars (most of them employed by this or that church) would have assumed that of course they did.

Paul's writings talk about gnosis, which means experiential knowledge, as being a good thing. No one ever said gnosis is bad. Irenaeus and his gang said these "gnostics" preached "false knowledge."

No one actually knows for sure who wrote anything attributed to Paul. 2Timothy is believed to have been written well into the second century. Its vocabulary and logical structure lack the richness of earlier "Pauline" writings.

One issue that the "proto-orthodox" people had with those they called "gnostics" was the diversity of their writings. They had a different way of employing words to convey spiritual truth, a way that wasn't "literalistic", and they tolerated and even welcomed diversity of expression. This looked like a bunch of contradiction and nonsense to those who wanted a consistent story about what Christianity is. The proto-orthodox folks selected, from a diverse body of texts, a fairly consistent bunch and rejected the rest.

However, if you look in the New Testament, you'll see that even there the versions of the story do not perfectly match.

No one knows who actually wrote the texts that became the New Testament. Sure, there is the "faith" that trustworthy church folks passed the truth about who wrote what from hand to hand down through the centuries, but there are reasons to entertain doubts about their story. After all, they did develop that story in the context of a power struggle as the church institution arose from a more informal and diverse "movement".

IMO, a person who is "a gnostic" is a person who knows, not a person who has this or that belief that fits or doesn't fit with what the church creeds say.

An interesting read is Elaine Pagels' "The Gnostic Paul". She does not say Paul was a gnostic. She merely explores how the gnostics understood Paul's writings as they maintained that they understood Paul better than the proto-orthodox people who quoted Paul to refute such gnostic practices as having women teach in their churches. She concludes that the gnostics had a deep understanding of these texts, and that the assumption that they were just interlopers trying to corrupt the faith cannot be assumed to be true just because some people said that.

Answer 3

The early Roman Catholic church was all about consolidation of power. Gnostic's represented a serious threat to their ability to retain control and power over people. So Augustine came down pretty heavily on them.

Modern Christians actually have their entire belief system because of the Catholic church's need to rid themselves of Gnostic beliefs. The canonization process was started to disprove Gnosticism which led to the final version of the NT that Christians rely on today.

Not sure if I agree that Paul wasn't discriminatory against women. If you read 2 Timothy 2:11-16 you will find he believed that they were only saved through childbirth, which is highly derogitory.

Answer 4

The Gnostics were not about control, but the church leadership was. The old saying is that power corrupts, and that is exactly what happened -- and it still happens today, in local congregations and in denominations everywhere.

In order to maintain power, you have to control what the people believe; anything that goes against the beliefs you espouse must, then, be heresy ... and heresy must be squelched, violently if necessary. This is why abortion providers, gays and lesbians, and others who disagree with the fundamentalist / dispensationalists of today are harassed, threatened, and even attacked.

Jesus weeps.

.

Answer 5

Gnostics have faith interior the philosophy of Gnosos ... that salvation is attained by way of understanding. Gnostics are many times Christian, and seek for a connection to deity by way of a mystical information of scripture. in case you examine the gnostic gospels, you will locate that they have an exceedingly diverse style from those of the Bible, and that they do greater emphasize the paranormal. i'm no longer an authority on gnosticism, yet it particularly is my undemanding information.

Answer 6

The "church" declares any group with beliefs outside of their narrow view as heretic. That's because the "church" is all about control.

Answer 7

I think your final statement says it all. It WAS about control.

Peace be with you.