Could anyone please refer me to a good book on the subject. It is hard to know which are the one's that will give me an in depth look into the history of Gnostic beliefs and practices. Thanks you in advance for your referals and input :)
215761
There is a book called The Gnostic Bible, edited by Willis Barnstone and Marvin Meyer.  Also look at books by Elaine Pagels, she had done a lot of research on Gnosticism, and her books are VERY readable.  Her book Beyond Belief would be a good place to start.\n\nIf you wouldn't mind, take a minute to answer my question on Gnosticism here:\nhttp://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AsRYRzyKVbpNmHhm3Caj3qvsy6IX?qid=1006041910948
110277
I have this video.  It is thought provoking.  Check out the one he (Alex Jones) put out about the Bohemian Grove.  That, too, is a secret sect that many of our presidents have belonged to as well as leaders from all over the world.  As for the Illuminati being a group of "intellectuals," that was said in The DaVinci Code and should not be taken as fact.  It was a wonderful web that Dan Brown weaved.  (I must say, though, I couldn't put that book down, very entertaining.)
208433
Gnosticism:\na heretical movement prominent in the Christian Church in the 2nd century, in part at least of pre-Christian origin and with ideas drawn from Greek philosophy and other pagan sources. Gnostics emphasised the power of gnosis, the supposed revealed knowledge of God, to redeem the spiritual element in humankind; they contrasted the supreme remote divine being with the demiurge or creator god, who controlled the world and was antagonistic to all that was purely spiritual. Christ came as an emissary from the supreme god, bringing gnosis.\n\nIn the United States there are several Gnostic churches with diverse lineages, one of which is the Ecclesia Gnostica, based primarily in Los Angeles, which is affiliated with the Gnostic Society, an organization dedicated to the study of Gnosticism.\n\nDan Brown's bestselling novel The Da Vinci Code draws on Gnostic scriptures and modern re-interpretations of those works.\n\nSuch films as Dark City, Pleasantville, The Matrix, Thirteenth Floor, The Truman Show, Twelve Monkeys, Groundhog Day and Vanilla Sky can be compared to Gnostic cosmological myth in the presentation of a world that is illusory, that is created with the intention to deceive or restrict its inhabitants, and that is not configured to humanity's benefit save through the illuminating realization of its falsehood.\n\nThe MTV animated science fiction television series, Æon Flux, contains many Gnostic ideas.
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I thought the site was extremely interresting and even book marked it for later reading.  When I am home alone i may even listen to some of the audio.  Of course, some of it i found far fetched and hard to comprehend; however, some of it made since and requires further research.  Thank you very much for posting it.  I appreciate any chance at learning about other peoples beliefs and religions.  I think part of the problems btw modern Christians and other religions is that most Christians will not take the time to listen and study other belief systems.
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Oh boy did you just drop a bomb :)  I'm expecting this answer thread to be long and heated.\n\nIn short, the Gnostic Gospels are what you are referring to (also used as the basis for Dan Brown's books including the DiVinci Code.)\n\nThe Gnostic Gospels are a set of books written from around 20 to 40 AD.  After Jesus Christ, the Christian movement was gaining a whole lot of followers really really quickly.  At the time, of course, Rome was the power of the world.  While Rome was a pretty diverse place and had a whole lot of religions going on, this particular one threatened the authority of Caesar since Christians would not recognize him as a living god.\n\nLong and short of it is that the quickly growing CHristian thing was a threat.  And a whole lot of subversion was undertaken to minimize or marginalize the threat.  A bunch of people started teaching inaccurate and blatantly false "Christian" teachings in order to confuse the new religion and help it disappear.  These Heretics (false teachers) succeeded in large part for the better part of 300 hundred years.  So now what you ended up with was a bunch of Apositles out there trying to teach the true teaching of Jesus having to compete with the Heretics (later known as the Gnostics.)\n\nIt was in 325 AD that the Church of Rome called together all the leaders of the Christian Churches to Nicea.  There, in Nicea, is where all the teachers agreed on the fundemental teachings of Christianity so that they all could be sure that they're teaching the same thing and so that they all could be sure that no one is teaching Herecy.  It was also there that the Church "cannonized" the Bible.  Basically they took a long hard look and researched all of the scriptures that were floating around and based on their research of where the scripture came from, who wrote it, the motive behind writting it, and whether or not it could be coraborated by other sources, they decided to put all the "good" scriptures into one book called the Bible.\n\nThe "left out" scriptures were left out for good reason.  They were herecy.
