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Gnosticism
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This article is part of a series on Gnosticism
History of Gnosticism
Early Gnosticism
Syrian-Egyptic Gnosticism
Gnosticism in modern times
Proto-Gnostics
Philo
Simon Magus
Cerinthus
Valentinus
Basilides
Gnostic texts
Gnostic Gospels
Nag Hammadi library
Codex Tchacos
Askew Codex
Bruce Codex
Gnosticism and the New Testament
Related articles
Gnosis
Neoplatonism and Gnosticism
Mandaeism
Manichaeism
Bosnian Church
Esoteric Christianity
Theosophy
Gnosticism Portal
 v • d • e 
.Gnosticism (Greek: γνῶσις gnōsis, knowledge) refers to diverse, syncretistic religious movements in antiquity consisting of various belief systems generally united in the teaching that the cosmos was created by an imperfect god, the demiurge with some of the supreme God's pneuma; this being is frequently identified with the Abrahamic God, (as opposed to the Gospel according to the Hebrews) and is contrasted with a superior entity, referred to by several terms including Pleroma and Godhead.^ For for this cause was the gospel preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit.” (1 Peter 4:6.
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Its usually a unique teaching of the Mormon Chruch to view God the Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost as three distinct beings, all one in purpose.
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ The Gnostic/Hermetic doctrine of the divinity of man is the basis for various movements (self-esteem, human potential, interfaith, monastic/ascetic).

 [1] Depictions of the demiurge—the term originates with Plato's Timaeus[2]—vary from being as an embodiment of evil, to being merely imperfect and as benevolent as its inadequacy permits. .Gnosticism was a dualistic religion, influenced by and influencing Hellenic philosophy, Judaism (see Notzrim), and Christianity;[3] however, by contrast, later strands of the movement, such as the Valentinians, held a monistic world-view.^ It is clear, however, that Gnostic Christianity flourished from at least the 2nd - 5th c.
  • The Philosophy of the Matrix 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC onwardoverland.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Only later Christian consciousness began to value the idea of hell more than the idea of the transfiguration and divinization of the world...

 ^ The love feast of the Cathars and the elevation of Sophia to the goddess of wisdom in the Gnostic religion demonstrate their egalitarian views."

 [4] This, along with the varying treatments of the demiurge, may be seen as indicative of the variety of positions held within the category.
.The gnōsis referred to in the term is a form of mystic, revealed, esoteric knowledge through which the spiritual elements of humanity are reminded of their true origins within the superior Godhead, being thus permitted to escape materiality.^ Man supposedly becomes divine through mystical contemplation and spiritual initiation.

 ^ In other words, man can become a god through the immediate knowledge of the spiritual truth held by the ancient Gnostics.

 ^ RITES TO INITIATE THE ELECT - Through the rite of the Five Seals, the Elect remember their true origin, as names and images in the Upper Aeons which reflect the One back to itself.
  • A GLOSSARY OF GNOSTIC TERMS A - F 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.gnosticq.com [Source type: Original source]

 [5] .Consequently, within the sects of gnosticism only the pneumatics or psychics obtain gnōsis; the hylic or Somatics, though human, being incapable of perceiving the higher reality, are unlikely to attain the gnōsis deemed by gnostic movements as necessary for salvation.^ The Gnostic/Hermetic doctrine of the divinity of man is the basis for various movements (self-esteem, human potential, interfaith, monastic/ascetic).

 ^ Human beings are being actively deceived by the Matrix into believing things about reality that are not true.
  • The Philosophy of the Matrix 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC onwardoverland.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ One cannot help wondering if this dictum only holds within the Matrix or if there is in fact "no spoon" even in the real world beyond it.
  • The Philosophy of the Matrix 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC onwardoverland.com [Source type: Original source]

 [6][7] .Jesus of Nazareth is identified by some Gnostic sects as an embodiment of the supreme being who became incarnate to bring gnōsis to the earth.^ "[James Parks] Morton's views evolved 'The Earth is God's Body, Jesus and Earth--God incarnate in the flesh of the Earth, flesh of the water , the flesh of the elements of creation and how that creation is suffering -- the passion of the creation .'...

 ^ God is bringing forth seed in the earth like Jesus Christ Himself.

 ^ Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God.” (PHILIPPIANS 2:6 Paul said, in speaking about the resurrected Lord Jesus Christ.
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

 [8] In others (e.g. the .Notzrim and Mandaeans) he is considered a mšiha kdaba or "false messiah" who perverted the teachings entrusted to him by John the Baptist.^ Those priests or deacons who falsely teach of Christ’s deeds are “the counterfeit ones, indeed, that there are multitudes that will mislead other multitudes” (Apocalypse of Peter) .
  • A GLOSSARY OF GNOSTIC TERMS A - F 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.gnosticq.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ In the Acts of John, Christ dances with his twelve disciples, who form a ring around him.
  • A GLOSSARY OF GNOSTIC TERMS A - F 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.gnosticq.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ John lived to a very old age and had many Greek/non Jewish > > followers who could help him in his writings.
  • The Bible proved right again. - Atheism vs Christianity | Google Groups 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC groups.google.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
  • The Bible proved right again. - Atheism vs Christianity | Google Groups 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC groups.google.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

 [9] .Still other traditions identify Mani and Seth, third son of Adam and Eve, as salvific figures.^ And it was sown in the aeons” (Gospel of the Egyptians) - In the Apocryphon of John, the heavenly Adam (Pigera-Adamas) appears in the first aeon, his son Seth appears in the second aeon and the seed of Seth (the Elect) appear in the third aeon: “Through the revelation of the will of the invisible Spirit (...
  • A GLOSSARY OF GNOSTIC TERMS A - F 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.gnosticq.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ They became mortal when they separated: “When Eve was still with Adam, death did not exist.
  • A GLOSSARY OF GNOSTIC TERMS A - F 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.gnosticq.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ And in the third aeon the seed of Seth was placed over the third light Daveithai.” (Apocryphon of John) - Adam and Eve once had the pneuma (spirit, divine spark) and the gnosis (knowledge of the Upper Aeons).
  • A GLOSSARY OF GNOSTIC TERMS A - F 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.gnosticq.com [Source type: Original source]

 [10]
.Whereas Gnosticism has been considered by scholars to originate as a branch of Christianity, alternate theories have proposed traces of Gnostic systems existed some centuries before the Christian Era, thus predating the birth of Jesus.^ The esoteric tradition of Solomon spanned the centuries to the era of Gnostic Christianity which preceded the Merovingian Age.

 ^ In the earlier centuries of Christianity, Epiphany was considered to be more important than Christmas, even by the so-called orthodox church.

 ^ Elaine Pagels notes that the similarities between Gnosticism and Buddhism have prompted some scholars to question their interdependence and to wonder whether "...if the names were changed, the 'living Buddha' appropriately could say what the Gospel of Thomas attributes to the living Jesus."
  • The Philosophy of the Matrix 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC onwardoverland.com [Source type: Original source]

 [11] .The movement spread in areas controlled by the Roman Empire and Arian Goths [12], and the Persian Empire; it continued to develop in the Mediterranean and Middle East before and during the second and third centuries.^ The Macedonian king conquered the Persian Empire and caused the Greek language and philosophy to be spread throughout much of the known world, including Egypt.

 ^ The Nestorians go into exile in the Persian Empire and become the Assyrian Orthodox Church of the East."

 .Conversion to Islam and the Albigensian Crusade (1209–1229) greatly reduced the remaining number of Gnostics throughout the Middle Ages, though a few isolated communities continue to exist to the present.^ It was for this reason that, when Simon de Montfort and the armies of Pope Innocent III descended upon the region in 1209, it was called the Albigensian Crusade.

 ^ THE BRIDAL CHAMBER IN GENERAL - Since it is a mystery, the Bridal Chamber is compared to the Holy of Holies: “The Holy of the Holies is the bridal chamber.” (Gospel of Philip) - The Bridal Chamber has not been revealed explicitly through the existing Gnostic texts, and remains a mystery.
  • A GLOSSARY OF GNOSTIC TERMS A - F 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.gnosticq.com [Source type: Original source]

 .Gnostic ideas became influential in the philosophies of various esoteric mystical movements of the late 19th and 20th centuries in Europe and North America, including some that explicitly identify themselves as revivals or even continuations of earlier gnostic groups.^ In the earlier centuries of Christianity, Epiphany was considered to be more important than Christmas, even by the so-called orthodox church.

 ^ The Gnostic/Hermetic doctrine of the divinity of man is the basis for various movements (self-esteem, human potential, interfaith, monastic/ascetic).

 ^ Gnostic mysticism is the goal of the ecumenical movement and will be the basis of the final reformation of religion.

Contents

Nature and structure of Gnosticism

The main features of gnosticism

Gnostic systems (particularly the Syrian-Egyptian schools) are typically marked out by:
.
."And the Sophia of the Epinoia [...] brought forth.^ And she brought forth.” (Apocryphon of John) - This same schema appears in the The Trimorphic Protennoia: “And at that instant, his Light appeared, radiant, endowed with the Epinoia (...
  • A GLOSSARY OF GNOSTIC TERMS A - F 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.gnosticq.com [Source type: Original source]

 .And [...] something came out of her which was imperfect and different from her appearance, because she had created it without her consort.^ Then the bridegroom came down to the bride.” (Exegesis on the Soul 132:7) - To create another androgynous being, the two consorts ‘consent’ to create a third.
  • A GLOSSARY OF GNOSTIC TERMS A - F 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.gnosticq.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Just because man enjoys something does not mean it comes from God (The God who created the universe and man, not the man that became god as mormonism teaches).
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Sophia’s fault was that she created without her consort’s consent, resulting in the bastard child Yaltabaoth, who engendered the Lower Aeons.
  • A GLOSSARY OF GNOSTIC TERMS A - F 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.gnosticq.com [Source type: Original source]

 .And it was dissimilar to the likeness of its mother, for it has another form.^ He made another creature, in the form of a woman, according to the likeness of the Epinoia which had appeared to him.
  • A GLOSSARY OF GNOSTIC TERMS A - F 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.gnosticq.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ And he (Yaltabaoth) made another creature, in the form of a woman, according to the likeness of the Epinoia which had appeared to him.” (Apocryphon of John).
  • A GLOSSARY OF GNOSTIC TERMS A - F 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.gnosticq.com [Source type: Original source]
"And when she saw (the consequences of) her desire, it changed into a form of a lion-faced serpent. And its eyes were like lightning fires which flash. .She cast it away from her, outside that place, that no one of the immortal ones might see it, for she had created it in ignorance."^ To wit, that the human being, like the immortals, naturally places sexual intercourse far and away above all other joys yet he has left it out of his heaven!
  • The Philosophy of the Matrix 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC onwardoverland.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ The philosopher Rene Descartes suggested a similar worry: the frightening possibility that all of one's experiences might be the result of a powerful outside force, a "malicious demon."
  • The Philosophy of the Matrix 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC onwardoverland.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Thus man is placed on a par with his creator: both are divine and immortal ; man therefore creates when he procreates."
.From The Secret Book of John (long version), Nag Hammadi Library, Codex II, trans.^ See The Nag Hammadi Library, pp.
  • The Philosophy of the Matrix 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC onwardoverland.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Nag Hammadi Library, pp.
  • The Philosophy of the Matrix 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC onwardoverland.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Several of the Nag Hammadi texts are apocryphonic, such as the Apocryphon of John and the Apocryphon of James.
  • A GLOSSARY OF GNOSTIC TERMS A - F 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.gnosticq.com [Source type: Original source]

 Frederik Wisse.[13]
  1. The notion of a remote, supreme monadic divinity, source - this figure is known under a variety of names, including 'Pleroma' (fullness, totality) and 'Bythos' (depth, profundity);
  2. The introduction by emanation of further divine beings, which are nevertheless identifiable as aspects of the God from which they proceeded; the progressive emanations are often conceived metaphorically as a gradual and progressive distancing from the ultimate source, which brings about an instability in the fabric of the divine nature;
  3. The introduction of a distinct creator God or demiurge.^ In addition to this god there are other, lesser divine beings in the pleroma (akin to heaven, a division of the universe that is not Earth), who possess some metaphorical gender of male or female.16 Pairs of these beings are able to produce offspring that are themselves divine emanations, perfect in their own ways.17 A problem arises when one "aeon" or being named Sophia (Greek for wisdom), a female, decides "to bring forth a likeness out of herself without the consent of the Spirit," that is, to produce an offspring without her consort (Apocry.
    • The Philosophy of the Matrix 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC onwardoverland.com [Source type: Original source]

     ^ The 'Followers of Horus'...may be identified with a single and originally heliopolitan 'brotherhood' of temple-makers whose function was to prepare and initiate the generations of the Horus kings in order to bring about the 'resurrection' of what was remembered as 'the former world of the gods'."

     ^ And if they do not have libertarian free will, as long as they are the product of human free will, they are not part of the environment God knowingly created.
    • The Philosophy of the Matrix 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC onwardoverland.com [Source type: Original source]

     .Which is an illusion and as a later emanation from the single monad or source, this second God is a lesser and inferior or false God.^ Rather, the temporally evolving content of each monad is synchronized with the evolving content of all the other monads by God, creating the illusion of a shared real world.
    • The Philosophy of the Matrix 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC onwardoverland.com [Source type: Original source]

     .This creator god is commonly referred to as the demiourgós (a technical term literally denoting a public worker the Latinized form of Greek dēmiourgos, δημιουργός, hence "ergon or energy", "public God or skilled worker" "false God" or "God of the masses"), used in the Platonist tradition.^ "Many Kabbalists conceive of God as embodying both male and female energies, which were divided during creation as part of the process of emanation.

     ^ You also use very disrespectful words referring to someone, even if you do not have a complete knowledge, who could be the Son of God.
    • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

     ^ Answering this question is important to some degree because we typically use the term "enslavement" to refer to something done by one agent to some others.
    • The Philosophy of the Matrix 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC onwardoverland.com [Source type: Original source]

     [14]
    The gnostic demiurge bears resemblance to figures in Plato's Timaeus and Republic. .In the former the demiourgós is a central figure, as benevolent creator of the universe who works to make the universe as benevolent as the limitations of matter will allow; in the latter, the description of the leontomorphic 'desire' in Socrates' model of the psyche bears a resemblance to descriptions of the demiurge as being in the shape of the lion; the relevant passage of The Republic was found within a major gnostic library discovered at Nag Hammadi,[15] wherein a text existed describing the demiurge as a 'lion-faced serpent'.[13]
    Elsewhere this figure is called 'Ialdabaoth',[13] 'Samael' (Aramaic: sæmʕa-ʔel, 'blind god') or 'Saklas' (Syriac: sækla, 'the foolish one'), who is sometimes ignorant of the superior God, and sometimes opposed to it; thus in the latter case he is correspondingly malevolent.    ^ Nag Hammadi Library, pp.
    • The Philosophy of the Matrix 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC onwardoverland.com [Source type: Original source]

     ^ See Nag Hammadi Library, pp.
    • The Philosophy of the Matrix 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC onwardoverland.com [Source type: Original source]

     ^ "The creation of the universe (according to the phallic adepts) is the work of the hermaphrodite god.
    .The demiurge as a tyrannical God having caused the imperfect material world and all of its suffering, is as the creator God of the pagan philosophers (Zeus) and the Judaeo-Christian-Islamic creator God (Yahweh or Adonai) not real but a construct or illusion of the human mind (as nous).^ What does the Christian world know about God?
    • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

     ^ PROGRAM OF GOD Church Age : Jesus prayed for the unity of all true Christians.

     ^ The Christian world, so called, are heathens as to their knowledge of the salvation of God.” (Brigham Young, JD 8:171) .
    • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

     .Since no secondary creator God is necessary or of high importance as everything is eternal or emanated and can not be created or destroyed.^ "Many Kabbalists conceive of God as embodying both male and female energies, which were divided during creation as part of the process of emanation.

     ^ I personally believe that any religion that claims that God is a exalted man is a false religion and is of man, not the eternal God of creation.
    • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

     ^ They presumably lacked some of God's creative abilities, but they also had fewer constraints, since God is supposed to be no deceiver.10 Why was the First Matrix a disaster?
    • The Philosophy of the Matrix 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC onwardoverland.com [Source type: Original source]

     The demiurge typically creates a group of co-actors named 'Archons', who preside over the material realm and, in some cases, present obstacles to the soul seeking ascent from it;[13] .
    [The demiurge] is blind; because of his power and his ignorance and his arrogance he said, with his power, ."It is I who am God; there is none apart from me."^ Correct my errors, please… Only thing I can conclude is that if one goes back far enough there had to be God who started it all.
    • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

     ^ And now, behold, my beloved brethren, this is the way; and there is none other way nor name given under heaven whereby man can be saved in the kingdom of God.
    • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

     ^ NEW HEAVENS & NEW EARTH Only the saved will inhabit the New Jerusalem; none shall dwell there who 'defileth or worketh abomination or maketh a lie'.

     When he said this, he sinned against the entirety. .And this speech got up to incorruptibility; then there was a voice that came forth from incorruptibility, saying, "You are mistaken, Samael" - which is, "god of the blind."^ In the Christian view of God as set forth in the Bible, there are many elements.

     ^ I do realize that there are Mormons out there who believe the sort of thing you described up there, but there’s an important nuance that needs to be brought out.
    • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

     ^ See CHRISM, FIRE - Nevertheless, John the Baptist says: “I baptize with water, but he (Christ) will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.” (Matthew 3:11) Hence, there is also a ‘baptism of fire’.
    • A GLOSSARY OF GNOSTIC TERMS A - F 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.gnosticq.com [Source type: Original source]
    .From The Hypostasis of the Archons or The Reality of the Rulers, Nag Hammadi Library, Codex II, trans.^ See The Nag Hammadi Library, pp.
    • The Philosophy of the Matrix 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC onwardoverland.com [Source type: Original source]

     ^ Nag Hammadi Library, pp.
    • The Philosophy of the Matrix 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC onwardoverland.com [Source type: Original source]

     ^ The Nag Hammadi Library, revised edition, (New York: HarperCollins, 1990; reprint of original Brill edition, 1978).
    • The Philosophy of the Matrix 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC onwardoverland.com [Source type: Original source]

     Bentley Layton.[16]
  4. The estimation of the world, owing to the above, as flawed or a production of 'error' but possibly good as its constituent material might allow.^ Neo learns about the true structure of reality and about his own true identity, which allows him to break the rules of the material world he now perceives to be an illusion.
    • The Philosophy of the Matrix 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC onwardoverland.com [Source type: Original source]

     [4] .This world is typically an inferior simulacrum of a higher-level reality or consciousness.^ It's easy to think that this is a Gnostic, Buddhist or Platonic/Christian parable, in which what we take to be reality is an illusion, and we have to wake from the world of appearances to some kind of higher spiritual reality.
    • The Philosophy of the Matrix 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC onwardoverland.com [Source type: Original source]

     .The inferiority may be compared to the technical inferiority of a painting, sculpture, or other handicraft to the thing(s) of which those crafts are supposed to be a representation.^ Still,) those (who are) above opened to us the things below, in order that we may go in to the secret of the truth.
    • A GLOSSARY OF GNOSTIC TERMS A - F 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.gnosticq.com [Source type: Original source]

     ^ After the fact we may kick ourselves in the ass, but at the time if we saw any other viable alternatives we would have taken those.
    • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

     ^ As I may not always be on this forum, if any would like to keep in contact with me, or see other things I have written.
    • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

     In certain other cases it takes on a more ascetic tendency to view material existence, negatively. .Which then becomes more extreme when materiality, and the human body, is perceived as evil and constrictive, a deliberate prison for its inhabitants;
  5. The explanation of this state through the use of a complex mythological-cosmological drama in which a divine element 'falls' into the material realm and lodges itself within certain human beings; from here, it may be returned to the divine realm through a process of awakening (leading towards salvation).^ "It is through the Shekhinah that humans can experience the Divine...

     ^ Man supposedly becomes divine through mystical contemplation and spiritual initiation.

     ^ However, actually using humans as a source of energy_batteries, if you like_is a much sweeter solution, and more complete.
    • The Philosophy of the Matrix 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC onwardoverland.com [Source type: Original source]

     The salvation of the individual thus mirrors a concurrent restoration of the divine nature; a central Gnostic innovation was to elevate individual redemption to the level of a cosmically significant event;
The model limits itself to describing characteristics of the Syrian-Egyptian school of Gnosticism. This is for the reason that the greatest expressions of the Persian gnostic school - Manicheanism and Mandaeanism - are typically conceived of as religious traditions in their own right; indeed, the typical usage of 'Gnosticism' is to refer to the Syrian-Egyptian schools alone, while 'Manichean' describes the movements of the Persia school.
This conception of Gnosticism has in recent times come to be challenged. Despite this, the understanding presented above remains the most common and is useful in aiding meaningful discussion of the phenomena that compose Gnosticism. .Above all, the central idea of gnōsis, a knowledge superior to and independent of faith made it welcome to many who were half-converted from paganism to Christianity.^ Mystern-”Finally, I agree that anyone who is curious about the LDS faith should seek out someone knowledgeable who can answer their questions in person.
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ And thus the whole creation was made blind, in order that they may not know God, who is above all of them.
  • A GLOSSARY OF GNOSTIC TERMS A - F 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.gnosticq.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Berdyaev writes: 'The central idea of the Eastern Fathers was that of Theosis, the divinization of all creatures, the transfiguration of the world, the idea of the cosmos and not the idea of personal salvation...

 The Valentinians, for example, considered pistis (Greek: "faith") as consisting of accepting a body of teaching as true, being principally intellectual or emotional in character.[17] .The age of the Gnostics was highly diverse, they seem to have originated in Alexandria and coexisted with the early Christians until the 4th century AD and due to there being no fixed church authority, syncretism with pre-existing belief systems as well as new religions were often embraced.^ Mysticism "A very important aspect of the secret societies has always been the ultimate unification of the world religions...based on the restoration of the pre-Christian Mystery Tradition , which had been persecuted by the early Church, and forced to go underground in medieval Europe, and that all religions had originated in a universal spirituality referred to as the Perennial Philosophy, the Primordial Tradition or the Ancient Wisdom ."

 ^ ENNOIA AS PRONOIA AND PROTONOIA - The Gnostic texts emphasize that all the beings which came to exist in the Upper Aeons were ‘first’ and so they ‘pre-exist’.
  • A GLOSSARY OF GNOSTIC TERMS A - F 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.gnosticq.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ In one schema, the Elect are ‘pre-existent’ because they existed before the foundation of the world.
  • A GLOSSARY OF GNOSTIC TERMS A - F 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.gnosticq.com [Source type: Original source]

 According to Clement of Alexandria, "...In the times of the Emperor Hadrian appeared those who devised heresies, and they continued until the age of the elder Antoninus."[18]
.The relationship between Gnosticism and Orthodox Christianity during the late first and the whole of the second century is vital in helping us to further understand the main doctrines of Gnosticism; due in part to the fact that, prior to the discovery of the Nag Hammadi Library, much of what we know today about gnosticism has only been preserved in the summaries and assessments of early church fathers.^ Nag Hammadi Library, pp.
  • The Philosophy of the Matrix 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC onwardoverland.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ See Nag Hammadi Library, pp.
  • The Philosophy of the Matrix 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC onwardoverland.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ As such, Gnostic Christians have spirits while orthodox Christians only have souls.
  • A GLOSSARY OF GNOSTIC TERMS A - F 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.gnosticq.com [Source type: Original source]

 .Irenaeus declares in his treatise "Against Heresies"[19] that Gnostic movements subjected all morality to the caprice of the individual, and made any fixed rule of faith impossible.^ See ANTHROPOS. - Hence, all actions pertaining to the body and soul - movement, hunger, desire, fear, illness, aging, death - are subject to the demons’ influence.
  • A GLOSSARY OF GNOSTIC TERMS A - F 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.gnosticq.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ The moral compass of the individual is subjective to the point of being nonexistent.
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Remember that any arguments made against a single religion must be made based on the canon law or mainstream teachings of the faith and not the actions of a few fanatical individuals.
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

 .According to Irenaeus, a certain sect known as the "Cainites" professed to impart a knowledge "greater and more sublime" than the ordinary doctrine of Christians, and believed that Cain derived his power from the superior Godhead.^ Knowledge is power, the more you know about people around you, the better off you are.
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ In the earlier centuries of Christianity, Epiphany was considered to be more important than Christmas, even by the so-called orthodox church.

 ^ Only later Christian consciousness began to value the idea of hell more than the idea of the transfiguration and divinization of the world...

 [20] .Although a Gnostic Christian himself, Clement of Alexandria, a 2nd century church father and the first notable member of the Church of Alexandria, raised a criticism against the followers of Basilides and Valentinus in his Stromata: in his view it annulled the efficacy of baptism, in that it held no value faith, the gift conferred in that sacrament.^ The esoteric tradition of Solomon spanned the centuries to the era of Gnostic Christianity which preceded the Merovingian Age.

 ^ It is clear, however, that Gnostic Christianity flourished from at least the 2nd - 5th c.
  • The Philosophy of the Matrix 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC onwardoverland.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ In the earlier centuries of Christianity, Epiphany was considered to be more important than Christmas, even by the so-called orthodox church.

 [21]

Dualism and monism

.Typically, Gnostic systems are loosely described as being 'dualistic' in nature, meaning they had the view the world consists of or is explicable as two fundamental entities.^ They are not the result of a systematic correlation between input and output to the brain's perceptual system that is meant to reproduce the consistent coordinated experience that we have when awake.
  • The Philosophy of the Matrix 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC onwardoverland.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Even our own culture has experienced many different worlds created by new interpretations of people and of nature that changed what counted as human beings and things.
  • The Philosophy of the Matrix 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC onwardoverland.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Which leaves two basic choices: the machines either substantially altered the nature of human beings in the First Matrix (say by arranging a concordance of wills), or else they created a solitary Matrix for each human being.
  • The Philosophy of the Matrix 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC onwardoverland.com [Source type: Original source]

 Hans Jonas writes: "The cardinal feature of gnostic thought is the radical dualism that governs the relation of God and world, and correspondingly that of man and world."[22] Within this definition, they run the gamut from the 'radical dualist' systems of Manicheanism to the 'mitigated dualism' of classic gnostic movements; Valentinian developments arguably approach a form of monism, expressed in terms previously used in a dualistic manner.
  • Radical Dualism - or absolute Dualism which posits two co-equal divine forces. Manichaeism conceives of two previously coexistent realms of light and darkness which become embroiled in conflict, owing to the chaotic actions of the latter. .Subsequently, certain elements of the light became entrapped within darkness; the purpose of material creation is to enact the slow process of extraction of these individual elements, at the end of which the kingdom of light will prevail over darkness.^ Protennoia: “I am the life of my Epinoia that dwells within every Power and every eternal movement, and (in) invisible Lights and within the Archons and Angels and Demons, and every soul dwelling in Tartaros, and (in) every material soul.
    • A GLOSSARY OF GNOSTIC TERMS A - F 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.gnosticq.com [Source type: Original source]

     ^ Although the presence of individual Christian elements within the film is clear, the overall system of Christianity that is presented is not the traditional, orthodox one.
    • The Philosophy of the Matrix 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC onwardoverland.com [Source type: Original source]

     ^ And he became sober from the drunkenness of darkness.” (Apocryphon of John) - In Hypostasis of the Archons, Eve was also created out of Adam.
    • A GLOSSARY OF GNOSTIC TERMS A - F 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.gnosticq.com [Source type: Original source]

     Manicheanism inherits[23][24] this dualistic mythology from Zurvanist Zoroastrianism[25], in which the eternal spirit Ahura Mazda is opposed by his antithesis, Angra Mainyu; the two are engaged in a cosmic struggle, the conclusion of which will likewise see Ahura Mazda triumphant.
    .The Mandaean creation myth witnesses the progressive emanations of Supreme Being of Light, with each emanation bringing about a progressive corruption resulting in the eventual emergence of Ptahil, the god of darkness who had a hand in creating and henceforward rules the material realm.^ In the Gnostic myth, the supreme god is completely perfect and therefore alien and mysterious, "ineffable," "unnamable," "immeasurable light which is pure, holy and immaculate" (Apocryphon of John).
    • The Philosophy of the Matrix 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC onwardoverland.com [Source type: Original source]

     ^ I refuse to pray to another man, only to God the creator who is Jesus.
    • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

     ^ But in a roundabout way Umra33, that’s what I feel, that dark-skinned people have just as many rights in God’s eyes as light-skinned people do.
    • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]
    .Additionally, general Gnostic thought (specifically to be found in Iranian sects; for instance, see 'The Hymn of the Pearl') commonly included the belief that the material world corresponds to some sort of malevolent intoxication brought about by the powers of darkness to keep elements of the light trapped inside it, or literally to keep them 'in the dark', or ignorant; in a state of drunken distraction.
  • Mitigated Dualism - where one of the two principles is in some way inferior to the other.^ I have no way of verifying one way or the other.
    • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

     ^ (Do they make sense in light of each other and in light of our beliefs about the world and ourselves?
    • The Philosophy of the Matrix 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC onwardoverland.com [Source type: Original source]

     ^ Is he thought of as some sort of exalted being?
    • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

     .Such classical Gnostic movements as the Sethians conceived of the material world as being created by a lesser divinity than the true God that was the object of their devotion.^ Only later Christian consciousness began to value the idea of hell more than the idea of the transfiguration and divinization of the world...

     ^ The Gnostic/Hermetic doctrine of the divinity of man is the basis for various movements (self-esteem, human potential, interfaith, monastic/ascetic).

     ^ Aside from the belief that Jesus is the divine son of God, mormonism actually has much in common with Islam, possibly more than with any other religion.
    • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

     .The spiritual world is conceived of as being radically different from the material world, co-extensive with the true God, and the true home of certain enlightened members of humanity; thus, these systems were expressive of a feeling of acute alienation within the world, and their resultant aim was to allow the soul to escape the constraints presented by the physical realm.
  • Qualified Monism - where it is arguable whether or not the second entity is divine or semi-divine.^ And robots have no trouble thinking of the world around them in multiple dimensions, whereas human brains are still restricted to conceiving the same entity in an extremely limited three dimensional way.
    • The Philosophy of the Matrix 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC onwardoverland.com [Source type: Original source]

     ^ Perhaps human beings are essentially world disclosers.
    • The Philosophy of the Matrix 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC onwardoverland.com [Source type: Original source]

     ^ Similarly, when they talk of human bodies being trapped in pods and fed data by the Matrix, they don't successfully refer to real bodies or pods -- they can't refer to physical bodies in the real world because they cannot have the appropriate causal connection to such objects.
    • The Philosophy of the Matrix 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC onwardoverland.com [Source type: Original source]

     .Elements of Valentinian versions of Gnostic myth suggest to some that its understanding of the universe may have been monistic rather than a dualistic one.^ "In the words of one of the growing band of Neo-Gnostic scientists of today: ' When a myth is shared by large numbers of people, it becomes a reality'.

     ^ One thing overlooked by many is that humans do not reproduce, other than in cloning; rather, humans produce other humans.
    • The Philosophy of the Matrix 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC onwardoverland.com [Source type: Original source]

     ^ Characters are stylized and symbolic, as they often are in dreams, representing some emotional pivot rather than a three-dimensional person (this is very obvious for the Agents).
    • The Philosophy of the Matrix 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC onwardoverland.com [Source type: Original source]

     .Elaine Pagels states that 'Valentinian gnosticism [...] differs essentially from dualism';[26] while, according to Schoedel 'a standard element in the interpretation of Valentinianism and similar forms of Gnosticism is the recognition that they are fundamentally monistic'.[27] In these myths, the malevolence of the demiurge is mitigated; his creation of a flawed materiality is not due to any moral failing on his part, but due to his imperfection by contrast to the superior entities of which he is unaware.^ ADAM AND EVE - Although Gnostic texts provide different versions, the general outline of Adam and Eve, their creation and fall, is as follows: 1.
    • A GLOSSARY OF GNOSTIC TERMS A - F 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.gnosticq.com [Source type: Original source]

     ^ Elaine Pagels notes that the similarities between Gnosticism and Buddhism have prompted some scholars to question their interdependence and to wonder whether "...if the names were changed, the 'living Buddha' appropriately could say what the Gospel of Thomas attributes to the living Jesus."
    • The Philosophy of the Matrix 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC onwardoverland.com [Source type: Original source]

     ^ According to them the Demiurge knew none of these things before the advent of the Savior.” (Irenaeus, Adversus Haereses I, 1.7.1; cf.
    • A GLOSSARY OF GNOSTIC TERMS A - F 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.gnosticq.com [Source type: Original source]

     [4] .As such, Valentinians already have less cause to treat physical reality with contempt than might a Sethian Gnostic
    The Valentinian tradition conceives of materiality, rather than as being a separate substance from the divine, as attributable to an error of perception, which become symbolized mythopoetically as the act of material creation.    ^ All human being might be considered "scientists" insofar as we are curious about and have a conception of what the reality of things are: what causes them, how they come into being, how they are destroyed, etc.
    • The Philosophy of the Matrix 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC onwardoverland.com [Source type: Original source]

     ^ Once the URO is created, they predict, it will be given the task of creating a ' New Covenant ' for the planet: "'The URO...will discern the nature of that covenant, and with it the responsibilities, rather than the rights, of planetary citizenship.'

     ^ And when you take all of them to the infinity point, you wind up at the same place: these unanswerable mysteries really become about personal perception.
    • The Philosophy of the Matrix 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC onwardoverland.com [Source type: Original source]

     [4]

Moral and ritual practice

.The question of Gnostic morality can only be resolved by reading the claims of their contemporaries.^ The question of whether only conscious experience can ultimately matter is one that has been explored in depth by several contemporary philosophers.
  • The Philosophy of the Matrix 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC onwardoverland.com [Source type: Original source]

 .Numerous Christian writers accused some Gnostic teachers of claiming to eschew the physical realm, while simultaneously freely indulging their physical appetites; however there is reason to question the accuracy of these claims.^ These are some good questions!
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 ^ CHURCH AGE The Founding Fathers of the United States were occultic pantheists, and not Christians as some pseudo-Christian textbooks claim.

 ^ The "reality" of the Matrix which requires that some humans must die as victims of salvific violence is not the ultimate reality to which Buddhism or Gnostic Christianity points.
  • The Philosophy of the Matrix 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC onwardoverland.com [Source type: Original source]
.Evidence in the source texts indicates Gnostic moral behaviour as being generally ascetic in basis, expressed most fluently in their sexual and dietary practice.^ ENNOIA AS PRONOIA AND PROTONOIA - The Gnostic texts emphasize that all the beings which came to exist in the Upper Aeons were ‘first’ and so they ‘pre-exist’.
  • A GLOSSARY OF GNOSTIC TERMS A - F 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.gnosticq.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ See SEXUAL INTERCOURSE. - NOTE: In most Gnostic texts, this distinction is not upheld.
  • A GLOSSARY OF GNOSTIC TERMS A - F 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.gnosticq.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Not to be rude, as you have not been, but ALL imperial evidence indicates that the whole thing is a sham (beyond the healthy morality of the LDS).
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

 [28] Many monks would deprive themselves of food, water, or necessary needs for living. .This presented a problem for the heresiologists writing on gnostic movements: this mode of behavior was one which they themselves favoured and supported, so the Church Fathers, some modern-day Gnostic apologist presume, would be required perforce to offer support to the practices of their theological opponents.^ I actually had an interviewer accuse me of “watching soaps and eating bon bons all day” SHE said she needed some one with a “work ethic not a baby sitter”.
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ And there are some indications that perhaps Church of Jesus Christ during his time practiced the higher law of consecration.
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ There are no requirements to provide one’s real name when contributing; rather, each writer’s privacy is protected unless they choose to reveal their identity themselves.
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

 .In order to avoid this, a common heresiological approach was to avoid the issue completely by resorting to slanderous (and, in some cases, excessive) allegations of libertinism (see the Cainites), or to explain Gnostic asceticism as being based on incorrect interpretations of scripture, or simply duplicitous in nature.^ Even our own culture has experienced many different worlds created by new interpretations of people and of nature that changed what counted as human beings and things.
  • The Philosophy of the Matrix 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC onwardoverland.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ However, the way it was implied or the way I interpreted what was said is that in order to be a member of this church you must pay tithing, which would be incorrect.
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Once a person understands Jesus’ true nature, sees what He did in the flesh for you then one simply breaks.
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

 .Epiphanius provides an example when he writes of the 'Archontics' 'Some of them ruin their bodies by dissipation, but others feign ostensible fasts and deceive simple people while they pride themselves with a sort of abstinence, under the disguise of monks' (Panarion, 40.1.4).^ There are no requirements to provide one’s real name when contributing; rather, each writer’s privacy is protected unless they choose to reveal their identity themselves.
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ If people would actually read the Bible, they would know that true Christians love everyone and do not judge others.
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Into this new church other peoples of the world, for they only await the resurrection of Europe to join and become citizens of the celestial kingdom.
In other areas of morality, Gnostics were less rigorously ascetic, and took a more moderate approach to correct behaviour. Ptolemy's Epistle to Flora lays out a project of general asceticism in which the basis of action is the moral inclination of the individual:
.External physical fasting is observed even among our followers, for it can be of some benefit to the soul if it is engaged on with reason (logos), whenever it is done neither by way of limiting others, nor out of habit, nor because of the day, as if it had been specially appointed for that purpose.^ God's going to want to use some of you to be ambassadors for what He's doing here, because He's wanting this to go to other churches ...

 ^ It appears to be inevitable that at some stage a sentient robot will appear, its production having been initiated by humans, and begin to produce other, even more capable and powerful robots.
  • The Philosophy of the Matrix 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC onwardoverland.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Sadly, even most private and most homeschool programs have forgotten the Biblical approach to education, which shaped the character and reasoning of our founding fathers.

– Ptolemy, Letter to Flora

.This extract marks a definite shift away from the position of Catholic orthodoxy, that the correct behaviour for Christians is best administered and prescribed by the central authority of the Catholic Church, as transmitted through the Apostles to the Church's bishops.^ The Christian Church went through a reformation hundreds of years ago, maybe it’s time for another one!
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ All in all, the Second Matrix is the machines' best attempt at matching what Christians believe God did for us through creation.
  • The Philosophy of the Matrix 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC onwardoverland.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ With Mark Twain's help, I shall present an argument that one important notion of the best existence, the Christian one, Heaven is after all a Matrix.
  • The Philosophy of the Matrix 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC onwardoverland.com [Source type: Original source]

 .Instead, the internalised inclination of the individual assumes paramount importance; there is the recognition that ritualistic behaviour, though well-intentioned, possesses no significance or effectiveness unless its external prescription is matched by a personal, internal motivation.^ There are no requirements to provide one’s real name when contributing; rather, each writer’s privacy is protected unless they choose to reveal their identity themselves.
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Well, heck, some of what’s in the Bible’s just equally devoid of sense, so… As long as no one gets hurt, though… .
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ To them, at least, there is no doubt about the real significance of the Black Madonna.

 .This line of Gnostic thought is echoed in Protestantism's emphasis on private interpretation of Scripture, and on its individualist emphasis.^ DOUBLE-MINDEDNESS - Those who contend against the Gnostics do not understand on account of their ‘double-mindedness’: “They do not know the power of God, nor do they understand the interpretation of the scriptures, on account of their double-mindedness.” (Testimony of Truth) .
  • A GLOSSARY OF GNOSTIC TERMS A - F 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.gnosticq.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ As Peter says in 2 Peter 1:20 “Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.” .
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]
Charges of Gnostic libertinism find their source in the works of Irenaeus. According to this writer, Simon Magus (whom he has identified as the prototypical source of Gnosticism, and who had previously tried to buy sacramental authority of ordination from St. Peter the Apostle) founded the school of moral freedom ('amoralism'). .Irenaeus reports that Simon's argument was that those who put their trust in him and his consort Helen need trouble themselves no further with the biblical prophets or their moral exhortations and are free 'to do what they wish', as men are saved by his (Simon's) grace and not by their 'righteous works' (Adversus Haereses[29]).^ Only Gods free Grace saves.
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Those who have not known to whom they belong, where will their souls be?’ And he said to me, ‘In those, the despicable spirit has gained strength when they went astray.
  • A GLOSSARY OF GNOSTIC TERMS A - F 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.gnosticq.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ There are no requirements to provide one’s real name when contributing; rather, each writer’s privacy is protected unless they choose to reveal their identity themselves.
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]
Simon is not known for any libertinistic practice, save for his curious attachment to Helen, typically reputed to be a prostitute. .There is, however, clear evidence in the Testimony of Truth that followers of Simon did, in fact, get married and beget children, so a general tendency to asceticism can likewise be ruled out.^ Parents pre-exist their children, yet Mary a mortal woman could not pre-exist God; in fact the paradox remains clear to this day that Jesus the son of Mary pre-existed Mary.

 ^ In fact, however, no one would have read my novel and I would have simply programmed myself with memories of having written it, although I never really did.
  • The Philosophy of the Matrix 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC onwardoverland.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ For example, he called attention to the fact that one did not have to read and think out loud.
  • The Philosophy of the Matrix 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC onwardoverland.com [Source type: Original source]
.Irenaeus reports of the Valentinians, whom he characterizes as eventual inheritors of Simon, that they are lax in their dietary habits (eating food that has been 'offered to idols'), sexually promiscuous ('immoderately given over to the desires of the flesh') and guilty of taking wives under the pretence of living with them as adopted 'sisters'. In the latter case, Michael Allen Williams has argued plausibly that Irenaeus was here broadly correct in the behaviour described, but not in his apprehension of its causes.^ I can't argue this in full here, but my book Mindsight2 gives a number of reasons why we need to distinguish percepts and images, and why dreams consist of the latter not the former.
  • The Philosophy of the Matrix 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC onwardoverland.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ As concerning therefore the eating of those things that are offered in sacrifice unto idols, we know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is none other God but one.

 ^ Kings and aristocrats would understand how to wield and apply the secret doctrine because it was believed that they were in fact flesh and blood descendants of the Forgotten Race which had come down to take the wives of men."

 .Williams argues that members of a cult might live together as 'brother' and 'sister': intimate, yet not sexually active.^ Hence, consorts resemble one another as ‘brother and sister’: “It is also said that she (Sophia) resembles her brother and her consort.” (Eugnostos the Blessed) - Consorts are like ‘the bride and bridegroom’ that come together in the Bridal Chamber (i.e.
  • A GLOSSARY OF GNOSTIC TERMS A - F 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.gnosticq.com [Source type: Original source]

 Over time, however, the self-denial required of such an endeavour becomes harder and harder to maintain, leading to the state of affairs Irenaeus criticizes.
.Irenaeus also makes reference to the Valentinian practise of the Bridal Chamber, a ritualistic sacrament in which sexual union is seen as analogous to the activities of the paired syzygies that constitute the Valentinian Pleroma.^ Irenaeus describes the entire schema of the restitution: the union of Christ and Sophia, as well as the spirits (Pneumatics) and their angels, in the Bridal Chamber of the Pleroma (Upper Aeons): “When the whole seed is perfected, then, they say, will the mother, (Sophia) Achamoth leave the place of the Middle, enter into the Pleroma, and receive her bridegroom, the Savior, who came into being from all (the aeons), with result that the Savior and Sophia, who is Achamoth, form a pair (syzygy) These then are said to be bridegroom and bride, but the bridal chamber is the entire Pleroma.
  • A GLOSSARY OF GNOSTIC TERMS A - F 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.gnosticq.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ The bridal chamber and the image must enter through the image into the truth: this is the restoration.” (Gospel of Philip) - Irenaeus describes a rite of the Bridal Chamber in which the initiates affirm that their spiritual marriage is an image or imitation of (their union in) the syzygies above: “For some of them prepare a nuptial couch, (i.e.
  • A GLOSSARY OF GNOSTIC TERMS A - F 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.gnosticq.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ In Exegesis of the Soul, the rite of the Bridal Chamber appears to be a vow of sexual abstinence.
  • A GLOSSARY OF GNOSTIC TERMS A - F 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.gnosticq.com [Source type: Original source]

 .Though it is known that Valentinus had a more relaxed approach to sexuality than much of the Catholic Church (he allowed women to hold positions of ordination in his community), it is not known whether the Bridal Chamber was a ritual involving actual intercourse, or whether human sexuality is here simply being used in a metaphorical sense.^ "People" in the sense of human beings.
  • The Philosophy of the Matrix 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC onwardoverland.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ I have much more respect for nature than to lower it to human standards.
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ The Roman Catholic Church retains much of the Saturn worship in its ritual.
.Of the Carpocratians Irenaeus makes much the same report: they 'are so abandoned in their recklessness that they claim to have in their power and be able to practise anything whatsoever that is ungodly (irreligious) and impious ...^ They always make the same mistakes?
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Jesus is the Christ, by the end of the millennium everyone will have to make that same simple choice they made in the pre-estistance.
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ If, however, as philosophers, they believe that there is a physical universe with causal powers that makes things happen in their world, they are mistaken.
  • The Philosophy of the Matrix 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC onwardoverland.com [Source type: Original source]

 they say that conduct is only good or evil in the eyes of man'.[30] .Once again a differentiation might be detected between a man's actions and the grace he has received through his adherence to a system of gnosis; whether this is due to a common sharing of such an attitude amongst Gnostic circles, or whether this is simply a blanket-charge used by Irenaeus is open to conjecture.^ "The religion is Saturnian gnosis -- which turns out to simply be a rehash of the gnosticism the high level Satanists believe in."

 ^ A useful and common illustration is to ask whether or not everything that happens, or will happen, is in principle predictable this will be so if determinism is true, and not so if indeterminism is true.
  • The Philosophy of the Matrix 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC onwardoverland.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ It took so much faith on their part to go through with it for such a short time but “thy will be done” was the attitude of the pioneers.
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]
On the whole, it would seem that Gnostic behavior tended towards the ascetic. This said, the heresiological accusation of duplicity in such practises should not be taken at face value; nor should similar accusations of amoral libertinism. .The Nag Hammadi library itself is full of passages which appear to encourage abstinence over indulgence.^ Nag Hammadi Library, pp.
  • The Philosophy of the Matrix 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC onwardoverland.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ See Nag Hammadi Library, pp.
  • The Philosophy of the Matrix 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC onwardoverland.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ The Nag Hammadi Library, revised edition, (New York: HarperCollins, 1990; reprint of original Brill edition, 1978).
  • The Philosophy of the Matrix 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC onwardoverland.com [Source type: Original source]

 .Fundamentally, however, gnostic movements appear to take the 'ancient schema of the two ways, which leaves the decision to do what is right to human endeavour and promises a reward for those who make the effort, and punishment for those who are negligent' (Kurt Rudolph, Gnosis:The Nature and History of Gnosticism, 262).^ What those who value eating steak value is not the eating of real cow flesh (in fact, putting it that way inclines one to become a vegetarian), but the experience of eating.
  • The Philosophy of the Matrix 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC onwardoverland.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ The Gnostic/Hermetic doctrine of the divinity of man is the basis for various movements (self-esteem, human potential, interfaith, monastic/ascetic).

