Gnostic's believe in a perfect God, but that the earth we see around us, was created by another imperfect God. They also teach that humans are spiritual beings trapped in earthly bodies and that they require sin and sometimes depravity, to one day return to their spiritual origins.
They also believe that Jesus came from God to teach humans to ascend to the spiritual realm, but that Jesus came as spirit and was never on earth in the flesh. Perhaps this summary of what happened according to the Bible might help put the Gnostic teachings in perspective.
God the creator, of the book of Genesis Chapter 1, ended every day (a yom an indeterminate period of time) with the statement and he saw that it was good. During his initial creation mankind , male and female was spread over the whole planet with the animals and given access to every tree for food. This phase of creation, up to the sixth day was said by God to be very good.
In the second chapter God becomes known as, The Lord God and begins a new relationship with his creation, a personal one with a man that he had formed from the dust (as a potter with clay) and with a woman taken from that man. He places them in paradise or Eden and gives them a choice of eternal life or death. Death by the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil and life by, the tree of life.
Along comes Satan in the form of a serpent (perhaps the breath of the dragon of Gnosticism) and his version, of what they had been told, was this.
Gen 3:4 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:
Gen 3:5 For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.
To translate that, the devil said if you disobey God, you will become like him, and by that act you will receive enlightenment. After Adam and Eve believed his deception, they were cast out of paradise, to live the remainder of their lives amongst the six day creation. Instead of paradise and blessing, the relationship with their creator had changed for the worst.
Gen 3:17 And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life;
Gen 3:18 Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field;
Gen 3:19 In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.
The choice made by Adam and Eve caused a change on the whole earth and in turn for all the people outside the garden that the descendants of Adam came in contact with.
The ground is cursed even today, as it is easier to grow weeds, thorns and thistles, than crops and plants which require hard work.
Perhaps because of the imperfections and corruption of the creation, now present around us, that opens the door for the theory of evolution, as things are no longer perfect and also the Gnostic deception of an imperfect creator, can be put forward. Our situation today can be traced back to the choice made in Eden.
Gnostic beliefs go back to the garden, so they do predate the first coming of Jesus to the earth and the subsequent establishment of the Christian church and the Holy Ghost reversal of the curse.
Gnostic teachings began to creep in to the early church and were confronted by the disciple John, in these bible verses.
1Jn 4:1 Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.
1Jn 4:2 Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God:
1Jn 4:3 And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.
Antichrist means, instead of Christ, which is what Satan makes himself out to represent.
There have been many Gnostic based religions established through out history, The Essene's, the writers of the Dead Sea scrolls were one, and countless others to the present day.
Just as an example of modern Gnosticism, the Mormon belief that Jesus and Satan were brothers on the planet Kolob and that you can follow, either one, on a path to enlightenment. For male Mormons the end result of their journey is that they become God of their own planet, for women though their reward is to be eternally pregnant until the universe is fully populated. The Mormon church is full of Freemason symbolism, and temple worship. These teachings are false because Satan is the light bringer ( the Illuminati) but Jesus, is the light of the world.
An identifying teaching of a Gnostic belief is to deny the divinity of Jesus or the Godhead.
To teach also that regardless of your conduct on earth, you still end up in heaven or paradise. And like all theology (or religions theory) it is necessary to study rigorously to receive true enlightenment.
These are the teaching's of the serpent, also known as the old dragon from the garden, in all their almost limitless variations. All of which result in the natural and spiritual death of all, that believe in them.
These key verses from the Bible, move many theologians, that I speak to, say, those verses are not in all of the early manuscripts.
Mark 16:15 And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature (person from every nation).
Mar 16:16 He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.
Mar 16:17 And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues;
Mar 16:18 They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.
Mar 16:19 So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God.
Mar 16:20 And they went forth, and preached every where, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following.
My reply to those theologians is, if I were writing the original manuscript, I would include Jesus last words to his disciples, before he ascended to the place he came from, because that experience has happened to me.
You would not include those words because it hasn't happened to you. That is why it is not in all the early manuscripts.
We all today have a choice of who we believe in, it is not if we 'believe in God'or not. It's if we 'believe God' that matters.
