The Gnostics

[jaybird]

thank you

and His kingdom (holy mother church) conquered the pagan Roman Empire

When a person converts to the faith, there is a change in their lifestyle. If a thief, murder, rapist becomes Christian, and they continue stealing, murdering and raping. Would you believe they are a real Christian?
Edit - you will ignore this question so I will explain, the roman empire continued it's same ways as the criminal I explained. This is what Jesus called "fruits". Bad fruit means bad tea teacher. Burning people alive, inquisitions, corruption and crusades are very bad fruit.

 

[theefaith]

When a person converts to the faith, there is a change in their lifestyle. If a thief, murder, rapist becomes Christian, and they continue stealing, murdering and raping. Would you believe they are a real Christian?
Edit - you will ignore this question so I will explain, the roman empire continued it's same ways as the criminal I explained. This is what Jesus called "fruits". Bad fruit means bad tea teacher. Burning people alive, inquisitions, corruption and crusades are very bad fruit.

yes

grace enables us to be holy
But we can still sin
We always have free will
If you don’t choose to sin freely then it’s not sin
But with the grace of God we can be saints

Matt 24:13 Jn 15:1
Must abide and endure

 

[Hidden In Him]

There seems to be some real confusion over what Gnosticism is, and whether we have some Gnostic members on this forum.

Or maybe it's just another form of character assassination. You can decide.

From https://www.theopedia.com/gnosticism

General beliefs
The following information is taken from Olson, The Story of Christian Theology, p. 37.

Matter or materiality
Gnostics believed that matter, whether it be the physical universe or the humanly body, is evil. It is obvious that there is a great tension between spirit and matter. This effects many of their beliefs and especially the way they perceive(d) the world and God's interactions with it.

God
God is wholly transcendent, that is, he is far removed from his creation. He did not create the material universe because it was instead created by an evil or lesser God, sometimes called a "demiurge". God is thus too perfect and pure to have much to do with the evilness of the material universe.

Humanity
Gnostics believed that human beings were "sparks" or "droplets" of the very same spiritual substance (or essence) that God is. Somehow we we became trapped in our physical bodies from which we are to escape.

The Fall
All Gnostics agreed that The Fall was identical to the fall into matter. In other words, creation and The Fall coincide. "As long as spirits are trapped in physical bodies and materiality, they will be subject to sin, which is caused by ignorance of their true nature and home."

Salvation
Gnosticism commonly held that "salvation is to escape from the bondage of the material existence and travel back to the home from which souls/spirits have fallen." God initiates salvation because he wants to draw back the stray bits and pieces of himself, and so he sends forth an emanation of himself - "a spiritual redeemer" - who comes down from heaven and gives an attempt to teach some of the "divine sparks of Spirit" what their true identity is and where their real home lies. Once they are awakened by this redeemer they can then begin their journey back home. "Salvation is by knowledge - self-knowledge."

I can't think of anyone on this forum who espouses these beliefs. Can you?

Much love!

Blessings Mark, and how are you lately! Hope you are blessed.

Listen, I have created a thread on this subject because I now think it is very timely. Tagged you for it, but I never know if the tag system works properly these days, so let me provide the link, and please come discuss it with me over there if you like. There's actually a lot to it, and I'm sure you might find it interesting.

God bless,
H

The Evils Of Gnosticism, Part 1

 

[marks]

Thanks for the direct approach, because for whatever reason I don't receive the @marks alerts.

Much love!

 

[marks]

Blessings Mark, and how are you lately! Hope you are blessed.

Listen, I have created a thread on this subject because I now think it is very timely. Tagged you for it, but I never know if the tag system works properly these days, so let me provide the link, and please come discuss it with me over there if you like. There's actually a lot to it, and I'm sure you might find it interesting.

God bless,
H

The Evils Of Gnosticism, Part 1

I'm not going to participate in an effort to impugn people as "Gnostics" over their position on the forgiveness of sins, if that's what you've got in mind. And to further label them witches, conducting witchcraft attacks against those with the Spirit of God, I'm not seeing that either.

I'll keep this on my thread so as to not interrupt yours, but I'll not participate. Thanks again for the invite.

Much love!

 

[marks]

There seems to be some real confusion over what Gnosticism is, and whether we have some Gnostic members on this forum.

Or maybe it's just another form of character assassination. You can decide.

 

[Hidden In Him]

I'm not going to participate in an effort to impugn people as "Gnostics" over their position on the forgiveness of sins, if that's what you've got in mind. And to further label them witches, conducting witchcraft attacks against those with the Spirit of God, I'm not seeing that either.

I'll keep this on my thread so as to not interrupt yours, but I'll not participate. Thanks again for the invite.

Much love!

Not a problem, Mark. I do not name names specifically for that reason, as I mean them no harm. But at the same time I feel duty bound to mention specifically what is going on here, as they are using the freedoms provided by this site to corrupt it. I am therefore using the same freedoms provided by the site to expose it. But it is not intended to vilify them. It is intended as a wake up call to the community that we need to be more aware of these things, for our sakes as well as theirs.

God bless, and thank you for your considerate posts. I will keep them in mind moving forward.
- H

 

[jaybird]

Blessings Mark, and how are you lately! Hope you are blessed.

Listen, I have created a thread on this subject because I now think it is very timely. Tagged you for it, but I never know if the tag system works properly these days, so let me provide the link, and please come discuss it with me over there if you like. There's actually a lot to it, and I'm sure you might find it interesting.

God bless,
H

The Evils Of Gnosticism, Part 1

the evils of Gnostics! ohh wow, i think i heard of those guys and their evil, they burned people alive, tortured people under inquisitions, confiscated innocent peoples land and homes, burned towns to the ground full of women and children, made it illegal for common people to read the bible, and spread their teachings by means of imperial armies. . . . . wait a sec, my mistake, that was the other guys

 

[Hidden In Him]

the evils of Gnostics! ohh wow, i think i heard of those guys and their evil, they burned people alive, tortured people under inquisitions, confiscated innocent peoples land and homes, burned towns to the ground full of women and children, made it illegal for common people to read the bible, and spread their teachings by means of imperial armies. . . . . wait a sec, my mistake, that was the other guys

Greetings Jaybird, and blessings to you.

The trouble with this argument is that you are not talking about True Christianity but other false forms of it which were just as much if not more evil. Both sent souls to Hell, they just did it through different religious and doctrinal systems, and one had the backing and power of the State behind them.

In order to make this argument, you would need to establish that the New Testament Christians were doing these things, and in order to do that you would need scripture for it. But I am open to discussing it if you think there is a case from the scriptures.

God bless,
Hidden In Him

 

[Amazed@grace]

The g in the Freemason symbol stands for Gnosticism

That isn't exactly so. The G stands for Geometry.