 ^ But of course this is not the way the humans view the situation, at least among those few who know what it is.
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Major Gnostic movements and their texts

.As noted above, schools of Gnosticism can be defined according to one classification system as being a member of two broad categories.^ We ought to note here, though, that Neo's greatness, his being the One, is only the case because the Matrix exists.
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 ^ BARBELO AS MOTHER - When the One became two, it became the Father and Mother (these are the masculine and feminine names of one androgynous being.
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 These are the 'Eastern'/'Persian' school, and a 'Syrian-Egyptic' school. The former possesses more demonstrably dualist tendencies, reflecting a strong influence from the beliefs of the Persian Zurvanist Zoroastrians. Among the Syrian-Egyptian schools and the movements they spawned are a typically more Monist view. Notable exceptions include relatively modern movements which seem to include elements of both categories, namely: the Cathars, Bogomils, and Carpocratians which are included in their own section.

Persian Gnosticism

The Persian Schools, which appeared in the western Persian province of Babylon, and whose writings were originally produced in the Aramaic dialects spoken in Babylon at the time, are representative of what is believed to be among the oldest of the Gnostic thought forms. .These movements are considered by most to be religions in their own right, and are not emanations from Christianity or Judaism.^ Any religion that believes in him is considered Christian.
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Most of these are basic christian beliefs.
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Did you ever consider the possibility that maybe, just maybe, the Masons got a lot of things right and possibly preserved a lot of the old original religion in their ordinances?
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]
  • Mandaeanism is still practiced in small numbers, in parts of southern Iraq and the Iranian province of Khuzestan. The name of the group derives from the term Mandā d-Heyyi, which roughly means "Knowledge of Life." .Although the exact chronological origins of this movement are not known, John the Baptist eventually would come to be a key figure in the religion, as an emphasis on baptism is part of their core beliefs.^ They abandon parts of their core beliefs only because federal law or political corectness forces them to do so.
    • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

     ^ If mormonism did not seem to trying to be part of the mainstream Christian religion I would not have a problem with them.
    • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

     ^ Neo doubts his own status as "The One", as Jesus must have, but eventually he comes to realize his destiny_as would-be conqueror of the evil Matrix.
    • The Philosophy of the Matrix 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC onwardoverland.com [Source type: Original source]

     .As with Manichaeism, despite certain ties with Christianity, Mandaeans do not believe in Moses, Jesus, or Mohammed.^ As such, I believe that Moses, Jesus, Mohammed, Budda, et al.
    • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

     ^ However from reading the articles of faith on his website I do not believe that “THE LATTER DAY CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST” is a Christian Church.
    • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

     ^ Yes the TV guys were my own contribution because they have contributed to my entire experience of understanding what other christians believe – namly the Jesus of the Bible and Bible christianity.
    • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

     .Their beliefs and practices likewise have little overlap with the religions that manifested from those religious figures and the two should not be confused.^ Honestly though…you could use bizarre to describe any religion or religious belief that you don’t understand or choose to believe.
    • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

     ^ What kind of religion abandons it’s religious convictions because the law of the land makes certain practices illegal?
    • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

     ^ I have already done bizarre religious practices that involved non-Christian religions, but I am keen to do one of neo-pagans.
    • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

     Significant amounts of original Mandaean Scripture survive in the modern era. .The primary source text is known as the Genzā Rabbā and has portions identified by some scholars as being copied as early as the 2nd century CE. There is also the Qolastā, or Canonical Book of Prayer and The Book of John the Baptist (sidra ḏ-iahia).
  • Manichaeism which represented an entire independent religious heritage, but is now mostly extinct was founded by the Prophet Mani (210-276 CE).^ Now I believe there are some religious lunatics out there.
    • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

     ^ The other books are from sources much less connected to the Church, and some are actually antagonistic to the official LDS position on the incident.
    • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

     ^ In the early twentieth century, American culture began examining food and health issues more strictly, with alcohol being a particular concern.
    • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

     Although most of the literature/scripture of the Manichaeans was believed lost, the discovery of an original series of documents have helped to shed new light on the subject. Now housed in Cologne Germany, the Codex Manichaicus Coloniensis contains mainly biographical information on the prophet and details on his claims and teachings. .Despite connections with Jesus Christ, it is not believed that the Manichaeans in any way practiced a religion with identifiable overlap with any of the various Jewish or Christian sects.^ Jesus Christ is the way, the turth, and the life.
    • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

     ^ The word Christian means believer of Christ.
    • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

     ^ Any faith or religion that adds or takes away from the finished work of Jesus is therefore a false religion or an Anti-christ faith.
    • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

     .As Mani stated, "The true God has nothing to do with the material world or cosmos", and, "It is the Prince of Darkness who spoke with Moses, the Jews and their priests.^ But in a roundabout way Umra33, that’s what I feel, that dark-skinned people have just as many rights in God’s eyes as light-skinned people do.
    • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

     ^ The world itself is a universe and God comes in many ways – your way, my way, everyone’s way.
    • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

     ^ Gnostics identify Yaldabaoth as the Creator God of the Old Testament, who himself decides to create archons (angels), the material world (Earth) and human beings.
    • The Philosophy of the Matrix 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC onwardoverland.com [Source type: Original source]

     .Thus the Christians, the Jews, and the Pagans are involved in the same error when they worship this God.^ Mormons are in fact Christians, because they believe he was the son of God.
    • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

     ^ And thus we see that all mankind were fallen, and they were in the grasp of justice; yea, the justice of God, which consigned them forever to be cut off from his presence.
    • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

     ^ Christian views of God are Pagan rather than Christian.” (Mormon Doctrine of Deity by B.H. Roberts, p.116) .
    • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

     For he leads them astray in the lusts he taught them." [31][32]

Syrian-Egyptian Gnosticism

The Syrian-Egyptian school derives much of its outlook from Platonist influences. .Typically, it depicts creation in a series of emanations from a primal monadic source, finally resulting in the creation of the material universe.^ AEONS IN GENERAL: - The Aeons are a series of hypostases (extensions of being) that emanated outward from a common source.
  • A GLOSSARY OF GNOSTIC TERMS A - F 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.gnosticq.com [Source type: Original source]

 .As a result, there is a tendency in these schools to view evil in terms of matter which is markedly inferior to goodness, evil as lacking spiritual insight and goodness, rather than to emphasize portrayals of evil as an equal force.^ I’m happy to see that you have your beliefs for your own reasons rather than someone who believes on others’ words, or worse yet, is forced to believe.
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ For the Initiates, this is not a Person , but a Force , created for good, but which may serve evil.

 ^ Christian views of God are Pagan rather than Christian.” (Mormon Doctrine of Deity by B.H. Roberts, p.116) .
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

 .These schools of gnosticism may be said to use the terms 'evil' and 'good' as being relative descriptive terms, as they refer to the relative plight of human existence caught between such realities and confused in its orientation, with 'evil' indicating the extremes of distance from the principle and source of goodness, without necessarily emphasizing an inherent negativity.^ Such is the case for every human being in existence.
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ If there is absolute evil or absolute good in the universe humans will never find it.
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Similarly, when they talk of human bodies being trapped in pods and fed data by the Matrix, they don't successfully refer to real bodies or pods -- they can't refer to physical bodies in the real world because they cannot have the appropriate causal connection to such objects.
  • The Philosophy of the Matrix 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC onwardoverland.com [Source type: Original source]

 .As can be seen below, many of these movements included source material related to Christianity, with some identifying themselves as specifically Christian (albeit quite different from the so-called Orthodox or Roman Catholic forms).^ In the earlier centuries of Christianity, Epiphany was considered to be more important than Christmas, even by the so-called orthodox church.

 ^ The elected include practitioners of many spiritual traditions including: Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Jewish, Muslim, Taoist, and Indigenous traditions, to name a few.

 ^ These pages are dedicated to exploring some of the many philosophical ideas that arise in both the original film and the sequels.
  • The Philosophy of the Matrix 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC onwardoverland.com [Source type: Original source]

Syrian-Egyptic scripture

.Most of the literature from this category is known/confirmed to us in the modern age through the Library discovered at Nag Hammadi.^ Nag Hammadi Library, pp.
  • The Philosophy of the Matrix 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC onwardoverland.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ See Nag Hammadi Library, pp.
  • The Philosophy of the Matrix 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC onwardoverland.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ The Nag Hammadi Library, revised edition, (New York: HarperCollins, 1990; reprint of original Brill edition, 1978).
  • The Philosophy of the Matrix 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC onwardoverland.com [Source type: Original source]
.
  • Sethian works are named after the third son of Adam and Eve, believed to be a possessor and disseminator of gnosis.^ And in the third aeon the seed of Seth was placed over the third light Daveithai.” (Apocryphon of John) - Adam and Eve once had the pneuma (spirit, divine spark) and the gnosis (knowledge of the Upper Aeons).
    • A GLOSSARY OF GNOSTIC TERMS A - F 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.gnosticq.com [Source type: Original source]

     ^ THE ELECT AS UNFALLEN - According to this schema, Adam and Eve transmitted the pneuma and the gnosis to Seth, Norea and all their descendents (the Pneumatic race).
    • A GLOSSARY OF GNOSTIC TERMS A - F 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.gnosticq.com [Source type: Original source]

     ^ ADAM AND EVE - THEIR DIVISION - In the Apocalypse of Adam, Adam explains to his son Seth that Adam and Eve ‘resembled the angels’ (i.e.
    • A GLOSSARY OF GNOSTIC TERMS A - F 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.gnosticq.com [Source type: Original source]

     These typically include:
  • Valentinian works are named in reference to the Bishop and teacher Valentinius, also spelled Valentinus.^ JUDAS THOMAS THE TWIN - Although two important gospels are attributed to Thomas, this name appears to be an epithet for Judas.
    • A GLOSSARY OF GNOSTIC TERMS A - F 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.gnosticq.com [Source type: Original source]

     ^ Elaine Pagels notes that the similarities between Gnosticism and Buddhism have prompted some scholars to question their interdependence and to wonder whether "...if the names were changed, the 'living Buddha' appropriately could say what the Gospel of Thomas attributes to the living Jesus."
    • The Philosophy of the Matrix 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC onwardoverland.com [Source type: Original source]

     ^ (Book of Thomas the Contender 138:8).
    • A GLOSSARY OF GNOSTIC TERMS A - F 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.gnosticq.com [Source type: Original source]

     ca. 153 AD/CE, Valentinius developed a complex Cosmology outside of the Sethian tradition. .At one point he was close to being appointed the Bishop of Rome of what is now the Roman Catholic Church.^ Tribulation : T he Eastern Orthodox Church, which historically has taught the deification of man ( Theosis) , will be the point of entry to the worship of Antichrist for Protestants and Roman Catholics whose theologians and apologists will defend the Orthodox doctrine of Theosis .

     ^ "But now is the time of the overshadowing, when the manchild church is being brought forth within the woman church...

     ^ The Roman Catholic Church retains much of the Saturn worship in its ritual.

     .Works attributed to his school are listed below, and fragmentary pieces directly linked to him are noted with an asterisk:
    • The Divine Word Present in the Infant (Fragment A) *
    • On the Three Natures (Fragment B) *
    • Adam's Faculty of Speech (Fragment C) *
    • To Agathopous: Jesus' Digestive System (Fragment D) *
    • Annihilation of the Realm of Death (Fragment F) *
    • On Friends: The Source of Common Wisdom (Fragment G) *
    • Epistle on Attachments (Fragment H) *
    • Summer Harvest*
    • The Gospel of Truth*
    • Ptolemy's Version of the Gnostic Myth
    • The Prayer of the Apostle Paul
    • Ptolemy's Epistle to Flora
    • Treatise on Resurrection (Epistle to Rheginus)
    • Gospel of Philip
  • Basilidian works are named for the founder of their school, Basilides (132–?^ If he wishes, he manifests whomever he wishes, by giving him form and giving him a name, and he gives a name to him, and brings it about that those come into existence.” (Gospel of Truth) - The One itself is called ‘the Father whose name cannot be uttered’ (Gospel of the Egyptians).
    • A GLOSSARY OF GNOSTIC TERMS A - F 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.gnosticq.com [Source type: Original source]

     ^ He was the essential founder of the esoteric and arcane 'underground stream' which flowed through the ages and his Greek name, Hermes, was directly related to the science of pyramid construction, deriving from the word herma, which relates to a 'pile of stones'."

     ^ If he wishes, he manifests whomever he wishes, by giving him form and giving him a name, and he gives a name to him, and brings it about that those come into existence.” (Gospel of Truth) - Yaltabaoth created the Lower Aeons, which are considered to be ‘shadows’ of the Upper Aeons.
    • A GLOSSARY OF GNOSTIC TERMS A - F 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.gnosticq.com [Source type: Original source]

     CE/AD). .These works are mainly known to us through the criticisms of one of his opponents, Irenaeus in his work Adversus Haereses.^ Who wants to go through all the trouble of engaging one’s critical thinking faculties, when a great prophet can do all your thinking for you..
    • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

     ^ Pleroma, and will be bestowed as brides on the angels around the Savior.” (Irenaeus, Adversus Haereses 1.7.1) - The Tomb inscription of Flavia Sophe records that she was baptized and anointed (past tense).
    • A GLOSSARY OF GNOSTIC TERMS A - F 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.gnosticq.com [Source type: Original source]

     ^ According to them the Demiurge knew none of these things before the advent of the Savior.” (Irenaeus, Adversus Haereses I, 1.7.1; cf.
    • A GLOSSARY OF GNOSTIC TERMS A - F 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.gnosticq.com [Source type: Original source]

     .The other pieces are known through the work of Clement of Alexandria:
    • The Octet of Subsistent Entities (Fragment A)
    • The Uniqueness of the World (Fragment B)
    • Election Naturally Entails Faith and Virtue (Fragment C)
    • The State of Virtue (Fragment D)
    • The Elect Transcend the World (Fragment E)
    • Reincarnation (Fragment F)
    • Human Suffering and the Goodness of Providence (Fragment G)
    • Forgivable Sins (Fragment H)
  • The Gospel of Judas is the most recently discovered Gnostic text.^ Then mankind began to multiply and improve.” (Hypostasis of the Archons) - In the Gospel of the Egyptians, Seth bore his race through Edokla: “This is the race which came forth through Edokla.” (Gospel of the Egyptians) - In many ‘Sethian’ Gnostic texts, the Elect are called ‘the children of Seth: “the children of Seth, who are above thousands of thousands, and myriads of myriads, of the aeons” (Melchizedek) 4.
    • A GLOSSARY OF GNOSTIC TERMS A - F 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.gnosticq.com [Source type: Original source]

     ^ Richard Hanley D id you know that the First Matrix was designed to be a perfect human world, where none suffered, where everyone would be happy?
    • The Philosophy of the Matrix 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC onwardoverland.com [Source type: Original source]

     ^ See SEXUAL INTERCOURSE. - NOTE: In most Gnostic texts, this distinction is not upheld.
    • A GLOSSARY OF GNOSTIC TERMS A - F 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.gnosticq.com [Source type: Original source]

     .National Geographic has published an English translation of it, bringing it into mainstream awareness.^ And they shall bring the glory and honour of the nations into it.

     ^ And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it: and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honour into it.

     ^ Jesus Christ directed Joseph to the place the Book of Mormon (written on gold plates) was hidden, and then through the gift and power of God, Joseph translated the Book of Mormon into English.
    • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

     .It portrays Judas Iscariot as the most enlightened disciple, who acted at Jesus' request when he handed Jesus over to the authorities.^ Cypher is the Judas Iscariot of the story_the traitor who betrays Neo and his disciples.
    • The Philosophy of the Matrix 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC onwardoverland.com [Source type: Original source]

     ^ FATE AND THE STARS - In the Gospel of Judas, Jesus often mentions ‘stars’ which, for the most part, offer negative influences.
    • A GLOSSARY OF GNOSTIC TERMS A - F 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.gnosticq.com [Source type: Original source]

     ^ THE CROWN OF THE MOTHER - In the Acts of Thomas, Judas-Thomas sings a hymn to a heavenly being called ‘the maiden’ who, in the last line of the hymn, is called ‘Mother of Wisdom’ (i.e.
    • A GLOSSARY OF GNOSTIC TERMS A - F 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.gnosticq.com [Source type: Original source]

     Its reference to Barbelo and inclusion of material similar to the Apocryphon of John and other such texts, connects the text to Barbeloite and/or Sethian Gnosticism.

Later Gnosticism and Gnostic-influenced groups

  • Other schools and related movements; these are presented in chronological order:
    .The circular, harmonic cross was an emblem used most notably by the Cathars, a medieval group that related to Gnosticism.
    • Simon Magus and Marcion of Sinope both had Gnostic tendencies, but such familiar ideas as they presented were as-yet unformed; they might thus be described as pseudo- or proto-Gnostics.^ Yet another parallel with Gnosticism occurs in the portrayal of the Agents such as Agent Smith, and their opposition to the equivalent of the Gnostics - that is, Neo and anyone else attempting to leave the Matrix.
      • The Philosophy of the Matrix 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC onwardoverland.com [Source type: Original source]

       ^ I have no problem allowing mormons to worship as they choose but I have a problem with them using the same words Christians use to describe different things and then claiming to be Christians.
      • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

       ^ Such a person seems thus doubly trapped: incapable of knowing that he is in the Matrix, and even incapable of successfully expressing the thought that he might be in the Matrix!
      • The Philosophy of the Matrix 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC onwardoverland.com [Source type: Original source]

       Both developed a sizable following. Simon Magus' pupil Menander of Antioch could potentially be included within this grouping. .Marcion is popularly labelled a gnostic, however most scholars do not consider him a gnostic at all, for example, the Encyclopædia Britannica article on Marcion clearly states: "In Marcion's own view, therefore, the founding of his church — to which he was first driven by opposition — amounts to a reformation of Christendom through a return to the gospel of Christ and to Paul; nothing was to be accepted beyond that.^ ENNOIA AS PRONOIA AND PROTONOIA - The Gnostic texts emphasize that all the beings which came to exist in the Upper Aeons were ‘first’ and so they ‘pre-exist’.
      • A GLOSSARY OF GNOSTIC TERMS A - F 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.gnosticq.com [Source type: Original source]

       ^ I’m a vain, egocentric person through and through, and I value money, however it’s far from the most important thing in my life.
      • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

       ^ Tribulation/First 3.5 Years: The Charismatic movement will be a point of entry for Lucifer, posing as the Holy Spirit, to impregnate the Church as the Bride of Christ.

       This of itself shows that it is a mistake to reckon Marcion among the Gnostics. A dualist he certainly was, but he was not a Gnostic - Depending of course on one's definition of 'Gnostic'."
    • Cerinthus (c. 100 AD), the founder of a heretical school with gnostic elements. .Like a Gnostic, Cerinthus depicted Christ as a heavenly spirit separate from the man Jesus, and he cited the demiurge as creating the material world.^ BUT I think he created other worlds and the like.
      • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

       ^ I believe Jesus Christ will make a Judgement of my life as he separates the goats from his sheep.
      • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

       ^ Yes God the Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost are three separate beings.
      • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

       .Unlike the Gnostics, Cerinthus taught Christians to observe the Jewish law; his demiurge was holy, not lowly; and he taught the Second Coming.^ Holy Spirit until grace is over (at the second coming) then … well if you commit sin you will pay the price.
      • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

       His gnosis was a secret teaching attributed to an apostle. .Some scholars believe that the First Epistle of John was written as a response to Cerinthus.^ John 17:16-23 For first of all, when ye come together in the church, I hear that there be divisions among you; and I partly believe it.

       [33]
      • .
    • The Ophites, so-named because they worshiped the serpent of Genesis as the bestower of knowledge.
    • The Cainites, as the term implies, worshiped Cain, as well as Esau, Korah, and the Sodomites.^ This is fruit is shown in the way they conduct their life and see if the gospel has brought positive and meaningful change to how they worship the Father in the name of Christ.
      • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

       ^ Ohio by order of Governer Boggs issued an “Extermination” order against free citizens of this country because of what they believed and tried to worship as their constitutional rights are.
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       ^ On the other hand, some doctrines of deification are most certainly heretical, because they are unbiblical in substance as well as in terminology."

       .There is little evidence concerning the nature of this group; however, it is surmisable that they believed that indulgence in sin was the key to salvation because since the body is evil, one must defile it through immoral activity (see libertinism).^ They also believe that God, Jesus and resurrected beings have bodies of “flesh and bone.” .
      • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

       ^ They believe that if a male never masturbates, his body won’t start producing sperm until he gets married.
      • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

       ^ They will think they get along with along with everyone else just fine; that there's no sadness, no sin, and so on.
      • The Philosophy of the Matrix 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC onwardoverland.com [Source type: Original source]

       .The name Cainite is used as the name of a religious movement, and not in the usual Biblical sense of people descended from Cain.^ Just as I might say a sentence that is nonsense, I might also use a name or a general term which is meaningless in the sense that it fails to hook up to the world.
      • The Philosophy of the Matrix 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC onwardoverland.com [Source type: Original source]

       ^ That is pure religious fantasy and one that is very useful in separating people.
      • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

       .According to Biblical text, which is our only source of knowledge about the man Cain, all descendants of Cain perished in Noah's Flood, as only Noah's family survived, deriving from the line of Seth.
    • The Carpocratians, a libertine sect following only the Gospel according to the Hebrews
    • The Borborites, a libertine Gnostic sect, said to be descended from the Nicolaitans
    • The Paulicans, an Adoptionist group, also accused by medieval sources as Gnostic and quasi Manichaean Christian.^ For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; 4Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.
      • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

       ^ He smokes and drinks and don’t come home at all, only women bleed” Maybe he was singing about mormon women!
      • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

       ^ As the Matrix raises the problem of our knowledge of the external world_might this all be just a dream?_Cypher raises the problem of other minds_can we know the content of someone else's mind?
      • The Philosophy of the Matrix 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC onwardoverland.com [Source type: Original source]

       .They flourished between 650 and 872 in Armenia and the Eastern Themes of the Byzantine Empire
    • The Bogomils, , the synthesis of Armenian Paulicianism and the Bulgarian Orthodox Church reform movement, which emerged in Bulgaria between 927 and 970 and spread throughout Europe
    • The Cathars (Cathari, Albigenses or Albigensians) are typically seen as being imitative of Gnosticism; whether or not the Cathari possessed direct historical influence from ancient Gnosticism is disputed.^ Bogomils, Cathars and Lollards rested on the cultural tradition of the Orthodox Church ."

       ^ ENNOIA AS PRONOIA AND PROTONOIA - The Gnostic texts emphasize that all the beings which came to exist in the Upper Aeons were ‘first’ and so they ‘pre-exist’.
      • A GLOSSARY OF GNOSTIC TERMS A - F 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.gnosticq.com [Source type: Original source]

       ^ Tribulation : T he Eastern Orthodox Church, which historically has taught the deification of man ( Theosis) , will be the point of entry to the worship of Antichrist for Protestants and Roman Catholics whose theologians and apologists will defend the Orthodox doctrine of Theosis .

       .Though the basic conceptions of Gnostic cosmology are to be found in Cathar beliefs (most distinctly in their notion of a lesser, Satanic, creator god), they did not apparently place any special relevance upon knowledge (gnosis) as an effective salvific force.^ Most of these are basic christian beliefs.
      • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

       ^ And if they do not have libertarian free will, as long as they are the product of human free will, they are not part of the environment God knowingly created.
      • The Philosophy of the Matrix 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC onwardoverland.com [Source type: Original source]

       ^ They represent this Force, which presides of the physical generation, under the mythological and horned forms of the God PAN ...

       For the relationship between these medieval heresies and earlier Gnostic forms, see historical discussion above.

Kabbalah

.Gnostic ideas found a Jewish variation in the mystical study of Kabbalah.^ Flannery-Dailey's research speciality is ancient dreams, apocalypticism and early-Jewish mysticism, while Wagner's research focuses on biblical studies and the relationship between religion & culture.
  • The Philosophy of the Matrix 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC onwardoverland.com [Source type: Original source]

 The Kabbalists took many core Gnostic ideas and used them to dramatically reinterpret earlier Jewish sources according to this new influence. See Gershom Scholem's Origins of the Kabbalah for further discussion. The Kabbalists originated in Provence which was at that time also the center of the Gnostic Cathars. .It is thus believed that Cathar Gnostics persuaded Jews to Gnostic ideas, leading to the development of Kabbalah.^ A Gnostic diagram from the Book of Jew depicts a small circle with twelve spokes leading outward to twelves small circles surrounding it.
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 Another influence on Kabbalah was probably that of the Muslim Ismailis. By contrast, however, followers of Kabbalah date its origins as early as the Garden of Eden.
.Kabbalah, however, does not employ the terminology or labels of gentile Gnosticism, but grounds the same or similar concepts in the language of the Torah (first five books of the Hebrew Bible).^ See FIVE SEALS. - Like the Gnostic rites of the Baptism and Chrism, it is a ritual evocation of pre-existent eucharist which first took place in the Upper Aeons.
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 ^ The language of Gnosticism and the film are even similar: dreaming vs. However, given that Gnosticism presumes an entire unseen realm of divine beings, where is God in the film?
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 .Nevertheless, during the time periods when Gnosticism was drawing large numbers of followers from various religions, creating Gnostic versions of those religions, many Jews also developed a mystical version of Judaism remarkably similar to Gnostic beliefs.^ Many feel that science and religion are two opposites, but I feel that they are very similar.
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 ^ ADAM AND EVE - Although Gnostic texts provide different versions, the general outline of Adam and Eve, their creation and fall, is as follows: 1.
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 ^ "In the words of one of the growing band of Neo-Gnostic scientists of today: ' When a myth is shared by large numbers of people, it becomes a reality'.
.While Kabbalah shares several themes with Gnosticism, such as a multiplicity of heavenly levels and archetypes and the importance of mystical knowledge of these, it does not reflect the distinctive Gnostic belief that the material world and the Hebrew Bible are the work of an inferior and malevolent deity.^ Following the archetype of Christ’s heavenly baptism, the Gnostic rite of baptism is understood as an immersion into the watery light of the Upper Aeons: “For the waters which are above [...
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 ^ Austin, LDS belief does not require the conclusion that God the Father is only the God of this world and that other planets have separate gods for theirs.
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 ^ Both of these traditions maintain that when humans awaken, they leave behind the material world.
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 .Rather than describing Kabbalah as a form of Gnosticism, it would be more accurate to describe both Kabbalah and Gnosticism as members of a family of Neoplatonic/Neopythagorean Oriental mystical traditions, which would also include Sufism.^ In a sense, The Matrix is nothing more than a modern day "Big Brother," taking on a machine form rather than the Orwellian vision of a powerful individual using machines to assist and bring about an all-powerful status.
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 ^ The Matrix would appear to be more morally responsible to its human subjects than are human subjects to themselves.
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 ^ Yes I mean those hate mongers who would rather see me writhe in pain and die than to live and worship my God as I see fit.
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 Gershom Scholem once described Gnosticism as "the Greatest case of metaphysical anti-Semitism."[34]

Important terms and concepts

Main article: List of gnostic terms
.Please note that the following are only summaries of various Gnostic interpretations that exist.^ I don’t follow organized religion myself, because IMO most are only out for personal gain (that’s my opinion, please don’t argue with me.
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 ^ We ought to note here, though, that Neo's greatness, his being the One, is only the case because the Matrix exists.
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 .The roles of familiar beings such as Jesus Christ, Sophia, and the Demiurge usually share the same general themes between systems but may have somewhat different functions or identities ascribed to them.^ Yes God the Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost are three separate beings.
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 ^ Jesus is the Christ, by the end of the millennium everyone will have to make that same simple choice they made in the pre-estistance.
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 ^ God is different for every one of us, even amongst those who say they share the same faith.
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Æon

Main article: Æon
.In many Gnostic systems, the æons are the various emanations of the superior God, who is also known by such names as the One, the Monad, Aion teleos (Greek: "The Complete Æon"),[citation needed] Bythos (Greek: Βυθος, 'Depth' or 'profundity'), Proarkhe (Greek: προαρχη, "Before the Beginning'), E Arkhe (Greek: ἡ ἀρχή, 'The Beginning'), Ennoia (Greek: "Thought") of the Light[35] or Sige (Greek: Σιγη, "Silence").^ The One as ‘unbegotten’ and ‘self-begotten’: “Great is the good Self-begotten who stood, the God who had already stood.
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 ^ For I have a name: I am Melchizedek, the Priest of God Most High; I know that it is I who am truly the image of the true High-Priest of God Most High.” (Melchizedek) - However, he also speaks in the first person as the one who is sacrificed: “And you crucified me from the third hour of the Sabbath-eve until the ninth hour.
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 ^ Ineffable One who dwells in the Monad.
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 [36] .From this first being, also an æon, a series of different emanations occur, beginning in certain Gnostic texts with the hermaphroditic Barbelo,[13][37][38] from which successive pairs of aeons emanate, often in male-female pairings called syzygies;[39] the numbers of these pairings varied from text to text, though some identify their number as being thirty.^ BARBELO AS MALE AND VIRGIN - ‘Male’ is an adjective that denotes a being from the Upper Aeons (while ‘female’ denotes a being from the Lower Aeons).
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 ^ But, the pairing of male and female, bridegroom and bride, could be interpreted variously.
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 ^ THE SAVIOUR AND FATE - In the Gnostic texts, the saviour first came into being in the Upper Aeons.
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 [40] .The aeons as a totality constitute the pleroma, the "region of light". The lowest regions of the pleroma are closest to the darkness; that is, the physical world.^ When the light came to me, I saw that all the so-called Christian world was grovelling in darkness.” (Brigham Young, JD 5:73).
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 [citation needed]
.Two of the most commonly paired æons were Jesus and Sophia (Greek: "Wisdom"); the latter refers to Jesus as her 'consort' in A Valentinian Exposition.^ After the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was organized, there were only two churches upon the earth.
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 ^ For most of the nineteenth century, Latter-day Saints interpreted the Word of Wisdom a little more loosely than they did in the 1830s or do today.
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 [41] .Sophia, emanating without her partner, resulting in the production of the Demiurge (Greek: lit.^ Sophia’s fault was that she created without her consort’s consent, resulting in the bastard child Yaltabaoth, who engendered the Lower Aeons.
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 ."public builder"),[42] who is also referred to as Yaldabaoth and variations thereof in some Gnostic texts.^ Gnostics identify Yaldabaoth as the Creator God of the Old Testament, who himself decides to create archons (angels), the material world (Earth) and human beings.
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 ^ The twelfth is Belias, it is he who is over the depth of Hades.” (Apocyphon of John) - Each Archon may be associated with a planet (no Gnostic text makes this association explicit).
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 ^ This schema appears in Sethian texts such as The Gospel of the Egyptians, Three Steles of Seth and (with some variations) in The Apocryphon of John.
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 [13] .This creature is concealed outside the Pleroma;[13] in isolation, and thinking itself alone, it creates materiality and a host of co-actors, referred to as archons.^ Unlike Catholics, they did not think of themselves as lowly and evil creatures who were destined for purgatory, if not hell itself.

 ^ See TRINITY. - Her name Ennoia (‘Thought’ in Greek) is derived from the Aristotlean notion of ‘thought thinking itself’, which lies at the heart of the Gnostic creation.
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 ^ Gnostics identify Yaldabaoth as the Creator God of the Old Testament, who himself decides to create archons (angels), the material world (Earth) and human beings.
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 .The demiurge is responsible for the creation of mankind, by create he traps elements of the Pleroma stolen from Sophia in human bodies.^ If the person is trapped in the Matrix, then he can't successfully refer to real human bodies when he utters the word "human body," and so it appears that his statement must also be false.
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 ^ "[James Parks] Morton's views evolved 'The Earth is God's Body, Jesus and Earth--God incarnate in the flesh of the Earth, flesh of the water , the flesh of the elements of creation and how that creation is suffering -- the passion of the creation .'...

 [13][16] .In response, the Godhead emanates two savior æons, Christ and the Holy Spirit; Christ then embodies itself in the form of Jesus, in order to be able to teach man how to achieve gnosis, by which they may return to the Pleroma.^ At the baptism of Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit descended on Him as a dove.

 ^ They may also be a form of baptism.
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 ^ Mary was overshadowed by the Holy Ghost and brought forth Jesus Christ, the son of God.

 [8]

Archon

Main article: Archon#Gnostic archons
.In late antiquity some variants of Gnosticism used the term Archon to refer to several servants of the Demiurge.^ Answering this question is important to some degree because we typically use the term "enslavement" to refer to something done by one agent to some others.
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 [16] .In this context they may be seen as having the roles of the angels and demons of the Old Testament.^ OLD TESTAMENT PERIOD God judged Israel when they became involved in phallic rites.

 ^ Old Testament Period : God judged Israel when they became involved in phallic rites.

 ^ Through the union of their images with the angel, they are protected against demons.
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.According to Origen's Contra Celsum, a sect called the Ophites posited the existence of seven archons, beginning with Iadabaoth or Ialdabaoth, who created the six that follow: Iao, Sabaoth, Adonaios, Elaios, Astaphanos and Horaios.^ And he shared his fire with them.” (Apocyphon of John) - The seven heavenly Archons were named Athoth, Harmas, Kalila-Oumbri, Yabel, Adonaiou (or Sabaoth) Cain and Abel: “The name of the first one is Athoth, whom the generations call the reaper.
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 ^ And the archons created seven powers for themselves, and the powers created for themselves six angels for each one until they became (360 or) 365 angels.” (Apocyphon of John) - As 360 or 365, the Archons’ demons establish their rule over man in space (the 360 degrees on the horizon) and in time (365 days a year).
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 ^ For this reason, the One is called, quite simply, “the One who exists” (Tripartite Tractate) - Everything that exists (the Totalities) is an extension of the One’s existence: “The emanation of the Totalities, which exist from the one who exists, did not occur according to a separation from one another, as something cast off from the one who begets them.
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 [43] Similarly to the Mithraic Kronos and Vedic Narasimha, a form of Vishnu, Ialdabaoth had a head of a lion.[13][44][45]

Abraxas/Abrasax

Main article: Abraxas
Engraving from an Abraxas stone.
.The Egyptian Gnostic Basilideans referred to a figure called Abraxas who was at the head of 365 spiritual beings (Irenaeus, Adversus Haereses, I.24); it is unclear what to make of Irenaeus' use of the term 'Archon', which may simply mean 'ruler' in this context.^ Then mankind began to multiply and improve.” (Hypostasis of the Archons) - In the Gospel of the Egyptians, Seth bore his race through Edokla: “This is the race which came forth through Edokla.” (Gospel of the Egyptians) - In many ‘Sethian’ Gnostic texts, the Elect are called ‘the children of Seth: “the children of Seth, who are above thousands of thousands, and myriads of myriads, of the aeons” (Melchizedek) 4.
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 ^ The LDS church makes their tithing use known and have auditors to be sure it is being used correctly.
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 ^ As the Vocie, the One calls or ‘cries out’ to the Elect, who recognize they are being called: “I am the real Voice.
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 The role and function of Abraxas for Basilideans is not clear.
.The word Abraxas was engraved on certain antique gemstones, called on that account Abraxas stones, which may have been used as amulets or charms by Gnostic sects.^ And if it is not based on stubborness, try not to use wording that makes it sound like it.” Your testimony may be more informed, but it sounds like stubbornness all the same.
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 .In popular culture, Abraxas is sometimes considered the name of a god who incorporated both Good and Evil (God and Demiurge) in one entity, and therefore representing the monotheistic God, singular, but (unlike, for example, the Christian God) not omni-benevolent (See Hesse's Demian, and Jung's Seven Sermons to the Dead).^ Amanda- Mormons are the only one’s who consider themselves “Christians”.
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 ^ We consider both Jesus and the Father to be gods.
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 ^ The One as ‘unbegotten’ and ‘self-begotten’: “Great is the good Self-begotten who stood, the God who had already stood.
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 .Opinions abound on Abraxas, who in recent centuries has been claimed to be both an Egyptian god and a demon, sometimes even being associated with the dual nature of Satan/Lucifer.^ But of course human beings have offered answers to this question: one is God; another, the laws of nature.
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 ^ The pantheistic god is Pan/Satan, the 'god of nature' as distinguished from the God of the Bible.

 ^ God is different for every one of us, even amongst those who say they share the same faith.
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 The word abracadabra may be related to Abraxas.
.The above information relates to interpretations of ancient amulets and to reports of Christian heresy hunters which are not always clear.^ Pseudo-Christians teach the pantheistic view of God in order to promote related heresies of the androgyny of God and divinity of man.
.Actual ancient Gnostic texts from the Nag Hammadi Library, such as the Coptic Gospel of the Egyptians, refer to Abrasax as an Aeon dwelling with Sophia and other Aeons of the Spiritual Fullness in the light of the luminary Eleleth.^ Several of the Nag Hammadi texts are apocryphonic, such as the Apocryphon of John and the Apocryphon of James.
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 ^ Then mankind began to multiply and improve.” (Hypostasis of the Archons) - In the Gospel of the Egyptians, Seth bore his race through Edokla: “This is the race which came forth through Edokla.” (Gospel of the Egyptians) - In many ‘Sethian’ Gnostic texts, the Elect are called ‘the children of Seth: “the children of Seth, who are above thousands of thousands, and myriads of myriads, of the aeons” (Melchizedek) 4.
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 ^ ENNOIA AS PRONOIA AND PROTONOIA - The Gnostic texts emphasize that all the beings which came to exist in the Upper Aeons were ‘first’ and so they ‘pre-exist’.
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 .In several texts, the luminary Eleleth is the last of the luminaries (Spiritual Lights) that come forward, and it is the Aeon Sophia, associated with Eleleth, who encounters darkness and becomes involved in the chain of events that leads to the Demiurge and Archon's rule of this world, and the salvage effort that ensues.^ The last male heir (the only one who can assume the mantle of leadership for that church), is not too awful long for this world, and it must be a direct descendant of Smith for him to become their leader.
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 ^ Archons) dwell above us, so it is they who will rule over us!"
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 ^ Sophia’s fault was that she created without her consort’s consent, resulting in the bastard child Yaltabaoth, who engendered the Lower Aeons.
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 .As such, the role of Aeons of Eleleth, including Abrasax, Sophia, and others, pertains to this outer border of the Divine Fullness that encounters the ignorance of the world of Lack and interacts to rectify the error of ignorance in the world of materiality.^ DESCRIPTIONS OF THE LOWER AEONS - As darkness and a tail-eating dragon - “The outer darkness is a great dragon, whose tail is in his mouth, outside the whole world and surrounding the whole world.” (Pistis Sophia Ch.
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 ^ And the light will withdraw up to its root.” (On the Origin of the World) - The Lower Aeons are called the Deficiency because they lack the Upper Aeons’ light and fullness.
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 ^ Why is the world full of sharp corners and other hazards?
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.Words like or similar to Abraxas or Abrasax also appear in the Greek Magical Papyri.^ These appeared around the One as its ‘images’ or ‘reflections’ in the mirror of the watery light (the Greek word eikon means both image and reflection).
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 .There are similarities and differences between such figures in reports about Basiledes' teaching, in the larger magical traditions of the Graeco-Roman world, in the classic ancient Gnostic texts such as the Gospel of the Egyptians, and in later magical and esoteric writings.^ ADAM AND EVE - Although Gnostic texts provide different versions, the general outline of Adam and Eve, their creation and fall, is as follows: 1.
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 ^ Buddhist teaching allows that those who have been enlightened are endowed with magical powers, since they recognize the world as illusory and so can manipulate it at will.
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 ^ THE BRIDAL CHAMBER IN GENERAL - Since it is a mystery, the Bridal Chamber is compared to the Holy of Holies: “The Holy of the Holies is the bridal chamber.” (Gospel of Philip) - The Bridal Chamber has not been revealed explicitly through the existing Gnostic texts, and remains a mystery.
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.The Swiss Psychologist Carl Jung wrote a short Gnostic treatise in 1916 called The Seven Sermons to the Dead, which called Abraxas a God higher than the Christian God and Devil, that combines all opposites into one Being.^ 'The man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition...who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God,...so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God' (II Thess.

 ^ But of course human beings have offered answers to this question: one is God; another, the laws of nature.
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 ^ In the earlier centuries of Christianity, Epiphany was considered to be more important than Christmas, even by the so-called orthodox church.

Demiurge

Main article: Demiurge
A lion-faced deity found on a Gnostic gem in Bernard de Montfaucon's L'antiquité expliquée et représentée en figures may be a depiction of the Demiurge; however, cf. Mithraic Zervan Akarana [46]
.The term Demiurge derives from the Latinized form of the Greek term dēmiourgos, δημιουργός, (literally "public or skilled worker") and refers to an entity responsible for the creation of the physical universe and the physical aspect of humanity.^ See TRINITY. - Her name Ennoia (‘Thought’ in Greek) is derived from the Aristotlean notion of ‘thought thinking itself’, which lies at the heart of the Gnostic creation.
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 ^ OLD TESTAMENT PERIOD Greek mythology is derived from the lost civilization of Atlantis, i.e., the demons who copulated with humans in Genesis 6:4.

 The term dēmiourgos occurs in a number of other religious and philosophical systems, most notably Platonism. .Moral judgements of the demiurge vary from group to group within the broad category of gnosticism - such judgements usually correspond to each group's judgement of the status of materiality as being inherently evil, or else merely flawed and as good as its passive constituent matter will allow.^ Gnostics identify Yaldabaoth as the Creator God of the Old Testament, who himself decides to create archons (angels), the material world (Earth) and human beings.
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 ^ For the most part, what is deemed by society to be `reality' at any point, far from being an absolute, is merely a commonly agreed set of values based on the perceptions of a group of individuals.
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 ^ Indeed, the existence of other human beings in the world is part of the "sharp corners" a source of suffering in addition to being a source of moral evil.
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.Like Plato does, Gnosticism presents a distinction between a supranatural, unknowable reality and the sensible materiality of which the demiurge is creator.^ According to the worldviews of both Gnostic Christianity and Buddhism that the film evokes, the realization of ultimate reality involves a complete freedom from the material realm and offers peace of mind.
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 ^ Gnostics identify Yaldabaoth as the Creator God of the Old Testament, who himself decides to create archons (angels), the material world (Earth) and human beings.
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 .However, in contrast to Plato, several systems of Gnostic thought present the Demiurge as antagonistic to the Supreme God: his act of creation either in unconscious and fundamentally flawed imitation of the divine model, or else formed with the malevolent intention of entrapping aspects of the divine in materiality.^ In the Gnostic myth, the supreme god is completely perfect and therefore alien and mysterious, "ineffable," "unnamable," "immeasurable light which is pure, holy and immaculate" (Apocryphon of John).
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 ^ If, however, there is some implied divinity in the film,30 it remains transcendent, like the divinity of the ineffable, invisible supreme god in Gnosticism, except where it is immanent in the form of the divine spark active in humans.31 III. Buddhism in The Matrix .
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 ^ "The resurrection therefore might be defined as the persistence on into the future of that which is the divine aspect, and which is integrated with the life and consciousness of that sum total which we call God.

 Thus, in such systems, the Demiurge acts as a solution to the problem of evil. In the Apocryphon of John (several versions of which are found in the Nag Hammadi library), the Demiurge has the name "Yaltabaoth", and proclaims himself as God:
"Now the archon who is weak has three names. .The first name is Yaltabaoth, the second is Saklas, and the third is Samael.^ Since Gnostics practised multiple baptisms, the catechumen may have been baptized a first time at the end of the renunciation, and second time at the end of the invocation, to prepare him for a third and final baptism.
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 ^ The first stage was that of Catholicism, the second of Protestantism but the third will be the perfect religion of mankind.

 ^ Likewise, the three phoenixes in Paradise - the first is immortal; the second lives 1,000 years; as for the third, it is written in the Sacred Book that it is consumed.
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 And he is impious in his arrogance which is in him. For he said, 'I am God and there is no other God beside me,' for he is ignorant of his strength, the place from which he had come."
."Samael", in the Judeo-Christian tradition, refers to the evil Angel of Death, and corresponds to the Christian demon of that name, one second only to Satan[citation needed].^ Descartes' own way out of his evil demon skepticism was to first argue that one cannot genuinely doubt the existence of oneself.
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 ^ THE SON AS AUTOGENES, SELF-BEGOTTEN, ONLY-BEGOTTEN, FIRST-BEGOTTEN - Although the One is referred to above as ‘self-begotten’, usually the term Autogenes describes the Son (who is either the Word, the saviour Seth or the Christ).
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 ^ Amanda- Mormons are the only one’s who consider themselves “Christians”.
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

 .Literally, it can mean "blind god" or "god of the blind" in Aramaic (Syriac sæmʕa-ʔel); another alternative title is "Saklas", Aramaic for "fool" (Syriac sækla "the foolish one").^ But of course human beings have offered answers to this question: one is God; another, the laws of nature.
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 ^ AND yet it is, according to your D&C practiced after life (which breaks down by the way to mean that only men will become Gods and the women will continue to be one of their many wives).
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ When a blind man and one who sees are both together in darkness, they are no different from one another.
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.Gnostic myth recounts that Sophia (Greek, literally meaning "wisdom"), the Demiurge's mother and a partial aspect of the divine Pleroma or "Fullness", desired to create something apart from the divine totality, and without the receipt of divine assent.^ Although Sophia was restored to the upper Pleroma, ‘Desire’ became Achamoth, the Sophia fallen to the Lower Aeons.
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 ^ The question becomes even more pertinent with the identification of humankind with Sophia - a divine being in Gnosticism.
  • The Philosophy of the Matrix 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC onwardoverland.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Thus, it must answer the question ‘how did the many come out of the One?’ At the heart of the Gnostic creation is Aristotle’s notion of Noesis Noeseos Noesis, which is usually translated as ‘Thought Thinking itself’, but means literally ‘Thinking a Thought of itself Thinking’.
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 .In this abortive act of separate creation, she gave birth to the monstrous Demiurge and, being ashamed of her deed, she wrapped him in a cloud and created a throne for him within it.^ KJV - For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead ; so that they are without excuse.

