Gnostic Christianity
In the first century AD, there was no overarching, orthodox Church to look to for guidance and unity. Instead, Christianity was a diverse mixture of groups; all with their own interpretations, but with one common goal: extricate itself from the centuries-old Judaism. Therefore, as unconventional Gnosticism might seem today, it did not arise in a vacuum. At its beginning, it was simply one more offshoot with its own explanation and their explanation was that the Old Testament had been interpreted incorrectly.
The core difference between Gnosticism and Christianity is that Gnostics turn the Old Testament upside down by saying the world was not actually created by God, but by a demon. With all the suffering and pain, it seemed paradoxical that an all-knowing, all-loving God could have created such an atrocity. Gnostic’s beliefs are best summed up by Douglas Adams in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy: “In the beginning, the Universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move.”.
Although it might seem unusual and eccentric, it was very helpful in solving a problem that orthodox Christians have always struggled with-how a loving God can exist with so much needless suffering. It also helped Gnsoticis make sense of passages where the creator seemed completely and downright evil such as Genesis 6:5-22: “The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become,...7 So the Lord said, “I will wipe from the face of the earth the human race I have created...for I regret that I have made them.” There are also passages such as John 5:19 which only make sense under a gnostic interpretation: “We know that we are God’s children and that the whole world lies under the power of the evil one.”
In Gnosticism, the creation myth is also completely flipped upside down. Gnostics believe the demon created Adam and Eve and imprisoned divine sparks from Heaven inside them. However, he couldn’t bear the thought that they were more perfect them him so he trapped them in the Garden of Eden. He issued the Ten Commandments and then proceeded to break every single one. The true God, seeing all the suffering, disguised himself as a snake to try and give Adam and Eve truth and knowledge. In Christianity, this is where the original sin occurred and the reason there is so much evil in the world. Gnostics, however, believe it is in fact the original innocence and that needless suffering is the creator’s fault, not humanity’s.
Jesus plays the same role of savior in both Christianity and Gnosticism. However, in Christianity, he is sent to save humanity from itself. In the latter, he is sent to save humanity from the demon creator which again plays into the original sin vs original innocence theme. Gnostics placed considerable emphasis on Jesus’s words. Most of their scripture is simply him speaking. However, where Christians believe that his words were the ends themselves, Gnostics believe they were the means to an end and that his purpose was to help them remember their divine nature and to seek knowledge (basically to become Christ themselves). As Phillip puts it in the gnostic scripture: Gospel of Phillip, “[Many people] go down into the water [of baptism] and come up without having received anything.”[9].
Questions
What do you think about gnostic beliefs?
Do they make more sense than Christian ones?
If not, how would you explain evil without using the “part of God’s plan excuse”?
How do you make sense of a loving God wiping out his creation with a flood, killing firstborns, making parents sacrifice their children to prove their faith?
Does this make you think deeper about the way you interpret the bible?
Do you believe humanity is inherently evil or innocent?
gnosticismexplained.org/god-the-father-in-gnosticism/
No comments:
Post a Comment