The Gnostic's got one thing right, Jesus has come to earth to show the way.
They also believe that Jesus came from God to teach humans to ascend to the spiritual realm, but that Jesus came as spirit and was never on earth in the flesh. Perhaps this summary of what happened according to the Bible might help put the Gnostic teachings in perspective.
God the creator, of the book of Genesis Chapter 1, ended every day (a yom an indeterminate period of time) with the statement and he saw that it was good. During his initial creation mankind , male and female was spread over the whole planet with the animals and given access to every tree for food. This phase of creation, up to the sixth day was said by God to be very good.
In the second chapter God becomes known as, The Lord God and begins a new relationship with his creation, a personal one with a man that he had formed from the dust (as a potter with clay) and with a woman taken from that man. He places them in paradise or Eden and gives them a choice of eternal life or death. Death by the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil and life by, the tree of life.
Along comes Satan in the form of a serpent (perhaps the breath of the dragon of Gnosticism) and his version, of what they had been told, was this.
Gen 3:4 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:
Gen 3:5 For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.
To translate that, the devil said if you disobey God, you will become like him, and by that act you will receive enlightenment. After Adam and Eve believed his deception, they were cast out of paradise, to live the remainder of their lives amongst the six day creation. Instead of paradise and blessing, the relationship with their creator had changed for the worst.
Gen 3:17 And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life;
Gen 3:18 Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field;
Gen 3:19 In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.
The choice made by Adam and Eve caused a change on the whole earth and in turn for all the people outside the garden that the descendants of Adam came in contact with.
The ground is cursed even today, as it is easier to grow weeds, thorns and thistles, than crops and plants which require hard work.
Perhaps because of the imperfections and corruption of the creation, now present around us, that opens the door for the theory of evolution, as things are no longer perfect and also the Gnostic deception of an imperfect creator, can be put forward. Our situation today can be traced back to the choice made in Eden.
Gnostic beliefs go back to the garden, so they do predate the first coming of Jesus to the earth and the subsequent establishment of the Christian church and the Holy Ghost reversal of the curse.
Gnostic teachings began to creep in to the early church and were confronted by the disciple John, in these bible verses.
1Jn 4:1 Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.
1Jn 4:2 Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God:
1Jn 4:3 And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.
Antichrist means, instead of Christ, which is what Satan makes himself out to represent.
There have been many Gnostic based religions established through out history, The Essene's, the writers of the Dead Sea scrolls were one, and countless others to the present day.
Just as an example of modern Gnosticism, the Mormon belief that Jesus and Satan were brothers on the planet Kolob and that you can follow, either one, on a path to enlightenment. For male Mormons the end result of their journey is that they become God of their own planet, for women though their reward is to be eternally pregnant until the universe is fully populated. The Mormon church is full of Freemason symbolism, and temple worship. These teachings are false because Satan is the light bringer ( the Illuminati) but Jesus, is the light of the world.
An identifying teaching of a Gnostic belief is to deny the divinity of Jesus or the Godhead.
To teach also that regardless of your conduct on earth, you still end up in heaven or paradise. And like all theology (or religions theory) it is necessary to study rigorously to receive true enlightenment.
These are the teaching's of the serpent, also known as the old dragon from the garden, in all their almost limitless variations. All of which result in the natural and spiritual death of all, that believe in them.
These key verses from the Bible, move many theologians, that I speak to, say, those verses are not in all of the early manuscripts.
Mark 16:15 And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature (person from every nation).
Mar 16:16 He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.
Mar 16:17 And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues;
Mar 16:18 They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.
Mar 16:19 So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God.
Mar 16:20 And they went forth, and preached every where, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following.
My reply to those theologians is, if I were writing the original manuscript, I would include Jesus last words to his disciples, before he ascended to the place he came from, because that experience has happened to me.
You would not include those words because it hasn't happened to you. That is why it is not in all the early manuscripts.
We all today have a choice of who we believe in, it is not if we 'believe in God'or not. It's if we 'believe God' that matters.
The Gnostic's got one thing right, Jesus has come to earth to show the way.