 ^ Each time the One names a new Upper Aeonic being, it comes to exist: “But the Father is perfect, knowing every space within him.
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 .The Demiurge, isolated, did not behold his mother, nor anyone else, and thus concluded that only he himself existed, being ignorant of the superior levels of reality that were his birth-place.^ So I think that the title of “Christian” is acceptable for Mormons seeing as no-one really knows what Christ did, so how can anyone say that Joey is wrong?
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Thus, despite the existence of multiple divine beings, there is still only “one God” governing the universe.
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ The bulk of the following excerpt from the Gnostic "Gospel of Truth" might just as well be taken from the scenes in The Matrix in which Morpheus explains the nature of reality to Neo: Thus they [humans] were ignorant of the Father, he being the one whom they did not see...
  • The Philosophy of the Matrix 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC onwardoverland.com [Source type: Original source]
.The Gnostic myths describing these events are full of intricate nuances portraying the declination of aspects of the divine into human form; this process occurs through the agency of the Demiurge who, having stolen a portion of power from his mother, sets about a work of creation in unconscious imitation of the superior Pleromatic realm.^ These are the powers which were given to the forefather who was placed in the aeon of the mother.
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 ^ He functions as a Gnostic Redeemer, a figure from another realm who enters the material world in order to impart saving knowledge about humankind's true identity and the true structure of reality, thereby setting free anyone able to understand the message.
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 ^ If he wishes, he manifests whomever he wishes, by giving him form and giving him a name, and he gives a name to him, and brings it about that those come into existence.” (Gospel of Truth) - Yaltabaoth created the Lower Aeons, which are considered to be ‘shadows’ of the Upper Aeons.
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 .Thus Sophia's power becomes enclosed within the material forms of humanity, themselves entrapped within the material universe: the goal of Gnostic movements was typically the awakening of this spark, which permitted a return by the subject to the superior, non-material realities which were its primal source.^ Protennoia: “I am the life of my Epinoia that dwells within every Power and every eternal movement, and (in) invisible Lights and within the Archons and Angels and Demons, and every soul dwelling in Tartaros, and (in) every material soul.
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 ^ If, however, there is some implied divinity in the film,30 it remains transcendent, like the divinity of the ineffable, invisible supreme god in Gnosticism, except where it is immanent in the form of the divine spark active in humans.31 III. Buddhism in The Matrix .
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 ^ We are in reality heading towards a world run by machines with an intelligence far superior to that of an individual human.
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 .(See Sethian Gnosticism.^ FIVE SEALS - See also SEALS. - The Five Seals are mentioned in the Sethian Gnostic texts such as The Gospel of the Egyptians, The Trimorphic Protennoia and The Apocryphon of John.
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 ^ See EPINOIA. - In the Sethian Gnostic texts, she is called Barbelo.
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 )
.Some Gnostic philosophers identify the Demiurge with Yahweh, the God of the Old Testament, in opposition and contrast to the God of the New Testament.^ Have you read the old and new testament.
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 ^ Does the Bible for you include BOTH the Old and New testaments.
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Do you, for example, accept the Old Testament and follow all of it, or, specifically the Torah, given to Moses by God Himself?
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

 Still others equated the being with Satan. .Catharism apparently inherited their idea of Satan as the creator of the evil world directly or indirectly from Gnosticism.^ But by providing a port directly into each human brain, each individual can be fed a reality with which he or she is happy, creating for each one a contented existence in a sort of dream world.
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 ^ Gnostics identify Yaldabaoth as the Creator God of the Old Testament, who himself decides to create archons (angels), the material world (Earth) and human beings.
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Gnosis

Main article: Gnosis
.The word 'Gnosticism' is a modern construction, though based on an antiquated linguistic expression: it comes from the Greek word meaning 'knowledge', gnosis (γνῶσις).^ A more modern meaning of "matrix" is based in mathematics: a rectangular arrangement of symbols.
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 ^ These appeared around the One as its ‘images’ or ‘reflections’ in the mirror of the watery light (the Greek word eikon means both image and reflection).
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 ^ You:”Joseph smith as a martyr” Comment: the word martyr means is Greek, it means “testimony” or “witness” in our modern vernacular it means someone who chooses to suffer death rather than denounce their belief (or witness if you will).
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

 .However, gnosis itself refers to a very specialised form of knowledge, deriving both from the exact meaning of the original Greek term and its usage in Platonist philosophy.^ These appeared around the One as its ‘images’ or ‘reflections’ in the mirror of the watery light (the Greek word eikon means both image and reflection).
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 ^ At the origin of both schema is Aristotle’s notion of Noesis Noeseos Noesis, which is usually translated as ‘Thought Thinking itself’, but means literally ‘Thinking (Noesis) a Thought (Noeseos) of itself Thinking’ (Noesis).
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 ^ You also use very disrespectful words referring to someone, even if you do not have a complete knowledge, who could be the Son of God.
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.Unlike modern English, ancient Greek was capable of discerning between several different forms of knowing.^ I’m not a parent, but I have parents and i know many parents and the difference can be seen between what works and what doesn’t.
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ (Apocryphon of John) - Those who go astray do not know the difference between perishable and imperishable: “Now a difference existed among the imperishable aeons.
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 ^ He asks how it is possible to know the difference between the dream world and the real world.
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 .These different forms may be described in English as being propositional knowledge, indicative of knowledge acquired indirectly through the reports of others or otherwise by inference (such as "I know of George Bush" or "I know Berlin is in Germany"), and empirical knowledge acquired by direct participation or acquaintance (such as "I know George Bush personally" or "I know Berlin, having visited").^ (Marsanes) - In the beginning, the Father created a group of beings through which he could reflect upon himself - even though they did not know it.
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 ^ As the Matrix raises the problem of our knowledge of the external world_might this all be just a dream?_Cypher raises the problem of other minds_can we know the content of someone else's mind?
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 ^ It’s like being born speaking Spanish or English – who know’s possibly Polish for many people.
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]
.Gnosis (γνῶσις) refers to knowledge of the second kind.^ Since we'll be discussing different kinds of Matrix, we need a name for the one depicted in The Matrix; Agent Smith refers to a First Matrix, so let's call the one we see the Second Matrix.
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 .Therefore, in a religious context, to be 'Gnostic' should be understood as being reliant not on knowledge in a general sense, but as being specially receptive to mystical or esoteric experiences of direct participation with the divine.^ Being unchanging, He cannot be caused to act on the basis of future knowledge, and there is little metaphysical sense to be made of "He did it because He did it."
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 ^ For so will it belong to Himself if it belong to Him alone; and therefore it will be impossible that another god should be admitted, when it is permitted to no other being to possess anything of God.

 ^ The basis of Gnostic mysticism is direct revelation; communication with familiar spirits was cultivated by the early monastic communities.

 Indeed, in most Gnostic systems the sufficient cause of salvation is this 'knowledge of' ('acquaintance with') the divine. This is commonly identified with a process of inward 'knowing' or self-exploration, comparable to that encouraged by Plotinus (ca. 205–270 AD). .However, as may be seen, the term 'gnostic' also had precedent usage in several ancient philosophical traditions, which must also be weighed in considering the very subtle implications of its appellation to a set of ancient religious groups.^ The esoteric tradition of Solomon spanned the centuries to the era of Gnostic Christianity which preceded the Merovingian Age.

 ^ Although the entire crew embodies the ideals of the bodhisattva, the filmmakers set Neo apart as unique, suggesting that while the crew may be looked at as arhats and bodhisattvas, Neo can be seen as a Buddha.
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 ^ You must also consider in the early church history it wasn’t as much of a ‘religion’ as a religious movement.
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

Monad (apophatic theology)

Main article: Monad (Gnosticism)
.In many Gnostic systems (and heresiologies), God is known as the Monad, the One, The Absolute, Aion teleos (The Perfect Æon), Bythos (Depth or Profundity, Βυθος), Proarkhe (Before the Beginning, προαρχη), and E Arkhe (The Beginning, η αρχη).^ AND yet it is, according to your D&C practiced after life (which breaks down by the way to mean that only men will become Gods and the women will continue to be one of their many wives).
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ In the Gnostic myth, the supreme god is completely perfect and therefore alien and mysterious, "ineffable," "unnamable," "immeasurable light which is pure, holy and immaculate" (Apocryphon of John).
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 ^ "Neither Gnostics nor Hermeticists grovelled before their God.

 God is the high source of the pleroma, the region of light. The various emanations of God are called æons.
.Within certain variations of Gnosticism, especially those inspired by Monoimus, the Monad was the highest God which created lesser gods, or elements (similar to æons).^ Those who practice Gnostic mysticism hide within the organized Church system and claim to follow primitive Christianity.

 ^ Rather, the temporally evolving content of each monad is synchronized with the evolving content of all the other monads by God, creating the illusion of a shared real world.
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 ^ "[James Parks] Morton's views evolved 'The Earth is God's Body, Jesus and Earth--God incarnate in the flesh of the Earth, flesh of the water , the flesh of the elements of creation and how that creation is suffering -- the passion of the creation .'...
.According to Hippolytus, this view was inspired by the Pythagoreans, who called the first thing that came into existence the Monad, which begat the dyad, which begat the numbers, which begat the point, begetting lines, etc.^ Not on the standard Christian view, according to which just such an existence awaits us in Heaven.
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 ^ As for the things not directly found in the bible at first glance, remember that the bible itself was not always many books compiled into the Holy Book we hold in our hands today.
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

 This was also clarified in the writings of Plato, Aristotle and Plotinus. This teaching being largely Neopythagorean via Numenius as well.
This Monad is the spiritual source of everything which emanates the pleroma, and could be contrasted to the dark Demiurge (Yaldabaoth) that controls matter.
.The Sethian cosmogony as most famously contained in the Apocryphon ('Secret book') of John describes an unknown God, very similar to the orthodox apophatic theology, although very different from the orthodox credal teachings that there is one such god who is identified also as creator of heaven and earth.^ The One as ‘unbegotten’ and ‘self-begotten’: “Great is the good Self-begotten who stood, the God who had already stood.
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 ^ THE SON AS AUTOGENES, SELF-BEGOTTEN, ONLY-BEGOTTEN, FIRST-BEGOTTEN - Although the One is referred to above as ‘self-begotten’, usually the term Autogenes describes the Son (who is either the Word, the saviour Seth or the Christ).
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 ^ ADAM AND EVE - Although Gnostic texts provide different versions, the general outline of Adam and Eve, their creation and fall, is as follows: 1.
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 .In describing the nature of a creator god associated with Biblical texts, orthodox theologians often attempt to define God through a series of explicit positive statements, themselves universal but in the divine taken to their superlative degrees: he is omniscient, omnipotent and truly benevolent.^ Just because man enjoys something does not mean it comes from God (The God who created the universe and man, not the man that became god as mormonism teaches).
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 ^ Jehovah’s witnesses believe that he failed in his mission, Scientology denies his divinity as the Son of God, the creator of the heavens and the earth.
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ THE CREATION OF THE UPPER AEONS - The creation of the Upper Aeons can be described through two different schema: one is visual (the aeons as a watery light) and one is auditive (the aeons as the silence).
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 .The Sethian conception of the most hidden transcendent God is, by contrast, defined through negative theology: he is immovable, invisible, intangible, ineffable; commonly, 'he' is seen as being hermaphroditic, a potent symbol for being, as it were, 'all-containing'. In the Apocryphon of John, this god is good in that it bestows goodness.^ Not all good feelings come from God.
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 ^ God is within the core, and all through the core, and beyond the core, closer to the core than the core.’ ...

 ^ For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; 4Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.
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 .After the apophatic statements, the process of the Divine in action are used to describe the effect of such a god.^ This false teaching is the springboard for introducing other heresies, such as the divinity of man and the androgyny of God.

 ^ It is the mystic knowledge which effects regeneration, rebirth into the full consciousness of one's divine nature and powers as a ' Son of God '."

 ^ "Form, the result of active material processes, must express divinity, and the revelation of this is God's gift to us at the Transfiguration.
An apophatic approach to discussing the Divine is found throughout gnosticism, Vedanta, and Platonic and Aristotelian theology as well. It is also found in some Judaic sources.

Pleroma

Main article: Pleroma
Pleroma (Greek πληρωμα) generally refers to the totality of God's powers. The term means fullness, and is used in Christian theological contexts: both in Gnosticism generally, and in Colossians 2.9.
.Gnosticism holds that the world is controlled by evil archons, one of whom is the demiurge, the deity of the Old Testament who holds the human spirit captive.^ Those who have not known to whom they belong, where will their souls be?’ And he said to me, ‘In those, the despicable spirit has gained strength when they went astray.
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 ^ OLD TESTAMENT PERIOD The city and tower of Babel were mankind's first attempt to unite the people of the world into a global religion.

 ^ The first birth took place in the pre-history of the film, in the life and death of the first enlightened one who was able to control the Matrix from within.
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.The heavenly pleroma is the center of divine life, a region of light "above" (the term is not to be understood spatially) our world, occupied by spiritual beings such as aeons (eternal beings) and sometimes archons.^ The Upper Aeons are invisible, eternal, imperishable, spiritual, light.
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 ^ Protennoia: “I am the life of my Epinoia that dwells within every Power and every eternal movement, and (in) invisible Lights and within the Archons and Angels and Demons, and every soul dwelling in Tartaros, and (in) every material soul.
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 ^ Even our own culture has experienced many different worlds created by new interpretations of people and of nature that changed what counted as human beings and things.
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 .Jesus is interpreted as an intermediary aeon who was sent from the pleroma, with whose aid humanity can recover the lost knowledge of the divine origins of humanity.^ Thus the human nature of Jesus or Everyman is transformed into divine and spiritual nature by the holy female power, the Holy Spirit, in the initiation rite of baptism."

 ^ Through Joseph Smith, Jesus Christ revealed, restored, and corrected the doctrines that were lost, changed, or corrupted during the centuries after the death of the original apostles.
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 ^ OLD TESTAMENT PERIOD Greek mythology is derived from the lost civilization of Atlantis, i.e., the demons who copulated with humans in Genesis 6:4.

 The term is thus a central element of Gnostic cosmology.
.Pleroma is also used in the general Greek language and is used by the Greek Orthodox church in this general form since the word appears under the book of Colossians.^ They represent this Force, which presides of the physical generation, under the mythological and horned forms of the God PAN ...

 ^ These appeared around the One as its ‘images’ or ‘reflections’ in the mirror of the watery light (the Greek word eikon means both image and reflection).
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 ^ Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches will condition Protestants and Catholics to worship the Antichrist and mankind in general.

 .Proponents of the view that Paul was actually a gnostic, such as Elaine Pagels of Princeton University, view the reference in Colossians as something that was to be interpreted in the gnostic sense.^ This fourth "life" can be viewed as the one to which the Oracle refers in her predictions that Neo was "waiting for something" and that he might be ready in his "next life, maybe."
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 ^ Elaine Pagels, The Gnostic Gospels, (New York: Random House, 1979, repr.
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Sophia

Main article: Sophia (wisdom)
.In Gnostic tradition, the term Sophia (Σoφíα, Greek for "wisdom") refers to the final and lowest emanation of God.^ The love feast of the Cathars and the elevation of Sophia to the goddess of wisdom in the Gnostic religion demonstrate their egalitarian views."

 ^ ACHAMOTH - In Valentinian Gnosticism, there is an Upper and Lower Sophia (Wisdom).
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.In most if not all versions of the gnostic myth, Sophia births the demiurge, who in turn brings about the creation of materiality.^ Are we to turn about and all listen to her?
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 ^ We’re all just meat bags for about 70 years, then we’re food for those who’re left behind – physical and spiritual food.
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 ^ ADAM AND EVE - Although Gnostic texts provide different versions, the general outline of Adam and Eve, their creation and fall, is as follows: 1.
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 The positive or negative depiction of materiality thus resides a great deal on mythic depictions of Sophia's actions. .She is occasionally referred to by the Hebrew equivalent of Achamoth (this is a feature of Ptolemy's version of the Valentinian gnostic myth).^ Her Akkadian name actually means 'salt waters' and had its equivalent in the Hebrew 'tehm' (or 'tehmot' in the plural), as used in Old Testament references to 'the deep'."

 ^ ACHAMOTH - In Valentinian Gnosticism, there is an Upper and Lower Sophia (Wisdom).
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 Jewish Gnosticism with a focus on Sophia was active by 90.[citation needed]
.Almost all gnostic systems of the Syrian or Egyptian type taught that the universe began with an original, unknowable God, referred to as the Parent or Bythos, as the Monad by Monoimus, or the first Aeon by still other traditions.^ ENNOIA AS PRONOIA AND PROTONOIA - The Gnostic texts emphasize that all the beings which came to exist in the Upper Aeons were ‘first’ and so they ‘pre-exist’.
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 ^ "The way into the kingdom is found by questioning and answering, by seeking and finding, and by the obedience to that inner voice which can be heard when all other voices are stilled.

 ^ "To (Frederich Max) Muller almost all major divinities and heroes were originally a symbol for the sun in one of its phases.

 .From this initial unitary beginning, the One spontaneously emanated further Aeons, pairs of progressively 'lesser' beings in sequence.^ RITES TO INITIATE THE ELECT - Through the rite of the Five Seals, the Elect remember their true origin, as names and images in the Upper Aeons which reflect the One back to itself.
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 ^ The Upper Aeons emanated outward from the One which lies at the centre as their source (also ‘root’).
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 ^ AEONS IN GENERAL: - The Aeons are a series of hypostases (extensions of being) that emanated outward from a common source.
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 The lowest of these pairs were Sophia and Christ. .The Aeons together made up the Pleroma, or fullness, of God, and thus should not be seen as distinct from the divine, but symbolic abstractions of the divine nature.^ Thus the “shedding of innocent blood.” It’s basically just another way of describing the denial of the Holy Ghost (which is a rejection of God made with full light an knowledge – pretty dang rare).
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 ^ And the light will withdraw up to its root.” (On the Origin of the World) - The Lower Aeons are called the Deficiency because they lack the Upper Aeons’ light and fullness.
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 ^ Thus, despite the existence of multiple divine beings, there is still only “one God” governing the universe.
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History

Main article: History of Gnosticism

The development of the Syrian-Egyptian school

.Bentley Layton has sketched out a relationship between the various gnostic movements in his introduction to The Gnostic Scriptures (SCM Press, London, 1987).^ The Gnostic/Hermetic doctrine of the divinity of man is the basis for various movements (self-esteem, human potential, interfaith, monastic/ascetic).

 ^ The parallels between Neo and Christ sketched earlier are further illuminated by a Gnostic context, since Neo is "saved" through gnosis or secret knowledge, which he passes on to others.
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 ^ Bentley Layton, The Gnostic Scriptures (New York: Doubleday, 1995), Kurt Rudolph, Gnosis: The Nature and History of Gnosticism (San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1987).
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 .In this model, 'Classical Gnosticism' and 'The School of Thomas' antedated and influenced the development of Valentinus, who was to found his own school of Gnosticism in both Alexandria and Rome, whom Layton called 'the great [Gnostic] reformer' and 'the focal point' of Gnostic development.^ Old Testament Period : Plato inspired Greek philosophy based on the mystery religion of Atlantis; Alexander the Great brought Platonism to the Middle East; Neo-Platonism developed in the Gnostic academia of Alexandria, Egypt.

 ^ Barbelo as the first aeon and the first to see the One: “Great is the first aeon, male virginal Barbelo, the first glory of the invisible Father, she who is called ‘perfect’.
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 ^ For this reason I myself have called you by the name of that man who is the seed of the great generation or from whom (it comes).” (Apocalypse of Adam) - The wife of Seth is Norea.
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 .While in Alexandria, where he was born, Valentinus probably would have had contact with the Gnostic teacher Basilides, and may have been influenced by him.^ As I may not always be on this forum, if any would like to keep in contact with me, or see other things I have written.
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 ^ Since Gnostics practised multiple baptisms, the catechumen may have been baptized a first time at the end of the renunciation, and second time at the end of the invocation, to prepare him for a third and final baptism.
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Valentinianism flourished throughout the early centuries of the common era: while Valentinus himself lived from ca. 100–180 AD/CE, a list of sectarians or heretics, composed in 388 AD/CE, against whom Emperor Constantine intended legislation includes Valentinus (and, presumably, his inheritors).[citation needed] The school is also known to have been extremely popular: several varieties of their central myth are known, and we know of 'reports from outsiders from which the intellectual liveliness of the group is evident' (Markschies, Gnosis: An Introduction, 94). .It is known that Valentinus' students, in further evidence of their intellectual activity, elaborated upon the teachings and materials they received from him (though the exact extent of their changes remains unknown), for example, in the version of the Valentinian myth brought to us through Ptolemy.^ The circuit of his face is the unknown in the outer worlds, these who seek after his face at all times, wishing to know it, for his word has reached them, and they want to see him.
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 ^ The Buddha's compassion serves as their primary model for Mahayana Buddhists, since they point out that he too remained in samsara in order to help others achieve enlightenment through his teachings and example.
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 ^ (Marsanes) - In the beginning, the Father created a group of beings through which he could reflect upon himself - even though they did not know it.
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.Valentinianism might be described as the most elaborate and philosophically 'dense' form of the Syrian-Egyptian schools of Gnosticism, though it should be acknowledged that this in no way debarred other schools from attracting followers: Basilides' own school was popular also, and survived in Egypt until the 4th century.^ I have no way of verifying one way or the other.
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 ^ In addition to the problem of sin, we might wonder how it can be managed that free human beings, all interacting with each other, have no desires in conflict.
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 ^ There is no way in heaven or hell that the most brilliant Mormon scholar ever, could win a serious argument on the subject.
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.Simone Petrement, in A Separate God, in arguing for a Christian origin of Gnosticism, places Valentinus after Basilides, but before the Sethians.^ It is here that the origins of Gnosticism as a historical phenomenon are to be found, and it is here that Jew and Christian are at one."

 ^ Gnostic master Basilides feasted on the day of the Baptism and kept a long vigil before it.

 ^ Sometimes it is argued that you are better off happier being a Christian, even if God does not exist.
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 .It is her assertion that Valentinus represented a moderation of the anti-Judaism of the earlier Hellenized teachers; the demiurge, widely regarded to be a mythological depiction of the Old Testament God of the Hebrews, is depicted as more ignorant than evil.^ In the earlier centuries of Christianity, Epiphany was considered to be more important than Christmas, even by the so-called orthodox church.

 ^ Old Testament Period : The Greeks glorified the pre-Flood mythological gods.

 ^ They are more ignorant than children.” (Brigham Young, JD 5:229).
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 (See below.)
Manichean priests writing at their desks, with panel inscription in Sogdian. Manuscript from Khocho, Tarim Basin.

The development of the Persian school

.An alternate heritage is offered by Kurt Rudolph in his book Gnosis: The Nature & Structure of Gnosticism (Koehler and Amelang, Leipzig, 1977), to explain the lineage of Persian Gnostic schools.^ Bentley Layton, The Gnostic Scriptures (New York: Doubleday, 1995), Kurt Rudolph, Gnosis: The Nature and History of Gnosticism (San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1987).
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 The decline of Manicheism that occurred in Persia in the 5th century AD was too late to prevent the spread of the movement into the east and the west. .In the west, the teachings of the school moved into Syria, Northern Arabia, Egypt and North Africa (where Augustine was a member of the school from 373-382); from Syria it progressed still farther, into Palestine, Asia Minor and Armenia.^ "Early Christians in Alexandria, Egypt sought to fuse the teachings of Plato into Christianity in a philosophy known as 'Neo-Platonism.'

 There is evidence for Manicheans in Rome and Dalmatia in the 4th century, and also in Gaul and Spain. .The influence of Manicheanism was attacked by imperial elects and polemical writings, but the religion remained prevalent until the 6th century, and still exerted influence in the emergence of the Paulicians, Bogomils and Cathari in the Middle Ages, until it was ultimately stamped out as a heresy by the Catholic Church.^ I would like to point out that while The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints may be the largest Mormon religion there about a dozen of them.
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 ^ The only two christian religions that can claim that they are the true church are the Mormons and the Catholics.
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 ^ This pseudo-religion needs to be exposed for what it is..I will do my part in exposing these frauds as long as there is still a mormon church, and I can still write.
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In the east, Rudolph relates, Manicheanism was able to bloom, given that the religious monopoly position previously held by Christianity and Zoroastrianism had been broken by nascent Islam. .In the early years of the Arab conquest, Manicheanism again found followers in Persia (mostly amongst educated circles), but flourished most in Central Asia, to which it had spread through Iran.^ Sadly, even most private and most homeschool programs have forgotten the Biblical approach to education, which shaped the character and reasoning of our founding fathers.

 Here, in 762, Manicheanism became the state religion of the Uyghur Empire.

Neoplatonism and Gnosticism

See also: Neoplatonism and Gnosticism and Neoplatonism and Christianity

Historical relations between antique Greek Philosophy and Gnosticism

See also: Platonic Academy
.The earliest origins of Gnosticism are still obscure and disputed, but they probably include influence from Plato, Middle Platonism and Neo-Pythagoreanism academies or schools of thought, and this seems to be true both of the more Sethian Gnostics, and of the Valentinian Gnostics.^ Drawing on Pythagorean, Aristotelian, and Stoic sources, more than on Plato, Neoplatonism formed a significant school of thought until the conquest of Egypt by the Muslims in 629 [A.D.] and continued as a major influence in Western thought mainly through its impact on Augustine (354-430) and through him on subsequent Christian theology and philosophy.

 ^ "Early Christians in Alexandria, Egypt sought to fuse the teachings of Plato into Christianity in a philosophy known as 'Neo-Platonism.'

 ^ Old Testament Period : Plato inspired Greek philosophy based on the mystery religion of Atlantis; Alexander the Great brought Platonism to the Middle East; Neo-Platonism developed in the Gnostic academia of Alexandria, Egypt.

 [47] .Further, if we compare different Sethian texts to each other in an attempted chronology of the development of Sethianism during the first few centuries, it seems that later texts are continuing to interact with Platonism.^ Another difference that I think is quite significant is that in the Matrix, unlike in the experience machine, I am really interacting with other human minds.
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 .Earlier texts such as Apocalypse of Adam show signs of being pre-Christian and focus on the Seth, third son of Adam and Eve.^ And in the third aeon the seed of Seth was placed over the third light Daveithai.” (Apocryphon of John) - Adam and Eve once had the pneuma (spirit, divine spark) and the gnosis (knowledge of the Upper Aeons).
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 ^ ENNOIA AS PRONOIA AND PROTONOIA - The Gnostic texts emphasize that all the beings which came to exist in the Upper Aeons were ‘first’ and so they ‘pre-exist’.
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 ^ For this reason I myself have called you by the name of that man who is the seed of the great generation or from whom (it comes).” (Apocalypse of Adam) - The wife of Seth is Norea.
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 These early Sethians may be identical to or related to the Notzrim, Ophites or to the sectarian group called the Minuth by Philo.[48][49] Later Sethian texts such as Zostrianos and Allogenes draw on the imagery of older Sethian texts, but utilize "a large fund of philosophical conceptuality derived from contemporary Platonism, (that is late middle Platonism) with no traces of Christian content."[50] Indeed the doctrine of the "triple-powered one" found in the text Allogenes, as discovered in the Nag Hammadi Library, is "the same doctrine as found in the anonymous Parmenides commentary (Fragment XIV) ascribed by Hadot to Porphyry [...] and is also found in Plotinus' Ennead6.7, 17, 13-26."[47]

Rejection by antique Greek Philosophy

However, by the 3rd century Neoplatonists, such as Plotinus, Porphyry and Amelius are all attacking the Sethians. .It looks as if Sethianism began as a pre-Christian tradition, possibly a syncretic[51] that incorporated elements of Christianity and Platonism as it grew, only to have both Christianity and Platonism reject and turn against it.^ Only later Christian consciousness began to value the idea of hell more than the idea of the transfiguration and divinization of the world...

 ^ Although the presence of individual Christian elements within the film is clear, the overall system of Christianity that is presented is not the traditional, orthodox one.
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 ^ In particular, he makes the case that, given a traditional Christian notion of an afterlife, Heaven turns out to be rather like a Matrix!
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 .Professor John D Turner believes that this double attack led to Sethianism fragmentation into numerous smaller groups (Audians, Borborites, Archontics and perhaps Phibionites, Stratiotici, and Secundians).^ Community of Truth Seekers...was a group of powerful occultists who believed that there had been a single world religion in ancient times which had fragmented into a single world religion in ancient times which had fragmented into the various religious beliefs and occult doctrines which exist today.

 ^ Community of Truth Seekers...was a group of powerful occultists who believed that there had been a single world religion in ancient times which had fragmented into a single world religion which had fragmented into the various religious beliefs and occult doctrines which exist today.

 [50] .Scholarship on Gnosticism has been greatly advanced by the discovery and translation of the Nag Hammadi texts, which shed light on some of the more puzzling comments by Plotinus and Porphyry regarding the Gnostics.^ All quotations are from the standard translations of the Nag Hammadi texts, unless otherwise noted.
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 ^ This corpus lay dormant for nearly 2000 years until its discovery in 1945 in Nag Hammadi, Egypt.
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 ^ Several of the Nag Hammadi texts are apocryphonic, such as the Apocryphon of John and the Apocryphon of James.
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 .More importantly, the texts help to distinguish different kinds of early Gnostics.^ ADAM AND EVE - Although Gnostic texts provide different versions, the general outline of Adam and Eve, their creation and fall, is as follows: 1.
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 ^ The Gnostics, whose texts referred to the Book of Solomon, were the inheritors of the early Jewish sects of Babylonia.

 .It now seems clear that "Sethian" and "Valentinian"[52] gnostics attempted "an effort towards conciliation, even affiliation" with late antique philosophy,[53] and were rebuffed by some Neoplatonists, including Plotinus.^ I want now to ask a question which will seem very silly and obvious (at least to some people, including some very sophisticated philosophers), but which will take us to real philosophical depths rather quickly.
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 ^ Now why, I ask, did he even need the miraculous unseen plates, if he didn’t even seem to use them to write?
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Philosophical relations between Neoplatonism and Gnosticism

Gnostics borrow a lot of ideas and terms from Platonism. .They exhibit a keen understanding of Greek philosophical terms and the Greek Koine language in general, and use Greek philosophical concepts throughout their text, including such concepts as hypostasis (reality, existence), ousia (essence, substance, being), and demiurge (creator God).^ The machines induce the appearance of ordinary 1999 life in the human beings with a computer generated "virtual community" for the purpose of keeping them docile and asleep so that they and their offspring can be used like living batteries.
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 ^ And if they do not have libertarian free will, as long as they are the product of human free will, they are not part of the environment God knowingly created.
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 ^ Similarly, when they talk of human bodies being trapped in pods and fed data by the Matrix, they don't successfully refer to real bodies or pods -- they can't refer to physical bodies in the real world because they cannot have the appropriate causal connection to such objects.
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 .Good examples include texts such as the Hypostasis of the Archons (Reality of the Rulers) or Trimorphic Protennoia (The first thought in three forms).^ Light.” (Trimorphic Protennoia 45:13) - First there is the divestiture of one garment and then the investiture of another: “The living water is a body (i.e.
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 ^ ARCHONS - THEIR DESTRUCTION - There are a limited number of ages - sometimes three (three descents of a saviour figure like Pronoia or Protennoia), sometimes four (one age for each of the the Four Lights.
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 ^ In the context of The Hypostasis of the Archons, the first three ages apparently took place before Noah and the flood.
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Criticism of gnosticism by antique Greek Philosophy

.As a pagan mystic Plotinus considered his opponents heretics[54] and elitist blasphemers,[55] arriving at misotheism as the solution to the problem of evil, being not traditional or genuine Hellenism (in philosophy or mysticism), but rather one invented taking all their truths over from Plato,[56] coupled with the idea expressed by Plotinus that the approach to the infinite force which is the One or Monad cannot be through knowing or not knowing (i.e., dualist, which is of the dyad or demiurge).^ Who wants to go through all the trouble of engaging one’s critical thinking faculties, when a great prophet can do all your thinking for you..
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 ^ And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things.” .
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 ^ Descartes' own way out of his evil demon skepticism was to first argue that one cannot genuinely doubt the existence of oneself.
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 [57][58] .Although there has been dispute as to which Gnostics Plotinus was referring to it appears they were indeed Sethian.^ The Autogenes often appears in Sethian Gnostic texts.
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 ^ Indeed, there often will be conflicts between individuals in what they desire one person getting what they want means that another doesn't.
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 [59] .Plotinus' main objection to the Gnostics he was familiar with, however, was their rejection of the goodness of the demiurge and the material world.^ However, when asked "Have you ever been told that the Matrix has Gnostic overtones?", they gave a tantalizingly ambiguous reply: "Do you consider that to be a good thing?"
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 ^ Gnostics identify Yaldabaoth as the Creator God of the Old Testament, who himself decides to create archons (angels), the material world (Earth) and human beings.
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 He attacks the Gnostics as vilifying Plato's ontology of the universe as contained in the Timaeus. .He accused Gnosticism of vilifying the Demiurge, or craftsman that crafted the material world, and even of thinking that the material world is evil, or a prison.^ There are many superstitious beliefs concerning these, they think they’ll protect them from evil and have even been known to stop bullets.
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 ^ The gnosis involves an understanding of our true nature and origin, the metaphysical reality hitherto unknown to us, resulting in the Gnostic's escape (at death) from the enslaving material prison of the world and the body, into the upper regions of spirit.
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 ^ Gnostics identify Yaldabaoth as the Creator God of the Old Testament, who himself decides to create archons (angels), the material world (Earth) and human beings.
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 .As Plotinus explains, the demiurge is the nous (as the first emanation of the One), the ordering principle or mind, and also reason.^ This is the first power which was before all of them (and) which came forth from his Mind (Nous).
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 ^ Ennoia (‘Thought’) is one of the first images to appear in the aeonic mirror, along with Nous (‘Mind’) and the Son.
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 ^ She just got frustrated with me because either I wasn’t explaining it well, she was past the point of listening, or that she didn’t understand one of the principles that was fundemental in understanding how to do the trick.
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 .Plotinus was also critical of the Gnostic origin of the demiurge as the offspring of wisdom, represented as a deity called Sophia.^ For) Yao, his feminine name is Lordship, (for) Sabaoth: his feminine name is Deity, (for) Adonaios, his feminine name is Kingship, (for) Elaios: his feminine name is Jealousy, (for) Oraios: his feminine name is Wealth, and (for) Astaphaios, his feminine name is Sophia (Wisdom).
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 .She was anthropomorphically expressed as a feminine spirit deity not unlike the goddess Athena or the Christian Holy Spirit.^ The Holy Spirit is really the Mother, and thus the Christian Trinity properly translated should be Father, Son and Mother.

 ^ Great Tribulation/Golden Age : Sacred marriage rites will result in demon possession of the Esoteric Church; apostate Christians will receive Lucifer as the Holy Spirit in the Age of the Spirit.

 ^ We are told that the Holy Spirit is essentially masculine, but the Hebrew word used in the Scriptures to denote spirit is Ruach, a feminine noun.

 .Plotinus even went so far as to state at one point that if the Gnostics did believe this world was a prison then they could at any moment free themselves by committing suicide.^ They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.

 ^ In one schema, the Elect are ‘pre-existent’ because they existed before the foundation of the world.
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 ^ And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.

 .To some degree the texts discovered in Nag Hammadi support his allegations, but others such as the Valentinians and the Tripartite Tractate insist on the goodness of the world and the Demiurge.^ Several of the Nag Hammadi texts are apocryphonic, such as the Apocryphon of John and the Apocryphon of James.
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 ^ All quotations are from the standard translations of the Nag Hammadi texts, unless otherwise noted.
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 ^ This schema appears in Sethian texts such as The Gospel of the Egyptians, Three Steles of Seth and (with some variations) in The Apocryphon of John.
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Buddhism and Gnosticism

.Early 3rd century–4th century Christian writers such as Hippolytus and Epiphanius write about a Scythianus, who visited India around 50 AD from where he brought "the doctrine of the Two Principles". According to Cyril of Jerusalem, Scythianus' pupil Terebinthus presented himself as a "Buddha" ("He called himself Buddas").^ 'The man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition...who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God,...so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God' (II Thess.

 ^ In the earlier centuries of Christianity, Epiphany was considered to be more important than Christmas, even by the so-called orthodox church.

 ^ They will go about; they will write down his words according to (their) desire.” (Concept of Our Great Power 42:31) 1.
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 [60] Terebinthus went to Palestine and Judaea ("becoming known and condemned"), and ultimately settled in Babylon, where he transmitted his teachings to Mani, thereby creating the foundation of Manichaeism:
"But Terebinthus, his disciple in this wicked error, inherited his money and books and heresy, and came to Palestine, and becoming known and condemned in Judæa he resolved to pass into Persia: but lest he should be recognised there also by his name he changed it and called himself Buddas."
—Cyril of Jerusalem, "Catechetical lecture 6"
.In the 3rd century, the Syrian writer and Christian Gnostic theologian Bar Daisan described his exchanges with the religious missions of holy men from India (Greek: Σαρμαναίοι, Sramanas), passing through Syria on their way to Elagabalus or another Severan dynasty Roman Emperor.^ The esoteric tradition of Solomon spanned the centuries to the era of Gnostic Christianity which preceded the Merovingian Age.

 ^ The parallels between Neo and Christ sketched earlier are further illuminated by a Gnostic context, since Neo is "saved" through gnosis or secret knowledge, which he passes on to others.
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 ^ Christian Greek Scriptures gives no indication that members of the first-century church had to pay tithes so why should we today?
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 His accounts were quoted by Porphyry (De abstin., iv, 17[citation needed]) and Stobaeus (Eccles., iii, 56, 141).
.Finally, from the 3rd century to the 12th century, some Gnostic religions such as Manichaeism, which combined Christian, Hebrew and Buddhist influences (Mani, the founder of the religion, resided for some time in Kushan lands), spread throughout the Old World, to Gaul and Great Britain in the West, and to China in the East.^ The esoteric tradition of Solomon spanned the centuries to the era of Gnostic Christianity which preceded the Merovingian Age.

 ^ OLD TESTAMENT PERIOD The city and tower of Babel were mankind's first attempt to unite the people of the world into a global religion.

 ^ Gnostic mysticism is the goal of the ecumenical movement and will be the basis of the final reformation of religion.

 .Some leading Christian theologians such as Augustine of Hippo were Manichaeans before converting to orthodox Christianity.^ Such a sweeping judgment would condemn many of the early church's greatest theologians (e.g., Athanasius, Augustine), as well as one of the three main branches of historic orthodox Christianity in existence today.

 ^ As such, Gnostic Christians have spirits while orthodox Christians only have souls.
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 ^ The Eastern Orthodox tradition, as represented by theologian Nicolas Berdyaev, celebrates some of the implications of a Cosmic Christ theology of the Transfiguration.
.Such exchanges, many more of which may have gone unrecorded, suggest that Buddhism may have had some influence on early Christianity: "Scholars have often considered the possibility that Buddhism influenced the early development of Christianity.^ In the earlier centuries of Christianity, Epiphany was considered to be more important than Christmas, even by the so-called orthodox church.

 ^ "It may be objected that to classify as monotheistic any doctrine which refers to men in some positive sense as 'gods' is self-contradictory; and strictly speaking such an objection is valid.

 ^ We may thus grant that it's not possible for all suffering to be absent in Heaven though this requires taking Revelation less literally than many Christians do.
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 .They have drawn attention to many parallels concerning the births, lives, doctrines, and deaths of the Buddha and Jesus" (Bentley, "Old World Encounters").^ The body was acquired when the spirit entered this world at birth, and it will be removed when it departs after death.
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 ^ There are many superstitious beliefs concerning these, they think they’ll protect them from evil and have even been known to stop bullets.
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 ^ If a church’s doctrine claimed jesus was some sort of four legged furry creature but they had Jesus in the name of their church would that make it a Christian church?
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Christianity and Gnosticism

.The ascetic notion of immediate revelation through divine knowledge sought to find an absolute transcendence in a Supreme Deity.^ We shall cherish these bodies, through which we temporarily function, as the custodians of the divine revelation.

 ^ In other words, man can become a god through the immediate knowledge of the spiritual truth held by the ancient Gnostics.

 .This concept is very important in identifying what evidence there is pertaining to Gnosticism[61] in the NT, which would influence orthodox teaching.^ God is all things to all people, there is no right or wrong concept of God, it’s subjective and very personal, IMHO. How do we know the Muslims aren’t right, we don’t..
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 [62] .Main Gnostic beliefs that differ from Biblical teachings include: the creator as a lower being [‘Demiurge’] and not a Supreme Deity; scripture having a deep, hidden meaning whose true message could only be understood through “secret wisdom”;[63] and Jesus as a spirit that “seemed”[64] to be human, leading to a belief in the incarnation (Docetism).^ BODY - In Gnosticism, the body is regarded as a vessel, created by the Archons, to imprison spirits in the matter of the Lower Aeons.
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 ^ If any of you are curious about the main beliefs of the church, we teach our children what the Mormons call “Articles of Faith”.
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 ^ ADAM AND EVE - Although Gnostic texts provide different versions, the general outline of Adam and Eve, their creation and fall, is as follows: 1.
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 [65] .The traditional “formula which enshrines the Incarnation…is that in some sense God, without ceasing to be God, was made man…which is a prima facie [‘at first sight’ a] contradiction in theological terms…the [NT] nowhere reflects on the virgin birth of Jesus as witnessing to the conjunction of deity and manhood in His person…the deity of Jesus was not…clearly stated in words and [the book of] Acts gives no hint that it was”.^ MJ I do not believe that Mormons are Christians as we Christians DO NOT believe that God is flesh and Blood, living on planet Kolob, BUT we DO believe in the virgin birth of Jesus, not the Adam/God rantings of Brigham who claims Adam/God had sex with Mary.
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 ^ That is the great secret… It is the first principle of the Gospel to know for a certainty the character of God and to know…that he was once a man like us….
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 ^ However, I try to be non-judgemental not because some mythical god wants me to be and will punish me if i don’t do his will, but simply because I am a decent person with morals.
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 [66] .This philosophy[67] was known by the so-called “Church Fathers” such as Origen, Irenaeus, and Tertullian.^ "He called it the festival when the Savior is reborn through the descent of the Holy Spirit, and states that the Church Fathers regard this second birth as more important than the first.

 [68]
.At its core, Gnosticism formed a speculative interest in the relationship of the oneness of God to the ‘triplicity’ of his manifestations.^ However, the trio is quite interesting in the context of Gnosticism, which portrays God as Father, Mother and Son, a trinity in which the Holy Spirit is identified as female, e.g.
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 ^ I believe one’s relationship to one’s God is a very personal affair, and not something to be interpreted by by some supposed holy man and shoved down the throat of the believing.
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 ^ Since God is only interested in the spirit, its purveyors falsely argued, it doesn't matter what one does with one's body...'

 .It seems to have taken Neoplatonic metaphysics of substance and hypostases [“being”][69] as a departure point for interpreting the relationship of the “Father” to the “Son”[70] in its attempt to define a new theology.^ I am not afraid of being swayed by new theologies, I’ve thought everything through for myself and come to my own conclusions.
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 ^ Interesting that you would make this argument, considering that most believe that the Father and the Son are the same being.
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 [71] This would point to the infamous theological controversies by Arius[72] against followers of the Greek Alexandrian school,[73] headed by Athanasius.[74]
.The ancient Nag Hammadi Library, discovered in Egypt in the 1940s, revealed how varied this movement was.^ Nag Hammadi Library, pp.
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 ^ See Nag Hammadi Library, pp.
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 ^ The Nag Hammadi Library, revised edition, (New York: HarperCollins, 1990; reprint of original Brill edition, 1978).
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 .The writers of these manuscripts considered themselves ‘Christians’, but owing to their syncretistic beliefs, borrowed heavily from the Greek philosopher Plato.^ Most of these are basic christian beliefs.
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 ^ Amanda- Mormons are the only one’s who consider themselves “Christians”.
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 .The find included the hotly debated Gospel of Thomas, which parallels some of Jesus’ sayings in the Synoptic Gospels.^ Elaine Pagels notes that the similarities between Gnosticism and Buddhism have prompted some scholars to question their interdependence and to wonder whether "...if the names were changed, the 'living Buddha' appropriately could say what the Gospel of Thomas attributes to the living Jesus."
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 ^ And he will know the end, and he will not taste death.’” (Gospel of Thomas 36:14) - Having ‘pre-existed’ in the Upper Aeons (the kingdom), the Elect will return to it: “Jesus said, ‘Blessed are the solitary and elect, for you will find the kingdom.
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 ^ FEMALE DISCIPLES - Madgalene appears among the disciples in several texts, including The Dialogue of the Saviour, The Gospel of Philip and The Gospel of Mary (Magdalene) - The First Apocalypse of James says that Jesus had seven women disciples.
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 This may point to the existence of a postulated lost textual source for the Gospels of Luke and Matthew, known as the Q document.[75] .Thus, modern debate is split between those who see Gnosticism as a pre-Christian form of ‘theosophy’[76] and those who see it as a post-Christian counter-movement.^ Those who practice Gnostic mysticism hide within the organized Church system and claim to follow primitive Christianity.

 ^ The humans who are viewed as candidates for being The One have abnormal powers of control over objects_as with those special children we see levitating objects and bending spoons.
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 ^ However, in order to make this ascent, the Gnostic must pass by the archons, who are jealous of his/her luminousity, spirit or intelligence, and who thus try to hinder the Gnostic's upward journey.
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.NT scripture was largely unwritten, at least in the form of canon, existing in the practices, customs and teachings of the early Christian community.^ "Early Christians in Alexandria, Egypt sought to fuse the teachings of Plato into Christianity in a philosophy known as 'Neo-Platonism.'

 ^ Their form of Christianity was closely allied to the metaphysical doctrines of Plato and Pythagoras, with their creeds being largely founded upon astrology and cosmic awareness.

 ^ Neoplatonism: The philosophy of a group of thinkers of the early Christian Era who endeavored to reconcile the teachings of Plato and Aristotle with Oriental conceptions.

