Someone explain gnosticism?
461267
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.
475472
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
508345
Some, like the Gospel of Thomas, seem as sound as anything in the NT.  Some Gnostic scriptures are so strange I am not sure what they are about, like Thunder, Perfect Mind.\n\nhttp://www.gnosis.org/naghamm/thunder.html
604594
The Gnostic Gospels are a set of several Gospels (not sure of the exact number) you can find them at most Barnes & Nobels in the Christianity section, under the name Nag Hammadi Scrolls, or Gnostic Gospels.
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Its a belief\n\nAgnosticism is the philosophical view that the truth values of certain claims—particularly theological claims regarding the existence of God, gods, or deities—are unknown, inherently unknowable, or incoherent, and therefore, (some agnostics may go as far to say) irrelevant to life. The term and the related agnostic were coined by Thomas Henry Huxley in 1869, and are also used to describe those who are unconvinced or noncommittal about the existence of deities as well as other matters of religion. The word agnostic comes from the Greek a (without) and gnosis (knowledge). Agnosticism is not to be confused with a view specifically opposing the doctrine of gnosis and Gnosticism—these are religious concepts that are not generally related to agnosticism.\n\nAgnosticism is distinct from, but compatible with, atheism. It is also compatible with theism. This is because agnosticism is a view about knowledge concerning God, whereas theism and atheism are beliefs (or lack thereof) concerning God. For example, it is possible to believe in God but to believe that knowledge about God is not obtainable.\n\nAgnostics may claim that it isn't possible to have absolute or certain spiritual knowledge or, alternatively, that while certainty may be possible, they personally have no such knowledge. Agnosticism in both cases involves some form of skepticism towards religious statements.\n\nSome claim that there is nothing distinctive in being an agnostic because even theists do not claim to know God exists, only to believe it, and many even agree there is room for doubt; and atheists in the broader sense do not claim to know there is no God, only not to believe in one.
373847
I found the language of the show to be quite interesting. Fore instance, during the first half of the show, they kept asking the question: "Is it real?" This isn't really what they meant, what they meant was "Is it old?" To me, they were implying that "real" = "true".\n\nThey also did not mention several Gnostic beliefs that would have discredited the movement in many people's eyes. You remember the scene at the last supper when they talked about Jesus laughing because the disciples were worshipping the wrong God, that the God who created the universe was actually an inferior God that was not worthy to be worshipped. What they didn't say was that Gnostics believed that this was the God of the Old Testament, so they ignored the Old Testament.\n\nAnother thing that stuck out to me was the phrase "When Jesus appeared on the Earth." Because they believed that the material world was evil, they had what is known as a Docetic view of Jesus. That is, that Jesus only appeared to be human, because God would have never become human and contaminated himself with the material world.\n\nI strongly agree with the speaker at the end who said that the Gospel of Judas provides valuable historical information about the history of Christianity and the movements within it. It shows us that there was never one single Christianity being practiced.  People have beein arguing about who Jesus was since a few minutes after he died.  With that being said, I do not personally believe it provides a historically accurate picture of the characters of Jesus and Judas.\n\nFinally, they seemed to think the fact that there were many Christianities unique. I have to disagree with that. There are many different versions of the Christian faith today, with different holy texts, etc. The book of Mormon is a prime example.\n\nIf you read the other Gnostic texts, you will find they have a lot in common with the Gospel of Judas.  For instance, both the Gospel of Judas and the Gospel of Thomas elevate one of the Disciples above the others.  The Gospel of Mary Magdalene does the same thing for Mary.  None of the four canonical gospels does this for their author.\n\nAnother thing that absolutely amazes me is that we have 4 gospels that tell very similar stories.  There are some minor differences in the order of events or the events included, but they are consistant for the most part.  One new gospel is found that offers a different story and many people jump on that and say, "Wow!  This is the real story."  It just doesn't make any sense.
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The gospel of Thomas contains material that supports a gnostic view of Christianity, where each believer is to meditate and pray and come to know God by himself rather than trust into mama church and let the priest tell him what is correct.\n\nUnderstandably, organized religion has taken a dim view of this.
1019658
Agnostic is someone who believes that it is impossible to know wether there is a God.\nSo he would have to be referring to Creation. Since Evolution has nothing to do with creation.
6142
Gnostic means "to know", specifically "hidden knowledge". Paul dealt with gnostic belief often in his writings, like to the Ephesians. Which is why he wrote...\n\n"And he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ"\n\nBasically, everything we NEED to know, we know NOW through the gospel of Christ. Anything "new" is adding to the gospel and is therefore cultic.