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hhmm u can just about google or yahoo anything you wanna look up so try that..heres one to get you started...as for books......i would say go for the teachings cause they help you understand what its really all about rather than the history part of it.....im learning too and it helps me differentiate between buddhism and taoism and maybe confucianism.......the site i sent ya has a history part...i think you should know a bit of the background before you go head in...hope this helps
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Islam.... Quran\nChristianity..... Holy Bible\nJudaism.... Tanakh (Torah Naviim and Khatuvim)\nBuddhism.... Dhammapada (this will very between sects)\nHinduism..... Bhagavad-Gita\nancient egypt...The Book of the Sky is one of many attributed by Egyptian Pharaoh, Akhenaten (i believe he is from the 18th dynasty) The Book of the Heavenly Cow is another which was begun during the reign of King Tut.... i'm sure there are others i'm not aware of\n\nunfortunately i don't know much about the last two\n\n****i'm not sure about the greatest pagan works but it is definitely something i'll look into\n\npeace and blessings to all
84729
Here you go...\n\nhttp://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11764a.htm\n\nADDED:\n\nSelections from Peter Damian's Letter on Divine Omnipotence\n\nhttp://www.pvspade.com/Logic/docs/damian.pdf
219889
Absolutely...a really good book to read is "Misquoting Jesus" by Bart Ehrman.  He did a lot of research on this topic.
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I have been going through the same thing right now.  I have done a lot of research and it is something that is really hard to prove.  Also there are 5 or 6 books that aren't in there and it makes me wonder who decided which books belong in the Bible and which don't.  Also have you noticed that other religions are just a loyal and believe just as strongly in their religions or "bibles" laws.  It's a strange thing.  Sometimes it makes me wonder if I always believed just because I was born here and my parents do .... I'm interested to see the answers you get though.
482317
Try books by Zachariah Sitchin he has some interesting books about ancient Sumeria.  Try The Twelfth Planet
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Try the following, the first one is the best.  But going to almost guarentee you it isn't going to work.\nhttp://www.whatismormonism.com/\nhttp://www.skepticsannotatedbible.com/BOM/index.htm
90945
You know, I would not worry so much about how to interpret it...\n\nBe centered in your heart, be very attached to your common sens and inner experience and be curious ... \n\nGnosticism has a formal slant to it...: as a dual path, such as what you may have read.\n\nOr there is a generalized understanding of it... That is: you believe in a higher power but not through any form of religions...\n\nUsually, true seeker can be gnostics as they are curious about life, respecting ALL ways and being honest with themselves in respecting their own experiences. Your true religion lies in understanding your own heart.
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Hello, my friend. This book--"Mere Christianity"--and especially this bit about Christ's being either a lunatic or else the Son of God, was instrumental in my opening up to Jesus, simply on account of the fact that I had, for years, "respected" Jesus of Nazareth as a great teacher, ever ignoring the (what I then thought to be) creepier things he was quoted as saying in the Gospels (such as "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Light")...and Lewis, with this very simple and basic observation, blew my cozy little respect for Jesus of Nazareth out of the water.\n\nWhich did something to a door. Meaning, I then had to face the very choice that Lewis proposed in this book. In other words, I was either going to have to open the door all the way (and believe Christ was who he said he is) or else close it (and believe Jesus of Nazareth to be deranged and blasphemous).\n\nUltimately, I would say that I chose to believe that Christ is God's Son, but truly God gave me the knowledge that Christ is his Son (John 6:44)...and perhaps he gave me the gift of faith for the sole reason that I was seeking it.
368020
Hi there! "Agnostic" means a person for whom the existence of God and the nature of thinks is unknown, or thinks that the human's knowledge is limited to facts experienced. A person that is not an atheist but, who has doubts about the existence of God. \n"Gnosticism" is a philosophical-religious current which tries to mix the christian theology with the greek philosophy and some oriental religions, sustaining the possibility to acquire the mystical knowledge. The greek word "gnosis" means the knowledge acquired through personal experience.
214525
Well I would probably become a gnostic. Hey, come to think of it that's exactly what happened! ;)
215804
the gospel of judas was written in 300 ad in egypt, it a gnostic gospel , judas had nothing to do with writing this gospel. the gnostics also wrote other gospels like nathans stevens and marys among others, gnostics could be compared to new age believers today who think knowledge is the ultimate goal of humanity. theyve turned satan, in the garden of eden, into good character , now you want me to believe a gospel from the gnostics about judas is true when they believe satan is a good guy because of his knowledge .. come on