 .What largely was communicated generation to generation was an oral tradition passed from the apostles to the Bishops and from Bishops and priests to the faithful through their preaching and way of life.^ Some people are trouble over the statements of the Prophet Joseph Smith … that our Father in heaven at one time passed through a life and death and is an exalted man…” .
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 [77] .Constantine’s call for unity in the building of the new Roman Church led to his request for Eusebius to produce some 50 copies of manuscripts.^ The One (called here the invisible Spirit) consents with his consort Barbelo and she begets a new aeon, which is a new extension of the One’s unity.
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 ^ As begetter of the Upper Aeons, Barbelo is called ‘Mother of the aeons’: “O Mother of the aeons, Barbelo” (Melchizedek) - As begetter of the Upper Aeons, Barbelo is also called ‘the aeon-giver’ who makes the One numerous while preserving its unity: “We bless thee (Barbelo), producer of perfection, aeon-giver (...
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 ^ Jesus Christ called new apostles and a prophet to lead His church today.
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 These were approved and accepted by the emperor, which later influenced the final stages of canonization.[78]
The best known origin story in the NT comes in the person of Simon the ‘mage’ [Acts 8:9-24]. .Although little is known historically about him, his first disciple is said to have been Basilides.^ In the spring-baptism, the catechumen will first be instructed about ‘those who will receive him’ (i.e.
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 ^ The Deficiency as opposite of the Fullness: “The disciples said to him, ‘What is the Fullness, and what is the Deficiency?’ He said to them, ‘You are from the Fullness, and you dwell in the place where the Deficiency is (i.e.
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 [79] .Paul’s epistles to Timothy contain refutations of “false doctrine [and] myths” [1 Tim 1:3-5].^ Not only are your comments rude, but also contain several false doctrines.
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 .The importance placed here, as in most NT scripture, is to uphold the truth since through such knowledge God hopes for “all men” to be saved [1 Tim 2:4].^ Here, then, is eternal life – to know the only wise and true God; and you have got to learn how to be Gods yourselves,… the same as all Gods have done before you…” .
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 ^ For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; 4Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.
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 ^ From youth to middle age all men and all women prize copulation above all other pleasures combined, yet it is actually as I have said: it is not in their heaven; prayer takes its place.
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 Paul’s letters to the Corinthians have much to say regarding false teachers (2 Co 11:4), “spiritualists” [pneumatikos—1 Co 2:14-15; 15:44-46] and their gnosis. They warn against the “wisdom of the wise” and their “hollow and deceptive philosophy” (1 Co 1:19; 2:5—NIV; cp. Col 2:1-10; 2:8). .These are seen as the clearest texts reacting to early Gnostic trends.^ The Gnostics, whose texts referred to the Book of Solomon, were the inheritors of the early Jewish sects of Babylonia.

 {fact|date=March .2010} The book of Jude also contains scripture exhorting believers to seek the true faith (Jude 3) and it is nowhere more influential than in the nature of the man, Jesus.^ "The baptism of John was a step upon the way into the center, and of more general application than is the baptism of Jesus, for few are ready yet for the second initiation.

 ^ Believe me, I know far more about LDS doctrine than almost any average church member.
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 ^ Mormon beliefs state that God was once a man and that they will be gods bother me a lot more than their choice of panties that they are supposed to wear to remind them of their convictions.
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The writings attributed to the Apostle John contain the most significant amount of content directed at combating the progenitors of heresies.[80] .Most Bible scholars agree that these were some of the last parts of the NT written and as such, can offer the most insights into a 1st century perspective.^ As a member of this faith I am a little disturbed by some of these comments, at least the ones saying that our doctrine conflicts with the bible.
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 ^ In other words, compared with some easily imaginable possibilities, we are severely constrained, in a type of bondage, though ordinarily most of us don't think of it as such.
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 ^ By becoming part machine ourselves - Warwick argues that transforming ourselves into Cyborgs will allow us to "plug in" confident that we will fully benefit from all that such a future offers.
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 [81] .The writer’s repeated adherence to true knowledge (“hereby we know”—inherent in Jesus’ ministry) and nature[82] seem to challenge other speculative and opposing beliefs.^ If people would actually read the Bible, they would know that true Christians love everyone and do not judge others.
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 ^ As the Matrix raises the problem of our knowledge of the external world_might this all be just a dream?_Cypher raises the problem of other minds_can we know the content of someone else's mind?
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 ^ Aside from the belief that Jesus is the divine son of God, mormonism actually has much in common with Islam, possibly more than with any other religion.
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The 2nd epistle of John is only 13 verses long but puts strong emphasis on the ‘Christology’ of Jesus.[83] .From its context we see the importance placed on “knowing…walking” and loving the truth (v.^ You know, seeing as he’s supposed to love us all, and such.
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 ^ And I think if you go back and look at how you were feeling when you wrote those posts you’ll see that they did not come from a place of love.
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 1-4), on the humanity of the man Jesus (v. 7-11) and adherence to “teaching [the doctrine] of Christ” [cp. John 7:14-18]. .These point to false teachers who claimed to bring some higher teaching than what the apostles taught.^ Beware of false apostles who perform signs and lying wonders.

 ^ Those priests or deacons who falsely teach of Christ’s deeds are “the counterfeit ones, indeed, that there are multitudes that will mislead other multitudes” (Apocalypse of Peter) .
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 ^ When Satan, the Dragon, is cast out of heaven, false teachers and prophets will claim that he is the Holy Spirit descending on mankind.

 [84]
.From the evidence at hand, it seems that early Christian apologists used their biblical faith to teach a pagan audience how best to adopt the new religion.^ "Early Christians in Alexandria, Egypt sought to fuse the teachings of Plato into Christianity in a philosophy known as 'Neo-Platonism.'

 ^ Heeding Bible Prophecy: New Religion These reports are frequently augmented, so use your REFRESH BUTTON. .

 ^ If mormonism did not seem to trying to be part of the mainstream Christian religion I would not have a problem with them.
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 .(They were) Wrapping their understanding of scripture and worldly wisdom in the process and taking their lead from such Jewish apologists like Philo of Alexandria.^ In fact, I would like someone to honestly go through the Jewish and Christian scriptures in relation to strangeness.
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 ^ I use saved as meaning that when we get to heaven we will be with God like what I understand mormons mean when they speak of the Celestial Kingdom.
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 ^ So, many men went astray because they had not known this difference; that is, they died.” (Eugnostos the Blessed) - The flesh of ‘non-understanding’ leads us astray.
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 .Whether even without Philo the ‘Fathers of the Church’ would have attempted to harmonize scripture and philosophy is a plausible assumption.^ While I think it would be difficult, if not impossible, for every member of a church to agree with everything that a church’s doctrines the bottom line, to me, is what the churches scriptures teach.
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 .Whether the result of their harmonization would have been the same as it is now is a matter of conjecture.^ Isn’t it wonderful to know that you can walk into any church around the world and they would be teaching and testifying of the same things no matter the language.
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 .But it happens that Philo came before them and it also happens that all kinds of evidence show the influence of Philo upon them.^ This is the first power which was before all of them (and) which came forth from his Mind (Nous).
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 ^ And great fear came upon all the church, and upon as many as heard these things.” .
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 [85]
.It is hard to sift through what actual evidence there is regarding Gnosticism in the NT due to their historical synchronicity.^ In this regard, the Gnostic texts say that the Son is the ‘image’ or ‘name’ of the Father, because the Father sees and names himself through the Son.
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 ^ The fact that early Latter-day Saints regarded the Word of Wisdom differently than Mormons do today isn’t evidence of hypocrisy but of historical change.
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 .The Hammadi library find contains Pagan, Jewish, Greek and early Gnostic influences,[86] further reinforcing the need to tread lightly.^ The Gnostics, whose texts referred to the Book of Solomon, were the inheritors of the early Jewish sects of Babylonia.

 ^ In Gnosticism "Mind" or the Greek "nous" is a deity, such as in the text "Thunder, Perfect Mind," Nag Hammadi Library, 295-303.
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 ^ [As we have learned, it was in the great city of Alexandria, Egypt that many Jews and early Christians came under the influence of Greek philosophy]..."

 .The antiquity of the find being of utmost importance since it shows primary evidence of texts that may also have influenced the process of NT canonization.^ Since beings in the Lower Aeons will eventually return to non-existence, the All is the totality of what, ultimately, may be said to exist.
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 ^ Although intriguing, she rightly maintains that the evidence is inconclusive, since parallel traditions may emerge in different cultures without direct influence.
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 ^ Here’s a link you may find interesting…also I forgot about Josef Stalin and Vlad the Impaler also being baptized as well.
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 [87]
.If any conclusion is to be made at this point it is that Gnosticism was considered a real enough threat by the apostles themselves, showing us how early it started to infiltrate the Church, through which several of its undercurrents were to strongly influence later ‘orthodox’ doctrine.^ Church Age : Alexandrian Gnostics infiltrated the early churches with their false doctrines of Neo-Platonism.

 ^ Tribulation : T he Eastern Orthodox Church, which historically has taught the deification of man ( Theosis) , will be the point of entry to the worship of Antichrist for Protestants and Roman Catholics whose theologians and apologists will defend the Orthodox doctrine of Theosis .

 ^ But how does the Matrix, and the situation of the ordinary people within it differ from reality and the people within it (i.e., us)?
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 [88][89]

'Gnosticism' as a potentially flawed category

In 1966 in Messina, Italy, a conference was held concerning systems of gnosis. .Among its several aims were the need to establish a program to translate the recently-acquired Nag Hammadi library (discussed above) and the need to arrive at an agreement concerning an accurate definition of 'Gnosticism'. This was in answer to the tendency, prevalent since the eighteenth century, to use the term 'gnostic' less as its origins implied, but rather as an interpretive category for contemporary philosophical and religious movements.^ Nag Hammadi Library, pp.
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 ^ See Nag Hammadi Library, pp.
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 ^ All quotations are from the standard translations of the Nag Hammadi texts, unless otherwise noted.
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 .For example, in 1835, New Testament scholar Ferdinand Christian Baur constructed a developmental model of Gnosticism that culminated in the religious philosophy of Hegel; one might compare literary critic Harold Bloom's recent attempts to identify Gnostic elements in contemporary American religion, or Eric Voegelin's analysis of totalitarian impulses through the interpretive lens of Gnosticism.^ James Ford recently explored other Buddhist elements in The Matrix, which he rightly calls a "modern myth," in his article "Buddhism, Christianity and The Matrix: The Dialectic of Myth-Making in Contemporary Cinema," for the Journal of Religion and Film, vol.4 no.
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 ^ One of the things that we had talked about when we first had the idea of The Matrix was an idea that I believe philosophy and religion and mathematics all try to answer.
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 ^ Old Testament Period : Plato inspired Greek philosophy based on the mystery religion of Atlantis; Alexander the Great brought Platonism to the Middle East; Neo-Platonism developed in the Gnostic academia of Alexandria, Egypt.
The 'cautious proposal' reached by the conference concerning Gnosticism is described by Markschies:
In the concluding document of Messina the proposal was 'by the simultaneous application of historical and typological methods' to designate 'a particular group of systems of the second century after Christ' as 'gnosticism', and to use 'gnosis' to define a conception of knowledge transcending the times which was described as 'knowledge of divine mysteries for an élite'.

– Markschies, Gnosis: An Introduction, p. 13

.In essence, it had been decided that 'Gnosticism' would become a historically-specific term, restricted to mean the Gnostic movements prevalent in the 3rd century, while 'gnosis' would be a universal term, denoting a system of knowledge retained 'for a privileged élite.'^ In other words, man can become a god through the immediate knowledge of the spiritual truth held by the ancient Gnostics.

 ^ Phallic worship will become part of the universal Gnostic religion and its adherents reimaged as belonging to the Kingdom of God.

 .However, this effort towards providing clarity in fact created more conceptual confusion, as the historical term 'Gnosticism' was an entirely modern construction, while the new universal term 'gnosis' was a historical term: 'something was being called "gnosticism" that the ancient theologians had called "gnosis" ...^ ADAM AND EVE - Although Gnostic texts provide different versions, the general outline of Adam and Eve, their creation and fall, is as follows: 1.
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 ^ Each new being that ‘knows’ (gnosis) the One, becomes a part of the creation that reflects the One to itself - like a series of mirrors arranged row on row.
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 ^ Why do mormons attack others personally rather than provide historical facts and Biblical references?
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 [A] concept of gnosis had been created by .Messina that was almost unusable in a historical sense'.[90] In antiquity, all agreed that knowledge was centrally important to life, but few were agreed as to what exactly constituted knowledge; the unitary conception that the Messina proposal presupposed did not exist.^ "While the concept of theosis has roots in the ante-Nicene period, it is not an antiquated historical curiosity.

 ^ It seems you are left with very few real life murders after all the exceptions.
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 [90]
These flaws have meant that the problems concerning an exact definition of Gnosticism persist. It remains current convention to use 'Gnosticism' in a historical sense, and 'gnosis' universally. .Leaving aside the issues with the latter noted above, the usage of 'Gnosticism' to designate a category of 3rd century religions has recently been questioned as well.^ Question before you leave… You haven’t by any chance, recently, been to Texas have you?
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 .Of note is Michael Allen Williams' Rethinking Gnosticism: An Argument for the Dismantling of a Dubious Category, in which the author examines the terms by which Gnosticism as a category is defined, and then closely compares these suppositions with the contents of actual Gnostic texts (the newly-recovered Nag Hammadi library was of central importance to his argument).^ Nag Hammadi Library, pp.
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 ^ See Nag Hammadi Library, pp.
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 ^ All quotations are from the standard translations of the Nag Hammadi texts, unless otherwise noted.
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 [91]
Williams argues that the conceptual foundations on which the category of Gnosticism rests are the remains of the agenda of the heresiologists. .Too much emphasis has been laid on perceptions of dualism, body- and matter-hatred, and anticosmism[92] without these suppositions being properly tested.^ Everyone kind of makes believe it doesn’t matter about him being Mormon but you know it’s on the back of every bodies mind.
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 ^ VICTORY is loving the souls of every man, woman and child no matter how much hatred, contempt and pure evil their heart contains.
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 .In essence, the interpretive definition of Gnosticism that was created by the antagonistic efforts of the early church heresiologists has been taken up by modern scholarship and reflected in a categorical definition, even though the means now existed to verify its accuracy.^ Tardman81 (hehehe)I do appreciate your comment But I mean even though I was raised in the mormon church, there are still things that I wonder about it.
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 ^ (Marsanes) - In the beginning, the Father created a group of beings through which he could reflect upon himself - even though they did not know it.
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 ^ Even our own culture has experienced many different worlds created by new interpretations of people and of nature that changed what counted as human beings and things.
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 Attempting to do so, Williams contests, reveals the dubious nature of categorical 'Gnosticism', and he concludes that the term needs replacing in order to more accurately reflect those movements it comprises.[91] Williams' observations have provoked debate; however, to date his suggested replacement term 'the Biblical demiurgical tradition' has not become widely used.

Gnosticism in modern times

Main article: Gnosticism in modern times
.A number of 19th century thinkers such as William Blake, Arthur Schopenhauer,[93] Albert Pike and Madame Blavatsky studied Gnostic thought extensively and were influenced by it, and even figures like Herman Melville and W. B. Yeats were more tangentially influenced.^ Even if creatures like us can't be maximally happy, this is a reason for not creating us at all, and creating more felicitously instead.
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 ^ ARCHONS - THEIR DESTRUCTION - There are a limited number of ages - sometimes three (three descents of a saviour figure like Pronoia or Protennoia), sometimes four (one age for each of the the Four Lights.
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 ^ Such a person seems thus doubly trapped: incapable of knowing that he is in the Matrix, and even incapable of successfully expressing the thought that he might be in the Matrix!
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 [94] .Jules Doinel "re-established" a Gnostic church in France in 1890 which altered its form as it passed through various direct successors (Fabre des Essarts as Tau Synésius and Joanny Bricaud as Tau Jean II most notably), and which, although small, is still active today.^ Prophet of the LDS Church, the “mantle” etc..was to pass on through Joseph Smiths Sons,i.e.
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 ^ The parallels between Neo and Christ sketched earlier are further illuminated by a Gnostic context, since Neo is "saved" through gnosis or secret knowledge, which he passes on to others.
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 ^ We believe that the true word of God is active on the earth today, and that our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ established a plan of happiness for mankind.
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 [95]
.Early 20th century thinkers who heavily studied and were influenced by Gnosticism include Carl Jung (who supported Gnosticism), Eric Voegelin (who opposed it), Jorge Luis Borges (who included it in many of his short stories), and Aleister Crowley, with figures such as Hermann Hesse being more moderatedly influenced.^ It’s like being born speaking Spanish or English – who know’s possibly Polish for many people.
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 ^ In the early twentieth century, American culture began examining food and health issues more strictly, with alcohol being a particular concern.
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 ^ But to as many as receive Him he gave power of becoming sons of God.’ Tertullian , who died in the early third century wrote, .

 Rene Guenon founded the gnostic review, Le Gnose in 1909 (before moving to a more "Perennialist" position). Gnostic Thelemite organizations, such as Ecclesia Gnostica Catholica and Ordo Templi Orientis, trace themselves to Crowley's thought.
.The discovery and translation of the Nag Hammadi library after 1945 had a huge impact on Gnosticism since World War II. Thinkers who were heavily influenced by Gnosticism in this period include Hans Jonas, Philip K. Dick and Harold Bloom, with Albert Camus and Allen Ginsberg being more moderately influenced.^ Nag Hammadi Library, pp.
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 ^ See Nag Hammadi Library, pp.
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 ^ All quotations are from the standard translations of the Nag Hammadi texts, unless otherwise noted.
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 [94] .A number of ecclesiastical bodies which think of themselves as Gnostic have been set up or re-founded since World War II as well, including the Society of Novus Spiritus, Ecclesia Gnostica, the Thomasine Church, the Apostolic Johannite Church, the Alexandrian Gnostic Church, the North American College of Gnostic Bishops.^ The heresies of the deification of man and divinization/transfiguration of the world - instead of individual salvation and resurrection of the body - are central doctrines of the Eastern Orthodox Church, as well as the Knights Templars .

 ^ And since follow up comments are just routed to my email inbox, it really doesn’t take up as much of my time as you’d think.
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 ^ It is imaginable that I am alone in the universe, floating in a vat set up by a god who has since committed suicide.
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 Celia Green has written on Gnostic Christianity in relation to her own philosophy.[96]

See also

Footnotes

  1. ^ Hinnells, John. "Pleroma". A New Dictionary of Religions. http://www.blackwellreference.com/public/tocnode?id=g9780631181392_chunk_g978063118139217_ss1-48. 
  2. ^ "Plato's Cosmology: The Timaeus". History of Ancient Philosophy, University of Washington. http://faculty.washington.edu/smcohen/320/timaeus.htm. 
  3. ^ Walker, Benjamin (1990). Gnosticism: Its History and Influence. Harper Collins. ISBN 1-85274-057-4.
  4. ^ a b c d "Valentinian Monism". The Gnostic Society Library. http://www.gnosis.org/library/valentinus/Valentinian_Monism.htm. Retrieved 12/02/2009. 
  5. ^ Pagels, Elaine. The Gnostic Gospels, Vintage Press, 1989, pgs. 18, 37, 42.
  6. ^ "The Tripartite Tractate". The Gnostic Society Library. http://www.gnosis.org/naghamm/tripart.htm. Retrieved 2009-02-12. 
  7. ^ Teke, Charles (PDF). Towards a Poetics of Becoming: Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s and John Keats’s Aesthetics Between Idealism and Deconstruction. Universität Regensburg. http://deposit.ddb.de/cgi-bin/dokserv?idn=981260632&dok_var=d1&dok_ext=pdf&filename=981260632.pdf. Retrieved 2009-02-12. 
  8. ^ a b "An Introduction to Gnosticism and The Nag Hammadi Library". The Gnostic Society Library. http://www.gnosis.org/gnintro.htm. Retrieved 2009-12-02. 
  9. ^ Macuch, Rudolf (1965). Handbook of Classical and Modern Mandaic. Berlin: De Gruyter & Co.. pp. 61 fn. 105. 
  10. ^ "The Gnostic World View: A Brief Introduction". The Gnosis Archive. http://www.gnosis.org/gnintro.htm. Retrieved 2009-02-12. 
  11. ^ Gnosticism Article from the Jewish Encyclopedia
  12. ^ Barbarian migrations and the Roman West, 376-568 By Guy Halsall pg 293 Publisher: Cambridge University Press (January 28, 2008) ISBN 0521434912 ISBN 978-0521434911 [1]
  13. ^ a b c d e f g h i "The Apocryphon of John". The Gnostic Society Library. http://www.gnosis.org/naghamm/nhl_sbj.htm. Retrieved 2009-02-12. 
  14. ^ "Demiurge". Catholic Encyclopedia. http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04707b.htm. Retrieved 2009-02-12. 
  15. ^ "Plato, Republic 588A-589B". "The Gnostic Society Library. http://www.gnosis.org/naghamm/plato.html. Retrieved 2009-02-12. 
  16. ^ a b c "The Hypostasis of the Archons". The Gnostic Society Library. http://www.gnosis.org/naghamm/hypostas.html. Retrieved 2009-02-12. 
  17. ^ "Faith (pistis) and Knowledge (gnosis)". The Gnostic Society Library. http://www.gnosis.org/library/valentinus/Faith_Knowledge.htm. Retrieved 2009-02-12. 
  18. ^ Huidekoper, Frederic (1891). Judaism at Rome: B.C. 76 to A.D. 140. D. G. Francis. p. 331. http://books.google.com/books?id=KGIpAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA331&dq=the+age+of+the+Gnostics#v=onepage&q=the%20age%20of%20the%20Gnostics&f=false. "First on our list stand the Gnostics..." 
  19. ^ Irenaeus. "Against Heresies, II, 27, 1". Christian Classics Ethereal Library. http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/anf01.ix.iii.xxviii.html. Retrieved 2009-02-13. 
  20. ^ Irenaeus. "Against Heresies, I, 31, 2". Christian Classics Ethereal Library. http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/anf01.ix.ii.xxxii.html. Retrieved 2009-02-13. 
  21. ^ Clement. "Stromata, II, 3". New Advent. http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/02102.htm. Retrieved 2009-02-13. 
  22. ^ Hans Jonas The Gnostic Religion, p. 42, Beacon Press, 1963 ISBN 0-8070-5799-1; 1st ed. 1958
  23. ^ Middle Persian Sources: D. N. MacKenzie, Mani’s Šābuhragān, pt. 1 (text and translation), BSOAS 42/3, 1979, pp. 500-34, pt. 2 (glossary and plates), BSOAS 43/2, 1980, pp. 288-310.
  24. ^ Bevan, A. A. (1930). "Manichaeism". Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics, Volume VIII Ed. James Hastings. London
  25. ^ Zaehner, Richard Charles (1961). The Dawn and Twilight of Zoroastrianism. New York: Putnam. ISBN 1-84212-165-0 (2003 Phoenix ed).  A section of the book is available online. Several other websites have duplicated this text, but include an "Introduction" that is very obviously not by Zaehner.
  26. ^ Pagels, Elaine (1978). The Gnostic Gospels. 
  27. ^ Schoedel, William (1980). 'Gnostic Monism and the Gospel of Truth' in The Rediscovery of Gnosticism, Vol.1: The School of Valentinus, (ed.) Bentley Layton,. Leiden: E.J.Brill. 
  28. ^ Layton, Bentley (1987). The Gnostic Scriptures. SCM Press - Introduction to "Against Heresies" by St. Irenaeus
  29. ^ Irenaeus. "Against Heresies, I, 23, 3". Christian Classics Ethereal Library. http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/anf01.ix.ii.xxiv.html. Retrieved 2009-02-13. 
  30. ^ Irenaeus. "Against Heresies, I, 25, 4". Christian Classics Ethereal Library. http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/anf01.ix.ii.xxvi.html. Retrieved 2009-02-13. 
  31. ^ Classical Texts:Acta Archelai Now, he who spoke with Moses, the Jews, and the priests he says is the archont of Darkness, and the Christians, Jews, and pagans (ethnic) are one and the same, as they revere the same god. For in his aspirations he seduces them, as he is not the god of truth. And so therefore all those who put their hope in the god who spoke with Moses and the prophets have (this in store for themselves, namely) to be bound with him, because they did not put their hope in the god of truth. For that one spoke with them (only) according to their own aspirations. [www.fas.harvard.edu/~iranian/Manicheism/Manicheism_II_Texts.pdf] Page 76
  32. ^ Likewise, Manichaeism, being another Gnostic sect, preached a similar doctrine of positioning God against matter. This dualistic teaching embodied an elaborate cosmological myth that included the defeat of a primal man by the powers of darkness that devoured and imprisoned the particles of light. Thus, to Mani, the devil god which created the world was the Jewish Jehovah. Mani said, "It is the Prince of Darkness who spoke with Moses, the Jews and their priests. .Thus the Christians, the Jews, and the Pagans are involved in the same error when they worship this God.^ Mormons are in fact Christians, because they believe he was the son of God.
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     ^ And thus we see that all mankind were fallen, and they were in the grasp of justice; yea, the justice of God, which consigned them forever to be cut off from his presence.
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     ^ Christian views of God are Pagan rather than Christian.” (Mormon Doctrine of Deity by B.H. Roberts, p.116) .
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     For he leads them astray in the lusts he taught them."[2]
  33. ^ González, Justo L.(1970). A History of Christian Thought, Vol. I. Abingdon. pp. 132-3
  34. ^ Understanding Jewish History: Texts and Commentaries by Steven Bayme Publisher: Ktav Publishing House ISBN 0881255548 ISBN 978-0881255546 [3]
  35. ^ "The Thought of Norea". The Gnostic Society Library. http://www.gnosis.org/naghamm/nore.html. Retrieved 2009-02-13. 
  36. ^ "Valentinian Theology". The Gnostic Society Library. http://www.gnosis.org/library/valentinus/Valentinian_Theology.htm. Retrieved 2009-02-13. 
  37. ^ "Allogenes". The Gnostic Society Library. http://www.gnosis.org/naghamm/allogene.html. Retrieved 2009-02-13. 
  38. ^ "Trimorphic Protennoia". The Gnostic Society Library. http://www.gnosis.org/naghamm/trimorph.html. Retrieved 209/02/13. 
  39. ^ "The Pair (Syzygy) in Valentinian Thought". http://www.gnosis.org/library/valentinus/Syzygy_Valentinian.htm. Retrieved 2009-02-13. 
  40. ^ Mead, G.R.S. (2005). Fragments of a Faith Forgotten. Kessinger Publishing. ISBN 1417984139. 
  41. ^ "A Valentinian Exposition". The Gnostic Society Library. http://www.gnosis.org/naghamm/valex.html. Retrieved 2009-02-13. 
  42. ^ "Demiurge". "Catholic encyclopedia". http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04707b.htm. Retrieved 2009-02-13. 
  43. ^ Origen. "Cotra Celsum". The Gnostic Society Library. http://www.gnosis.org/library/orig_cc6.htm. Retrieved 2009/20/13. 
  44. ^ "Mithraic Art". http://www.public-domain-content.com/books/classic_greece_rome/mom/mom10.shtml. Retrieved 2009-12-13. 
  45. ^ "Narashimba". Manas: Indian Religions. http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/southasia/Religions/Avatars/Narasi.html. Retrieved 2009-02-13. 
  46. ^ Campbell, Joseph: Occidental Mythology, page 262. Penguin Arkana, 1991.
  47. ^ a b Turner, John (1986). "Sethian Gnosticism: A Literary History" in Nag Hammadi, Gnosticism and Early Christianity. pp. 59. 
  48. ^ Aufstieg Und Niedergang Der Romischen Welt/Rise and Decline of the Roman World Bd 21/1 Volume 2; Volume 21 By Hildegard Temporini, Joseph Vogt, Wolfgang Haase Publisher: Walter de Gruyter (December 31, 1983) Language: German ISBN 3110088452 ISBN 978-3110088458 [4]
  49. ^ The term "minim" in the Talmud often refers to gnostics, as Friedländer, and before him Krochmal and Grätz, have pointed out. [5]
  50. ^ a b Turner, John. "Sethian Gnosticism: A Literary History" in Nag Hammadi, Gnosticism and Early Christianity, 1986 p. 59
  51. ^ Hebrew
  52. ^ This is what the scholar A. H. Armstrong wrote as a footnote in his translation of Plotinus' Enneads in the tract named against the Gnostics. Footnote from Page 264 1. From this point to the end of ch.12 Plotinus is attacking a Gnostic myth known to us best at present in the form it took in the system of Valentinus. The Mother, Sophia-Achamoth, produced as a result of the complicated sequence of events which followed the fall of the higher Sophia, and her offspring the Demiurge, the inferier and ignorant maker of the material universe, are Valentinian figures: cp. Irenaues adv. Haer 1.4 and 5. Valentinius had been in Rome, and there is nothing improbable in the presence of Valentinians there in the time of Plotinus. But the evidence in the Life ch.16 suggests that the Gnostics in Plotinus's circle belonged rather to the other group called Sethians on Archonties, related to the Ophites or Barbelognostics: they probably called themselves simply "Gnostics." Gnostic sects borrowed freely from each other, and it is likely that Valentinius took some of his ideas about Sophia from older Gnostic sources, and that his ideas in turn influenced other Gnostics. The probably Sethian Gnostic library discovered at Nag Hammadi included Valentinian treatise: ep. Puech, Le pp. 162-163 and 179-180.
  53. ^ Schenke, Hans Martin. "The Phenomenon and Significance of Gnostic Sethianism" in The Rediscovery of Gnosticism. E. J. Brill 1978
  54. ^ Introductory Note This treatise (No.33 in Porphyry's chronological order) is in fact the concluding section of a single long treatise which Porphyry, in order to carry out the design of grouping his master's works more or less according to subject into six sets of nine treatise, hacked roughly into four parts which he put into different Enneads, the other three being III. 8 (30) V. 8 (31) and V .5 (32). Porphyry says (Life ch. 16.11) that he gave the treatise the Title "Against the Gnostics" (he is presumably also responsible for the titles of the other sections of the cut-up treatise). There is an alternative title in Life. ch. 24 56-57 which runs "Against those who say that the maker of the universe is evil and the universe is evil. The treatise as it stands in the Enneads is a most powerful protest on behalf of Hellenic philosophy against the un-Hellenic heresy (as it was from the Platonist as well as the orthodox Christian point of view) of Gnosticism. A.H. Armstrong introduction to II 9. Against the Gnostics Pages 220-222
  55. ^ They claimed to be a privileged caste of beings, in whom God alone was interested, and who were saved not by their own efforts but by some dramatic and arbitrary divine proceeding; and this, Plotinus claimed, led to immorality. Worst of all, they despised and hated the material universe and denied it's goodness and the goodness of its maker. For a Platonist, this is utter blasphemy -- and all the worse because it obviously derives to some extent from the sharply other-worldly side of Plato's own teaching (e.g. in the Phaedo). At this point in his attack Plotinus comes very close in some ways to the orthodox Christian opponents of Gnosticism, who also insist that this world is the work of God in his goodness. But, here as on the question of salvation, the doctrine which Plotinus is defending is as sharply opposed in other ways to orthodox Christianity as to Gnosticism: for he maintains not only the goodness of the material universe but also it's eternity and it's divinity. A.H. Armstrong introduction to II 9. Against the Gnostics Pages 220-222
  56. ^ The teaching of the Gnostics seems to him untraditional, irrational and immoral. They despise and revile the ancient Platonic teachings and claim to have a new and superior wisdom of their own: but in fact anything that is true in their teaching comes from Plato, and all they have done themselves is to add senseless complications and pervert the true traditional doctrine into a melodramatic, superstitious fantasy designed to feed their own delusions of grandeur. They reject the only true way of salvation through wisdom and virtue, the slow patient study of truth and pursuit of perfection by men who respect the wisdom of the ancients and know their place in the universe. A.H. Armstrong introduction to II 9. Against the Gnostics Pages 220-222
  57. ^ Faith and Philosophy By David G. Leahy
  58. ^ Enneads VI 9.6
  59. ^ This is what the scholar A. H. Armstrong wrote as a footnote in his translation of Plotinus' Enneads in the tract named against the Gnostics. Footnote from Page 264 1. From this point to the end of ch.12 Plotinus is attacking a Gnostic myth known to us best at present in the form it took in the system of Valentinus. The Mother, Sophia-Achamoth, produced as a result of the complicated sequence of events which followed the fall of the higher Sophia, and her offspring the Demiurge, the inferior and ignorant maker of the material universe, are Valentinian figures: cp. Irenaues adv. Haer 1.4 and 5. Valentinius had been in Rome, and there is nothing improbable in the presence of Valentinians there in the time of Plotinus. But the evidence in the Life ch.16 suggests that the Gnostics in Plotinus's circle belonged rather to the other group called Sethians on Archonties, related to the Ophites or Barbelognostics: they probably called themselves simply "Gnostics." Gnostic sects borrowed freely from each other, and it is likely that Valentinius took some of his ideas about Sophia from older Gnostic sources, and that his ideas in turn influenced other Gnostics. The probably Sethian Gnostic library discovered at Nag Hammadi included Valentinian treatise: ep. Puech, Le pp. 162-163 and 179-180.
  60. ^ Cyril of Jerusalem Catechetical Lecture 6, paragraph 23
  61. ^ First coined in Plato’s Politikos [‘Statement’] as gnostikoi [‘those capable of knowing’], and linking it with knowledge [episteme] (Introduction to Politikos. Cooper, John M. & Hutchinson, D. S. [Eds.] (1997)
  62. ^ What is understood as “orthodox” and “Gnostic” teachings in this early period [1st-2nd century] needs to be redefined due to the complexities now unfolding regarding their historical and doctrinal similarities. Ed. Note.
  63. ^ The terminology has ties to the passage in Pro 8:23, taking a well known Judaic-concept of ‘personification’ and defining it with Christ as the “wisdom of God” [1 Co 1:24]. This metaphor was common and understood by most church fathers like Athanasius, Basil, Gregory, Epiphanius and Cyril. (Racovian Catechism, pp. 73-75)
  64. ^ From the Greek dokein, hence Docetism (Dictionary of the Later NT & its Developments, Intervarsity Press, 1997)
  65. ^ Jesus was Sui Generis, the doctrine of the “pre-existent” Christ accepted by some Gnostics and ‘orthodox’ Christians. Hanson R. P. C (The Search for the Christian Doctrine of God: The Arian Controversy, 318-381 A.D. Edinburgh T. & T. Clark, 1988)
  66. ^ New Bible Dictionary, (Wm. B. Eerdmans Pub., Grand Rapids, MI, 1975), pp. 558-560. Furthermore, scripture teaches that this is not in line with Judaic [or rabbinic] teaching, something Jesus himself adhered to [Luke 2; John 4:24; Phil 3:3-4]. Also see, Nuesner, Jacob, The Modern Study of the Mishna, 1997; & Mishne Torah.
  67. ^ In Platonism the soul [psuchē] was self-moving, indivisible; degenerated and eternal, existing before the body which housed it, and longing to be free from its earthly imprisonment, leading to the Docetist-dualist concept of ‘good’ & ‘evil’ matter. Ed. Note.
  68. ^ Their own ‘heresiology’ would later be attacked as heretical. See, Holt, Reinhard, The Western Heritage of Faith and Reason, Winston N.Y., 1971), p. 382; Alastair H. B. Logan, Gnostic Truth and Christian Heresy (Hendrickson Publishers, Peabody, MA, 1996)
  69. ^ “Was the Lord’s prayer addressed only to the hypostasis of the Father as ‘our Father’ and the Father of the Son, or to the entire ousia of the Godhead?” Pelikan, Jaroslav. The Christian Tradition: A History of the Development of Doctrine. Vol. 1, the Emergence of the Catholic Tradition (100-600). Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 1971.
  70. ^ A new theological vocabulary capable of explaining this doctrine was created [e.g. homoousios=same essence]. Adopting an idea of Origen’s that easterners would appreciate in their own Sabellianism. Hanson, Search, pp. 687-688
  71. ^ The crisis of the later Roman Empire and move towards the east brought a “new realism” which may have inclined Christians to accept the new theological doctrine. Ed. note
  72. ^ Arius preached that, “before Christ, God was not yet a Father…there was when he [Jesus] was not.” Since most of his works are lost, the accounts are based on reports of others. Hanson, Search, pp. 5-8.
  73. ^ Alexandria had long been a hotbed of theological innovation and debate where high ranking Christian thinkers used methods from Greek philosophy as well as Jewish and Christian sources for their teachings. Ed. note
  74. ^ Although, he took his monotheism seriously, he later taught that the only way to save mankind from moral and physical extinction was for God to do the unthinkable, descend into human flesh. Athanasius, “On the Incarnation of the World”, in Phillip Schaff and Henry Wace, eds., Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, 2nd Series, vol. 4, Athanasius: Select Works and Letters (Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson Publishers, 1994)
  75. ^ See Goodacre, Mark. The Case against Q: Studies in Marcan Priority and the Synoptic Problem (Harrisburg, PA: Trinity Press International, 2002); Robinson, James, M. The Nag Hammadi Library, HarperOne, 1990.
  76. ^ The word became familiar to Greeks in the 3rd century with Ammonius Saccas and the Alexandrian Neo-Platonists [or Theurgists]: it was adopted in 1875 by H. P. Blavatsky and others associated with the Theosophical Society (Blavatsky, H. P. The Secret Doctrine, the synthesis of science, religion, and philosophy, Theosophical Uni. Press, first published 1888)
  77. ^ Its formulation coinciding with the period most strongly associated with Gnosticism [4th-6th centuries]. See, Eusebius Hist. Eccl; McDonald, L. M, The Formation of the Biblical Canon (rev. and exp, ed.; Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1995).
  78. ^ Dictionary of the Later New Testament, pp. 135-143.
  79. ^ Basilides was one of the earliest and best-known Gnostics (Dictionary of Paul and his Letters, Intervarsity Press, 1993, pp. 350-351)
  80. ^ Yet, however, the author makes it clear why the gospel was written in John 20:31 Ed. Note
  81. ^ Scholarly debate lies in placing the letters between 70-90A.D. & 90-110A.D. (Dictionary of the Later NT & its Developments, Intervarsity Press, 1997)
  82. ^ “In the beginning the Word existed. The Word existed in the presence of God, and the Word was a divine being.” John 1:1. A Contemporary English Translation of the Coptic Text, late 2nd century C.E based on the texts of George William Horner. The Coptic version of the NT in the southern dialect, otherwise called Sahidic and Thebaic, 1911.
  83. ^ The Apostle states that in light of the continual battle by Satan against God and His Christ, it is not surprising that “our gospel is veiled…, the god of this world” blinding people, as also in 2 Corinthians 4:3-4 (NRSV)
  84. ^ It is not surprising to see that John is in harmony with Paul’s own teachings regarding the “true doctrine” in his pastoral letters (cp. 1 Tim 6:3-4; 2 Co 11:4). Ed. Note.
  85. ^ H. A. Wolfson, ‘Notes on Patristic Philosophy’, Harvard Theological Review 57, no. 2 [Apr. 1964] p. 124.
  86. ^ “Both pagan mythologies and Platonic philosophical traditions…extensive use of the early chapters of Genesis…the obvious centrality of Jesus Christ [and apostolic figures] in many texts.” Dictionary of the Later New Testament, p 410
  87. ^ See Everett Ferguson, "Factors leading to the Selection and Closure of the New Testament Canon," in The Canon Debate. eds. L. M. McDonald & J. A. Sanders (Hendrickson, 2002); Lindberg, Carter (2006) A Brief History of Christianity. Blackwell Publishing
  88. ^ The Council at Nicaea [325 A.D.] went on to condemn “those who say…that He [Jesus] came into existence out of nothing, or who assert that the Son of God is of a different hypostasis or substance…these, the Catholic Church and apostolic Church anathematizes”. Kelly, Early Christian Creeds, pp. 215-216. Kelly translates ousia as “substance” here, and the creed as recited today translates homoousios as “consubstantial”—of the same substance.
  89. ^ Works Cited I. Alastair, H. B. Logan, Gnostic Truth and Christian Heresy (Hendrickson Publishers, Peabody, MA, 1996) II. Bewkes, E. G. The Western Heritage of Faith and Reason (Holt, Rinehart, Winston, N.Y., 1960). III. Blavatsky, H. P. The Secret Doctrine, the synthesis of science, religion, and philosophy, Theosophical Uni. Press, first published 1888. IV. Cooper, John M. & Hutchinson, D. S. (Eds.) Introduction to Politikos, 1997. V. Danielou, Jean. The Origin of Latin Christianity (Westminster Press, Philadelphia, PA, 1977). VI. Dictionary of Paul and his Letters, Intervarsity Press, 1993. VII. Dictionary of the Later New Testament & its Developments, Intervarsity Press, 1997. VIII. Hanson, R. P. C. The Search for the Christian Doctrine of God: The Arian Controversy, 318-381 A.D. Edinburgh T. & T. Clark, 1988. IX. Holt, Reinhard. The Western Heritage of Faith and Reason, Winston N.Y., 1971. X. Horner, G. W. The Coptic version of the New Testament in the southern dialect, otherwise called Sahidic and Thebaic, 1911. XI. New Bible Dictionary, Wm. B. Eerdmans Pub., Grand Rapids, MI, 1975. XII. Pelikan, Jaroslav. The Christian Tradition: A History of the Development of Doctrine. Vol. 1, the Emergence of the Catholic Tradition (100-600). Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 1971. XIII. Phillip, Schaff & Wace, Henry eds., Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, 2nd Series, vol. 4, Athanasius: Select Works and Letters (Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson Publishers, 1994). XIV. Selwyn, E. G. ‘Image, Fact and Faith’, NTS 1 no. 4 (May 1955). XV. Wolfson, H. A. ‘Notes on Patristic Philosophy’, Harvard Theological Review 57, no. 2 (Apr. 1964) & the Philosophy of the Church Fathers (Harvard Uni. Press, Publishing, PA. 1976).
  90. ^ a b Markschies, "Christolph" (2003). Gnosis: An Introduction. T.& T.Clark Ltd. pp. 14–15. 
  91. ^ a b Williams, Michael Allen (1999). Rethinking "Gnosticism": An Argument for Dismantling a Dubious Category. Princeton: Princeton University Press. ISBN 0691005427. 
  92. ^ Afloroaei, Lucia (2009). "Religious Dualism: Some Logical and Philosophical Difficulties". Journal for Interdisciplinary Research on Religion and Science 4 (January): 83–111. http://www.jirrs.org/jirrs_nr_4/09-05-JIRRS4-Afloroaei.pdf. Retrieved 2009-02-13. 
  93. ^ Schopenhauer, The World as Will and Representation, Vol. II, Ch. XLVIII
  94. ^ a b Smith, Richard. "The Modern Relevance of Gnosticism" in The Nag Hammadi Library, 1990 ISBN 0-06-066935-7
  95. ^ Cf. l'Eglise du Plérôme
  96. ^ Green, Celia (1981,2006). Advice to Clever Children. Oxford: Oxford Forum. Ch.s XXXV-XXXVII.

References

Books

Primary sources

.
  • Layton, Bentley (1987).^ Bentley Layton, The Gnostic Scriptures (New York: Doubleday, 1995), Kurt Rudolph, Gnosis: The Nature and History of Gnosticism (San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1987).
    • The Philosophy of the Matrix 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC onwardoverland.com [Source type: Original source]

     The Gnostic Scriptures. SCM Press. pp. 526 pages. ISBN 0-334-02022-0. 
  • Robinson, James (1978). .The Nag Hammadi Library in English.^ See The Nag Hammadi Library, pp.
    • The Philosophy of the Matrix 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC onwardoverland.com [Source type: Original source]

     ^ Nag Hammadi Library, pp.
    • The Philosophy of the Matrix 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC onwardoverland.com [Source type: Original source]

     ^ The Nag Hammadi Library, revised edition, (New York: HarperCollins, 1990; reprint of original Brill edition, 1978).
    • The Philosophy of the Matrix 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC onwardoverland.com [Source type: Original source]

     San Francisco: Harper & Row. pp. 549 pages. ISBN 0-06-066934-9.     
  • Plotinus (1989). The Enneads. .Harvard University Press.  (in 7 volumes), vol.^ Charles Taylor, "Overcoming Epistemology," Philosophical Arguments (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1995), 12.
    • The Philosophy of the Matrix 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC onwardoverland.com [Source type: Original source]

     ^ This is forthcoming from Harvard University Press, 2003; full title Mindsight: Image, Dream, Meaning.
    • The Philosophy of the Matrix 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC onwardoverland.com [Source type: Original source]

     1: ISBN 0-674-99484-1
  • The Gnostic Bible, Ed. Willis Barnstone

Secondary sources

  • Aland, Barbara (1978). Festschrift für Hans Jonas. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht. ISBN 3-525-58111-4. 
  • Burstein, Dan (2006). Secrets of Mary Magdalene. CDS Books. ISBN 1-59315-205-1. 
  • Freke, Timothy; Gandy, Peter (2002). .Jesus and the Lost Goddess : The Secret Teachings of the Original Christians.^ Through Joseph Smith, Jesus Christ revealed, restored, and corrected the doctrines that were lost, changed, or corrupted during the centuries after the death of the original apostles.
    • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

     ^ A valid reason, but based on my understanding of the teachings of Jesus Christ, not in accordance with the undefined ethereal concept of Christianity that everyone is throwing around.
    • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

     ^ That said (back to the subject) since Mormons not only follow the teachings of prophets but of Jesus also would they not be considered Christians, too.
    • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

     Three Rivers Press. ISBN 0-00-710071-X.     
  • Green, Henry (1985). Economic and Social Origins of Gnosticism. Scholars P.,U.S.. ISBN 0-89130-843-1. 
  • Haardt, Robert (1967). Die Gnosis: Wesen und Zeugnisse. Otto-Müller-Verlag, Salzburg. pp. 352 pages. , translated as Haardt, Robert (1971). Gnosis: Character and Testimony. Brill, Leiden. 
  • Hoeller, Stephan A. (2002). .Gnosticism - New Light on the Ancient Tradition of Inner Knowing.^ Gnosticism refers to an inner experience that only one can know directly, not vicariously through someone else.

