Fellow Gnostics (Jesus, Creator, gospel, Eden, contradiction)

[Halcyon]

Personally i believe he was a man who had attained Gnosis, like Buddhists believe Siddhartha Gautama to be a man who attained Nirvana.

Christian Gnostics had varies beliefs, these ranged from Jesus having two distinct forms, Jesus the man and Christ the phantom - i'm not an expert myself on this but i know its complicated.
Others believe him to be the logos of God, one of the early Aeons that emanated from God. Others have a variation on this that the Christ/logos was created (or sent) to redeem the fallen Sophia.

Not all Gnostics believed in Jesus in any form though, only the Chrisitian Gnostics and the Manichaens.

[spacemonkey]

Originally Posted by michel

A lot, thank you. One last question, if I may; what of your view of Jesus Christ ?

The non - Christian Gnostic feels Jesus was mearly one of many "Messangers of Light" that were here to guide mankind to Gnosis. The Christian Gnostic feels that Jesus is the principle savior (the Soter) sent by the True God to guide mankind to gnosis.

[spacemonkey]

Christian Gnostics had varies beliefs, these ranged from Jesus having two distinct forms, Jesus the man and Christ the phantom - i'm not an expert myself on this but i know its complicated.

I believe one of the Gnostic teachers believed that Jesus's mortal form was an illusion. This way of thinking came from the line of teachings about Jesus being an emination of the True God, like you said the Logos (word). All of the eminations were couples, which is emulated here on Earth by man and woman, and the mate of Logos was Sophia (wisdom). According to many early Gnostic teachers (Valentinius principle among them) it was Sophia, acting without the knowledge of her consort and seeking to emmulate the True God, who emmanated the Demiurge (Half-Craftstman). He is called "half" since he was created without both "parents" (a virgin birth?) and does not have the "divine spark". Sophia, ashamed of what she has done tries to hide her abbomintion by encasing him in a cloud. When the Demiurge awakens, being all alone, thinks HE is the Supreme Being and creates the Earth. Through his connection to Sophia he is some how able to trap her "divine spark", something he is without, on Earth in the form of humanity. It is thought by most Gnostic Christians that the Logos was sent to Earth in the form of Jesus to free his mate, who is entrapped within all of us (the holy spirit?) from the grip of the Demiurge.

[Buttons*]

wow, i started this post and completely forgot it was here... that's responsible *rolls eyes*... oops.

Thanks ya'll for your comments. I didnt realize there was a distinct difference in a Christian Gnostic and a regular Gnostic. *feels ignorant* So I realized im simply Gnostic.

How did ya'll come to Gnostics?

[ChrisP]

Originally Posted by gnosis_777

wow, i started this post and completely forgot it was here... that's responsible *rolls eyes*... oops.

Thanks ya'll for your comments. I didnt realize there was a distinct difference in a Christian Gnostic and a regular Gnostic. *feels ignorant* So I realized im simply Gnostic.

If pure non-Christian Gnosis is what you seek, have a read of a philosophical translation of the Tao. Very good at clearing your mind and attuning your senses to the greater nothing/everything.

How did ya'll come to Gnostics?

We're all Born seeking Truth. Real Truth is incommunicable and impossible to understand through language.

My studies of the Universe as a kid brought me to understand that there were more types of energy than are tangible to our physical senses, and so now I try to attune myself with them, as I see them as being sourced by Truth.

[Buttons*]

what is the Tao? is it a book? a website?

[ChrisP]

Originally Posted by gnosis_777

what is the Tao? is it a book? a website?

Several different translation located here.

http://www.religiousworlds.com/taoism/ttc-list.html

[Godfather89]

I came to Gnosticism as a Christian because, I largely felt that what Christianity has turned into has largely become an enterprise. Megachurches in the Midwest USA, the Pastors *cough* claim there doing it because God wants them to but as for me I feel like there ego wants them to make money. The Roman Catholic Church seems obsessed with this "Were The Only Way Notion" that other forms of Christianity are wrong. So two reasons turned me to Gnosticism with Christian Standing:

1. Christianity is divided and has turned largely into a business affair of selling faith, through a mixture of fundamentalism and evangelism, two aspects of religion I DO NOT AGREE WITH.
2. Knowing that Jesus was a heretic by the religious powers that be in his day and that Gnostic's are heretics who follow Jesus' teachings in our day. I didn't realize it was so sinful to think differently than the rest of society.

[Buttons*]

Originally Posted by Godfather89

I came to Gnosticism as a Christian because, I largely felt that what Christianity has turned into has largely become an enterprise. Megachurches in the Midwest USA, the Pastors *cough* claim there doing it because God wants them to but as for me I feel like there ego wants them to make money. The Roman Catholic Church seems obsessed with this "Were The Only Way Notion" that other forms of Christianity are wrong. So two reasons turned me to Gnosticism with Christian Standing:

1. Christianity is divided and has turned largely into a business affair of selling faith, through a mixture of fundamentalism and evangelism, two aspects of religion I DO NOT AGREE WITH.
2. Knowing that Jesus was a heretic by the religious powers that be in his day and that Gnostic's are heretics who follow Jesus' teachings in our day. I didn't realize it was so sinful to think differently than the rest of society.

YAY now we have three active gnostics

[Godfather89]

LoL, lets hope others will wake up as well.... more active gnostics would be great...