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Gnostic means you're skeptical but with a heavy lean towards believing.  Agnostic means your skeptical but with a heavy lean towards atheism.\n\nBtw that guy who said agnostics don't try to learn anything, that's a load of BS.  I'm pretty much agnostic and I continually improve my knowledge.
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It is my understanding that:\n\nActually, NONE of the gospels are the direct words of Jesus.  They were all written a couple generations after (Luke and Mark weren't even apostles!).\n\nThe Gnostic Gospels were not included into the bible because they preach a more self-sufficient version of Christianity, where the person, not the church, is responsible for their relationship with God.  They refer to Christianity in a similar sense as modern buddhism.\n\nIt is MY belief (and I emphasize belief, as no one knows for sure) that the gnostic gospels were excluded from the bible because:\n\n- They de-emphasize the church...therefore leaving less influenece, power, and control over the religion for the church\n\n- They emphasize a more "inner religion", where its not about what the religion as a whole wants or believes, but rather the individual person.  This can be deeply fulfilling for an individual, or very unnerving as there would be little unison and coordination in the religion.\n\n- They did not properly imply the possibility that Jesus was God.
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The word gnoso in Greek means "knowledge". The gnostics beleived they had "hidden knowledge" regarding Christ. You can tell present day gnostics by their use of extra-biblical text. Yes, the Bible is all well and good, but THIS book or THIS magazine will give you the REAL truth.\n\nThis is also seen in the DaVinci code (fiction supposedly based on fact), L. Ron Hubbard (science fiction taken as fact) and the gospel according to Judas (ancient text accepted as viable).
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My faith, I do not claim religion, is in Jesus Christ and His teachings in God's Holy Word... the Bible.\n\nGnostic Gospels: \nA one-sentence description of Gnosticism: a religion that differentiates the evil god of this world (who is identified with the god of the Old Testament) from a higher more abstract God revealed by Jesus Christ, a religion that regards this world as the creation of a series of evil archons/powers who wish to keep the human soul trapped in an evil physical body, a religion that preaches a hidden wisdom or knowledge only to a select group as necessary for salvation or escape from this world. \n\nThe term "gnostic" derives from "gnosis," which means "knowledge" in Greek. The Gnostics believed that they were privy to a secret knowledge about the divine, hence the name. (Huxley coined "agnosticism" on the basis that all knowledge must be based on reason. We cannot rationally claim to have access to knowledge that is beyond the powers of the intellect.)
987504
I read it and found it very good.  I have been studying the Gnostic scriptures for quite a while now.
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The term "gnostic" derives from "gnosis," which means "knowledge" in Greek. The Gnostics believed that they were privy to a secret knowledge about the divine, hence the name. \n\nThere are numerous references to the Gnostics in second century proto-orthodox literature. Most of what we know about them is from the polemic thrown at them by the early Church Fathers. They are alluded to in the Bible in the pastorals (spurious Paulines of 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, and Titus), for example 1 Tm 1:4 and 1 Tm 6:20, and possibly the entirety of Jude. Ignatius of Antioch writes against them as well as Docetism, a doctrine closely related to Gnosticism that stated that Christ was pure spirit and had only a phantom body. Second Clement is a document aimed at refuting early second century Gnosticism. Marcion was the most famous of the Gnostics, and he established a "canon" of the Pauline epistles (minus the pastorals) and a "mutilated" Luke (presumably considered so because it lacked proof-texts such as Lk 22:43-44). Justin Martyr mentioned him c. 150 CE, and Irenaeus and Tertullian wrote against him extensively in the late second century. \n\nBesides Marcion, other important Gnostics were Basilides and Valentinus. Some Gnostic documents are the Gospel of Truth, the Letter to Rheginus, Treatise on the Three Natures, Apocalypse of Adam, the Gospel of Matthias, Gospel of Philip, Acts of Peter, and Acts of Thomas. Although the Gnostics were prolific writers, most of their works have been burnt or lost in favor of proto-orthodox writings (and known only through patristic references). \n\nSome scholars have theorized that Gnosticism has its roots in pre-Christian religions, instead of being merely an offshoot of Christianity.
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Gnosticism is a blanket term for various religions and sects most prominent in the first few centuries AD Many elements of 2nd century gnosticsm are pre-Christian. The name of gnosticism comes from the Greek word for knowledge, gnosis (γνώσις), referring to the idea that there is special, hidden knowledge that only a few may possess.  It's basically a religious orientation advocating gnosis as the way to release a person's spiritual element; considered heresy by Christian churches
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Theist comes from the greek word theos meaning 'God' and Gnostic comes from the greek word gnosis,which means knowledge.An 'a' in front of the word means 'without', so an atheist is without god and an agnostic is without knowledge (of God).