     ^ By drawing syncretistically on these two ancient traditions and fusing them with a technological vision of the future, the film constructs a new teaching that challenges its audience to question "reality."
    • The Philosophy of the Matrix 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC onwardoverland.com [Source type: Original source]

     Wheaton: Quest. pp. 257 pages. ISBN 0-8356-0816-6.     
  • Jonas, Hans (1993). Gnosis und spätantiker Geist vol. 2:1-2, Von der Mythologie zur mystischen Philosophie. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht. ISBN 3-525-53841-3. 
  • King, Charles William (1887). The Gnostics and Their Remains. .http://www.sacred-texts.com/gno/gar/. 
  • King, Karen L. (2003).^ Here’s the South Park episode: http://www.southparkzone.com/episodes/712/All-about-the-Mormons?.html .
    • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

     ^ Hawking, S., "Hawking's plan to offest computer threat to humans", Ananova,(not found) http://www.ananova.com/news , 1 September 2001 2.
    • The Philosophy of the Matrix 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC onwardoverland.com [Source type: Original source]

     ^ And the temple garments (aka, magic underwear): http://www.religionfacts.com/mormonism/images/mormon-temple-garments.jpg .
    • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

     What is Gnosticism?. .Harvard University Press.^ Charles Taylor, "Overcoming Epistemology," Philosophical Arguments (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1995), 12.
    • The Philosophy of the Matrix 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC onwardoverland.com [Source type: Original source]

     ^ This is forthcoming from Harvard University Press, 2003; full title Mindsight: Image, Dream, Meaning.
    • The Philosophy of the Matrix 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC onwardoverland.com [Source type: Original source]

     pp. 343 pages. ISBN 0-674-01071-X. 
  • Klimkeit, Hans-Joachim (1993). Gnosis on the Silk Road: Gnostic Texts from Central Asia. Harper, San Francisco. .ISBN 0-06-064586-5. 
  • Layton, Bentley (1995).^ Bentley Layton, The Gnostic Scriptures (New York: Doubleday, 1995), Kurt Rudolph, Gnosis: The Nature and History of Gnosticism (San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1987).
    • The Philosophy of the Matrix 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC onwardoverland.com [Source type: Original source]

     "Prolegomena to the study of ancient gnosticism". in edited by L. Michael White, O. Larry Yarbrough. The Social World of the First Christians: Essays in Honor of Wayne A. Meeks. Fortress Press, Minneapolis. ISBN 0-8006-2585-4. 
  • Layton, Bentley (ed.) (1981). The Rediscovery of Gnosticism: Sethian Gnosticism. E.J. Brill. 
  • Markschies, Christoph (2000). Gnosis: An Introduction. T & T Clark. pp. 145 pages. ISBN 0-567-08945-2. 
  • Mins, Denis (1994). Irenaeus. .Geoffrey Chapman. 
  • Pagels, Elaine (1979).^ Elaine Pagels, The Gnostic Gospels, (New York: Random House, 1979, repr.
    • The Philosophy of the Matrix 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC onwardoverland.com [Source type: Original source]

     The Gnostic Gospels. .New York: Vintage Books.^ See Gershom Scholem, Jewish Gnosticism, Merkabah Mysticism, and Talmudic Tradition (New York: Jewish Theological Seminary of America, 1960), Elaine Pagels, The Gnostic Gospels (New York: Vintage Books, 1979, repr.
    • The Philosophy of the Matrix 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC onwardoverland.com [Source type: Original source]

     ^ Lowell Bair (New York: Bantam Books, 1961), 98.
    • The Philosophy of the Matrix 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC onwardoverland.com [Source type: Original source]

     ^ Robert Fitzgerald (New York: Vintage Classics, 1990), 360.
    • The Philosophy of the Matrix 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC onwardoverland.com [Source type: Original source]

     pp. 182 pages. ISBN 0-679-72453-2. 
  • Pagels, Elaine (1989). The Johannine Gospel in Gnostic Exegesis. Atlanta, Ga.: Scholars Press. pp. 128 pages. .ISBN 1-55540-334-4. 
  • Petrement, Simone (1990), A Separate God: The Origins and Teachings of Gnosticsim, Harper and Row ISBN 0-06-066421-5
  • Rudolph, Kurt (1987).^ Bentley Layton, The Gnostic Scriptures (New York: Doubleday, 1995), Kurt Rudolph, Gnosis: The Nature and History of Gnosticism (San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1987).
    • The Philosophy of the Matrix 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC onwardoverland.com [Source type: Original source]

     .Gnosis: The Nature & Structure of Gnosticism.^ Bentley Layton, The Gnostic Scriptures (New York: Doubleday, 1995), Kurt Rudolph, Gnosis: The Nature and History of Gnosticism (San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1987).
    • The Philosophy of the Matrix 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC onwardoverland.com [Source type: Original source]

     Harper & Row. ISBN 0-06-067018-5. 
  • Walker, Benjamin (1990). Gnosticism: Its History and Influence. Harper Collins. ISBN 1-85274-057-4. 
  • Williams, Michael (1996). Rethinking Gnosticism: An Argument for Dismantling a Dubious Category. Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-691-01127-3. 

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Existence of god
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Quotes

Up to date as of January 14, 2010

From Wikiquote

.Gnosticism (from Greek gnosis, knowledge) is a term created by modern scholars to describe a diverse, syncretistic religious movement, especially in the first centuries C.E. Gnostics believed in gnosis, the knowledge of God enabled by secret teachings.^ I believe God created man from dust.
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ I believe God created man.
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ That is the great secret… It is the first principle of the Gospel to know for a certainty the character of God and to know…that he was once a man like us….
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

 .Some Gnostics considered themselves Christian, identifying Jesus as the divine spirit incarnated to bring gnosis to humanity.^ Similarly, some Gnostics hated Jesus.
  • Marmalade - semi-random musings - Posts tagged by "". 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC my.opera.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Jesus often told his healed subjects to > > show themselves to priests that they were in fact, healed, and > > give some gift as proof of their sincerity.
  • The Bible proved right again. - Atheism vs Christianity | Google Groups 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC groups.google.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
  • The Bible proved right again. - Atheism vs Christianity | Google Groups 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC groups.google.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

 ^ If, however, there is some implied divinity in the film,30 it remains transcendent, like the divinity of the ineffable, invisible supreme god in Gnosticism, except where it is immanent in the form of the divine spark active in humans.31 III. Buddhism in The Matrix .
  • The Philosophy of the Matrix 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC onwardoverland.com [Source type: Original source]

 .However, Gnostic dualism placed it in stark contrast to Orthodox Christian non-dualistic teaching, and Gnostics were labelled heretics.^ It is clear, however, that Gnostic Christianity flourished from at least the 2nd - 5th c.
  • The Philosophy of the Matrix 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC onwardoverland.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ As such, Gnostic Christians have spirits while orthodox Christians only have souls.
  • A GLOSSARY OF GNOSTIC TERMS A - F 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.gnosticq.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ But some Gnostics seemed less dualistic than the Catholics and I don’t sense that all Gnostics hated earthly existence, not any more than Christianity in general.
  • Marmalade - semi-random musings - Posts tagged by "". 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC my.opera.com [Source type: Original source]

 .Other Gnostics were not even nominally Christian, and several Gnostic texts appear to have no Christian element at all.^ ENNOIA AS PRONOIA AND PROTONOIA - The Gnostic texts emphasize that all the beings which came to exist in the Upper Aeons were ‘first’ and so they ‘pre-exist’.
  • A GLOSSARY OF GNOSTIC TERMS A - F 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.gnosticq.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Regarding other Christian religions, after the final judgment, if I end up in Hell, I can not repent at all whatsoever.
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Gnostic texts are cryptic, and no single text clearly explains this myth from beginning to end.
  • The Philosophy of the Matrix 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC onwardoverland.com [Source type: Original source]

 .Still others were certainly devout mystic ascetics who worshipped Jesus and lived in their own unique ways according to His teachings.^ When Jesus Christ returns, He will judge those who are involved in phallic worship.

 ^ "The way into the kingdom is found by questioning and answering, by seeking and finding, and by the obedience to that inner voice which can be heard when all other voices are stilled.

 ^ Its usually a unique teaching of the Mormon Chruch to view God the Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost as three distinct beings, all one in purpose.
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

 .Simon Magus is believed by some Christians as being the founder of Gnosticism.^ Some Christians were born Jewish and had to find some way to rationalize their new faith and give it a sense of being a part of a larger tradition.
  • Marmalade - semi-random musings - Posts tagged by "". 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC my.opera.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ The "reality" of the Matrix which requires that some humans must die as victims of salvific violence is not the ultimate reality to which Buddhism or Gnostic Christianity points.
  • The Philosophy of the Matrix 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC onwardoverland.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ But some Gnostics seemed less dualistic than the Catholics and I don’t sense that all Gnostics hated earthly existence, not any more than Christianity in general.
  • Marmalade - semi-random musings - Posts tagged by "". 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC my.opera.com [Source type: Original source]

Sourced

.
  • Abandon the search for God and the creation and other matters of a similar sort.^ Rather, the temporally evolving content of each monad is synchronized with the evolving content of all the other monads by God, creating the illusion of a shared real world.
    • The Philosophy of the Matrix 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC onwardoverland.com [Source type: Original source]

     .Look for him by taking yourself as the starting point.^ Take yourself back to the times when Jesus was on the earth and ask yourself would you have believed Him back then?
    • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

     .Learn who it is within you who makes everything his own and says, "My God, my mind, my thought, my soul, my body."^ I’m happy to see that you have your beliefs for your own reasons rather than someone who believes on others’ words, or worse yet, is forced to believe.
    • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

     ^ Here, then, is eternal life – to know the only wise and true God; and you have got to learn how to be Gods yourselves,… the same as all Gods have done before you…” .
    • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

     ^ So why does God say: 9 And again, hot drinks are not for the body or belly?
    • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

     Learn the sources of sorrow:, joy, love, hate. .Learn how it happens that one watches without willing, rests without willing, becomes angry without willing, loves without willing.^ Whereas Cypher and Mouse represent what happens when one gives in to samsara, the rest of the crew epitomize the restraint and composure praised by the Buddha.
    • The Philosophy of the Matrix 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC onwardoverland.com [Source type: Original source]

     .If you carefully investigate these matters you will find him in yourself.^ Secondly, you find yourself guilty of the same.
    • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

     ^ If you bothered to understand the Bible you would find that most of these so called contradictions can easily be explained.
    • The Bible proved right again. - Atheism vs Christianity | Google Groups 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC groups.google.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
    • The Bible proved right again. - Atheism vs Christianity | Google Groups 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC groups.google.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

     ^ What you will find instead are essays that both elucidate the philosophical problems raised by the film and explore possible avenues for solving these problems.
    • The Philosophy of the Matrix 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC onwardoverland.com [Source type: Original source]

     .
    • Hipolytus, REF 8.15.1-2. Refutationis Omnium Haeresium translated in Elaine Pagels, The Gnostic Gospels (New York: Vintage Books, 1989) intro.^ Elaine Pagels notes that the similarities between Gnosticism and Buddhism have prompted some scholars to question their interdependence and to wonder whether "...if the names were changed, the 'living Buddha' appropriately could say what the Gospel of Thomas attributes to the living Jesus."
      • The Philosophy of the Matrix 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC onwardoverland.com [Source type: Original source]

       ^ Read the Bible, the Qur’an, the Book of Mormon, the Gnostic gospels, the Rig Vedas, Tao te Ching, etc.
      • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

       ^ Lowell Bair (New York: Bantam Books, 1961), 98.
      • The Philosophy of the Matrix 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC onwardoverland.com [Source type: Original source]

       .XIX.
  • In the concluding document of Messina the proposal was 'by the simultaneous application of historical and typological methods' to designate 'a particular group of systems of the second century after Christ' as 'gnosticism', and to use 'gnosis' to define a conception of knowledge transcending the times which was described as 'knowledge of divine mysteries for an élite'.
    • Markschies, Gnosis: An Introduction, p.^ "I am not using the term 'Gnosis' as applying merely to the tenets of certain Gnostic sects...in the early centuries of the Christian era, but I am using it in connection with a definite super-knowledge which can be traced back to the remotest ages and the oldest scriptures of which we have any literary records, and which was taught by initiates, Adepts, and Masters of the Ancient Wisdom in the inner circles of those mysteries and mystery cults which are known to have existed in Egypt and elsewhere, even in remotest times.

       ^ You can define Gnostics narrowly enough so that the term becomes limited to a set of groups starting in the second century, but that is just a definition of convvenience.
      • Marmalade - semi-random musings - Posts tagged by "". 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC my.opera.com [Source type: Original source]

       ^ Today in Eastern Orthodox churches, the emphasis at this feast is on the shining forth and revelation of Jesus Christ as the Messiah and second person of the Holy Trinity at the time of his baptism.

       .13.
  • The Gnostics were the earliest Christians with anything like a regular theological system, and it is only too evident that it was Jesus who was made to fit their theology as Christos, and not their theology that was developed out of his sayings and doings.^ Augustine was converted to Christianity out of the Gnostic sect Manicheanism.
    • Marmalade - semi-random musings - Posts tagged by "". 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC my.opera.com [Source type: Original source]

     ^ A lot of the people who do, ritualistically devour the flesh and blood of Jesus Christ themselves every Sunday and don’t see anything weird about it.
    • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

     ^ But at one several points it is stated that > those who acknowledged Jesus as the Christ during the life of Jesus > were put out of the synagogue.
    • The Bible proved right again. - Atheism vs Christianity | Google Groups 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC groups.google.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
    • The Bible proved right again. - Atheism vs Christianity | Google Groups 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC groups.google.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

     .Their ancestors had maintained, before the Christian era, that the Great Serpent -- Jupiter, the Dragon of Life, the Father and "Good Divinity," had glided into the couch of Semele, and now, the post-Christian Gnostics, with a very trifling change, applied the same fable to the man Jesus, and asserted that the same "Good Divinity," Saturn (Ilda-Baoth), had, in the shape of the Dragon of Life, glided over the cradle of the infant Mary.^ How could it be that the Fourth Gospel was at one time in its history > > regarded as the product of an Egyptian-trained gnostic, and at another > > time in its history regarded as composed for the very purpose of > > attacking this same gnostic?
    • The Bible proved right again. - Atheism vs Christianity | Google Groups 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC groups.google.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
    • The Bible proved right again. - Atheism vs Christianity | Google Groups 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC groups.google.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

     ^ The first thing that gets aborted in the life of a real man and father is Me Me Me in order to make room for the the things you always wanted but could not get by yourself.
    • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

     ^ The same resolution can be applied here, as long as time exists in Heaven: God knows what you will want before you want it, by having been in the future and (so to speak) looking into your mind then.13 Can (3) and (4) both be maintained, given (1) and (2*)?
    • The Philosophy of the Matrix 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC onwardoverland.com [Source type: Original source]

     .
  • GNOSTICS, n.^ (H.P. Blavatsky, Isis Unveiled) - 195:223-224 (Vol.

     .A sect of philosophers who tried to engineer a fusion between the early Christians and the Platonists.^ Even Eusebius the greatest Christian propagandist who ever lived admitted to the similarities between Christianity and Paganism.
    • Marmalade - semi-random musings - Posts tagged by "". 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC my.opera.com [Source type: Original source]

     ^ The Marcionites and the Valentinians were the most influnential sects of early Christianity and they were still living traditions.
    • Marmalade - semi-random musings - Posts tagged by "". 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC my.opera.com [Source type: Original source]

     ^ Umbra 33 There are many sects of “christianity” who hold to the mark of cain garbage.
    • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

     .The former would not go into the caucus and the combination failed, greatly to the chagrin of the fusion managers.^ The only technical problem is how one would go about feeding a storyline directly into a brain.
    • The Philosophy of the Matrix 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC onwardoverland.com [Source type: Original source]

     ^ You can try all you might to get passed a wall by walking into it repeatedly, but if you don’t try to go over, around, under or whatever, then I would say you are not trying.
    • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]
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Look up Gnosticism in Wiktionary, the free dictionary

1911 encyclopedia

Up to date as of January 14, 2010

From LoveToKnow 1911

GNOSTICISM (Gr. yv&oacs, knowledge), the name generally applied to that spiritual movement existing side by side with genuine .Christianity, as it gradually crystallized into the old Catholic Church, which may roughly be defined as a distinct religious syncretism bearing the strong impress of Christian influences.^ Frederick Nietzsches stated view on Christianity is: "The Christian Church has left nothing untouched by its depravity; it has turned every value into worthlessness, and every truth into a lie."
  • CARL JUNG, NEO-GNOSTICISM, & THE MBTI 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www3.bc.sympatico.ca [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

 ^ There are numerous old manuscripts available with reference to Gnosticism dating back to the early Church, they provide important insight into the teachings and influence of gnosticism on the world and in particular, the Church.

 ^ The traditional apostolic succession may be of some interest and value within the Thelemic E.G.C. as an aspect of the traditions inherited from the pre-Thelemic French Gnostic Church, and as a form of symbolic successorship to the great Christian, Hebraic and Pagan religious systems of the past.
  • The Invisible Basilica: History of the Gnostic Catholic Church 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.hermetic.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
.I. The term " Gnosis " first appears in a technical sense in 1 Tim.^ (On first hearing, it is sometimes confused with another more common term of the same root but opposite sense: agnostic, literally "not knowing", a knower of nothing.
  • The Gnostic Society Library - PuertoRico.com Discussion Forum 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.puertorico.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ (This is an article which first appeared in Sword of the Gnosis, published by Bishop Tau Sir Hasrim, Bishop, E.G.C. He has kindly permitted us to edit and include it here.
  • Gnostics and Templars 23 September 2009 4:37 UTC www.hermetic.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ On first hearing, it is sometimes confused with another more common term of the same root but opposite sense: agnostic, literally "not knowing”.
  • Archaeologica.org • View topic - Philo's guide to decoding the Hebrew Bible 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC archaeologica.boardbot.com [Source type: General]

 vi. .20 (i) 1/Æv&wvvµos yvcovcs). It seems to have at first been applied exclusively, or at any rate principally, to a particular tendency within the movement as a whole, i.e. to those sections of (the Syrian) Gnostics otherwise generally known as Ophites or Naasseni (see Hippolytus, Philosophumena, v.^ And in particular, exactly on the subject of our current discussion of the gnostic texts, see the section on Clones and do not miss the virtual eye-witness account of the use of the Siensir .
  • Gnosticism / Controller Agenda 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.openseti.org [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

 ^ In the first few centuries after the death of Christ, a tradition that came to be known as Gnosticism produced a number of texts that defy modern conventional understanding of the life of Christ and the apostles.
  • Gnostic & Apocryphal Studies Collection (10 Vols.) 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.logos.com [Source type: Academic]

 ^ But what is clearly known about New Age Christianity is that its adherents accept as gospel and draw light from what is generally known as Gnostic literature.
  • Gnostics and New Age Christianity - by Pradeep Sharma 23 September 2009 4:37 UTC www.burningcross.net [Source type: Original source]

 2: Naaao voi. .. of Eavrous FvcoartKovs a1roKaXovvrEs; Irenaeus i. 11.1; Epiphanius, Haeres. xxvi. Cf. also the self-assumed name of the Carpocratiani, Iren. i. 25.6). But in Irenaeus the term has already come to designate the whole movement. .This first came into prominence in the opening decades of the 2nd century A.D., but is certainly older; it reached its height in the second third of the same century, and began to wane about the 3rd century, and from the second half of the 3rd century onwards was replaced by the closely-related and more powerful Manichaean movement.^ It is in the second and third centuries that Gnosticism… .
  • REVIEW: THE SECRET BOOKS OF THE EGYPTIAN GNOSTICS 23 September 2009 4:37 UTC www.gnostics.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ The second is very closely related to this.
  • http://www.allwest.com/~jglange/Gnostics.html 23 September 2009 4:37 UTC www.allwest.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ This was one of the first passages I came across when I first began reading the Nag Hammadi and it was the first to really get me thinking about things, or should I say RE-thinking the things I thought I knew.
  • Seeking Gnosis ~ » Blog 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC spiralinward.com [Source type: General]

 .Offshoots of it, however, continued on into the 4th and 5th centuries.^ However, the material continued to be edited and supplemented down to the 4th century and new texts were being written throughout this period.

 ^ Valentianism Disciples of Valentinus continued to be active into the fourth century CE, after the Roman Empire was declared to be Christian[2].
  • Marmalade - semi-random musings - Posts tagged by "". 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC my.opera.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ These heresies, however, would continue to attract adherents for centuries to come.
  • Marmalade - semi-random musings - Posts tagged by "". 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC my.opera.com [Source type: Original source]

 .Epiphanius still had the opportunity of making personal acquaintance with Gnostic sects.^ Calling someone a Gnostic can make the person either blush, beam, or fume.
  • *** Gnostics and Jesus *** 23 September 2009 4:37 UTC ezek27.truepath.com [Source type: Original source]
  • The Gnostic Gospels 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.inplainsite.org [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

 ^ The Greek word for "knowledge" used by the Gnostics to mean knowledge gained not through intellectual discovery but through personal experience or acquaintance which initiates one into esoteric mysteries.
  • *** Gnostics and Jesus *** 23 September 2009 4:37 UTC ezek27.truepath.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ In eastern Europe the Gnostic thoughts still flourish among some religious sects, as they have done for a long time.
  • The Gnostics 23 September 2009 4:37 UTC hem.bredband.net [Source type: Original source]
.II. Of the actual writings of the Gnostics, which were extraordinarily numerous,' very little has survived; they were sacrificed to the destructive zeal of their ecclesiastical opponents.^ They are totally different from the Gnostic writings.
  • Dark Mirrors of Heaven - Gnostic Cosmogony 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.timelessmyths.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Though the Gnostic writings was Christian in thought, they also showed Egyptian (Coptic), Greek and Hellenistic influences, as well as the esoteric Judaic.
  • Dark Mirrors of Heaven - Gnostic Cosmogony 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.timelessmyths.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ "The Surprising Christian Tradition of Reincarnation", which relies heavily on gnostic writings such as the Pistis Sophia (the best known of the surviving gnostic writings) to support its viewpoint.
  • Hubbard's sources 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.lermanet.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

 .Numerous fragments and extracts from Gnostic writings are to be found in the works of the Fathers who attacked Gnosticism.^ Rudolph bases his work on numerous original Gnostic sources including the writings of the early "Church Fathers;" and The Corpus Hermeticum , The Pistis Sophia , The Hymn of the Pearl ; various extracts from Mandean literature and, of course, the Nag Hammadi (the Judaeo-Christian Gnostic Texts, discovered in 1947).
  • REVIEW: THE NATURE & HISTORY GNOSTICISM 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.gnostics.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Irenaeus was largely copied by Tertullian, who, however, was an independent authority on Marcionism; by Hippolytus, who in his work against heresies adds, however, large extracts from his independent reading of Gnostic works; and by Epiphanius, who also gives a few valuable additions from other sources.
  • Dictionary of Christian Biography and Literature to the End of the Sixth Century A.D., with an Account of the Principal Sects and Heresies. | Christian Classics Ethereal Library 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.ccel.org [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Nor is any separate recognition given to any so-called "orthodox gnosis" that is occasionally alluded to, more as a figure of speech than as any discernible historical phenomenon, in the writings of some of the Church Fathers who were contemporaneous with the Gnostics.
  • Gnosticism 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.mcs.ca [Source type: Original source]

 .Most valuable of all are the long extracts in the 5th and 6th books of the Philosophumena of Hippolytus.^ This book is an especially valuable achievement for all the skeptical mystics who have felt certain that Literalist Christianity is a later distortion of the doctrines of the original Christians.
  • Resources on Gnosticism 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC egodeath.com [Source type: General]

 ^ On Page 6, Doresse states that the book known as the Philosophumena (circa 230 C.E.) and traditionally attributed to Hippolytus, is actually the Elenchos and written by another author he calls pseudo-Hippolytus.
  • REVIEW: THE SECRET BOOKS OF THE EGYPTIAN GNOSTICS 23 September 2009 4:37 UTC www.gnostics.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Hippolytus in The Refutation of All Heresies (book 6 chapters 2-7, 225-235/6 A.D.) also goes into Simon's pseudo-Platonic nonsense.
  • CHRISTIAN MEDIA RESEARCH - Profiles - Doctrines - Gnosticism Reborn In The End Times 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.christianmediaresearch.com [Source type: Original source]

 .The most accessible and best critical edition of the fragments which have been preserved word for word is to be found in Hilgenfeld's Ketzergeschichte des Urchristentums. One of the most important of these fragments is the letter of Ptolemaeus to Flora, preserved in Epiphanius, Haeres. xxxiii.^ As in Part One, we find here the statement that prayer circles are commonly found in indigenous cultures, and in most instances, the "Sacred Four Directions" play an important part in the functions of the circle ritual.
  • Prayer Circles3: Biblical Or Not? 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC users.stargate.net [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Only a few of these salvific figures are mentioned in Gnostic scripture; some of the most important are Seth (the third Son of Adam) and Jesus.” 11 Gnostics do not view salvation as redemption for one’s sin, but as an escape from ignorance which causes sin.
  • Da Vinci�s Sacred Feminine and Gnosticism - Christian Information 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.christianinformation.org [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

 ^ Valentinus, the best known and most influential of the Gnostic heretics, was born according to Epiphanius (Haer., XXXI) on the coast of Egypt.
  • Valentinus: The Gnostic Trinitarian Heretic 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.cogwriter.com [Source type: Original source]

 3-7 (see on this point Harnack in the Sitzungsberichte der Berliner Akademie, 1902, pp. 5 0 7-545). .Gnostic fragments are certainly also preserved for us in the Acts of Thomas. Here we should especially mention the beautiful and much-discussed Song of the Pearl, or Song of the Soul, which is generally, though without absolute clear proof, attributed to the Gnostic Bardesanes (till lately it was known only in the Syrian text; edited and translated by Bevan, Texts and Studies, 2 v.^ In consequence of this interdiction, notwithstanding the great age and the resulting high development of Jewish gnosticism , only fragments of it have been preserved in the earlier portions of traditional literature.
  • JewishEncyclopedia.com - GNOSTICISM: 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC jewishencyclopedia.com [Source type: Original source]
  • Vol. V, Page 681: "The Jewish Encyclopedia" 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.come-and-hear.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ In the first few centuries after the death of Christ, a tradition that came to be known as Gnosticism produced a number of texts that defy modern conventional understanding of the life of Christ and the apostles.
  • Gnostic & Apocryphal Studies Collection (10 Vols.) 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.logos.com [Source type: Academic]

 ^ In another gnostic text, the Secret Gospel of Thomas, Christ promises us spiritual fulfilment "I shall give you what no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, what no hand has touched and what has never arisen in the human mind."
  • Christ & the Kundalini 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.sol.com.au [Source type: Original source]

 .3, 1897; Hofmann, Zeitschrift fiir neutestamentliche Wissenschaft, iv.; for the newly-found Greek text see Acta apostolorum, ed.^ The complete collection of texts may be found in James M. Robinson, ed.
  • Journal of Religion & Film: Wake Up! Gnosticism and Buddhism in The Matrix by Frances Flannery-Daily and Rachel Wagner 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.unomaha.edu [Source type: Original source]
  • Wake Up! 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC whatisthematrix.warnerbros.com [Source type: Original source]
  • The Philosophy of the Matrix 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC onwardoverland.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Lets look at the Westcott-Hort Greek text and see if blood is left out there too for Colossians 1: 14.
  • CHRISTIAN MEDIA RESEARCH - Profiles - Doctrines - Gnosticism Reborn In The End Times 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.christianmediaresearch.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ From this evolved the Osirian legend found in the Pyramid Texts to be later popularized and embellished by the Greek writer Plutarch.

 Bonnet, ii. 2, c. 108, p. 219). .Generally also much Gnostic matter is contained in the apocryphal histories of the Apostles.^ The French occultists such as Papus and Sedir penetrate the matter with a much purer spirit and immeasurably more deeply and appropriately than these supposed Gnostics."
  • Correct Gnosticism and the Ordo Templi Orientis 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC user.cyberlink.ch [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Gnosticism taught generally that matter was evil, and was the creation of a lesser god (called the demiurge, after Plato).

 ^ VICTORY is loving the souls of every man, woman and child no matter how much hatred, contempt and pure evil their heart contains.
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

 .To the school of Bardesanes belongs the " Book of the Laws of the Lands," which does not, however, contribute much to our knowledge of Gnosticism.^ That does not make us gnostic, however.

 ^ Written contributions to Nag Hammadi studies have included numerous articles on the relationship of Gnosticism to Platonic philosophy and the editio princeps of the Book of Thomas the Contender, The Interpretation of Knowledge, A Valentinian Exposition, Allogenes, and Hypsiphrone .
  • SETHIAN GNOSTICISM: 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC jdt.unl.edu [Source type: Original source]

 ^ I actually was persuaded finally to read Gnostic Gospels by The Jesus Mysteries; these books have much in common.
  • Resources on Gnosticism 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC egodeath.com [Source type: General]

 .Finally, we should mention in this connexion the text on which are based the pseudo-Clementine Homilies and Recognitiones (beginning of the 3rd century).^ Last of all, Marsanes and the Untitled Text of the Bruce Codex should be mentioned as probably the latest of the Sethian treatises that we possess.
  • SETHIAN GNOSTICISM: 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC jdt.unl.edu [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Finally, as previously mentioned, the Untitled Text of the Bruce Codex also belongs among the Sethian treatises, and seems to have affinity mostly with Zostrianos and Gospel of the Egyptians .
  • SETHIAN GNOSTICISM: 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC jdt.unl.edu [Source type: Original source]

 ^ So what else should one do when making a historical case based on two centuries of texts but cite all sides of the ancient debate?
  • SBL Publications 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.sbl-site.org [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

 is, of course, already permeated with the .Catholic spirit, but has drawn so largely upon sources of a Judaeo-Christian Gnostic character that it comes to a great extent within the category of sources for Gnosticism.^ Late in his life, the most "pneumatic" of the Gospel writers, John, saw the first Gnostic revisionists emerge from within the earliest circle of Christians.
  • Jungians and Gnostics 23 September 2009 4:37 UTC www.leaderu.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ The traditional apostolic succession may be of some interest and value within the Thelemic E.G.C. as an aspect of the traditions inherited from the pre-Thelemic French Gnostic Church, and as a form of symbolic successorship to the great Christian, Hebraic and Pagan religious systems of the past.
  • The Invisible Basilica: History of the Gnostic Catholic Church 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.hermetic.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

 ^ Indeed, Gnosticism preaches a radical dualism of good immateriality and evil matter; while for Jung, as for the Kabbalah, good and evil originate (and end) in the same source, are mutually dependent upon one another and are not simply to be identified with spirit and matter.

 .Complete original Gnostic works have unfortunately survived to us only from the period of the decadence of Gnosticism.^ Tinder, in the periodical, “First Things,” states that…”Voegelin applies the concept of gnosticism so broadly that it seems to take in everything…This tells us nothing at all.

 ^ Originally only a few groups used the term Gnostic, but historians began to use this term for many more groups who held similar belief systems.

 ^ The meaning of the Kingdom can only be defined by reference to the praxis of Jesus, not theoretically: it means working at the historical reality that surrounds us in order to transform it into the Kingdom.
  • Eschaton Si, Immanent No! « The American Catholic 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC the-american-catholic.com [Source type: Original source]

 .Of these we should mention the comprehensive work called the Pistis-Sophia, probably belonging to the second half of the 3rd century.^ Last of all, Marsanes and the Untitled Text of the Bruce Codex should be mentioned as probably the latest of the Sethian treatises that we possess.
  • SETHIAN GNOSTICISM: 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC jdt.unl.edu [Source type: Original source]

 ^ However, none of these records predates the second century A.D., and so no record exists of gnosticism as it was developing during the time of the apostles and the early church.
  • Are We Under Bondage to The Law? 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC livingtheway.org [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Here we see Pistis (faith) and Sophia (wisdom) working together in the creative current, to manifest matterial creation.
  • Gnostic cosmology - Page 5 - Theology Forum | Theology Online 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.theologyonline.com [Source type: General]

 .3 Further, the Coptic-Gnostic texts of the Codex Brucianus; both the books of Ieu, and an anonymous third work (edited and translated by C. Schmidt, Texte and Untersuchungen, vol.^ The book is a translation of four of the Gnostic texts found at Nag Hammadi in ...
  • GNOSTIC RELIGION 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.greatdreams.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

 ^ Concerning translation, Robinson relates that "the texts were translated one by one from Greek to Coptic, and not always by translators capable of grasping the profundity or sublimity of what they sought to translate."
  • The Gnostic Gospels 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.inplainsite.org [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
  • CRI Journal - CRJ0088A 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.iclnet.org [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

 ^ Quotations in the text of the Eucharist are from the following Gnostic gospels: Acts of John, Acts of Thomas, Gospel of Philip, and Book of the Great Logos.
  • CHURCH OF GNOSIS - Ecclesia Gnostica Mysteriorum 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.gnosticsanctuary.org [Source type: Original source]

 viii., .1892; and a new translation by the same in Koptische-gnostische Schriften, i.^ Nibley citing 1 Jehu 10-11, in Schmidt, Gnostische Schriften in koptischer Spirache, 52-53; cf.
  • Prayer Circles3: Biblical Or Not? 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC users.stargate.net [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Nibley citing 2 Jeu, 54 (40), in Carl Schmidt, Gnostische Schriften in koptischer Sprache, 99; tr., 193.
  • Prayer Circles3: Biblical Or Not? 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC users.stargate.net [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Nibley citing Second Coptic Gnostic Work, 8a, in Schmidt, Gnostische Schriften in koptischer Sprache, 231-32.
  • Prayer Circles3: Biblical Or Not? 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC users.stargate.net [Source type: Original source]

 ) which, contrary to the opinion of their editor and translator, the present writer believes to represent, in their existing form, a still later period and a still more advanced stage in the decadence of Gnosticism. .For other and older Coptic-Gnostic texts, in one of which is contained the source of Irenaeus's treatises on the Barbelognostics, but which have unfortunately not yet been made completely accessible, see C. Schmidt in Sitzungsberichte der Berl.^ Gnosticism, Gnostic Gospels & other Metaphysical Texts .
  • Jesus, Gnostic Texts and the Spiritual Key : Part 2/2 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC samsara.ihostyou.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ However, a small amount of Gnostic teachings survived, hidden in caves or in watered-down form in other "heretical" texts (broadly labelled as "Apocrypha").
  • Christ & the Kundalini 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.sol.com.au [Source type: Original source]

 ^ And in particular, exactly on the subject of our current discussion of the gnostic texts, see the section on Clones and do not miss the virtual eye-witness account of the use of the Siensir .
  • Gnosticism / Controller Agenda 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.openseti.org [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

 Akad. (1896), p. .839 seq., and " Philotesia," dedicated to Paul Kleinert (1 9 0 7), p.^ I, 29," in Philotesia : Paul Kleinert zum LXX Gebusrtstag dargebracht .
  • 3fold 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC jdt.unl.edu [Source type: Original source]

 315 seq.
.On the whole, then, for an exposition of Gnosticism we are thrown back upon the polemical writings of the Fathers in their controversy with heresy.^ The Gnostic influences and writings were cut out of official Church doctrines as heresy.
  • Reincarnation and the early Christians 23 September 2009 4:37 UTC www.near-death.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Gnosticism was a vital part of the thought-world of St. Clement; much of his writing was polemic against it, and at the same time it influenced his categories of thought.
  • The School of Alexandria - Part I/Ch 4 - The Gnostics 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.copticchurch.net [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Whether used as an epithet for heresy or spiritual snobbery, or as a compliment for spiritual knowledge and esotericism, Gnosticism remains a cornucopia of controversy.
  • *** Gnostics and Jesus *** 23 September 2009 4:37 UTC ezek27.truepath.com [Source type: Original source]
  • The Gnostic Gospels 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.inplainsite.org [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
  • Gnosticism and the Gnostic Jesus 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.equip.org [Source type: Original source]

 .The most ancient of these is Justin, who according to his Apol.^ Most people who enjoy these three popular sagas might be inspired by their positive values but do not take their Gnostic wonderland seriously.
  • Gnosticism and the Struggle for the World's Soul 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC catholiceducation.org [Source type: Original source]
  • GNOSTICISM AND THE STRUGGLE FOR THE WORLD'S SOUL :: Bible Studies Net :: Where the Word of God is Taught 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.pastorannc.addr.com [Source type: General]

 ^ But, according to these men, neither was the Word made flesh, nor Christ, nor the Saviour (Soter), who was produced from [the joint contributions of] all [the Aeons].
  • Valentinus: The Gnostic Trinitarian Heretic 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.cogwriter.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Anyone who first reads these ancient Christian texts is at first struck by how incomprehensible, how utterly foreign is the language of these documents.
  • Were the Gnostics the Original Christians? : Part Three Enlightenment 23 September 2009 4:37 UTC www.awitness.org [Source type: Original source]

 i. .26 wrote a Syntagma against all heresies (c. A.D. 1 50), and also, probably, a special polemic against 1 See the list of their titles in A. Harnack, Geschichte der altchristlichen Literatur, Teil I. v.^ AD185-254), also wrote against heresy.
  • Gnostic Christianity and the Myth of Sophia 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.essene.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Against All Heresies ch.2 p.650 .

 ^ Against All Heresies ch.2 p.651 .

 171; ib. Teil II. Chronologie der altchristl. Literatur, i. 533 seq.; also Liechtenhahn, Die Offenbarung im Gnosticismus (1901).
2 For the text see A. Merx, Bardesanes von Edessa (1863), and A. Hilgenfeld, Bardesanes der letzte Gnostiker (1864).
Ed. .Petermann-Schwartze; newly translated by C. Schmidt, Koptisch-gnostische Schriften, i. (1905), in the series Die griechischen christlichen Schriftsteller der ersten drei Jahrhunderte; see also A. Harnack, Texte and Untersuchungen, Bd.^ Another Online version [back] 3rd edition, Buenos Aires Press 1985, 13 (1st Edition 1931) [back] Carl Schmidt: "Griechisch-christliche Schriftsteller der ersten 3 Jahrhunderte," published by the Berliner Akademie.
  • Correct Gnosticism and the Ordo Templi Orientis 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC user.cyberlink.ch [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Nibley citing 1 Jehu 10-11, in Schmidt, Gnostische Schriften in koptischer Spirache, 52-53; cf.
  • Prayer Circles3: Biblical Or Not? 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC users.stargate.net [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Nibley citing 2 Jeu, 54 (40), in Carl Schmidt, Gnostische Schriften in koptischer Sprache, 99; tr., 193.
  • Prayer Circles3: Biblical Or Not? 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC users.stargate.net [Source type: Original source]

 vii. Heft 2 (1891), and Chronologie der altchristlichen Literatur, ii. 193-195.
A Marcion (fragment in Irenaeus iv. 6.2). .Both these writings are lost.^ These edicts were devastating to the Egyptian culture and religion, both of which had been preserved over millennia through the Egyptian language and the writing systems of Egyptian priests.
  • Marmalade - semi-random musings - Posts tagged by "". 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC my.opera.com [Source type: Original source]

 .He was followed by Irenaeus, who, especially in the first book of his treatise Adversus haereses (EXE yxov Kai i.va:ponr* T1jS 1/Æ UScobyoV 'yvCJQEWS Otf3XLa 7rEPTE, c. A.D. 180), gives a detailed account of the Gnostic heresies.^ The first statement, especially, is susceptible of this interpretation, that the world was not created in love; but the other statements, too, are found in connection with Gnosticism as, for example, in the account of Simon Magus in the Pseudo-Clementine Homilies 2.22.
  • Jewish Origins of Gnosticism 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.dhushara.com [Source type: Original source]
  • Jewish Origins of Gnosticism 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.sullivan-county.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ In the gnostic Apocryphon of John (long version), there exists an intricately detailed passage describing the creation of Adam, the first Man.
  • tb » Saving The Gnostic Body 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.timboucher.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ By 180 C.E. Irenaeus, bishop of Lyon, was publishing his first attacks on Gnosticism as heresy, a labor that would be continued with increasing vehemence by the church Fathers throughout the next century.
  • Archaeologica.org • View topic - Philo's guide to decoding the Hebrew Bible 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC archaeologica.boardbot.com [Source type: General]

 .He founds his work upon that of his master Justin, but adds from his own knowledge among many other things, notably the detailed account of Valentinianism at the beginning of the book.^ Founded upon the inner Knowledge .
  • NAZIRENE  HOME  PAGE 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.nazirene.org [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Gnostic faith which is founded upon Knowledge, .
  • NAZIRENE  HOME  PAGE 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.nazirene.org [Source type: Original source]

 ^ I'm a Christian and many other things besides.
  • Marmalade - semi-random musings - Posts tagged by "". 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC my.opera.com [Source type: Original source]

 .On Irenaeus, and probably also on Justin, Hippolytus drew for his Syntagma (beginning of the 3rd century), a work which is also lost, but can, with great certainty, be reconstructed from three recensions of it: in the Panarion of Epiphanius (after 374), in Philaster of Brescia, Adversus haereses, and the Pseudo-Tertullian, Liber adversus omnes haereses. A second work of Hippolytus (Kara 7raawv aip VEcov €Xeyxos) is preserved in the so-called Philosophumena which survives under the name of Origen.^ How do you begin the Great Work?

 ^ Until fairly recently, most of what was known about gnosticism came from the writings of early "church fathers" (e.g., Irenaeus, Hippolytus, Origen, Epiphanius, Tertullian, Clement), who wrote against gnosticism in the period between the second and fourth centuries A.D. The original writings of the gnostic teachers themselves, which might have given us a more accurate picture of their philosophy, have been lost, except for some fragments of these works which have been preserved.
  • Are We Under Bondage to The Law? 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC livingtheway.org [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Marcion: (85-160 CE) He organized a series of Gnostic congregations in the eastern Mediterranean which survived into the 3rd century CE. He wrote a book called Antitheses which earned him excommunication by the Christian leaders of Rome.

 .Here Hippolytus gave a second exposition supplemented by fresh Gnostic original sources with which he had become acquainted in the meanwhile.^ Scholars have attributed the origins of gnosticism to a number of sources: the Greek mystery cults; Zoroastrianism ; the KABBALAH of Judaism; and Egyptian religion.
  • "Natural Magick" - "Glossary/Index - G" 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC homepages.tscnet.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ "Scholars have attributed the origins of gnosticism to a number of sources: the Greek mystery cults; Zoroastrianism; the Kabbalah of Judaism; and Egyptian religion.
  • The Gnosis of Homo sapiens 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.dhushara.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Here lies the germ of the dualism; the terrible things are believed to have come from the second being even though his independent origin is never positively expressed.

 These sources quoted in Hippolytus have lately met with very unfavourable criticisms. The opinion has been advanced that Hippolytus has here fallen a victim to the mystification of a forger. .The truth of the matter must be that Hippolytus probably made use of a collection of Gnostic texts, put together by a Gnostic, in which were already represented various secondary developments of the genuine Gnostic schools.^ I have used a number of Gnostic texts to piece together, the Gnostic version of the Genesis.
  • Dark Mirrors of Heaven - Gnostic Cosmogony 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.timelessmyths.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ The gnostic schools and societies, however, could not have made very great demands on their adherents, or they could not have increased enough to endanger the Church as they did.
  • JewishEncyclopedia.com - GNOSTICISM: 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC jewishencyclopedia.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ And in particular, exactly on the subject of our current discussion of the gnostic texts, see the section on Clones and do not miss the virtual eye-witness account of the use of the Siensir .
  • Gnosticism / Controller Agenda 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.openseti.org [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

 .It is also possible that the compiler has himself attempted here and there to harmonize to a certain extent the various Gnostic doctrines, yet in no case is this collection of sources given by Hippolytus to be passed over; it should rather be considered as important evidence for the beginnings of the decay of Gnosticism.^ Gnostic, no such evidence exists.
  • House: Heresies in the Colossian Church: Pt. 1 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC faculty.gordon.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

 ^ There is no doctrine about that, nor is it preached.
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Contrary to the fundamental principles of Gnosticism, there is no core, spiritual essence.
  • AICN Anime - Eden - Explicit Sex, Shocking Violence, Gnosticism and a Manga You Need to Read -- Ain't It Cool News: The best in movie, TV, DVD, and comic book news. 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.aintitcool.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

 .Very noteworthy references to Gnosticism are also to be found scattered up and down the Stromateis of Clement of Alexandria.^ Clement of Alexandria also claimed to be a Gnostic Christian.
  • Gnostic and Historic Christianity 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.africawithin.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ The names of very few Gnostics - Simon Magus, Valentinus, Basilides, Hypatia - have come down to us.
  • Origins of the Gnostic Movement: nostics or Illuminati? 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.metahistory.org [Source type: Original source]

 ^ (Although these concepts are explained in various places in this article, a quick reference of commonly used Gnostic terms can be found at the end of the article.
  • The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn ® (H.O.G.D.) Sacred Femanine 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.hermeticgoldendawn.org [Source type: Original source]

 .Especially important are the Excerpta ex Theodoto, the author of which is certainly Clement, which are verbally extracted from Gnostic writings, and have almost the value of original sources.^ Excerpta ex Theodoto 63-65).
  • A GLOSSARY OF GNOSTIC TERMS A - F 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.gnosticq.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Rudolph bases his work on numerous original Gnostic sources including the writings of the early "Church Fathers;" and The Corpus Hermeticum , The Pistis Sophia , The Hymn of the Pearl ; various extracts from Mandean literature and, of course, the Nag Hammadi (the Judaeo-Christian Gnostic Texts, discovered in 1947).
  • REVIEW: THE NATURE & HISTORY GNOSTICISM 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.gnostics.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Scholars have attributed the origins of gnosticism to a number of sources: the Greek mystery cults; Zoroastrianism ; the KABBALAH of Judaism; and Egyptian religion.
  • "Natural Magick" - "Glossary/Index - G" 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC homepages.tscnet.com [Source type: Original source]

 .The writings of Origen also contain a wealth of material.^ F.F. Bruce writes, "Its cosmopolitan population and material wealth provided an apt setting for cultural exchange and religious syncretism " ( ibid ., p.
  • Gnosticism (Forerunner Commentary) :: Bible Tools 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC bibletools.org [Source type: Original source]

 .In the first place should be mentioned the treatise Contra Celsum, in which the expositions of Gnosticism by both Origen and Celsus are of interest (see especially v.^ The book, now lost, is known through the reply made in the 3rd century by Origen in his Contra Celsum.
  • The Gnosis of Homo sapiens 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.dhushara.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Last of all, Marsanes and the Untitled Text of the Bruce Codex should be mentioned as probably the latest of the Sethian treatises that we possess.
  • SETHIAN GNOSTICISM: 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC jdt.unl.edu [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Illuministic cults such as Rosicrucianism offered study of the hidden doctrines that led to enlightenment BUT NOW, for the first time, we have a movement that combines both elements of Gnosticism!
  • THE NEW THING: Part One - The Gnostic Key to Revival. 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.intotruth.org [Source type: Original source]

 61 seq. and vi. 25 seq.). .Of Tertullian's works should be mentioned: De praescriptione haereticorum, especially Adversus Marcionem, Adversus Hermogenem, and finally Adversus Valentinianos (entirely founded on Irenaeus).^ One of the major Gnostic movements was founded by Valentinus whose dates are about 100 to 153 AD. Tertullian (about 155 to 230) AD wrote a book opposed to the teachings of Valentinus, entitled Adversus Valentinianos .
  • CHRISTIAN MEDIA RESEARCH - Profiles - Doctrines - Gnosticism Reborn In The End Times 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.christianmediaresearch.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ However Roberto de la Caridad Toca y Medina should be mentioned at this point, with reference to his succession via one Johannes Mller Rider.
  • Ecclesia Gnostica Catholica : Gnostic Catholic Church 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC user.cyberlink.ch [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

 ^ The earliest and most vivid account of the Carpocratian Gnostics can be found in Irenaeus (130-202 A.D.) work titled Against Heresy.
  • "Christian" Gnosticisms Corruption of the Western/Alexandrian Manuscripts 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.logosresourcepages.org [Source type: Original source]

 .Here must also be mentioned the dialogue of Adamantius with the Gnostics, De recta in deum fide (beginning of 4th century).^ Here, we must remember that a key characteristic of Gnosticism is the syndrome of the secret 136 or what Barthes calls the age-old struggle between a secret and an utterance.
  • IJBS 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.ubishops.ca [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Here we must mention another basic idea of a particular post­conciliar theology which has led in this direction.
  • Eschaton Si, Immanent No! « The American Catholic 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC the-american-catholic.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ In the initial century and a half of Christianity -- the period when we find first mention of "Gnostic" Christians -- no single acceptable format of Christian thought had yet been defined.
  • Archaeologica.org • View topic - Philo's guide to decoding the Hebrew Bible 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC archaeologica.boardbot.com [Source type: General]

 .Among the followers of Hippolytus, Epiphanius in his Panarion gives much independent and valuable information from his own knowledge of contemporary Gnosticism.^ Before this discovery all our information on the Gnostic sects and doctrines relied on anti- Gnostic writings, such as those of SS. Clement of Alexandria, Irenaeus, Hippolytus, and Epiphanius.
  • The School of Alexandria - Part I/Ch 4 - The Gnostics 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.copticchurch.net [Source type: Original source]

 ^ The true importance of the Gnostic Scriptures is that they give us back a Christianity that, even in its own time, barely saw the light of day.
  • Gnostic Christianity and the Myth of Sophia 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.essene.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Since we have very little knowledge of actual Gnostic communities, it's hard to say much about how Gnostic people actually lived.
  • The Da Vinci Opportunity: How the Da Vinci Code Can Be Helpful 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.markdroberts.com [Source type: General]

 But Theodoret of Cyrus (d. .455) is already entirely dependent on previous works and has nothing new to add.^ His entire work is to gather the new people.” The fruit of Jesus’ work is the Church, “a communion of converted sinners who live by the grace of forgiveness and transmit it themselves” [p.
  • Eschaton Si, Immanent No! « The American Catholic 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC the-american-catholic.com [Source type: Original source]

 .With the 4th century both Gnosticism and the polemical literature directed against it die out.'^ The polemics against the Gnostics of proto-orthodoxy and other Gnostic writings.
  • Political Crossfire Forums :: View topic - Did Jesus claim to be God? 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.politicalcrossfire.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ It appears however that Krumm-Heller is not deeply familiar with the gnostic literature, else he would have drawn a boundary against these Barbelites.
  • Correct Gnosticism and the Ordo Templi Orientis 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC user.cyberlink.ch [Source type: Original source]

 ^ While the historical and theological details are far too complex for proper explication here, the tide of history can be said to have turned against Gnosticism in the middle of the second century.
  • The Gnostic Society Library - PuertoRico.com Discussion Forum 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.puertorico.com [Source type: Original source]

 .III. If we wish to grasp the peculiar character of the great Gnostic movement, we must take care not to be led astray by the catchword " Gnosis."^ Illuministic cults such as Rosicrucianism offered study of the hidden doctrines that led to enlightenment BUT NOW, for the first time, we have a movement that combines both elements of Gnosticism!
  • THE NEW THING: Part One - The Gnostic Key to Revival. 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.intotruth.org [Source type: Original source]

 ^ The scholars proposed restricting the use of the term "Gnosticism" to certain second-century "heretical" movements, while the broader term "gnosis" was to be used to refer to "knowledge of the divine mysteries for an elite."
  • Gnosticism 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.mcs.ca [Source type: Original source]

 ^ All popular spiritual movements (East and West) are untrue, because gnosis must be broken down in order to be disseminated and popularized.
  • http://www.jadaproductions.com/cormacmccarthy/getthread.asp?mydate=All&recordnumber=44788&threadnumber=9636&threadname=McCarthy%27s+Southern+Works&threadtopic=Gnosticism+in+Blood+Meridian&UserName=&UserPassword= 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.jadaproductions.com [Source type: Original source]

 .It is a mistake to regard the Gnostics as pre-eminently the representatives of intellect amongChristians, and Gnosticism as an intellectual tendency chiefly concerned with philosophical speculation, the reconciliation of religion with philosophy and theology.^ Gnosis is found in all the great religions and philosophies of the past, all have something in common, all have concern with man's behavior or his change for the better, and that is our goal within Gnosis.” .

 ^ The chief content of the oldest gnosis consists of cosmogonical and theosophical speculation; the means by which an amalgamation of the old religion with newer philosophical ideas was achieved was allegory.
  • Jewish Origins of Gnosticism 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.dhushara.com [Source type: Original source]
  • Jewish Origins of Gnosticism 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.sullivan-county.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Gnosticism, Philosophy, Religion gnosticism and the Gnostic Jesus by Douglas Groothuis from the Christian ResearchJournal, Fall 1990, page 8.
  • Geometry.Net - Religion: Gnosticism 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.geometry.net [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

 .It is true that when Gnosticism was at its height it numbered amongst its followers both theologians and men of science, but that is not its main characteristic.^ To characterize Gnosticism as true Christianity or to promote some broad "Christianity" that embraces them both is to misrepresent both true Christianity and true Gnosticism.
  • The Da Vinci Code, Gnosticism, Leonard Da Vinci, and the Bible 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC gospelway.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ In paganism, the true sage--the true Gnostic--overcomes the illusion of personal existence and, therefore, also the ethical demands that follow from it.
  • http://www.allwest.com/~jglange/Gnostics.html 23 September 2009 4:37 UTC www.allwest.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Peithmann even names the following "true Gnostics" in exactly the same order: the Borborians, Coddians, Stratiotics, Phibionites, Zacchaeans and Barbelites.
  • Correct Gnosticism and the Ordo Templi Orientis 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC user.cyberlink.ch [Source type: Original source]

 .Among the majority of the followers of the movement " Gnosis " was understood not as meaning " knowledge " or " understanding," in our sense of the word, but " revelation."^ Stories of angelic revelation that counter the word of God makes up a major portion of new revelation today.

 ^ When our spiritual walk and understanding are guided by fresh “words from the Lord” and so called “anointed revelation,” we become dependent on particular men and meetings.

 ^ The scholars proposed restricting the use of the term "Gnosticism" to certain second-century "heretical" movements, while the broader term "gnosis" was to be used to refer to "knowledge of the divine mysteries for an elite."
  • Gnosticism 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.mcs.ca [Source type: Original source]

 .These little Gnostic sects and groups all lived in the conviction that they 1 See R. A. Lipsius, Die Quellen der iiltesten Ketzergeschichte (1875); A. Harnack, Zur Quellenkritik der Geschichte des Gnosticismus (1873); A. Hilgenfeld, Ketzergeschichte, pp.^ They are all gnostics which means a.
  • http://www.jadaproductions.com/cormacmccarthy/getthread.asp?mydate=All&recordnumber=4144&threadnumber=736&threadname=McCarthy%27s+Western+Novels&threadtopic=%22Blood+Meridian%22+and+Gnosticism&UserName=&UserPassword= 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.jadaproductions.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ All these people live in the internal worlds as if they were in the physical world.
  • Gnosticism 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.mcs.ca [Source type: Original source]

 ^ These little Gnostic sects and groups all lived in the conviction that they possessed a secret and mysterious knowledge, in no way accessible to those outside, which was not to be proved or propagated, but believed in by the initiated, and anxiously guarded as a secret.

 1-83; Harnack, Geschichte der altchristlich. Literatur, i. 171 seq., ii. 533 seq., 712 seq.; J. Kunze, De historiae Gnostic. fontibus (1894). On the Philosophumena of Hippolytus see G. Salmon, the cross-references in the Philosophumena, Hermathena, vol. xi. (1885) p. 53 8 9 seq.; H. Staehelin, Die gnostischen Quellen Hippolyts, Texte and Unters. Bd. vi. Hft. 3 (1890).
possessed a secret and mysterious knowledge, in no way accessible to those outside, which was not to be proved or propagated, but believed in by the initiated, and anxiously guarded as a secret. .This knowledge of theirs was not based on reflection, on scientific inquiry and proof, but on revelation.^ Thus the words: This knowledge of theirs was not based on reflection, on scientific inquiry and proof, but on revelation .
  • NAZIRENE  HOME  PAGE 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.nazirene.org [Source type: Original source]

 ^ This knowledge of theirs was not based on reflection, on scientific inquiry and proof, but on revelation...

 ^ This knowledge of theirs was not based on reflection, on scientific inquiry and proof, but on revelation.
  • NAZIRENE  HOME  PAGE 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.nazirene.org [Source type: Original source]

 .It was derived directly from the times of primitive Christianity; from the Saviour himself and his disciples and friends, with whom they claimed to be connected by a secret tradition, or else from later prophets, of whom many sects boasted.^ The Gospel of Philip claims they were Christians.
  • Index of Gnostic Teachings 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.biblequery.org [Source type: Original source]

 ^ It was derived directly from the times of primitive Christianity, from the Savior himself and from his disciples and friends, with whom they claimed to be connected by a secret tradition, or else from later prophets, of whom many sects boasted.
  • NAZIRENE  HOME  PAGE 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.nazirene.org [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Regarding the claim of the Gnostic Christians reported in the Britannica that their secret doctrine: was derived directly from the times of primitive Christianity, from the Savior himself and from his disciples and friends, with whom they claimed to be connected by a secret tradition, or else from later prophets, of whom many sects boasted , I have already demonstrated this to be true.
  • NAZIRENE  HOME  PAGE 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.nazirene.org [Source type: Original source]

 .It was laid down in wonderful mystic writings, which were in the possession of the various circles (Liechtenhahn, Die Offenbarung im Gnosticismus, 1901).^ It was laid down in wonderful mystic writings, which were in the possession of the various circles .
  • NAZIRENE  HOME  PAGE 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.nazirene.org [Source type: Original source]
.In short, Gnosticism, in all its various sections, its form and its character, falls under the great category of mystic religions, which were so characteristic of the religious life of decadent antiquity.^ It is religion under whatever form and in whatever nation.
  • Daily Kos: Gnosticism And Jesus' "Destroy This Temple" 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.dailykos.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Or is it the life of the religious mystic?
  • Gnostic but not Rationalist 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.artsci.lsu.edu [Source type: Original source]

 ^ In his recent popular study, The American Religion, Harold Bloom suggests a second characteristic of Gnosticism that might help us conceptually circumscribe its mysterious heart.
  • The Gnostic Society Library - PuertoRico.com Discussion Forum 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.puertorico.com [Source type: Original source]

 .In Gnosticism as in the other mystic religions we find the same contrast of the initiated and the uninitiated, the same loose organization, the same kind of petty sectarianism and mystery-mongering.^ Scholars have attributed the origins of gnosticism to a number of sources: the Greek mystery cults; Zoroastrianism ; the KABBALAH of Judaism; and Egyptian religion.
  • "Natural Magick" - "Glossary/Index - G" 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC homepages.tscnet.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ In his recent popular study, The American Religion, Harold Bloom suggests a second characteristic of Gnosticism that might help us conceptually circumscribe its mysterious heart.
  • The Gnostic Society Library - PuertoRico.com Discussion Forum 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.puertorico.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Finding the Truth: How the earliest church decided Marcion and the Gnostics, among others, were wrong.

 All alike boast a mystic revelation and a deeply-veiled wisdom. .As in many mystical religions, so in Gnosticism, the ultimate object is individual salvation, the assurance of a fortunate destiny for the soul after death.^ Gnosticism is a mystical religion which essentially states that salvation comes from knowledge.

 ^ During this first century of Christianity modern scholarship suggests Gnosticism was one of many currents sweeping the deep waters of the new religion.
  • The Gnostic Society Library - PuertoRico.com Discussion Forum 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.puertorico.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Many gnostic elements, as, for example, the syzygy doctrine (in which are found father, mother, and son), have doubtless been preserved in the Cabala, together with magic and mysticism.
  • JewishEncyclopedia.com - GNOSTICISM: 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC jewishencyclopedia.com [Source type: Original source]

 .As in the others, so in this the central object of worship is a redeemer-deity who has already trodden the difficult way which the faithful have to follow.^ Soil cultivation became a kind of worship to his followers, "He who cultivates corn [grain] cultivates righteousness" (Vendidad 3.1).

 ^ When Plato and his followers say that the Creator-Deity is benign, then the Gnostics insist that he is evil, or even that he is not the real Creator, but a usurper who misappropriated creation and then criminally sabotaged or polluted it.
  • Further Remarks on Eric Voegelin and Gnosticism | The Brussels Journal 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.brusselsjournal.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ The faithful servant of the Lord is he who reveals to the disciples and believers The Way to find the True Prophet, which is the indwelling Word that exists within each of us.
  • NAZIRENE  HOME  PAGE 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.nazirene.org [Source type: Original source]

 .And finally, as in all mystical religions, so here too, holy rites and formulas, acts of initiation and consecration, all those things which we call sacraments, play a very prominent part.^ Maybe religion is a good thing after all.
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ In Christianity, all positive values are located in God--sometimes may be called God's attributes: love, holiness, justice etc.--and man is in the submissive position of receiving these values as those that he must adhere to.
  • http://www.allwest.com/~jglange/Gnostics.html 23 September 2009 4:37 UTC www.allwest.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Russian mystical sects played an extremely important part in the Bolshevik revolution, on the side of the Bolsheviks.
  • OCCULT ROOTS OF THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION 23 September 2009 4:37 UTC www.gnostics.com [Source type: Original source]

 .The Gnostic religion is full of such sacraments.^ In the light of such recognitions one may ask: "Is Gnosticism a religion or a psychology?"
  • Gnosticism 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.mcs.ca [Source type: Original source]

 ^ The founders of the Catholic Church were the de-Spiritualizers of primitive Christianity, and the destroyers of the Gnostic religion as such, by placing their ban upon all Spiritualistic phenomena!
  • Gnostic and Historic Christianity 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.africawithin.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ (Many others, such as Gnostics , Zoroastrians, Manicheans could be inserted) All religions have been overtaken by evil beings and corrupted.
  • GNOSTIC RELIGION 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.greatdreams.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

 .In the accounts of the Fathers we find less about them; yet here Irenaeus' account of the Marcosians is of the highest significance (i.^ Henry’s post was a good impetus to find out more about Voeglin, whose work I am not (yet) familiar with.
  • Eschaton Si, Immanent No! « The American Catholic 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC the-american-catholic.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Here, mind you, we are talking about limitations which are inherent in the nature of things--we are not yet talking about "rules" which tell us how to act (that will be discussed next).
  • http://www.allwest.com/~jglange/Gnostics.html 23 September 2009 4:37 UTC www.allwest.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ In any case, you are the one using Tacitus as evidence that he wrote about Jesus, yet, here you are demonstrating that he wrote nonsense about other people...
  • The Bible proved right again. - Atheism vs Christianity | Google Groups 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC groups.google.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
  • The Bible proved right again. - Atheism vs Christianity | Google Groups 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC groups.google.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

 21 seq.). .Much more material is to be found in the original Gnostic writings, especially in the PistisSophia and the two books of Ieu, and again in the Excerpta ex Theodoto, the Acts of Thomas, and here and there also in the pseudo-Clementine writings.^ There is much more to it.
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Excerpta ex Theodoto 63-65).
  • A GLOSSARY OF GNOSTIC TERMS A - F 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.gnosticq.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Reader might be interested to know that two of Professor Yamauchi's books are currently being reprinted: 1) Pre-Christian Gnosticism by Wipf and Stock (Eugene, Oregon).
  • "Pre-Christian Gnosticism, the New Testament and Nag Hammadi in recent debate" by Edwin M. Yamauchi 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.earlychurch.org.uk [Source type: Academic]

 .Above all we can see from the original sources of the Mandaean religion, which also represents a branch of Gnosticism, how great a part the sacraments played in the Gnostic sects (Brandt, Mandciische Religion, p.^ Scholars have attributed the origins of gnosticism to a number of sources: the Greek mystery cults; Zoroastrianism ; the KABBALAH of Judaism; and Egyptian religion.
  • "Natural Magick" - "Glossary/Index - G" 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC homepages.tscnet.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ The Gnostic documents do not present their system as a crypto-psychology (with various cosmic forces representing psychic functions), but as a religious and theological explanation of the origin and operation of the universe.
  • *** Gnostics and Jesus *** 23 September 2009 4:37 UTC ezek27.truepath.com [Source type: Original source]
  • The Gnostic Gospels 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.inplainsite.org [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
  • Gnosticism and the Gnostic Jesus 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.equip.org [Source type: Original source]

 ^ The designafion 'Cainite' ultimately came to be thought of by the church fathers as a parficular branch of heresy, and the Gnostic sect of the 'Cainites' was thereupon invented, becon-dng a standard part of the heresiological catalogs.
  • Jewish Origins of Gnosticism 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.dhushara.com [Source type: Original source]

 96 seq.). .Everywhere we are met with the most varied forms of holy rites - the various baptisms, by water, by fire, by the spirit, the baptism for protection against demons, anointing with oil, sealing and stigmatizing, piercing the ears, leading into the bridal chamber, partaking of holy food and drink.^ The Holy of the Holies’ is the bridal chamber.
  • A GLOSSARY OF GNOSTIC TERMS A - F 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.gnosticq.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ It is from water and fire and light that the son of the bridal chamber (came into being).
  • A GLOSSARY OF GNOSTIC TERMS A - F 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.gnosticq.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ This baptism by fire is the baptism of the Holy Spirit."

 .Finally, sacred formulas, names and symbols are of the highest importance among the Gnostic sects.^ The name Abraxas, coined by Basilides, the Egyptian Gnostic, is a word symbol consisting of seven letters which signify the seven creative powers or planetary angels recognized by the ancients .

 ^ The Christian Gnostics were regarded by some as a new Jewish sect who believed they had finally found the long-awaited Messiah and not a new religion.
  • Reincarnation and the early Christians 23 September 2009 4:37 UTC www.near-death.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ One of the aeonial beings who bears the name Sophia ("Wisdom") is of great importance to the Gnostic world view.
  • Gnosticism 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.mcs.ca [Source type: Original source]

 .We constantly meet with the idea that the soul, on leaving the body, finds its path to the highest heaven opposed by the deities and demons of the lower realms of heaven, and only when it is in possession of the names of these demons, and can repeat the proper holy formula, or is prepared with the right symbol, or has been anointed with the holy oil, finds its way unhindered to the heavenly home.^ This Son he seated…in the Ogdoad…in the eighth heaven…of the fixed stars above all the seven heavens of the planets, but is nevertheless lower than the highest world, from which it is separated…the great creator-archon had been by Basilides, the name of Abraxas, .
  • REVIEW: THE SECRET BOOKS OF THE EGYPTIAN GNOSTICS 23 September 2009 4:37 UTC www.gnostics.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Humans were divided into two or three classes, depending on whether they possessed spirit ( pneuma ), soul ( psyche ), or only a material ( hylic ) nature.
  • "Secret Gospels and Lost Christianities" by W. T. S. Thackara 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.theosociety.org [Source type: Original source]

 ^ These demons fabricated both the human body and the human soul (which ‘animates’ the body with life, passion, movement, heat etc).
  • A GLOSSARY OF GNOSTIC TERMS A - F 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.gnosticq.com [Source type: Original source]

 .Hence the Gnostic must above all things learn the names of the demons, and equip himself with the sacred formulas and symbols, in order to be certain of a good destiny after death.^ The Gnostics must have experimented with the magical formulas.
  • Gnostic Christianity and the Myth of Sophia 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.essene.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ For the Gnostic, particular things are not good .
  • http://www.allwest.com/~jglange/Gnostics.html 23 September 2009 4:37 UTC www.allwest.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Maybe religion is a good thing after all.
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

 .The exposition of the system of the Ophites given by Celsus (in Origen vi.^ The gilyonim are 'tablets' and refer specifically to the 'Ophite diagram' described by Celsus and Origen.
  • Jewish Origins of Gnosticism 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.dhushara.com [Source type: Original source]

 25 seq.), and, in connexion with Celsus, by Origen, is particularly instructive on this point. .The two " Coptic Ieu " books unfold an immense system of names and symbols.^ Al-Gurna, Luxor – Excavators unearth two papyri books containing over 100 pages of Coptic text.
  • What DID the Early Christians Believe? Nice Gnostics – Christian Mystics of Knowledge 23 September 2009 4:37 UTC www.jesusneverexisted.com [Source type: Original source]

 .This system again was simplified, and as the supreme secret was taught in a single name or a single formula, by means of which the happy possessor was able to penetrate through all the spaces of heaven (cf.^ Rather, redemption in the gnostic systems comes though the secret teachings that Christ taught outside of what the apostles were preaching.

 ^ The last part of the address space is the code of the database system, which is shared among all four domains.
  • GNOSIS: A Prototype Operating System for the 1990's 23 September 2009 4:37 UTC www.cis.upenn.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

 ^ "One single Name they do not utter in the world, the Name which the Father gave to the Son, which is above all things, which is the Name of the Father.
  • The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn ® (H.O.G.D.) Sacred Femanine 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.hermeticgoldendawn.org [Source type: Original source]

 the name " Caulacau " among the Basilidians; Irenaeus, Adv. hoer. i. 24.5, and among other sects). .It was taught that even the redeemer-god, when he once descended on to this earth, to rise from it again, availed himself of these names and formulas on his descent and ascent through the world of demons.^ Only by escaping the world can he find god (the Force), namely, himself.
  • http://www.allwest.com/~jglange/Gnostics.html 23 September 2009 4:37 UTC www.allwest.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ These Goddesses and Gods may still be called upon in ritual, using their original names in their native lands.
  • Gnostic Pagan Pantheon & Correspondences 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.gnostics.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

 ^ Trees and stones, birds and animals, land and water, reptiles and man - all are declared part of God, and God lives and expresses Himself through these substances and forces as the soul expresses itself through the body.
  • Strange Fire:Gnosticism.10 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.velocity.net [Source type: Original source]

 Traces of ideas of this kind are to be met with almost everywhere. .They have been most carefully collected by Anz (Ursprung des Gnosticismus, Texte and Untersuchungen xv.^ H. J. Krämer, Der Ursprung der Geistmetaphysik : Untersuchungen zur Geschichte des Platonismus zwischen Platon und Plotin (Amsterdam: P. Schippers, I964).
  • 3fold 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC jdt.unl.edu [Source type: Original source]

 .4 passim) who would see in them the central doctrine of Gnosticism.^ The doctrinally orthodox Christians who were instinctively opposed initially to the liberal-progressive movement perhaps might have been repelled by the Gnostic aroma.
  • The Da Vinci Code and the culture war 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.renewamerica.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ This strain of Gnostics (and there were others who disagreed) felt that without the biting of the apple, literal time and space would not have precipitated out of eternity.
  • Tarot University Library Archives: Gnosticism and Tarot 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC noreah.typepad.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

 ^ The Gnostics opposed the doctrine that Jesus Christ was fully God who took on human flesh in what they considered to be the evil material world.
  • CHRISTIAN MEDIA RESEARCH - Profiles - Doctrines - Gnosticism Reborn In The End Times 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.christianmediaresearch.com [Source type: Original source]
.IV. All these investigations point clearly to the fact that Gnosticism belongs to the group of mystical religions.^ All of these are clearly gnosticizing tendencies to be rejected.
  • http://www.allwest.com/~jglange/Gnostics.html 23 September 2009 4:37 UTC www.allwest.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Whether these groups represented a majority or minority of believers is virtually impossible to determine, but it is an aspect of Early Gnosticism that obviously has to be investigated—and the implications either accepted or rejected—by anyone calling himself or herself a “Gnostic” today.
  • REVIEW: THE SECRET BOOKS OF THE EGYPTIAN GNOSTICS 23 September 2009 4:37 UTC www.gnostics.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ The "Christian Gnostic" religion is a mystical form of godliness experienced intuitively and all too often is construed to represent the Presence or Voice of the Holy Spirit.
  • Strange Fire:Gnosticism.10 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.velocity.net [Source type: Original source]

 .We must now proceed to define more exactly the peculiar and distinctive character of the Gnostic system.^ So it is possible to argue that orthodox Christianity not only was more appealing as religion than Gnosticism, but that the institutional peculiarities of orthodox Christianity not only were due to distinctive internal and external features characteristic of the Roman world, but that historically this worked out for the better.
  • Elaine Pagels 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.friesian.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ While this content may have been attractive when the Ptolemaic system was taught in school, now that only cranks believe it, the gnostics still must drag these obsolescent celestial spheres, no longer respectable, clunking along behind them.
  • Answering Gnosticism 23 September 2009 4:37 UTC thriceholy.net [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Had Jung been more familiar with the Kabbalah, particularly in its Lurianic form, he would have found a system of mythical thought that was far more compatible with his own psychology than was Gnosticism.

 .The basis of the Gnostic religion and world-philosophy lies in a decided Oriental dualism.^ In order to explain evil in the world the gnostics assumed two principles, which, however, are not identical with the Mazdean dualism (comp.
  • JewishEncyclopedia.com - GNOSTICISM: 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC jewishencyclopedia.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Gnostic mysticism is the goal of the ecumenical movement and will be the basis of the final reformation of religion.

 ^ "The whole concept of resurrection is the new and most important revelation which is coming to humanity, and which will lay the basis for the new world religion ..."

 .In sharp contrast are opposed the two worlds of the good and of the evil, the divine world and the material world (an), the worlds of light and of darkness.^ For the Gnostics, the material world was evil from its creation.
  • CHRISTIAN MEDIA RESEARCH - Profiles - Doctrines - Gnosticism Reborn In The End Times 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.christianmediaresearch.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Matter or the material world is considered evil and devoid of light.
  • Da Vinci�s Sacred Feminine and Gnosticism - Christian Information 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.christianinformation.org [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

 ^ Mortal ego-mind is the dark veil of illusion that entraps the Originating Divine Consciousness (AMUN) of Universal Light within the self-limiting alienation of doubt, fear, insecurity and attachment to the bonds of gross materialism--i.e.
  • Gnostic Pagan Pantheon & Correspondences 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.gnostics.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

 .In many systems there seems to be no attempt to derive the one world from the other.^ There ARE no other kinds.
  • Random Observations: Gnosticism: Not Christian 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC tim.2wgroup.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ I have no way of verifying one way or the other.
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ For if there were no other one, of whom would he be jealous?"
  • Answering Gnosticism 23 September 2009 4:37 UTC thriceholy.net [Source type: Original source]

 .The true Basilides, perhaps also Satornil, Marcion and a part of his disciples, Bardesanes and others, were frankly dualists.^ The crucial aspect was that, like Basilides and his disciples, they were willing to eat meat that had been sacrificed to pagan gods, and "consented to take part in pagan religious ceremonies on demand."
  • Random Observations: Gnosticism: Not Christian 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC tim.2wgroup.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Firmilian bishop of Caesarea to Cyprian (246-256 A.D.) mentions Cerdo , his disciple Marcion, Apelles, Valentinus, Basilides in Letter 74 p.391 .

 ^ A part of it, however, is maintained by Marcion and Apelles and Valentinus, and all other impugners of the resurrection.
  • Valentinus: The Gnostic Trinitarian Heretic 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.cogwriter.com [Source type: Original source]

 .In the case of other systems, owing to the inexactness of our information, we are unable to decide; the later systems of Mandaeism and Manichaeanism, so closely related to Gnosticism, are also based upon a decided dualism.^ Finding the Truth: How the earliest church decided Marcion and the Gnostics, among others, were wrong.

 ^ Whole gnostic systems later sprang up outlining fantastic celestial schemes and cataloguing hosts of angelic intermediaries by name.
  • Are We Under Bondage to The Law? 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC livingtheway.org [Source type: Original source]

 ^ If the gnostic systems were not known through other sources, the statements relating to them in the rabbinical works could not be recognized.
  • JewishEncyclopedia.com - GNOSTICISM: 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC jewishencyclopedia.com [Source type: Original source]

 .And even when there is an attempt at reconciliation, it is still quite clear how strong was the original dualism which has to be overcome.^ Tardman81 (hehehe)I do appreciate your comment But I mean even though I was raised in the mormon church, there are still things that I wonder about it.
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Even in Christian churches of later time there is a conscious attempt to reproduce as nearly as possible the original temple situation.
  • Prayer Circles3: Biblical Or Not? 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC users.stargate.net [Source type: Original source]

 ^ In other words, there was a clear transference, into Scripture, from the message of Christ to the original twelve and then to Paul (by Christ directly; see the inference in Galatians 1:16 ).
  • Gnosticism (Forerunner Commentary) :: Bible Tools 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC bibletools.org [Source type: Original source]

 .Thus the Gnostic systems make great use of the idea of a fall of the Deity himself; by the fall of the Godhead into the world of matter, this matter, previously insensible, is animated into life and activity, and then arise the powers, both partly and wholly hostile, who hold sway over this world.^ Gnostic subordinate deity who is the creator of the material world ...
  • GNOSTIC RELIGION 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.greatdreams.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

 ^ The Gnostic system makes sense.
  • The Da Vinci Opportunity: How the Da Vinci Code Can Be Helpful 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.markdroberts.com [Source type: General]

 ^ Sophia's fall into matter (Earth or solar system) .
  • The Controllers Agenda - Gnosticism, Archons/Greys 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.bibliotecapleyades.net [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

 Such figures of fallen divinities, sinking down into the world of matter are those of Sophia (i.e. Ahamoth) among the Gnostics (Ophites) in the narrower sense of the word, the Simoniani (the figure of Helena), the Barbelognostics, and in the system of the PistisSophia or the Primal Man, among the Naasseni and the sect, related to them, as described by Hippolytus.' .A further weakening of the dualism is indicated when, in the systems of the Valentinian school, the fall of Sophia takes place within the godhead, and Sophia, inflamed with love, plunges into the Bythos, the highest divinity, and when the attempt is thus made genetically to derive the lower world from the sufferings and passions of fallen divinity.^ Either (there is) a place to which they are fleeing, or without strength they come (from) having chased after others, or they are involved in striking blows, or they are receiving blows themselves, or they have fallen from high places, or they take off into the air though they do not even have wings .
  • Journal of Religion & Film: Wake Up! Gnosticism and Buddhism in The Matrix by Frances Flannery-Daily and Rachel Wagner 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.unomaha.edu [Source type: Original source]

 ^ The saving drama is motivated by Barbelo's attempt to rescue her productive power of thought from the clutches of Sophia's ignorant offspring Yaldabaoth, who has captured it in the lower world by incarnating it into Adam, his counterfeit copy of Barbelo's male aspect.
  • 3fold 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC jdt.unl.edu [Source type: Original source]

 ^ The Gnostic/pagan worldview--that the material world that is made up of mere fragments of the splintered Oneness and that each and every individual fragment is divine--has its implications.
  • http://www.allwest.com/~jglange/Gnostics.html 23 September 2009 4:37 UTC www.allwest.com [Source type: Original source]

 .Another attempt at reconciliation is set forth in the so-called " system of emanations " in which it is assumed that from the supreme divinity emanated a somewhat lesser world, from this world a second, and so on, until the divine element (of life) became so far weakened and attenuated, that the genesis of a partly, or even wholly, evil world appears both possible and comprehensible.^ From this supreme divinity the Aeons, also called the Powers or Virtues, emanated.

 ^ But the Gnostic world view -- with its affirmation of individual revelation granting certain knowledge; comprehension of humankind's true uncreated nature and inherent affinity or even identity with God; and its perception of duality, or even in an extreme statement, of masculine and feminine elements seeking union within the divine--was not so easily extinguished.
  • The Gnostic Society Library - PuertoRico.com Discussion Forum 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.puertorico.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ The several elements of the alphabet play an important rôle in this cosmologic system, a reflection of which is found in one of the haggadah, in which the letters, beginning with the last, appear before God, requesting that the world be created through them.
  • JewishEncyclopedia.com - GNOSTICISM: 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC jewishencyclopedia.com [Source type: Original source]

 .A system of emanations of this kind, in its purest form, is set forth in the expositions coming from the school of Basilides, which are handed down by Irenaeus, while the propositions which are set forth in the Philosophumena of Hippolytus as being doctrines of Basilides represent a still closer approach to a monistic philosophy.^ The Kingdom is still coming, but it is also here, at hand.
  • Eschaton Si, Immanent No! « The American Catholic 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC the-american-catholic.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ In his 1947 work The Perennial Philosophy, Aldous Huxley promulgated a kind of gnosis that was in effect a mystery reserved for elites, revealed at the dawn of history and handed down through various religious traditions, where it still maintains itself in spite of its ostensible incompatibility with the official dogmas of those traditions.
  • Gnosticism 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.mcs.ca [Source type: Original source]

 ^ During the 17 th and 18 th centuries, these primitive doctrines were refined into a scientific school of thought called preformationism, which held that living beings were essentially fully-formed prior to conception.
  • Spermo-Gnostics and the Ordo Templi Orientis 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.cyberlink.ch [Source type: Original source]

 .Occasionally, too, there is an attempt to establish at any rate a threefold division of the world, and to assume between the worlds of light and darkness a middle world connecting the two; this is clearest among the Sethiani mentioned by Hippolytus (and cf.^ I asked above if there is a blending, or a connection, between witchcraft and the religions of the world.
  • Prayer Circles3: Biblical Or Not? 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC users.stargate.net [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Without Dark there is no Light.
  • United Communities of Spirit 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC origin.org [Source type: Original source]
  • United Communities of Spirit 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.origin.org [Source type: Original source]

 ^ However, Jewish mysticism continued to live on, and now there is an attempt among many to revive both of them in todays world.
  • TNN Online: Theology News Network - Messianic Issues - The Effect of Mysticism and Gnosticism on the Messianic Movement 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.tnnonline.net [Source type: Original source]

 the Gnostics in Irenaeus i. 30.1). Quite peculiar in this connexion are the accounts in Books xix. and xx. of the .Clementine Homilies. After a preliminary examination of all possible different attempts at a solution of the problem of evil, the attempt is here made to represent the devil as an instrument of God.^ Gnostics generally believed that all spirit was inherently stable and good (overlooking the fact that Satan and his demons are spirit and yet also unstable and evil), while all matter and flesh was inherently evil (contradicting God's statement in Genesis 1:31 that everything God had made was "very good").
  • Gnosticism (Forerunner Commentary) :: Bible Tools 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC bibletools.org [Source type: Original source]

 ^ But the Syrian-Egyptian tradition is presented with something like the classic problem of evil: how could an all-powerful God have made such a terrible mistake?
  • http://www.jadaproductions.com/cormacmccarthy/getthread.asp?mydate=All&recordnumber=4144&threadnumber=736&threadname=McCarthy%27s+Western+Novels&threadtopic=%22Blood+Meridian%22+and+Gnosticism&UserName=&UserPassword= 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.jadaproductions.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ This huge mask contains a face looking straight ahead; everything it sees is good, nothing is evil, because it represents God in the center of everything.

 .Christ and the devil are the two hands of God, Christ the right hand, and the devil the left, the devil having power over this world-epoch and Christ over the next.^ He does not sit on God’s right hand.
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ (Christ having two natures 100% God and 100% man ).

 ^ Docetists believed that the man Jesus was born, and that the pre-existing god Christ entered into Him when He was baptized and left again before He was crucified.
  • Gnosticism (Forerunner Commentary) :: Bible Tools 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC bibletools.org [Source type: Original source]

 .The devil here assumes very much the characteristics of the punishing and just God of the Old Testament, and the prospect is even held out of his ultimate pardon.^ The supreme God was separated from the God of the Old Testament.
  • "Secret Gospels and Lost Christianities" by W. T. S. Thackara 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.theosociety.org [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Here’s my point… just because the world is full of fakity fakes from fakeville doesn’t mean God can’t or doesn’t still perform miracles.
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ The fundamental difference between their teachings is in how they viewed the god of the Old Testament, and in who Christ was.

 .All these efforts at reconciliation show how clearly the problem of evil was realized in these Gnostic and half-Gnostic sects, and how deeply they meditated on the subject; it was not altogether without reason that in the ranks of its opponents Gnosticism was judged to have arisen out of the question, 7r60ev TO KaK6P; This dualism had not its origin in Hellenic soil, neither is it related to that dualism which to a certain extent existed also in late Greek religion.^ Gnostics and Chatholics and all other christian religions in reality did this.
  • Gnosticism - WizardNet Internet Discussion Forums for the Body, Mind and Spirit 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC wizardnet.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ They are all gnostics which means a.
  • http://www.jadaproductions.com/cormacmccarthy/getthread.asp?mydate=All&recordnumber=4144&threadnumber=736&threadname=McCarthy%27s+Western+Novels&threadtopic=%22Blood+Meridian%22+and+Gnosticism&UserName=&UserPassword= 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.jadaproductions.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Gnosticism was one of these religions.
  • Gnostic Christianity and the Myth of Sophia 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.essene.com [Source type: Original source]

 .For the lower and imperfect world, which in that system too is conceived and assumed, is the nebulous world of the non-existent and the formless, which is the 1 Cf.^ Creation of the World (=the Universe in all its aspects and in all its substantial gradations, was done by the Demiurge, or by him and his Archonts, or by lower angels or archangels according to the different Gnostics systems.

 ^ But its exterior is shadow, which has been called by the name 'darkness'” (Origin of the World) - Finally, the Deficiency even lacks existence: “And then the existent separated itself from the non-existent.
  • A GLOSSARY OF GNOSTIC TERMS A - F 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.gnosticq.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ The Untitled Text in the Bruce Codex offers a radical ontological dualism, where the Upper Aeons ‘exist’ but the Lower Aeons ‘lack existence’: “And then the existent separated itself from the non-existent.
  • A GLOSSARY OF GNOSTIC TERMS A - F 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.gnosticq.com [Source type: Original source]

 the same idea of the fall of mankind in the .pagan Gnosticism of " Poimandres "; see Reitzenstein, Poimandres (1904); and the position of the Primal Man (Urmensch) among the Manichaeans is similar.^ A remarkable analogy : Before to continue, it is not useless to see the extraordinary similarity of these dissensions without end in the history of the gnostic movement, with the history of the freemasonry.
  • Dissenting gnostic organizations
    who hide the fact that they are disconnected and dissenting     26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.blueman.name [Source type: Original source]

 ^ I think they are right to see Gnosticism as playing a parellel role to the pagan mystery religions, socially if not theologically.
  • Marmalade - semi-random musings - Posts tagged by "". 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC my.opera.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Jung sees in the Gnostic (and Kabbalistic) symbol of Primordial Man a symbol of the goal of his own analytical psychology.
necessary accompaniment of that which exists, as shadow is of light.
.In Gnosticism, on the contrary, the world of evil is full of active energy and hostile powers.^ For the Gnostics, the material world was evil from its creation.
  • CHRISTIAN MEDIA RESEARCH - Profiles - Doctrines - Gnosticism Reborn In The End Times 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.christianmediaresearch.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Tim 4:1-3] (2) Licentiousness (or, Libertinism) - Other Gnostics held that because the world is evil and their bodies were fallen, it did not matter what they did.
  • THE NEW THING: Part One - The Gnostic Key to Revival. 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.intotruth.org [Source type: Original source]

 ^ In order to explain evil in the world the gnostics assumed two principles, which, however, are not identical with the Mazdean dualism (comp.
  • JewishEncyclopedia.com - GNOSTICISM: 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC jewishencyclopedia.com [Source type: Original source]

 .It is an Oriental (Iranian) dualism which here finds expression, though in one point, it is true, the mark of Greek influence is quite clear.^ Here lies the germ of the dualism; the terrible things are believed to have come from the second being even though his independent origin is never positively expressed.

 ^ One does not find in the Gnostic writings a concern for building a community of believers, though there may well have been such communities.
  • The Da Vinci Opportunity: How the Da Vinci Code Can Be Helpful 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.markdroberts.com [Source type: General]

 ^ One difficulty is pointed up in April's test, though only implicitly: What is gnostic?

 .When Gnosticism recognizes in this corporeal and material world the true seat of evil, consistently treating the bodily existence of mankind as essentially evil and the separation of the spiritual from the corporeal being as the object of salvation, this is an outcome of the contrast in Greek dualism between spirit and matter, soul and body.^ The body and the soul are man's earthly existence, and evil.

 ^ Gnosticism is more asymmetric with the true God being separate from this world while the God of evil is trapped within it.
  • http://www.jadaproductions.com/cormacmccarthy/getthread.asp?mydate=All&recordnumber=4144&threadnumber=736&threadname=McCarthy%27s+Western+Novels&threadtopic=%22Blood+Meridian%22+and+Gnosticism&UserName=&UserPassword= 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.jadaproductions.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ They taught a docetism which promoted a clear separation between the material and spiritual world.

 .For in Oriental (Persian) dualism it is within this material world that the good and evil powers are at war, and this world beneath the stars is by no means conceived as entirely subject to the influence of evil.^ For the Gnostics, the material world was evil from its creation.
  • CHRISTIAN MEDIA RESEARCH - Profiles - Doctrines - Gnosticism Reborn In The End Times 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.christianmediaresearch.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Always a common thread to their message was a duality between the material world, which they denigrated and despised, and a conjectured spirit realm held in sublime esteem.
  • What DID the Early Christians Believe? Nice Gnostics – Christian Mystics of Knowledge 23 September 2009 4:37 UTC www.jesusneverexisted.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ The goat-like characteristics make a reference to the Gnostic Demiurge, a figure cited by some Gnostics as the force in opposition to the ascension of humanity, whose influence on the world's conception spoiled the intended perfection of the creation and enforced the dualities riddling this world‹ good/evil, rich/poor, dominant/ submissive, and so forth.
  • Tarot University Library Archives: Gnosticism and Tarot 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC noreah.typepad.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

 .Gnosticism has combined the two, the Greek opposition between spirit and matter, and the sharp Zoroastrian dualism, which, where the Greek mind conceived of a higher and a lower world, saw instead two hostile worlds, standing in contrast to each other like light and darkness.^ BUT I think he created other worlds and the like.
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ The Church saw itself as a light in a dark world.
  • Marmalade - semi-random musings - Posts tagged by "". 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC my.opera.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Other passages make numerous allusions to nde-like experiences that can be realized in this life, most notably the human encounter with a Divine Light.

 .And out of the combination of these two dualisms arose the teaching of Gnosticism, with its thoroughgoing pessimism and fundamental asceticism.^ Undisturbed since their concealment almost two thousand years ago, these manuscripts from Gnosticism rank in importance with the Dead Sea Scrolls.

 ^ Gnosticism is defined in The Oxford Companion to Philosophy as "the teachings of a family of sects which flourished from the second to the fourth centuries, combining elements of Christianity with Platonism."
  • Fraudulent Scholarship, Whether Archaeological or Neo-Gnostic, Misleads Christians 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.cjd.org [Source type: Original source]

 ^ If you want to evaluate my judgment of the Gnostic gospels, go ahead and check these out as well.
  • The Da Vinci Opportunity: How the Da Vinci Code Can Be Helpful 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.markdroberts.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
.Another characteristic feature of the Gnostic conception of the universe is the role played in almost all Gnostic systems by the seven world-creating powers.^ So it is possible to argue that orthodox Christianity not only was more appealing as religion than Gnosticism, but that the institutional peculiarities of orthodox Christianity not only were due to distinctive internal and external features characteristic of the Roman world, but that historically this worked out for the better.
  • Elaine Pagels 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.friesian.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ This Son he seated…in the Ogdoad…in the eighth heaven…of the fixed stars above all the seven heavens of the planets, but is nevertheless lower than the highest world, from which it is separated…the great creator-archon had been by Basilides, the name of Abraxas, .
  • REVIEW: THE SECRET BOOKS OF THE EGYPTIAN GNOSTICS 23 September 2009 4:37 UTC www.gnostics.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ The name Abraxas, coined by Basilides, the Egyptian Gnostic, is a word symbol consisting of seven letters which signify the seven creative powers or planetary angels recognized by the ancients .

 .There are indeed certain exceptions; for instance, in the systems of the Valentinian schools there is the figure of the one Demiurge who takes the place of the Seven.^ For the one who can listen there is salvation.
  • Dissenting gnostic organizations
    who hide the fact that they are disconnected and dissenting     26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.blueman.name [Source type: Original source]

 ^ There is one unfortunate exception to this claim.
  • The Philosophy of the Matrix 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC onwardoverland.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ He who seeks me, will find me in children from seven years old; for there concealed, he shall in the fourteenth age be made manifest.

 .But how widespread was the idea of seven powers, who created this lower material world and rule over it, has been clearly proved, especially by the systematic examination of the subject by Anz (Ursprung des Gnosticismus). These Seven, then, are in most systems half-evil, half-hostile powers; they are frequently characterized as " angels," and are reckoned as the last and lowest emanations of the Godhead; below them - and frequently considered as derived from them - comes the world of the actually devilish powers.^ They can them be harnessed for the profane powers of this world.
  • Gnosticism:The Church Seduced 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC endtimepilgrim.org [Source type: Original source]

 ^ He and his seven sons represent the lower order of material creators.
  • Gnostic Christianity and the Myth of Sophia 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.essene.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ These are so widespread that they have come to be considered just a part of childhood development .
  • The Controllers Agenda - Gnosticism, Archons/Greys 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.bibliotecapleyades.net [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

 .On the other hand, among the speculations of the Mandaeans, we find a different and perhaps more primitive conception of the Seven, according to which they, together with their mother Namrus (Ruha) and their father (Ur), belong entirely to the world of darkness.^ If such an organization existed, then perhaps we would: Benefit more from advanced stem cell research California’s Proposition 8 may have been defeated (4 other states had similar propositions.
  • FSM Discussion • View topic - The FSM Gnostic Texts 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.venganza.org [Source type: Original source]

 ^ That is, they start to understand the difference between right and wrong, good and evil, grace and law, mercy and justice, love and hate and the other abstract concepts through which God communicates His will to human beings.
  • Undersanding the New Gnosticism by Don Clasen 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.intotruth.org [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Many gnostic elements, as, for example, the syzygy doctrine (in which are found father, mother, and son), have doubtless been preserved in the Cabala, together with magic and mysticism.
  • JewishEncyclopedia.com - GNOSTICISM: 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC jewishencyclopedia.com [Source type: Original source]

 .They and their family are looked upon as captives of the god of light (Manda-d'hayye, Hibil-Ziva), who pardons them, sets them on chariots of light, and appoints them as rulers of the world (cf.^ These spheres are ruled by archons who guard their spheres by barring the souls who are seeking to ascend from the realm of darkness and captivity which is below, to the realm of light which is above.

 ^ Our world, including all human institutions, is not the work of the true God, but of a false creator, the Demiurge, who keeps us captive in the world, away from the divine light and truth.
  • OCCULT ROOTS OF THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION 23 September 2009 4:37 UTC www.gnostics.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ For instance, the serpent and Eve are heroic figures who oppose the dull deity in the Hypostasis of the Archons (the Reality of the Rulers) and in On the Origin of the World.31 .
  • *** Gnostics and Jesus *** 23 September 2009 4:37 UTC ezek27.truepath.com [Source type: Original source]

 chiefly Genza, in Tractat 6 and 8; W. Brandt, Manddische Schriften, 125 seq. and 137 seq.; Manddische Religion, 34 seq., &c.). .In the Manichaean system it is related how the helper of the Primal Man, the spirit of life, captured the evil archontes, and fastened them to the firmament, or according to another account, flayed them, and formed the firmament from their skin (F. C. B aur, Das manichdische Religionssystem,v. 65), and this conception is closely related to the other, though in this tradition the number (seven) of the archontes is lost.^ In order to nourish themselves, all forms of life consume each other, thereby visiting pain, fear, and death upon one another (even herbivorous animals live by destroying the life of plants).
  • Gnosticism 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.mcs.ca [Source type: Original source]

 ^ If the gnostic systems were not known through other sources, the statements relating to them in the rabbinical works could not be recognized.
  • JewishEncyclopedia.com - GNOSTICISM: 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC jewishencyclopedia.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ And he (Yaltabaoth) made another creature, in the form of a woman, according to the likeness of the Epinoia which had appeared to him.” (Apocryphon of John).
  • A GLOSSARY OF GNOSTIC TERMS A - F 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.gnosticq.com [Source type: Original source]

 .Similarly, the last book of the Pistis-Sophia contains the myth of the capture of the rebellious archontes, whose leaders here appear as five in number (Schmidt, Koptisch-gnostische Schriften, p.^ Nibley citing 1 Jehu 10-11, in Schmidt, Gnostische Schriften in koptischer Spirache, 52-53; cf.
  • Prayer Circles3: Biblical Or Not? 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC users.stargate.net [Source type: Original source]

 ^ One would hope that here at last we might find a definition of true Gnosticism and a list of modern writers and thinkers who might appear as its representatives.
  • Gnosticism 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.mcs.ca [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Nibley citing 2 Jeu, 54 (40), in Carl Schmidt, Gnostische Schriften in koptischer Sprache, 99; tr., 193.
  • Prayer Circles3: Biblical Or Not? 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC users.stargate.net [Source type: Original source]

 234 seq.). .2 There can scarcely be any doubt as to the origin of these seven (five) powers; they are the seven planetary divinities, the sun, moon and five planets.^ These seven heavens have a correspondence with the seven planets.

 ^ The name Abraxas, coined by Basilides, the Egyptian Gnostic, is a word symbol consisting of seven letters which signify the seven creative powers or planetary angels recognized by the ancients .

 ^ Although it was stated that there was not sufficient evidence to prove these books divine, there was no evidence to prove them otherwise, so they have held a limbo type of status.
  • Gnosticism - WizardNet Internet Discussion Forums for the Body, Mind and Spirit 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC wizardnet.com [Source type: Original source]

 In the Mandaean speculations the Seven are introduced with the Babylonian names of the planets. .The connexion of the Seven with the planets is also clearly established by the expositions of Celsus and Origen (Contra Celsum, vi.^ Nor does He mislead or prove false (Origen Contra Celsum).
  • NAZIRENE  HOME  PAGE 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.nazirene.org [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Origen, who lived at the same time in Palestine, also knew the "Merkabah" as a secret science ("Contra Celsum," vi.
  • JewishEncyclopedia.com - GNOSTICISM: 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC jewishencyclopedia.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ 'For we speak wisdom among them that are perfect (Origen Contra Celsum).
  • NAZIRENE  HOME  PAGE 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.nazirene.org [Source type: Original source]

 2 2 seq.) and similarly by the above-quoted passage in the .Pistis-Sophia, where the archontes, who are here mentioned as five, are identified with the five planets (excluding the sun and moon).^ (Gospel of Philip) - It is possible that the five rites mentioned here are, in fact, the Five Seals.
  • A GLOSSARY OF GNOSTIC TERMS A - F 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.gnosticq.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Here we see Pistis (faith) and Sophia (wisdom) working together in the creative current, to manifest matterial creation.
  • Gnostic cosmology - Page 5 - Theology Forum | Theology Online 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.theologyonline.com [Source type: General]

 ^ The Pistis Sophia relates that after clothing themselves in linen garments, the participants situated themselves in a circle about Jesus, who stood at the altar.
  • Prayer Circles3: Biblical Or Not? 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC users.stargate.net [Source type: Original source]

 .This collective grouping of the seven (five) planetary divinities is derived from the late Babylonian religion, which can definitely be indicated as the home of these ideas (Zimmern, Keilinschriften in dem alien Testament, ii.^ These design ideas will allow a small group to attack critical applications soon while at the same time creating the basis for a powerful and general system later.
  • GNOSIS: A Prototype Operating System for the 1990's 23 September 2009 4:37 UTC www.cis.upenn.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

 ^ The term has long been used in comparative religion to indicate a current of antiquity that stressed awareness of the divine mysteries.
  • The School of Alexandria - Part I/Ch 4 - The Gnostics 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.copticchurch.net [Source type: Original source]

 ^ They didn¹t all believe the same things, although all these ancient cultures based their collective histories upon these first five books of Moses.
  • Tarot University Library Archives: Gnosticism and Tarot 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC noreah.typepad.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

 p. 620 seq.; cf. particularly Diodorus ii. 30). And if in the old sources it is only the first beginnings of this development that can be traced, we must assume that at a later These ideas may possibly be traced still further back, and perhaps even underlie St Paul's exposition in Col. ii. 15.
period the Babylonian religion centred in the adoration of the seven planetary deities. Very instructive in this connexion is the later (Arabian) account of the religion of the Mesopotamian Sabaeans. The religion of the Sabaeans, evidently a later offshoot from the stock of the old Babylonian religion, actually consists in the cult of the seven planets (cf. the great work of Daniel Chwolsohn, Die Ssabier u. der .Ssabismus). But this reference to Babylonian religion does not solve the problem which is here in question.^ Human problems must be solved here and now, not in some never-never land after death.
  • United Communities of Spirit 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC origin.org [Source type: Original source]
  • United Communities of Spirit 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.origin.org [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Perhaps Gnosis is not the best of all possible worlds for all users, but it does demonstrate that there are other ways to solve problems.
  • GNOSIS: A Prototype Operating System for the 1990's 23 September 2009 4:37 UTC www.cis.upenn.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

 For in the Babylonian religion the planetary constellations are reckoned as the supreme deities. .And here the question arises, how it came about that in the Gnostic systems the Seven appear as subordinate, half-daemonic powers, or even completely as powers of darkness.^ Gnosticism came on the scene) than with how .
  • House: Heresies in the Colossian Church: Pt. 1 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC faculty.gordon.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

 ^ The fullness of the Christ being the Egyptian, Buddhist, and Gnostic pleroma of all the seven preceding powers that culminated in the Christhood.
  • Gerald Massey's Published Lectures. (2) 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.gerald-massey.org.uk [Source type: Original source]

 ^ How come this quiz didn't include the question, "Do you spend as many as seven hours a day reading Coptic for grad school?"

 .This can only be explained on the assumption that some religion hostile to, and stronger than the Babylonian, has superimposed itself upon this, and has degraded its principal deities into daemons.^ The topics of your questions have gone deeper into God’s mysteries than any other religion even attempts to aproach.
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Only a Marxist or some other species of leveller could turn them into calls to progressive taxation and redistribution of wealth by the state.
  • Touchstone Magazine - Mere Comments: Egalitarian Gnosticism? 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC merecomments.typepad.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ The only reason I jumped into this discussion is that I felt you were being unfair to petpeeve, and I felt you were making your posts from a place of spite, invalidating her beliefs, rather than explaining your own.” .
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

 Which religion can this have been ? .We are at first inclined to think of Christianity itself, but it is certainly most improbable that at the time of the rise of Christianity the Babylonian teaching about the seven planet-deities governing the world should have played so great a part throughout all Syria, Asia Minor and Egypt, that the most varying sections of syncretic Christianity should over and over again adopt this doctrine and work it up into their system.^ Why get so worked up about fiction?
  • The Da Vinci Opportunity: How the Da Vinci Code Can Be Helpful 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.markdroberts.com [Source type: General]

 ^ The first part is why Christianity had priests at all.
  • Elaine Pagels 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.friesian.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ And with that system, we are talking about the essentials of Christianity.

 .It is far more probable that the combination which we meet with in Gnosticism is older than Christianity, and was found already in existence by Christianity and its sects.^ What was found has been for hundreds of scholars far more precious than gold.
  • Gnosticism and the Gnostic Jesus 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.equip.org [Source type: Original source]

 ^ So it is possible to argue that orthodox Christianity not only was more appealing as religion than Gnosticism, but that the institutional peculiarities of orthodox Christianity not only were due to distinctive internal and external features characteristic of the Roman world, but that historically this worked out for the better.
  • Elaine Pagels 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.friesian.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Gnostics honored the feminine nature and, in reflection, Prof. Elaine Pagels has argued that Christian Gnostic women enjoyed a far greater degree of social and ecclesiastical equality than their orthodox sisters.
  • The Gnostic Society Library - PuertoRico.com Discussion Forum 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.puertorico.com [Source type: Original source]

 .We must also reject the theory that this degradation of the planetary deities into daemons is due to the influence of Hebrew monotheism, for almost all the Gnostic sects take up a definitely hostile attitude towards the Jewish religion, and almost always the highest divinity among the Seven is actually the creator-God of the ,Old Testament.^ The supreme God was separated from the God of the Old Testament.
  • "Secret Gospels and Lost Christianities" by W. T. S. Thackara 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.theosociety.org [Source type: Original source]

 ^ For this reason, Gnostics have a real problem with the God of the Old Testament--the God of creation.
  • http://www.allwest.com/~jglange/Gnostics.html 23 September 2009 4:37 UTC www.allwest.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ He is not the personal agent of the creator-god revealed in the Old Testament.
  • Gnosticism and the Gnostic Jesus 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.equip.org [Source type: Original source]

 .There remains, then, only one religion which can be used as an explanation, namely the Persian, which in fact fulfils all the necessary conditions.^ It is a name which the One uses to ‘know itself’ and name itself.
  • A GLOSSARY OF GNOSTIC TERMS A - F 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.gnosticq.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ If it wasn’t so, there would be only one religion, not dozens.
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ There is only One God; b.
  • Answering Gnosticism 23 September 2009 4:37 UTC thriceholy.net [Source type: Original source]

 .The Persian religion was at an early period brought into contact with the Babylonian, through the triumphant progress of Persian culture towards the West; at the time of Alexander the Great it was already the prevailing religion in the Babylonian plain (cf.^ The beginnings of gnosticism may be found in the fusion of religious beliefs and cultures that arose as a result of Persian power and the conquests of Alexander III (the Great; 356–323 BC ; king of Macedonia 336).
  • The Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod - Christian Cyclopedia 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.lcms.org [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

 ^ Much of Rome’s previous cultural identity was destroyed during Theodosius’ reign as he sought to transform the pagan west into the Christian east.
  • Marmalade - semi-random musings - Posts tagged by "". 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC my.opera.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ The name derived from the Greek 'ophis', meaning 'serpent', and relates to the great reverence which the Ophites had toward the serpent, a reverence inherited from traditional Egyptian religion, and which passed into Greek mythology in the stories surrounding Asclepios, the god of healing.
  • What DID the Early Christians Believe? Nice Gnostics – Christian Mystics of Knowledge 23 September 2009 4:37 UTC www.jesusneverexisted.com [Source type: Original source]

 F. Cumont, Textes et monuments rel. aux mysteres de .Mithra, i. 5, 8-10, 14, 22 3 seq., 233).^ Eph 5:14) ensnared in the bonds of oblivion by reminding them of their predicament (31,4-10 and 31,14-22).
  • SETHIAN GNOSTICISM: 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC jdt.unl.edu [Source type: Original source]

 .It was characterized by a main belief, tending towards monotheism, in the Light-deity Ahuramazda and his satellites, who appeared in contrast with him as powers of the nature of angels.^ I, who came from Infinite Light, I am here - for I know him (Light) - that I might speak to you.
  • Gist of Gnostic Texts - The Gold Scales 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC oaks.nvg.org [Source type: Original source]

 ^ He revealed himself as a Pleroma, i.e., the finding of the light of truth which has shined towards him, because he is unchangeable.
  • Valentinus: The Gnostic Trinitarian Heretic 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.cogwriter.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Protennoia: “I am the life of my Epinoia that dwells within every Power and every eternal movement, and (in) invisible Lights and within the Archons and Angels and Demons, and every soul dwelling in Tartaros, and (in) every material soul.
  • A GLOSSARY OF GNOSTIC TERMS A - F 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.gnosticq.com [Source type: Original source]
.A combination of the Babylonian with the Persian religion could only be effected by the degradation of the Babylonian deities into half-divine, half-daemonic beings, infinitely remote from the supreme God of light and of heaven, or even into powers of darkness.^ Several Babylonian gods and not only one.
  • http://www.allwest.com/~jglange/Gnostics.html 23 September 2009 4:37 UTC www.allwest.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Light comes into contact with Darkness.

 ^ In any case the divine being could not have suffered.

 .Even the characteristic dualism of Gnosticism has already proved to be in part of Iranian origin; and now it becomes clear how from that mingling of late Greek and Persian dualism the idea could arise that these seven halfdaemonic powers are the creators or rulers of this material world, which is separated infinitely from the light-world of the good God.^ The origins of Gnosticism are far from clear.

 ^ (Obviously, no good "god" could be directly responsible for its creation.
  • http://www.allwest.com/~jglange/Gnostics.html 23 September 2009 4:37 UTC www.allwest.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ God can have nothing to do with the physical, material world.
  • The Da Vinci Code, Gnosticism, Leonard Da Vinci, and the Bible 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC gospelway.com [Source type: Original source]

 .Definite confirmation of this conjecture is afforded us by later sources of the Iranian religion, in which we likewise meet with the characteristic fundamental doctrine of Gnosticism.^ Scholars have attributed the origins of gnosticism to a number of sources: the Greek mystery cults; Zoroastrianism ; the KABBALAH of Judaism; and Egyptian religion.
  • "Natural Magick" - "Glossary/Index - G" 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC homepages.tscnet.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ This earlier Egyptian understanding of gnosis pre-dated the later Hellenistic, world-denying 'religion of Gnosticism' in the early Christian era."
  • Tarot University Library Archives: Gnosticism and Tarot 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC noreah.typepad.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

 ^ By this he meant that Gnosticism "was ruled in the main by the Greek spirit and determined by the interests and doctrines of the Greek philosophy and religion."
  • "Secret Gospels and Lost Christianities" by W. T. S. Thackara 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.theosociety.org [Source type: Original source]

 Thus the Bundahish (iii. 25, v. z) is able to inform us that in the primeval strife of .Satan against the light-world, seven hostile powers were captured and set as constellations in the heavens, where they are guarded by good star-powers and prevented from doing harm.^ They can them be harnessed for the profane powers of this world.
  • Gnosticism:The Church Seduced 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC endtimepilgrim.org [Source type: Original source]

 ^ This Son he seated…in the Ogdoad…in the eighth heaven…of the fixed stars above all the seven heavens of the planets, but is nevertheless lower than the highest world, from which it is separated…the great creator-archon had been by Basilides, the name of Abraxas, .
  • REVIEW: THE SECRET BOOKS OF THE EGYPTIAN GNOSTICS 23 September 2009 4:37 UTC www.gnostics.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ For when it does not find anything else to burn, it will turn against itself until it has destroyed itself.” (Concept of Our Great Power) - This fire at the end of the world is ‘the invisible fire’ made ‘visible’: “When the whole seed is perfected, then, they say, (...
  • A GLOSSARY OF GNOSTIC TERMS A - F 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.gnosticq.com [Source type: Original source]

 .Five of the evil powers are the planets, while here the sun and moon are of course not reckoned among the evil powers - for the obvious reason that in the Persian official religion they invariably appear as good divinities (cf.^ Why are we here; why good and evil?
  • Gnosticism 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.mcs.ca [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Old Aeon religions are scrambling to appear less reactionary, but they cannot hide their past and responsibility for advocating anti-humanist dogma.
  • REVIEW: THE NATURE & HISTORY GNOSTICISM 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.gnostics.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ They become the unwitting prey of the principalities and powers of popular entertainment and popular religion.
  • Gnosticism:The Church Seduced 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC endtimepilgrim.org [Source type: Original source]

 similar ideas in the Arabic treatise on Persian religion Ulema-iIslam, Vullers, Fragmente fiber die Religion Zoroasters, p. .49, and in other later sources for Persian religion, put together in Spiegel, Eranische Altertumskunde, Bd.^ Others put the writing in the latter portion of the second century, almost 150 years later.
  • The Da Vinci Opportunity: How the Da Vinci Code Can Be Helpful 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.markdroberts.com [Source type: General]

 ^ And we are left to put these two sources together and figure out the meaning of it all from moment to moment!
  • Undersanding the New Gnosticism by Don Clasen 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.intotruth.org [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Only later Christians such as Augustine openly admitted to Christianity’s commonality to other religions.
  • Marmalade - semi-random musings - Posts tagged by "". 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC my.opera.com [Source type: Original source]

 ii. p. 180). .These Persian fancies can hardly be borrowed from the Christian Gnostic systems, their definiteness and much more strongly dualistic character recalling the exposition of the Mandaean (and Manichaean) system, are proofs to the contrary.^ So, using this more broad definition, Gnostics preceded Christianity.
  • Marmalade - semi-random musings - Posts tagged by "". 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC my.opera.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Gnosticism was a religious system that flourished for centuries at the beginning of the Common Era, and in many regions of the ancient Mediterranean world it competed strongly with "orthodox" Christianity, while in other areas it represented the only interpretation of Christianity that was known.
  • Journal of Religion & Film: Wake Up! Gnosticism and Buddhism in The Matrix by Frances Flannery-Daily and Rachel Wagner 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.unomaha.edu [Source type: Original source]
  • Wake Up! 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC whatisthematrix.warnerbros.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Some German scholars, such as R. Reitzenstein, W. Bousset and R. Bultmann, have strongly supported the concept of pre-Christian Gnosticism .
  • The School of Alexandria - Part I/Ch 4 - The Gnostics 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.copticchurch.net [Source type: Original source]

 .They are derived from the same period in which the underlying idea of the Gnostic systems also originated, namely, the time at which the ideas of the Persian and Babylonian religions came into contact, the remarkable results of which have thus partly found their way into the official documents of Parsiism.^ There are other names for other periods of time.
  • A Question about Adam and Eve... - Politics, Philosophy, and Religion 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.wrongplanet.net [Source type: Original source]

 ^ It came into existence at the same time as the sparks.

 ^ It is true that there are Greek ideas that have found their way into christendom (i.e.
  • Gnosticism, Sumer, Henotheism & Satan as YHWH? | 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC profoundprophecy.com [Source type: Original source]
.With this fundamental doctrine of Gnosticism is connected, as Anz has shown in his book which we have so often quoted, a side of their religious practices to which we have already alluded.^ As you read this book, you will often find reference to the term “the nous,” pronounced NOSS. This term was used by early Gnostics to refer to the connection that each of us has to the soul within -- that still, inner voice from God that we can all hear when we really listen.
  • Last of the Gnostics 23 September 2009 4:37 UTC www.dondurrett.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Then again, pointing out such similarities would probably be highly offensive and dangerous to ones health, which is why it is often best to not publicly point out connections between present day religious movements and ancient gnosticism.

 ^ These questions lie at the very root of philosophical thinking; but the answers provided by the Gnostics go beyond philosophical speculation toward the realm of religious doctrine and mysticism.
  • Gnosticism [The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy] 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.iep.utm.edu [Source type: Original source]
  • Gnosticism [The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy] 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.iep.utm.edu [Source type: Original source]

 .Gnosticism is to a great extent dominated by the idea that it is above all and in the highest degree important for the Gnostic's soul to be enabled to find its way back through the lower worlds and spheres of heaven ruled by the Seven to the kingdom of light of the supreme deity of heaven.^ By Knowledge he is able to ascend through the seven heavenly spheres (where the Archonts rule).

 ^ Unless you receive the Kingdom of Heaven through knowledge, you will not be able to find it.
  • Gist of Gnostic Texts - The Gold Scales 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC oaks.nvg.org [Source type: Original source]

 ^ These spheres are ruled by archons who guard their spheres by barring the souls who are seeking to ascend from the realm of darkness and captivity which is below, to the realm of light which is above.

 .Hence, a principal item in their religious practice consisted in communications about the being, nature and names of the Seven (or of any other hostile daemons barring the way to heaven), the formulas with which they must be addressed, and the symbols which must be shown to them.^ To wit, that the human being, like the immortals, naturally places sexual intercourse far and away above all other joys yet he has left it out of his heaven!
  • The Philosophy of the Matrix 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC onwardoverland.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ What I have come to love in the wealth and diversity of our religious traditions — and the communities that sustain them — is that they offer the testimony of innumerable people to spiritual discovery.
  • "Secret Gospels and Lost Christianities" by W. T. S. Thackara 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.theosociety.org [Source type: Original source]

 ^ The apostle condemns the practices and way of life that had been inspired by Satan and his demons, the principal cause of all the world's evil.
  • Gnosticism (Forerunner Commentary) :: Bible Tools 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC bibletools.org [Source type: Original source]

 .But names, symbols and formulas are not efficacious by themselves: the Gnostic must lead a life having no part in the lower world ruled by these spirits, and by his knowledge he must raise himself above them to the God of the world of light.^ God raised Jesus to life" (vv.
  • The Gnostic Gospels 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.inplainsite.org [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
  • Gnosticism and the Gnostic Jesus 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.equip.org [Source type: Original source]

 ^ And these people are calling themselves as gnostic...
  • Dissenting gnostic organizations
    who hide the fact that they are disconnected and dissenting     26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.blueman.name [Source type: Original source]

 ^ It also leads to a world-denying life .
  • The Da Vinci Opportunity: How the Da Vinci Code Can Be Helpful 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.markdroberts.com [Source type: General]

 .Throughout this mystic religious world it was above all the influence of the late Greek religion, derived from Plato, that also continued to operate; it is filled with the echo of the song, the first note of which was sounded by the Platonists, about the heavenly home of the soul and the homeward journey of the wise to the higher world of light.^ Their ecstasy burst forth in the single song of all that is, was, or ever shall be, and with the song came motion, waves that poured outward and became all the spheres and circles of the worlds.

 ^ While both Plato's and Corbu's > version of World Order were Organic and religious, Clinton's would > presumably be Mechanistic and profane.
  • 99_12_03_Corbusier+Gnosticism 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC home.worldcom.ch [Source type: Original source]
  • 99_12_03_Corbusier+Gnosticism 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC home.worldcom.ch [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Each > soul is represented by a splinter of light broken off from the higher > heavens and fractured over and over among the procreations on Earth.
  • 99_12_03_Corbusier+Gnosticism 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC home.worldcom.ch [Source type: Original source]
  • 99_12_03_Corbusier+Gnosticism 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC home.worldcom.ch [Source type: Original source]
.But the form in which the whole is set forth is Oriental, and it must be carefully noted that the Mithras mysteries, so closely connected with the Persian religion, are acquainted with this doctrine of the ascent of the soul through the planetary spheres (Origen, Contra Celsum, vi.^ By Late Antiquity, some Gnostic and Neoplatonist thinkers had expanded this syncretic equation to include Aion, Adonis, Attis, Mithras and other gods of the mystery religions.
  • Marmalade - semi-random musings - Posts tagged by "". 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC my.opera.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ ARCHONS - AS PLANETARY GATE-KEEPERS - As the planetary gate-keepers, the Archons prevent souls from rising to the Upper Aeons after death (or in a visionary ascent).
  • A GLOSSARY OF GNOSTIC TERMS A - F 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.gnosticq.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ The Eastern religion that had the highest moral tone was a Persian import, Mithraism.

 22).
.V. We cannot here undertake to set forth and explain in detail all the complex varieties of the Gnostic systems; but it will be useful to take a nearer view of certain principal figures which have had an influence upon at least one series of Gnostic systems, and to examine their origins in the history of religion.^ Gnosticism was one of these religions.
  • Gnostic Christianity and the Myth of Sophia 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.essene.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ I will suppose that the heavens, the air, the earth, colors, shapes, sounds and all external things that we see, are only illusions and deceptions which he uses to take me in.
  • Gnosticism Reborn: The Matrix As Shamanic Journey by Jake Horsley 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.mindmined.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ The Gnostic documents do not present their system as a crypto-psychology (with various cosmic forces representing psychic functions), but as a religious and theological explanation of the origin and operation of the universe.
  • The Gnostic Gospels 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.inplainsite.org [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
  • Gnosticism and the Gnostic Jesus 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.equip.org [Source type: Original source]

 .In almost all systems an important part is played by the Great Mother (µiirnp) who appears under the most varied forms (cf.^ Adepts of the Mother’ on account of the part played .
  • REVIEW: THE SECRET BOOKS OF THE EGYPTIAN GNOSTICS 23 September 2009 4:37 UTC www.gnostics.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ As in Part One, we find here the statement that prayer circles are commonly found in indigenous cultures, and in most instances, the "Sacred Four Directions" play an important part in the functions of the circle ritual.
  • Prayer Circles3: Biblical Or Not? 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC users.stargate.net [Source type: Original source]

 ^ The several elements of the alphabet play an important rôle in this cosmologic system, a reflection of which is found in one of the haggadah, in which the letters, beginning with the last, appear before God, requesting that the world be created through them.
  • JewishEncyclopedia.com - GNOSTICISM: 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC jewishencyclopedia.com [Source type: Original source]
Great Mother Of The Gods). .At an early period, and notably in the older systems of the Ophites (a fairly exact account of which has been preserved for us by Epiphanius and Hippolytus), among the Gnostics in the narrower sense of the word, the Archontici, the Sethites (there are also traces among the Naasseni, cf.^ The Gnostic system makes sense.
  • The Da Vinci Opportunity: How the Da Vinci Code Can Be Helpful 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.markdroberts.com [Source type: General]

 ^ Until fairly recently, most of what was known about gnosticism came from the writings of early "church fathers" (e.g., Irenaeus, Hippolytus, Origen, Epiphanius, Tertullian, Clement), who wrote against gnosticism in the period between the second and fourth centuries A.D. The original writings of the gnostic teachers themselves, which might have given us a more accurate picture of their philosophy, have been lost, except for some fragments of these works which have been preserved.
  • Are We Under Bondage to The Law? 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC livingtheway.org [Source type: Original source]

 ^ It should be noted, however, that the early Church Fathers, like Clement of Alexandria, Irenaeus, Origen, Hippolytus, Epiphanius, and even “pagan” philosophers like Plotinus and Porphyry, who have preserved for us accounts and occasionally some original documents of philosophers and theologians whom they term “Gnostic,” were also contemporaries or near contemporaries of many of the figures and schools that they criticize and interpret.
  • Gnosticism [The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy] 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.iep.utm.edu [Source type: Original source]
  • Gnosticism [The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy] 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.iep.utm.edu [Source type: Original source]

 the .Philosophumena of Hippolytus), the /*nip is the most prominent figure in the light-world, elevated above the 4330µ6s, and the great mother of the faithful.^ BARBELO AS THE MOTHER OF CHRIST - Most importantly, Barbelo begets the Christ, who is called the Son, the light, the only-begotten one etc.: “And the invisible, virginal Spirit (i.e.
  • A GLOSSARY OF GNOSTIC TERMS A - F 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.gnosticq.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ "To regain the stolen and misused reproductive power, and to restore it to its proper place, is the work of the Great Mother of the World-Soul."
  • Ecclesia Gnostica Catholica : Gnostic Catholic Church 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC user.cyberlink.ch [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

 ^ They broke down the bridge between the two worlds, and proclaimed a great gulf fixed forever, which could only be crossed by faith in the Historic Jesus.
  • Gnostic and Historic Christianity 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.africawithin.com [Source type: Original source]

 .The sect of the Barbelognostics takes its name from the female figure of the Barbelo (perhaps a corruption of IIapO vos; cf.^ Perhaps including the element of “voice” can take you into deeper understanding of this, since you start off mentioning names.
  • tb » Saving The Gnostic Body 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.timboucher.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ As an example for the people, the fall and redemption of a female being, namely Barbelos, are carried out in "Pistis Sophia".
  • Correct Gnosticism and the Ordo Templi Orientis 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC user.cyberlink.ch [Source type: Original source]

 the form BapOevws for " virgin " in Epiphanius, Haer. xxvi. 1). .But Gnostic speculation gives various accounts of the descent or fall of this goddess of heaven.^ Edwin M. Yamauchi, "The Descent of Ishtar, the Fall of Sophia, and the Jewish Roots of Gnosticism," Tyndale Bulletin 29 (1978): 143-175.

 .Thus the " Helena " of the Simoniani descends to this world in order by means of her beauty to provoke to sensual passion and mutual strife the angels who rule the world, and thus again to deprive them of the powers of light, stolen from heaven, by means of which they rule over the world.^ These spheres are ruled by archons who guard their spheres by barring the souls who are seeking to ascend from the realm of darkness and captivity which is below, to the realm of light which is above.

 ^ They have thus banished themselves in this world (since they are here outside of the Pleroma) into a place which has no existence.
  • Valentinus: The Gnostic Trinitarian Heretic 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.cogwriter.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ First, one must be a teacher of the light, and thus convert as many souls as possible to the higher heavens.
  • 99_12_03_Corbusier+Gnosticism 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC home.worldcom.ch [Source type: Original source]
  • 99_12_03_Corbusier+Gnosticism 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC home.worldcom.ch [Source type: Original source]

 She is then held captive by them in extreme degradation. Similar ideas are to be found among the " Gnostics " of Epiphanius. .The kindred idea of the light-maiden, who, by exciting the sensual passions of the rulers (apxovmes), takes from them those powers of light which still remain to them, has also a central place in the Manichaean scheme of salvation (F. C. Baur, Das manichaische Religionssystem, pp.^ Still,) those (who are) above opened to us the things below, in order that we may go in to the secret of the truth.
  • A GLOSSARY OF GNOSTIC TERMS A - F 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.gnosticq.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ The “material” humans are those who have not attained to intellectual life, and so place their hopes only upon that which is perishable—for these there is no hope of salvation.
  • Gnosticism [The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy] 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.iep.utm.edu [Source type: Original source]
  • Gnosticism [The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy] 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.iep.utm.edu [Source type: Original source]

 ^ The humans who are viewed as candidates for being The One have abnormal powers of control over objects_as with those special children we see levitating objects and bending spoons.
  • The Philosophy of the Matrix 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC onwardoverland.com [Source type: Original source]

 21 9, 3 1 5, 3 21). .The light-maiden also plays a prominent part in the Pistis-Sophia (cf.^ Again, ‘the number of perfect souls’: “And there would have been delay in the completion of the number of perfect souls, which will be accounted among the inheritance of the height, through the mysteries, and will be in the Treasury of Light.” (Pistis Sophia - Ch.
  • A GLOSSARY OF GNOSTIC TERMS A - F 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.gnosticq.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Christ is the consort of Sophia, and consented with her to ‘reveal’ a third: “Then Son of Man consented with Sophia, his consort, and revealed a great androgynous Light.” (Eugnostos) - The Savior is the consort of Pistis Sophia, and consented with her to ‘reveal’ six androgynous offspring: “Then Savior consented with his consort, Pistis Sophia, and revealed six androgynous spiritual beings...” (Eugnostos) 5.
  • A GLOSSARY OF GNOSTIC TERMS A - F 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.gnosticq.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Treasury of the Light.” (Pistis Sophia - Ch.
  • A GLOSSARY OF GNOSTIC TERMS A - F 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.gnosticq.com [Source type: Original source]

 the index to the translation by C. Schmidt). .With this figure of the mothergoddess who descends into the lower world seems to be closely connected the idea of the fallen Sophia, which is so widespread among the Gnostic systems.^ The saving drama is motivated by Barbelo's attempt to rescue her productive power of thought from the clutches of Sophia's ignorant offspring Yaldabaoth, who has captured it in the lower world by incarnating it into Adam, his counterfeit copy of Barbelo's male aspect.
  • 3fold 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC jdt.unl.edu [Source type: Original source]

 ^ I am certainly no expert on Gnosticism or Plato or any of that and I don't think the kid is a Christ figure, but for fun I'll throw this into the mix quoting liberally from Pagels' book "Gnostic Gospels," which seems to be a nice introduction to Gnostic thought for the uninitiated.
  • http://www.jadaproductions.com/cormacmccarthy/getthread.asp?mydate=All&recordnumber=44788&threadnumber=9636&threadname=McCarthy%27s+Southern+Works&threadtopic=Gnosticism+in+Blood+Meridian&UserName=&UserPassword= 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.jadaproductions.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Tim 4:1-3] (2) Licentiousness (or, Libertinism) - Other Gnostics held that because the world is evil and their bodies were fallen, it did not matter what they did.
  • THE NEW THING: Part One - The Gnostic Key to Revival. 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.intotruth.org [Source type: Original source]

 .This Sophia then is certainly no longer the dominating figure of the light-world, she is a lower aeon at the extreme limit of the world of light, who sinks down into matter (Barbelognostics, the anonymous Gnostic of Irenaeus, Bardesanes, Pistis-Sophia), or turns in presumptuous love towards the supreme God (Bu06s), and thus brings the Fall into the world of the aeons (Valentinians).^ Those who do not love do not know God for God is love.
  • United Communities of Spirit 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC origin.org [Source type: Original source]
  • United Communities of Spirit 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.origin.org [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Gazing down into the world of matter, the younger Sophia sees reflected there a transcendent light.
  • Gnostic Christianity and the Myth of Sophia 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.essene.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Repent and turn toward God.
  • Political Crossfire Forums :: View topic - Did Jesus claim to be God? 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.politicalcrossfire.com [Source type: Original source]

 .This Sophia then appears as the mother of the " seven " gods (see above).^ Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.

 ^ Isaac's mother Sarah was understandably displeased, and she cast out Agar and her son, into the wilderness, where God appeared to them and promised to make a great nation out of Ishmael.
  • Are We Under Bondage to The Law? 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC livingtheway.org [Source type: Original source]

 ^ See TRINITY. - She appears under numerous names: the Mother, Thought (Ennoia), Forethought (Pronoia), First Thought (Protennoia), Aeon-giver etc.
  • A GLOSSARY OF GNOSTIC TERMS A - F 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.gnosticq.com [Source type: Original source]
The origin of this figure is not far to seek. .It is certainly not derived from the Persian religious system, to the spirit of which it is entirely opposed.^ They are the Invisible Spirit-Barbelo-Autogenes triad from the system of the Apocryphon of John and Trimorphic Protennoia , and another tradition of a pentad, derived from the Sethian baptismal tradition.
  • SETHIAN GNOSTICISM: 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC jdt.unl.edu [Source type: Original source]

 .Neither would it be correct to identify her entirely with the great goddess Ishtar of the old Babylonian religion.^ It seems quite natural that Egyptian Coptic Gnostics would be at least a little interested in the millenniums old religion of their native land.
  • REVIEW: THE SECRET BOOKS OF THE EGYPTIAN GNOSTICS 23 September 2009 4:37 UTC www.gnostics.com [Source type: Original source]

 .But there can hardly be any doubt that the figure of the great mother-goddess or goddess of heaven, who was worshipped throughout Asia under various forms and names (Astarte, Beltis, Atargatis, Cybele, the Syrian Aphrodite), was the prototype of the µr 1 Trtp of the Gnostics (cf.^ Henceforth there was to be no other name under heaven but this.
  • Gnostic and Historic Christianity 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.africawithin.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Also, before he is actualized as Neo (the one who will initiate something "New," since he is indeed "the One"), he is doubting Thomas, who does not believe in his role as the redeemer figure.

 ^ His theology > would believe in a malignant god (probably, Yahweh) who had been tossed > out of the rings of heaven for his obstreperous actions up there.
  • 99_12_03_Corbusier+Gnosticism 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC home.worldcom.ch [Source type: Original source]
  • 99_12_03_Corbusier+Gnosticism 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC home.worldcom.ch [Source type: Original source]

 .Great Mother Of The Gods).^ Isaac's mother Sarah was understandably displeased, and she cast out Agar and her son, into the wilderness, where God appeared to them and promised to make a great nation out of Ishmael.
  • Are We Under Bondage to The Law? 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC livingtheway.org [Source type: Original source]

 .The character of the great goddess of heaven is still in many places fairly exactly preserved in the Gnostic speculations.^ And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.

 .Hence we are able to understand how the Gnostic µirTrtp, the Sophia, appears as the mother of the Hebdomas (4360µas).^ An overview of how Baudrillard heard about Mani and Pyrrho can help us understand his Gnostic Nihilism.
  • IJBS 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.ubishops.ca [Source type: Original source]

 ^ That is interesting to consider how Buddhism combined with Gnosticism would've created the framework for Augustine's understanding of his strong mistrust of fleshly desires.
  • Marmalade - semi-random musings - Posts tagged by "". 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC my.opera.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ In 1925, in the foreword to his "Die Gnostiker" (once again appearing in the Baumann Verlag Bad Schmiedeberg) the "Pistis Sophia" is accorded the status of an "actual" Gnostic scripture.
  • Correct Gnosticism and the Ordo Templi Orientis 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC user.cyberlink.ch [Source type: Original source]

 .The great goddess of heaven is the mother of the stars.^ As the Great Goddess, she is not per se a mother or a fertility deity; she has a far wider concept -- that of Cosmic Creatrix.

 ^ "In Ice Age art the Great Goddess or Great Mother is responsible not only for life and death but also for regeneration.

 ^ He promised Abraham that he would become a great company of people as numerous as the myriad stars of heaven.
  • Gnosticism:The Church Seduced 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC endtimepilgrim.org [Source type: Original source]

 .Particularly instructive in this connexion is the fact that in those very sects, in the systems of which the figure of the µr t Trtp plays a special part, unbridled prostitution appears as a distinct and essential part of the cult (cf.^ In pagan systems, the soul's essential characteristic is that it is utterly one with the absolute--it is not a distinct person.
  • http://www.allwest.com/~jglange/Gnostics.html 23 September 2009 4:37 UTC www.allwest.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ In this way he voiced and illustrated part of the revolution of ideas within those sects with Jewish ties.
  • Gnostic Christianity and the Myth of Sophia 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.essene.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ There are those that teach the theory of evolution as a fact, when in reality there are some parts that cannot be explained and there is a reason to why it is called the “theory of evolution”.
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

 the accounts of particular branches of the Gnostics, Nicolaitans, Philionites, Borborites, &c. in .Epiphanius, Haer. xxv., xxvi.^ The source of this enumeration is Epiphanius, Panarion XXV 2,1-XXVI 13,7, in which the Spermo-Gnostics are introduced.
  • Correct Gnosticism and the Ordo Templi Orientis 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC user.cyberlink.ch [Source type: Original source]

 ). .The meaning of this cult is, of course, reinterpreted in the Gnostic sense: by this unbridled prostitution the Gnostic sects desired to prevent the sexual propagation of mankind, the origin of all evil.^ But are all cults inherently evil?
  • REVIEW: THE NATURE & HISTORY GNOSTICISM 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.gnostics.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Scholars have attributed the origins of gnosticism to a number of sources: the Greek mystery cults; Zoroastrianism ; the KABBALAH of Judaism; and Egyptian religion.
  • "Natural Magick" - "Glossary/Index - G" 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC homepages.tscnet.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Epiphanius acknowledges that all the heretical forms of Christianity were derived from the Pagan Mythology--that is, they were survivals of the original pre-historic Gnostic religion.
  • Gnostic and Historic Christianity 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.africawithin.com [Source type: Original source]

 .But the connexion is clear, and hence it also explained the curious Gnostic myth mentioned above, namely that the i carnip (the light-maiden) by appearing to the archontes (cipxovrES), the lower powers of this world, inflames them to sexual lusts, in order to take from them that share of light which they have stolen from the upper world.^ They can them be harnessed for the profane powers of this world.
  • Gnosticism:The Church Seduced 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC endtimepilgrim.org [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Basically, they saw the world as a complex play of realms, powers, and beings… but its unclear to what extent they believed in these literally or as allegories.
  • Marmalade - semi-random musings - Posts tagged by "". 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC my.opera.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ ENNOIA AS PRONOIA AND PROTONOIA - The Gnostic texts emphasize that all the beings which came to exist in the Upper Aeons were ‘first’ and so they ‘pre-exist’.
  • A GLOSSARY OF GNOSTIC TERMS A - F 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.gnosticq.com [Source type: Original source]

 .This is a Gnostic interpretation of the various myths of the great mother-goddess's many loves and love-adventures with other gods and heroes.^ Gnostics respond that this interpretation of the myth is false.
  • Gnosticism 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.mcs.ca [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Gnosticism was a religious system that flourished for centuries at the beginning of the Common Era, and in many regions of the ancient Mediterranean world it competed strongly with "orthodox" Christianity, while in other areas it represented the only interpretation of Christianity that was known.
  • Journal of Religion & Film: Wake Up! Gnosticism and Buddhism in The Matrix by Frances Flannery-Daily and Rachel Wagner 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.unomaha.edu [Source type: Original source]
  • Wake Up! 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC whatisthematrix.warnerbros.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ I and a good many other Christians believe that the love that same sex partners express for each other (not limited to the physical but definitely including it) in a committed, monogamous relationship blessed by the church is sacramental - that it's a physical sign and seal of God's grace.
  • Touchstone Magazine - Mere Comments: Egalitarian Gnosticism? 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC merecomments.typepad.com [Source type: Original source]

 .And when the pagan legend of the Syrian Astarte tells how she lived for ten years in Tyre as a prostitute, this directly recalls the Gnostic myth of how Simon found Helena in a brothel in Tyre (Epiphanius, Ancoratus, c.^ Since we have very little knowledge of actual Gnostic communities, it's hard to say much about how Gnostic people actually lived.
  • The Da Vinci Opportunity: How the Da Vinci Code Can Be Helpful 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.markdroberts.com [Source type: General]

 ^ My path began in a pagan wicca group, continued with a dozen years with a guru, and most recently a ten year study in an ancient gnostic school.
  • United Communities of Spirit 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC origin.org [Source type: Original source]

 ^ The context for understanding Romans 7:6 is to be found in Romans 6:2 ("How shall we that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?"
  • Are We Under Bondage to The Law? 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC livingtheway.org [Source type: Original source]

 104). .From the same group of myths must be derived the idea of the goddess who descends to the under-world, and is there taken prisoner against her will by the lower powers; the direct prototype of this myth is to be found, e.g. in Ishtar's journey to hell.^ These design ideas will allow a small group to attack critical applications soon while at the same time creating the basis for a powerful and general system later.
  • GNOSIS: A Prototype Operating System for the 1990's 23 September 2009 4:37 UTC www.cis.upenn.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

 ^ Their prison prophets and wise men have themselves learned the power of speaking to the imagination of the inmates -- telling them that there is a supernatural savior who will come and change the prison into a land of milk and honey -- and all they have to do is wait for his arrival.
  • NAZIRENE  HOME  PAGE 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.nazirene.org [Source type: Original source]

 ^ The last male heir (the only one who can assume the mantle of leadership for that church), is not too awful long for this world, and it must be a direct descendant of Smith for him to become their leader.
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

 .And finally, just as the mother-goddess of south-western Asia stands in particularly intimate connexion with the youthful god of spring (Tammuz, Adonis, Attis), so we ought perhaps to compare here as a parallel the relation of Sophia with the Soter in certain Gnostic systems (see below) .^ By Late Antiquity, some Gnostic and Neoplatonist thinkers had expanded this syncretic equation to include Aion, Adonis, Attis, Mithras and other gods of the mystery religions.
  • Marmalade - semi-random musings - Posts tagged by "". 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC my.opera.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Galatians 1:4 ( Go to this verse :: Verse pop-up ) Much of the controversy involved in this letter has to do with Gnostic Judaism, which was not the system that God gave to Moses.
  • Gnosticism (Forerunner Commentary) :: Bible Tools 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC bibletools.org [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Christ and Sophia will come together as one at the end of time to repair that separation (see below).
  • A GLOSSARY OF GNOSTIC TERMS A - F 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.gnosticq.com [Source type: Original source]
.Another characteristic figure of Gnosticism is that of the Primal Man (rrpWTos ccvOpcorros). In many systems, certainly, it has already been forced quite into the background.^ Most recently another former student, W. Schmithals, has repudiated his master's theory quite categorically: 'The hymn does not betray direct Gnostic influences....
  • "Pre-Christian Gnosticism, the New Testament and Nag Hammadi in recent debate" by Edwin M. Yamauchi 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.earlychurch.org.uk [Source type: Academic]

 ^ I am certainly no expert on Gnosticism or Plato or any of that and I don't think the kid is a Christ figure, but for fun I'll throw this into the mix quoting liberally from Pagels' book "Gnostic Gospels," which seems to be a nice introduction to Gnostic thought for the uninitiated.
  • http://www.jadaproductions.com/cormacmccarthy/getthread.asp?mydate=All&recordnumber=44788&threadnumber=9636&threadname=McCarthy%27s+Southern+Works&threadtopic=Gnosticism+in+Blood+Meridian&UserName=&UserPassword= 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.jadaproductions.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ This harmless author was kidnapped off the street and impressed into the gnostic camp, because he is a rational man and rationality was what they lacked.
  • Answering Gnosticism 23 September 2009 4:37 UTC thriceholy.net [Source type: Original source]

 .But on closer examination we can clearly see that it has a wide influence on Gnosticism.^ Plotinus) sense, opposed to the dualistic Gnosticism of the Manichean type examined by Daugherty under the influence of Jonas's work.
  • http://www.jadaproductions.com/cormacmccarthy/getthread.asp?mydate=All&recordnumber=44788&threadnumber=9636&threadname=McCarthy%27s+Southern+Works&threadtopic=Gnosticism+in+Blood+Meridian&UserName=&UserPassword= 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.jadaproductions.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ As you can see it goes through the history of Gnosticism, the kinds, and also its influences.
  • Eschaton Si, Immanent No! « The American Catholic 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC the-american-catholic.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ We can clearly see the seeds of gnosticism in men like Justin Martyr.
  • Gnosticism, Sumer, Henotheism & Satan as YHWH? | 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC profoundprophecy.com [Source type: Original source]

 .Thus in the system of the Naasseni (see Hippolytus, Philosophumena), and in certain related sects there enumerated, the Primal Man has a central and predominant position.^ This fact, combined with the observation that there were "deviant" Gnostic sects that incorporated certain aspects of Pagan fertility rites, then one can see why the Church Fathers felt so threatened by Gnosticism in general.
  • REVIEW: THE NATURE & HISTORY GNOSTICISM 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.gnostics.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ If we want to limit one user to seeing certain fields, IBM's IMS system can do this by limiting a program to these fields.
  • GNOSIS: A Prototype Operating System for the 1990's 23 September 2009 4:37 UTC www.cis.upenn.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

 ^ There was thus a purely gnostic motivation for the false teachers in Galatia to desire to see these Gentile converts circumcised.
  • Are We Under Bondage to The Law? 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC livingtheway.org [Source type: Original source]

 Again, in the text on which are based the pseudoClementine writings (Recognitions, i. 16, 3 2, 45 47, 52, ii. 47; and Homilies, iii. 17 seq. xviii. 14), as in the closely related system of the Ebionites in Epiphanius (Haer. xxx. 3-16; cf. liii. .1), we meet with the man who existed before the world, the prophet who goes through the world in various forms, and finally reveals himself in Christ.^ Though he be a man in the world, yet is he a man who is not of the world.
  • http://www.iamm.com/man-cu.htm 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.iamm.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

 ^ Docetists believed that the man Jesus was born, and that the pre-existing god Christ entered into Him when He was baptized and left again before He was crucified.
  • Gnosticism (Forerunner Commentary) :: Bible Tools 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC bibletools.org [Source type: Original source]

 ^ He says: "The Gospel...knew no other son of man but Him who was of Mary, who also suffered; and no Christ who flew away from Jesus before the passion; but Him who was born it knew as Jesus Christ the Son of God, and that this same suffered and rose again."25 .
  • The Gnostic Gospels 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.inplainsite.org [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

 .Among the Barbelognostics (Irenaeus 29.3), the Primal Man (Adamas, homo perfectos et verus) and Gnosis appear as a pair of aeons, occupying a prominent place in the whole series.^ Spirit called Pigera-Adamas, and he placed him over the first aeon (...
  • A GLOSSARY OF GNOSTIC TERMS A - F 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.gnosticq.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ From these follow Word and Life, and Man and Church, and eventually thirty Aeons are produced, pair by pair, male and female (compare Gen.
  • The School of Alexandria - Part I/Ch 4 - The Gnostics 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.copticchurch.net [Source type: Original source]

 ^ UNBEGOTTEN, SELF-BEGOTTEN AND BEGOTTEN - There are three types of beings in the Upper Aeons: ‘the unbegotten’, ‘the self-begotten’ and ‘the begotten’: “Jesus had not spoken to his disciples of the whole extent of the places of the great invisible one and [...
  • A GLOSSARY OF GNOSTIC TERMS A - F 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.gnosticq.com [Source type: Original source]

 .In the Valentinian systems the pair of aeons, Anthropos and Ekklesia, occupy the third or fourth place within the Oydods, but incidentally we learn that with some representatives of this school the Anthropos took a still more prominent place (first or second; Hilgenfeld, Ketzergeschichte, p.^ And the Valentinians maintain that those are the first projections which have taken place within the limit, and have been again denominated "those within the Pleroma;" and the second are "those without the Pleroma"; and the third, "those without the Limit."
  • Valentinus: The Gnostic Trinitarian Heretic 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.cogwriter.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ For if that first covenant had been faultless, then no place would have been sought for a second.
  • Gnosticism (Forerunner Commentary) :: Bible Tools 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC bibletools.org [Source type: Original source]

 ^ [NOTE: The first aeon = Set, the Lord of Material Fire; the second aeon = Isis, the Mother of Earth; the third aeon = Osiris, the Father of Water, the fourth aeon = Horus, the Son of Earth, Water, Air and Fire.
  • REVIEW: THE NATURE & HISTORY GNOSTICISM 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.gnostics.com [Source type: Original source]

 294 seq.). .And even in the Pistis-Sophia the Primal Man " Ieu " is frequently alluded to as the King of the Luminaries (cf.^ In the Gnostic text Pistis Sophia Jesus explains that when one attains this state, "though he be a man in the world, yet shall he be king with Me in My Kingdom.
  • http://www.iamm.com/man-cu.htm 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.iamm.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

 ^ In all the scripts of the French Gnostics Barbelos retains only sparse mention - even though recognition of Valentinus' authorship of "Pistis Sophia" is demanded.
  • Correct Gnosticism and the Ordo Templi Orientis 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC user.cyberlink.ch [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Even though any explicit libertinism is rejected in "Pistis Sophia", we find in the literature reports regarding Barbelites who are accused of "obscene rites".
  • Correct Gnosticism and the Ordo Templi Orientis 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC user.cyberlink.ch [Source type: Original source]

 index to C. Schmidt's translation). .We also meet with speculations of this kind about man in the circles of non-Christian Gnosis.^ In post Nicene, institutional Christianity, faith is the salvific force; in Gnosticism knowledge (gnosis is a Greek word for supradiscursive [non-propositional or non-representational] knowledge) is the soteric force.
  • http://www.jadaproductions.com/cormacmccarthy/getthread.asp?mydate=All&recordnumber=44788&threadnumber=9636&threadname=McCarthy%27s+Southern+Works&threadtopic=Gnosticism+in+Blood+Meridian&UserName=&UserPassword= 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.jadaproductions.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Non Mormon’s instead of bashing them… Encourage them… Mormon’s instead of being offensive… embrace them with the Godly love that your doctrine teaches you… Is that not what Christianity is all about???
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ The kind of gnosis written about within the thomasine texts are devoid of the strange cosmologies written by valentinians.
  • Yaldabaoth Saklas Samael or Jehovah's blind foolishness creates Order in YaHWHeY's MATHIMATIA=95=59 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC tonyb.freeyellow.com [Source type: Original source]

 .Thus in the Poimandres of Hermes man is the most prominent figure in the speculation; numerous pagan and half-pagan parallels (the " Gnostics " of Plotinus, Zosimus, Bitys) have been collected by Reitzenstein in his work Poimandres (pp.^ Gnostics hold that the potential for Gnosis, and thus, of salvation is present in every man and woman, and that salvation is not vicarious but individual.
  • Gnosticism 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.mcs.ca [Source type: Original source]

 ^ One of the gnostic icons (they liked making graven images too) was a figure with the body of a man and the head of a cock (No, not that kind).
  • http://www.jadaproductions.com/cormacmccarthy/getthread.asp?mydate=All&recordnumber=4144&threadnumber=736&threadname=McCarthy%27s+Western+Novels&threadtopic=%22Blood+Meridian%22+and+Gnosticism&UserName=&UserPassword= 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.jadaproductions.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ These distinctions are present, at least implicitly, in most forms of Gnosticism, but Christian Gnosticism adds to this with the Christ figure.
  • http://www.jadaproductions.com/cormacmccarthy/getthread.asp?mydate=All&recordnumber=4144&threadnumber=736&threadname=McCarthy%27s+Western+Novels&threadtopic=%22Blood+Meridian%22+and+Gnosticism&UserName=&UserPassword= 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.jadaproductions.com [Source type: Original source]

 81-116). Reitzenstein has shown (p. 81 seq.) that very probably the system of the .Naasseni described by Hippolytus was originally derived from purely pagan circles, which are probably connected in some way with the mysteries of the Attis cult.^ By Late Antiquity, some Gnostic and Neoplatonist thinkers had expanded this syncretic equation to include Aion, Adonis, Attis, Mithras and other gods of the mystery religions.
  • Marmalade - semi-random musings - Posts tagged by "". 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC my.opera.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Epiphanius acknowledges that all the heretical forms of Christianity were derived from the Pagan Mythology--that is, they were survivals of the original pre-historic Gnostic religion.
  • Gnostic and Historic Christianity 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.africawithin.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Of course, as with all counterfeit religious systems, there were some parallels with what these mystery cults advocated and with what the Scriptures tell us.
  • TNN Online: Theology News Network - Messianic Issues - The Effect of Mysticism and Gnosticism on the Messianic Movement 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.tnnonline.net [Source type: Original source]

 .The figure in the Mandaean system most closely corresponding to the Primal Man, though this figure also actually occurs in another part of the system (cf.^ Up until the time of Thomas Aquinas, though, most express little interest in the system.
  • Answering Gnosticism 23 September 2009 4:37 UTC thriceholy.net [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Another problem in most operating systems is that a user cannot install programs that have more authority than their caller.
  • GNOSIS: A Prototype Operating System for the 1990's 23 September 2009 4:37 UTC www.cis.upenn.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

 ^ I have been trying to figure out if mormonism actually teaches that man created God.
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

 the figure of Adakas Mana; Brandt, Mandaische Religion, p. 36 seq.) is that of Manda d'hayye (-yvWacs "wi s; cf. the pair of aeons, Adamas and Gnosis, among the Barbelognostics, in Irenaeus i. 29.3). .Finally, in the Manichaean system, as is well known, the Primal Man again assumes the predominant place (Baur, Manich.^ From this source came the AEons, and I known not what infinite forms, and the trinity of man in the system of Valentinus, who was of Plato's school.
  • Valentinus: The Gnostic Trinitarian Heretic 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.cogwriter.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ There is the well-known duality of God and man combined.
  • Marmalade - semi-random musings - Posts tagged by "". 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC my.opera.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ In the coming cycle, [Paul's] distorted teaching on death will assume its rightful place and be known as the disciplining urge to relinquishment and to the ending by death of the hold by matter over the soul...

 Religionssystem, 49 seq.).
.This figure of the Primal Man can particularly be compared with that of the Gnostic Sophia.^ One of the gnostic icons (they liked making graven images too) was a figure with the body of a man and the head of a cock (No, not that kind).
  • http://www.jadaproductions.com/cormacmccarthy/getthread.asp?mydate=All&recordnumber=4144&threadnumber=736&threadname=McCarthy%27s+Western+Novels&threadtopic=%22Blood+Meridian%22+and+Gnosticism&UserName=&UserPassword= 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.jadaproductions.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ In the Gnostic text Pistis Sophia Jesus explains that when one attains this state, "though he be a man in the world, yet shall he be king with Me in My Kingdom.
  • http://www.iamm.com/man-cu.htm 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.iamm.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

 ^ The central mythic figures of Sophia, Yaldabaoth, the archons and the Gnostic Christ redeemer also each find parallels with key figures in the film and function in similar ways.
  • The Philosophy of the Matrix 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC onwardoverland.com [Source type: Original source]

 .Wherever this figure has not become quite obscure, it represents that divine power which, whether simply owing to a fall, or as the hero who makes war on, and is partly vanquished by darkness, descends into the darkness of the material world, and with whose descent begins the great drama of the world's development.^ He heroically enters into conflict with the powers of darkness.
  • 99_12_03_Corbusier+Gnosticism 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC home.worldcom.ch [Source type: Original source]
  • 99_12_03_Corbusier+Gnosticism 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC home.worldcom.ch [Source type: Original source]

 ^ The saving drama is motivated by Barbelo's attempt to rescue her productive power of thought from the clutches of Sophia's ignorant offspring Yaldabaoth, who has captured it in the lower world by incarnating it into Adam, his counterfeit copy of Barbelo's male aspect.
  • 3fold 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC jdt.unl.edu [Source type: Original source]

 ^ The Gnostic/pagan worldview--that the material world that is made up of mere fragments of the splintered Oneness and that each and every individual fragment is divine--has its implications.
  • http://www.allwest.com/~jglange/Gnostics.html 23 September 2009 4:37 UTC www.allwest.com [Source type: Original source]

 .From this power are derived those portions of light existing and held prisoner in this lower world.^ And the enveloping power separated those that exist from those that do not exist.
  • A GLOSSARY OF GNOSTIC TERMS A - F 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.gnosticq.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Buddhist teaching allows that those who have been enlightened are endowed with magical powers, since they recognize the world as illusory and so can manipulate it at will.
  • The Philosophy of the Matrix 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC onwardoverland.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ For them Christ was The Logos, "The Word" who had shown the way to triumph and rule over the lower elemental powers of the world.
  • Gnostic Christianity and the Myth of Sophia 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.essene.com [Source type: Original source]

 .And as he has raised himself again out of the material world, or has been set free by higher powers, so shall also the members of the Primal Man, the portions of light still imprisoned in matter, be set free.^ But the Truth is in our guts, and the Gut-Truth shall set us free !
  • Astrology Articles, Politics, Poetry, Metaphysics, Essays, Starpath Visions 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.starpathvisions.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

 ^ The world is the product of a divine tragedy, a disharmony in the realm of God, a baleful destiny in which man is entangled and from which he must be set free.
  • REVIEW: THE NATURE & HISTORY GNOSTICISM 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.gnostics.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ "Primal Man" of Light falls and is shredded by demons, so .
  • House: Heresies in the Colossian Church: Pt. 1 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC faculty.gordon.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
.The question of the derivation of the myth of the Primal Man is still one of the unsolved problems of religious history.^ Neither was religious at all (one still isn’t) and it has never influenced their decisions on right and wrong.
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Religion has been the number one justification for murder and genocide in the whole history of man (ie.
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ One distorts American history beyond recognition in an age when students a need prompting to name the man who discovered America (Fraser & Neal, 2000, p.
  • Anton Karl Kozlovic : Religious Film Fears 4: Abandoning Orthodoxy, Paganisation and the Ascendancy of Post-Christian Culture - Quodlibet Journal 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.quodlibet.net [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

 .It is worthy of notice that according to the old Persian myth also, the development of the world begins with the slaying of the primal man Gayomart by Angra-Mainyu (Ahriman); further, that the Primal Man (" son of man "= man) also plays a part in Jewish apocalyptic literature (Daniel, Enoch, iv.^ Thus the development of the bisexual nature of the Son of Man into Mother and Son demoted the Son, the Autogenes Adam, one notch.
  • SETHIAN GNOSTICISM: 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC jdt.unl.edu [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Accordingly, the cosmology of these documents is a prelude to the myth of Sophia, the description of man's condition in the material world and the saving initiatives of the higher world in response to that condition.
  • 3fold 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC jdt.unl.edu [Source type: Original source]

 ^ But because man is forced, of necessity, to pursue his desires in a natural world of scarcity in which other men also live, conflict exists as a necessary part of mans existence.
  • Gnostic but not Rationalist 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.artsci.lsu.edu [Source type: Original source]

 .Ezra), whence this figure passes into the Gospels; and again, that the dogma of Christ's descent into hell is directly connected with this myth.^ I am certainly no expert on Gnosticism or Plato or any of that and I don't think the kid is a Christ figure, but for fun I'll throw this into the mix quoting liberally from Pagels' book "Gnostic Gospels," which seems to be a nice introduction to Gnostic thought for the uninitiated.
  • http://www.jadaproductions.com/cormacmccarthy/getthread.asp?mydate=All&recordnumber=44788&threadnumber=9636&threadname=McCarthy%27s+Southern+Works&threadtopic=Gnosticism+in+Blood+Meridian&UserName=&UserPassword= 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.jadaproductions.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: .
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Early on, Paul had to establish his credentials—that the gospel he preached did not have its source in any man, as Gnostic ideas do, but had come directly from Jesus Christ (verses 11-12).
  • Gnosticism (Forerunner Commentary) :: Bible Tools 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC bibletools.org [Source type: Original source]

 .But these parallels do not carry us much further.^ Of course, as with all counterfeit religious systems, there were some parallels with what these mystery cults advocated and with what the Scriptures tell us.
  • TNN Online: Theology News Network - Messianic Issues - The Effect of Mysticism and Gnosticism on the Messianic Movement 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.tnnonline.net [Source type: Original source]

 ^ What kind of days these were it is extremely difficult, or perhaps impossible for us to conceive, and how much more to say!"
  • Marmalade - semi-random musings - Posts tagged by "". 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC my.opera.com [Source type: Original source]

 Even the Persian myth is entirely obscure, and has hitherto defied interpretation. .It is certainly true that in some way an essential part in the formation of the myth has been played by the sun-god, who daily descends into darkness, to rise from it again victoriously.^ In addition, some Nag Hammadi texts are attributed to Valentinus, a man who almost became Pope, and whose rejection changed the church in significant ways.
  • Gnostic - Lulu.com 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.lulu.com [Source type: General]

 ^ Yet the gnostics are not grateful to their Creator, though they admit it was He who created them, or at least some portion of their frame: the clay prison-house into which the divine spark of the alien god has somehow migrated.
  • Answering Gnosticism 23 September 2009 4:37 UTC thriceholy.net [Source type: Original source]

 ^ There is a reason why God told Moses that His name "FOREVER" is "I am who I am", Exodus 3:14, some versions say "I am THAT I am", same thing).

 .But how to explain the combination of the figure of the sun-god with that of the Primal Man is an unsolved riddle.^ It is a framework from which to explain the nature of God, creation, good and evil, man, and the purpose of life.
  • Gnosticism (Forerunner Commentary) :: Bible Tools 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC bibletools.org [Source type: Original source]

 ^ More importantly, how do you know that the Bible is the infallible word of God and that all other paths to explaining the mysteries of life are in error?
  • Touchstone Magazine - Mere Comments: Egalitarian Gnosticism? 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC merecomments.typepad.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ I have been trying to figure out if mormonism actually teaches that man created God.
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

 .The meaning of this figure in the Gnostic speculations is, however, clear.^ However, when I speculated that Christianity (via Gnosticism) may be an independent tradition, then he felt like I had deceived him.
  • Marmalade - semi-random musings - Posts tagged by "". 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC my.opera.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ It is clear, however, that Gnostic Christianity flourished from at least the 2nd - 5th c.
  • The Philosophy of the Matrix 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC onwardoverland.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ However, as with many other aspects of early Gnosticism, the influence on Crowley is clear to anyone who is familiar with his work.
  • REVIEW: THE NATURE & HISTORY GNOSTICISM 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.gnostics.com [Source type: Original source]

 .It answers the question: how did the portions of light to be found in this lower world, among which certainly belong the souls of the Gnostics, enter into it?^ So, that is the short answer to the question of the definition of Gnosticism.
  • Marmalade - semi-random musings - Posts tagged by "". 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC my.opera.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ The Gospel of Philip also mentions the soul and spirit in the context of the Bridal Chamber, adding that light is a necessary component in the Bridal Chamber ritual: “It is from water and fire that the soul and the spirit came into being.
  • A GLOSSARY OF GNOSTIC TERMS A - F 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.gnosticq.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Though the gnostics sought to fit the Christian revelation into their existing world view, the Christians did not want to fit in.
  • Answering Gnosticism 23 September 2009 4:37 UTC thriceholy.net [Source type: Original source]
.A parallel myth to that of the Primal Man are the accounts to be found in most of the Gnostic systems of the creation of the first man.^ In the gnostic Apocryphon of John (long version), there exists an intricately detailed passage describing the creation of Adam, the first Man.
  • tb » Saving The Gnostic Body 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.timboucher.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ This is why many of the Sethian Gnostic texts parody the account of creation and Adam and Eve in Genesis.
  • http://www.jadaproductions.com/cormacmccarthy/getthread.asp?mydate=All&recordnumber=44788&threadnumber=9636&threadname=McCarthy%27s+Southern+Works&threadtopic=Gnosticism+in+Blood+Meridian&UserName=&UserPassword= 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.jadaproductions.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Hobbes, after all, is the creator of a system (that favorite pursuit of gnostic thinkers), and he goes so far as to suggest that this system can solve the problems of human nature.
  • Gnostic but not Rationalist 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.artsci.lsu.edu [Source type: Original source]

 .In all these accounts the idea is expressed that so far as his body is concerned man is the work of the angels who created the world.^ Though he be a man in the world, yet is he a man who is not of the world.
  • http://www.iamm.com/man-cu.htm 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.iamm.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

 ^ The angels who did not fight at all….
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ These design ideas will allow a small group to attack critical applications soon while at the same time creating the basis for a powerful and general system later.
  • GNOSIS: A Prototype Operating System for the 1990's 23 September 2009 4:37 UTC www.cis.upenn.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

 So e.g. Satornil relates (Irenaeus i. .24.1) that a brilliant vision appeared from above to the worldcreating angels; they were unable to hold it fast, but formed man after its image.^ One of the gnostic icons (they liked making graven images too) was a figure with the body of a man and the head of a cock (No, not that kind).
  • http://www.jadaproductions.com/cormacmccarthy/getthread.asp?mydate=All&recordnumber=4144&threadnumber=736&threadname=McCarthy%27s+Western+Novels&threadtopic=%22Blood+Meridian%22+and+Gnosticism&UserName=&UserPassword= 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.jadaproductions.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ We had (but) one form and we were both made as a single mana (spirit) Now, where there is no evenness (or: equality), they made you a man and me a woman.
  • REVIEW: THE NATURE & HISTORY GNOSTICISM 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.gnostics.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ The Galatians were weak enough in the faith that they could be easily deceived and drawn away if one of Satan's angels were to appear before them.
  • Gnosticism (Forerunner Commentary) :: Bible Tools 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC bibletools.org [Source type: Original source]

 .And as the man thus formed was unable to move, but could only crawl like a worm, the supreme Power put into him a spark of life, and man came into existence.^ If he wishes, he manifests whomever he wishes, by giving him form and giving him a name, and he gives a name to him, and brings it about that those come into existence.” (Gospel of Truth) - The One itself is called ‘the Father whose name cannot be uttered’ (Gospel of the Egyptians).
  • A GLOSSARY OF GNOSTIC TERMS A - F 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.gnosticq.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Docetists believed that the man Jesus was born, and that the pre-existing god Christ entered into Him when He was baptized and left again before He was crucified.
  • Gnosticism (Forerunner Commentary) :: Bible Tools 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC bibletools.org [Source type: Original source]

 ^ And then Corbu's many comments re: the Temple of Man came to mind (before this I had associated the phrase only with Jesus' phrase, the Son of Man).
  • 99_12_03_Corbusier+Gnosticism 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC home.worldcom.ch [Source type: Original source]
  • 99_12_03_Corbusier+Gnosticism 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC home.worldcom.ch [Source type: Original source]

 Imaginations of the same sort are also to be found, e.g. in the genuine fragments of Valentinus (Hilgenfeld, Ketzergeschichte, p. 2 93), the Gnostics of Irenaeus i. 30.6, the Mandaeans (Brandt, Religion der Mandder, p. 36), and the Manichaeans (Baur, Religionssystem, p. 118 seq.). The Naasseni (Hippolytus, Philosophumena, v. 7) expressly characterize the myth as Chaldean (cf. the passage from Zosimus, in Reitzenstein's Poimandres, p. 104). .Clearly then the question which the myth of the Primal Man is intended to answer in relation to the whole universe is answered in relation to the nature of man by this account of the coming into being of the first man, which may, moreover, have been influenced by the account in the Old Testament.^ This, then, is an example of coming into being before coming into being.
  • Gnosticism (Forerunner Commentary) :: Bible Tools 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC bibletools.org [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Now we come to the lifetime of Jesus and His disciples, about 1400 years after Moses began to write, and over 400 years since the last Old Testament Scripture had been recorded.
  • The Da Vinci Code, Gnosticism, Leonard Da Vinci, and the Bible 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC gospelway.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ But of course human beings have offered answers to this question: one is God; another, the laws of nature.
  • The Philosophy of the Matrix 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC onwardoverland.com [Source type: Original source]

 .That question is: how does it happen that in this inferior body of man, fallen a prey to corruption, there dwells a higher spark of the divine Being, or in other words, how are we to explain the double nature of man?^ Within each natural man is an "inner man," a fallen spark of the divine substance.
  • Gnosticism 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.mcs.ca [Source type: Original source]

 ^ In other words, Nature is a Good Thing.
  • REVIEW: THE NATURE & HISTORY GNOSTICISM 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.gnostics.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ That Divine Spark has to come from a higher plane.
  • Gnostic Christianity and the Myth of Sophia 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.essene.com [Source type: Original source]
.VI. Of all the fundamental ideas of Gnosticism of which we have so far treated, it can with some certainty be assumed that they were in existence before the rise of Christianity and the influence of Christian ideas on the development of Gnosticism.^ They are all gnostics which means a.
  • http://www.jadaproductions.com/cormacmccarthy/getthread.asp?mydate=All&recordnumber=4144&threadnumber=736&threadname=McCarthy%27s+Western+Novels&threadtopic=%22Blood+Meridian%22+and+Gnosticism&UserName=&UserPassword= 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.jadaproductions.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Mani was heavily influenced by Gnostic Christianity-calling himself a "disciple of Christ" and the Paraclete", or biblical healer.

 ^ ENNOIA AS PRONOIA AND PROTONOIA - The Gnostic texts emphasize that all the beings which came to exist in the Upper Aeons were ‘first’ and so they ‘pre-exist’.
  • A GLOSSARY OF GNOSTIC TERMS A - F 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.gnosticq.com [Source type: Original source]

 .The main question with which we have now to deal is that of whether the dominant figure of the Saviour (l w-rlip) in Gnosticism is of specifically Christian derivation, or whether this can also be explained apart from the assumption of Christian influence.^ The question is whether Christians are Mormon.
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Mani was heavily influenced by Gnostic Christianity-calling himself a "disciple of Christ" and the Paraclete", or biblical healer.

 ^ There were Jewish gnostics before there were Christian gnostics but the emergence of gnosticism was the result of the influence of Greek philosophy and could not have been formed until about 500 BC at the earliest.
  • Gnosticism, Sumer, Henotheism & Satan as YHWH? | 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC profoundprophecy.com [Source type: Original source]

 .And here it must be premised that, intimately as the conception of salvation is bound up with the Gnostic religion, the idea of salvation accomplished in a definite historical moment to a certain extent remained foreign to it.^ Epiphanius acknowledges that all the heretical forms of Christianity were derived from the Pagan Mythology--that is, they were survivals of the original pre-historic Gnostic religion.
  • Gnostic and Historic Christianity 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.africawithin.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Here, we must remember that a key characteristic of Gnosticism is the syndrome of the secret 136 or what Barthes calls the age-old struggle between a secret and an utterance.
  • IJBS 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.ubishops.ca [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Gnosticism combined ideas from Greek philosophy, oriental mysticism, and Christianity—a classic example of syncretism , combining elements of different religions.
  • Gnosticism (Forerunner Commentary) :: Bible Tools 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC bibletools.org [Source type: Original source]

 .Indeed, nearly all the Christian Gnostic systems clearly exhibit the great difficulty with which they had to contend in order to reconcile the idea of an historical redeemer, actually occurring in the form of a definite person, with their conceptions of salvation.^ They are all gnostics which means a.
  • http://www.jadaproductions.com/cormacmccarthy/getthread.asp?mydate=All&recordnumber=4144&threadnumber=736&threadname=McCarthy%27s+Western+Novels&threadtopic=%22Blood+Meridian%22+and+Gnosticism&UserName=&UserPassword= 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.jadaproductions.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ All of these forms of Gnosticism we are discussing are Christian forms, although not all forms of Gnosticism are Christian.
  • http://www.jadaproductions.com/cormacmccarthy/getthread.asp?mydate=All&recordnumber=44788&threadnumber=9636&threadname=McCarthy%27s+Southern+Works&threadtopic=Gnosticism+in+Blood+Meridian&UserName=&UserPassword= 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.jadaproductions.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ His witness is, indeed, all the more impressive because he produces it quite incidentally while refuting the Gnostic and Docetic rejection of the Lords real humanity" (ibid., 19798).
  • Eucharist... actual body and blood? 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC forums.ccmmagazine.com [Source type: Original source]

 .In Gnosticism salvation always lies at the root of all existence and all history.^ If Christopher had done as I told Lizzy and read the post I did on the history of Gnosticism, he would also have read that I agree with Voegelin against making utopias — the problem is that his methodology is GNOSTIC -which is the irony of it all.
  • Eschaton Si, Immanent No! « The American Catholic 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC the-american-catholic.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ But some Gnostics seemed less dualistic than the Catholics and I don’t sense that all Gnostics hated earthly existence, not any more than Christianity in general.
  • Marmalade - semi-random musings - Posts tagged by "". 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC my.opera.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Gnostics , in general, believed that the purpose of human existence was to return to the spiritual realm from whence all originated.
  • Gnosticism (Forerunner Commentary) :: Bible Tools 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC bibletools.org [Source type: Original source]

 The fundamental conception varies greatly. .At one time the Primal Man, who sank down into matter, has freed himself and risen out of it again, and like him his members will rise out of darkness into the light (Poimandres); at another time the Primal Man who was conquered by the powers of darkness has been saved by the powers of light, and thus too all his race will be saved (Manichaeism); at another time the fallen Sophia is purified by her passions and sorrows and has found her Syzygos, the Soter, and wedded him, and thus all the souls of the Gnostics who still languish in matter will become the brides of the angels of the Soter (Valentinus).^ I do not judge another persons soul, I judge the ones who judge.
  • United Communities of Spirit 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC origin.org [Source type: Original source]

 ^ I can't be the light all the time.
  • Political Crossfire Forums :: View topic - Did Jesus claim to be God? 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.politicalcrossfire.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.

 .In fact salvation, as conceived in Gnosticism, is always a myth, a history of bygone events, an allegory or figure, but not an historical event.^ But, be that as it may, Gnostic "Christianity" enables one to enjoy the myth of the resurrection with out endorsing its historicity.
  • The Da Vinci Opportunity: How the Da Vinci Code Can Be Helpful 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.markdroberts.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

 ^ From beginning to end the ascertainable facts are astronomical, and interpretable solely by means of the Gnostic explanation of the Egyptian Mythos, which always denied, because it disproved, the alleged human history.
  • Gnostic and Historic Christianity 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.africawithin.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Historic Christianity originated with turning the Gnostic and Esoteric teachings inside out and externalising the mythical allegory in a personal human history.
  • Gnostic and Historic Christianity 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.africawithin.com [Source type: Original source]

 .And this decision is not affected by the fact that in certain Gnostic sects figured historical personages such as Simon Magus and Menander.^ It is a historical fact that gnosticism developed after Alexander conquered most of the known world.
  • Gnosticism, Sumer, Henotheism & Satan as YHWH? | 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC profoundprophecy.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ And as the Gnostic sects and brotherhoods gave up the ghost, Historic Christianity assumed their glory.
  • Gnostic and Historic Christianity 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.africawithin.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ And Valentinus was one of the many others who spread gnosticism after Simon Magus apparently originated it.
  • Valentinus: The Gnostic Trinitarian Heretic 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.cogwriter.com [Source type: Original source]

 .The Gnostic ideas of salvation were in the later schools and sects transferred to these persons whom we must consider as rather obscure charlatans and miracle-mongers, just as in other cases they were transferred to the person of Christ.^ The Jewish sects of what is now northern Syria provided the foundation for Gnostic ideas.
  • Gnosticism 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.mcs.ca [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Nonetheless, it appertains to the intuition and wisdom of every individual "Gnostic" to distill from these principles individual guidelines for their personal application.
  • Gnosticism 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.mcs.ca [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Like any other religious zealots, they’re all just brainwash victims.
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

 The " Helena " of the Simonian system was certainly not an historical but a mythical figure. .This explains the laborious and artificial way in which the person of Jesus is connected in many Gnostic systems with the original Gnostic conception of redemption.^ Historic Christianity originated with turning the Gnostic and Esoteric teachings inside out and externalising the mythical allegory in a personal human history.
  • Gnostic and Historic Christianity 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.africawithin.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ The so-called "Gnostic gospels" aren't really gospels at all, but rather collections of esoteric sayings and discourses attributed to the Savior, who is sometimes connected to Jesus.
  • The Da Vinci Opportunity: How the Da Vinci Code Can Be Helpful 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.markdroberts.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

 ^ Although Thomas does not articulate every aspect of a full-blown Gnostic system, some of the teachings attributed to Jesus fit the Gnostic pattern.
  • The Gnostic Gospels 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.inplainsite.org [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

 In this patchwork the joins are everywhere still clearly to be recognized. .Thus, e.g. in the Valentinian system, the myth of the fallen Sophia and the Soter, of their ultimate union, their marriage and their 70 sons (Irenaeus i.^ When there is spoken in the Evangelium Pistis Sophia of the "male" help of Jesus for the "female" Object Pistis Sophia, then is meant the union of the soul with the spirit, the alchemical marriage of bride and groom.
  • Correct Gnosticism and the Ordo Templi Orientis 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC user.cyberlink.ch [Source type: Original source]

 ^ (First Apocalypse of James) - In the Valentinian system described by Ptolemy, Sophia suffered because she attempted to know the entirety of the Father.
  • A GLOSSARY OF GNOSTIC TERMS A - F 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.gnosticq.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ This marriage has brought them back together again...” (Exegesis of the Soul) - Through union (or intercourse) with Christ, the soul receives a seed or spirit: “Thus when the soul had adorned herself again in her beauty [...
  • A GLOSSARY OF GNOSTIC TERMS A - F 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.gnosticq.com [Source type: Original source]

 4.5; Hippolytus, Philos. vi. 34), has absolutely nothing to do with the Christian conceptions of salvation. .The subject is here that of a high goddess of heaven (she has 70 sons) whose friend and lover finds her in the misery of deepest degradation, frees her, and bears her home as his bride.^ This was a ceremony in which the bridegroom accompanied by his friends would go to the house of the bride and escort her to his home.

 ^ The Shekhinah is often portrayed as a bride or princess whose male lover is the composite of the nine upper sefirot, represented by the prince/ bridegroom Tiferet...

 .To this myth the idea of salvation through the earthly Christ can only be attached with difficulty.^ It narrates the descent of the light spark and Christ through Setheus, bearing a salvation which seems to be effected by the baptismal rite already discussed.
  • SETHIAN GNOSTICISM: 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC jdt.unl.edu [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Only one God who we worship and who makes our salvation possible through Jesus.
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Only through Christ can you be cleansed of your sins.
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

 .And it was openly maintained that the Soter only existed for the Gnostic, the Saviour Jesus who appeared on earth only for the " Psychicus " (Irenaeus i.^ Claimed Jesus only appeared to be a man.
  • Valentinus: The Gnostic Trinitarian Heretic 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.cogwriter.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ The descriptions of Jesus rituals and healings in the Gnostic gospels reveal that he was also likely an initiate of one or more of the Mystery Schools which existed in the ancient World (more on this to follow).
  • http://www.iamm.com/man-cu.htm 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.iamm.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

 ^ THE SON AS AUTOGENES, SELF-BEGOTTEN, ONLY-BEGOTTEN, FIRST-BEGOTTEN - Although the One is referred to above as ‘self-begotten’, usually the term Autogenes describes the Son (who is either the Word, the saviour Seth or the Christ).
  • A GLOSSARY OF GNOSTIC TERMS A - F 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.gnosticq.com [Source type: Original source]

 6. i).
.VII. Thus the essential part of most of the conceptions of what we call Gnosticism was already in existence and fully developed before the rise of Christianity.^ That was already the common property of the Gnostics, whether called Pagans or Christians.
  • Gnostic and Historic Christianity 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.africawithin.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Mani was heavily influenced by Gnostic Christianity-calling himself a "disciple of Christ" and the Paraclete", or biblical healer.

 ^ Because a group of Christians call another group gnostics is no means for the beginning of anything but is a perfect example of the pot calling the kettle black.
  • Gnosticism, Sumer, Henotheism & Satan as YHWH? | 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC profoundprophecy.com [Source type: Original source]

 .But the fundamental ideas of Gnosticism and of early Christianity had a kind of magnetic attraction for each other.^ I am familiar with lots of other kinds of ideas.
  • tb » Saving The Gnostic Body 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.timboucher.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ It has been noted that Ambrose's theology was significantly influenced by that of Origen and Didymus the Blind, two other early Christian universalists.
  • Marmalade - semi-random musings - Posts tagged by "". 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC my.opera.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Bricaud and Chevillon had early given their gnostic churches a Christian basis, however heretical it might seem.
  • Ecclesia Gnostica Catholica : Gnostic Catholic Church 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC user.cyberlink.ch [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

 .What drew these two forces together was the energy exerted by the universal idea of salvation in both systems.^ How do we get these two guys together?
  • GNOSIS: A Prototype Operating System for the 1990's 23 September 2009 4:37 UTC www.cis.upenn.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

 ^ These design ideas will allow a small group to attack critical applications soon while at the same time creating the basis for a powerful and general system later.
  • GNOSIS: A Prototype Operating System for the 1990's 23 September 2009 4:37 UTC www.cis.upenn.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

 ^ Yet it is in reality both old and useless, since these very opinions have been sewed together out of ancient dogmas redolent of ignorance and irreligion.
  • Valentinus: The Gnostic Trinitarian Heretic 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.cogwriter.com [Source type: Original source]

 .Christian Gnosticism actually introduced only one new figure into the already existing Gnostic theories, namely that of the historical Saviour Jesus Christ.^ The Christ within is the only saviour!
  • Gnostic and Historic Christianity 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.africawithin.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ The Gnostic Christ was the real founder of Christianity!
  • Gnostic and Historic Christianity 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.africawithin.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ All Christians believe in Jesus Christ, but not all Gnostics do.
  • Marmalade - semi-random musings - Posts tagged by "". 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC my.opera.com [Source type: Original source]

 .This figure afforded, as it were, a new point of crystallization for the existing Gnostic ideas, which now grouped themselves round this point in all their manifold diversity.^ The Jewish sects of what is now northern Syria provided the foundation for Gnostic ideas.
  • Gnosticism 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.mcs.ca [Source type: Original source]

 ^ ENNOIA AS PRONOIA AND PROTONOIA - The Gnostic texts emphasize that all the beings which came to exist in the Upper Aeons were ‘first’ and so they ‘pre-exist’.
  • A GLOSSARY OF GNOSTIC TERMS A - F 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.gnosticq.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Then the liberated Old Ones would teach them new ways to shout and kill and revel and enjoy themselves, and all earth would flame with a holocaust of ecstacy and freedom."
  • What is the relationship between Dr. John Dee and the Necronomicon? 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.digital-brilliance.com [Source type: Original source]

 .Thus there came into the fluctuating mass a strong movement and formative impulse, and the individual systems and sects sprang up like mushrooms from this soil.^ When we looked at these kinds of business opportunities and tried to isolate the underlying weaknesses in our current systems we came up with the following list of problem areas.
  • GNOSIS: A Prototype Operating System for the 1990's 23 September 2009 4:37 UTC www.cis.upenn.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

 ^ How do entheogens like mushrooms play into the ancient religions of Europe?
  • PodOmatic | Podcast - Gnostic Media - Jan Irvin 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC gnosticmedia.podomatic.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

 ^ If there is no better way, I suppose I could break up my illustrated > > comments into individual messages, one or two graphics plus text with > > each message?
  • 99_12_03_Corbusier+Gnosticism 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC home.worldcom.ch [Source type: Original source]
  • 99_12_03_Corbusier+Gnosticism 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC home.worldcom.ch [Source type: Original source]
.It must now be our task to make plain the position of Gnosti cism within the Christian religion, and its significance for the development of the latter.^ "The infiltration and control of the Christian religion has been one of the easiest tasks of the Illuminati."

 ^ Just because I made a bad decision in the past doesn’t mean the decision I must make right now is bad.
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ His half native offspring (dark skinned as a punishment for the Lost Tribes sins), have now filled all of the positions of power in our new hiphop culture.
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

 .Above all the Gnostics represented and developed the distinctly anti-Jewish tendency in Christianity.^ Gnostic tendencies, and his essay develops the .
  • House: Heresies in the Colossian Church: Pt. 1 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC faculty.gordon.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

 ^ When Christianity was born the jewish gnostics who embraced Christ just added Christ to their gnosticism.
  • Gnosticism, Sumer, Henotheism & Satan as YHWH? | 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC profoundprophecy.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ There were Jewish gnostics before there were Christian gnostics but the emergence of gnosticism was the result of the influence of Greek philosophy and could not have been formed until about 500 BC at the earliest.
  • Gnosticism, Sumer, Henotheism & Satan as YHWH? | 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC profoundprophecy.com [Source type: Original source]

 .Paul was the apostle whom they reverenced, and his spiritual influence on them is quite unmistakable.^ The people of the area were so astonished at this miracle that they supposed Barnabas and Paul, whom they called Zeus and Hermes (verse 12), to be pagan gods!
  • Gnosticism (Forerunner Commentary) :: Bible Tools 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC bibletools.org [Source type: Original source]

 ^ It was for this reason that the Apostle Paul denounced those influencing the Galatians as not keeping the Torah.
  • TNN Online: Theology News Network - Messianic Issues - The Effect of Mysticism and Gnosticism on the Messianic Movement 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.tnnonline.net [Source type: Original source]

 ^ These verses are often interpreted as meaning that the Apostle Paul is deathly afraid for the Galatian Believers, because they were keeping the appointed times of Leviticus 23.
  • TNN Online: Theology News Network - Messianic Issues - The Effect of Mysticism and Gnosticism on the Messianic Movement 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.tnnonline.net [Source type: Original source]

 .The Gnostic Marcion has been rightly characterized as a direct disciple of Paul.^ The Jesus of Marcion like the Jesus of Esdras, of Paul, and other Gnostics, is no Jesus of Nazareth.
  • Gnostic and Historic Christianity 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.africawithin.com [Source type: Original source]

 .Paul's battle against the law and the narrow national conception of Christianity found a willing following in a movement, the syncretic origin of which directed it towards a universal religion.^ His use of repeated actors for different characters seems to hint at an eastern religion concept of one universal identity.

 ^ A true christian is someone who works toward behaving in accordance with and follow the teaching of Jesus Christ.
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Some use Pauls words in Colossians 2 as a treatise against the Torah and against keeping the appointed times and dietary laws.
  • TNN Online: Theology News Network - Messianic Issues - The Effect of Mysticism and Gnosticism on the Messianic Movement 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.tnnonline.net [Source type: Original source]

 .St Paul's ideas were here developed to their extremest consequences, and in an entirely one-sided fashion such as was far from being in his intention.^ Marsanes X,1:4,24 5,5), one learns that Marsanes has not only come to know the intelligible world, but also that "the sense perceptible world is [worthy] of being saved entirely" (X,1:5,22 26), an idea quite in line with Allogenes as well.
  • SETHIAN GNOSTICISM: 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC jdt.unl.edu [Source type: Original source]

 ^ The gnostic writers were aware the God who spoke through Isaiah counted only One such being, Himself...and they chuckled at His folly: .
  • Answering Gnosticism 23 September 2009 4:37 UTC thriceholy.net [Source type: Original source]

 ^ One of my next big written projects here will be to connect all of this to circus symbolism, and sort of the forgotten Western traditions of developing proprioceptive awareness.
  • tb » Saving The Gnostic Body 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.timboucher.com [Source type: Original source]

 .In nearly all the Gnostic systems the doctrine of the seven world-creating spirits is given an anti-Jewish tendency, the god of the Jews and of the Old Testament appearing as the highest of the seven.^ I believe that God is personal and that God created the world.
  • United Communities of Spirit 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC origin.org [Source type: Original source]
  • United Communities of Spirit 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.origin.org [Source type: Original source]

 ^ He is not the personal agent of the creator-god revealed in the Old Testament.
  • The Gnostic Gospels 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.inplainsite.org [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

 ^ Galatians 1:4 ( Go to this verse :: Verse pop-up ) Much of the controversy involved in this letter has to do with Gnostic Judaism, which was not the system that God gave to Moses.
  • Gnosticism (Forerunner Commentary) :: Bible Tools 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC bibletools.org [Source type: Original source]

 .The demiurge of the Valentinians always clearly bears the features of the Old Testament creator-God.^ He is not the personal agent of the creator-god revealed in the Old Testament.
  • The Gnostic Gospels 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.inplainsite.org [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

 ^ Judaism, though it was a very poor interpretation of God's Word, did at least have some basis in the Old Testament.
  • Gnosticism (Forerunner Commentary) :: Bible Tools 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC bibletools.org [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Insisting that Paul taught that the Old Testament law was "done away" ( Colossians 2:14 ), they conclude that Christians should not keep the days that God had commanded Israel to keep.
  • Gnosticism (Forerunner Commentary) :: Bible Tools 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC bibletools.org [Source type: Original source]
.The Old Testament was absolutely rejected by most of the Gnostics.^ The Supreme God of Gnostics, called "the first principle" or "Ultimate Reality," is not the Creator God of the Old Testament.
  • The Da Vinci Code, Gnosticism, Leonard Da Vinci, and the Bible 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC gospelway.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Anything else is a rejection of the incarnation, anything else which tries to establish an absolute duality between the immanent and transcendent is what really qualifies as gnostic!
  • Eschaton Si, Immanent No! « The American Catholic 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC the-american-catholic.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ In fact, many Gnostic documents invert the meaning of Old Testament stories in order to ridicule him.
  • The Gnostic Gospels 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.inplainsite.org [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

 .Even the so-called Judaeo-Christian Gnostics (Cerinthus), the Ebionite (Essenian) sect of the PseudoClementine writings (the Elkesaites), take up an inconsistent attitude towards Jewish antiquity and the Old Testament.^ Some have called it Jewish Gnosticism, but that is .
  • House: Heresies in the Colossian Church: Pt. 1 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC faculty.gordon.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

 ^ Mani was heavily influenced by Gnostic Christianity-calling himself a "disciple of Christ" and the Paraclete", or biblical healer.

 ^ When Christianity was born the jewish gnostics who embraced Christ just added Christ to their gnosticism.
  • Gnosticism, Sumer, Henotheism & Satan as YHWH? | 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC profoundprophecy.com [Source type: Original source]

 In this repect the opposition to Gnosticism led to a reactionary movement. .If the growing Christian Church, in quite a different fashion from Paul, laid stress on the literal authority of the Old Testament, interpreted, it is true, allegorically; if it took up a much more friendly and definite attitude towards the Old Testament, and gave wider scope to the legal conception of religion, this must be in part ascribed to the involuntary reaction upon it of Gnosticism.^ To be part of the Bible, the true authority in religion, a writing must have been directly inspired by God.
  • The Da Vinci Code, Gnosticism, Leonard Da Vinci, and the Bible 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC gospelway.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ So, using this more broad definition, Gnostics preceded Christianity.
  • Marmalade - semi-random musings - Posts tagged by "". 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC my.opera.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Well since parts of mormonism agree to parts of christianity, it must be true!
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]
.The attitude of Gnosticism to the Old Testament and to the creator-god proclaimed in it had its deeper roots, as we have already seen, in the dualism by which it was dominated.^ He is not the personal agent of the creator-god revealed in the Old Testament.
  • The Gnostic Gospels 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.inplainsite.org [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

 ^ The Old Testament demonstrates God's preservation of His word.
  • The Da Vinci Code, Gnosticism, Leonard Da Vinci, and the Bible 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC gospelway.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Some contend that these observances refer to God's Sabbath and holy days commanded in the Old Testament.
  • Gnosticism (Forerunner Commentary) :: Bible Tools 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC bibletools.org [Source type: Original source]

 .With this dualism and the recognition of the worthlessness and absolutely vicious nature of the material world is combined a decided spiritualism.^ For (philosophy) it is which is the material of the world's wisdom, the rash interpreter of the nature and the dispensation of God.
  • Valentinus: The Gnostic Trinitarian Heretic 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.cogwriter.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Since your spiritual nature was hidden from you by having been thrown into the world, it is through world-denial that you can best discover this spiritual nature.
  • http://www.jadaproductions.com/cormacmccarthy/getthread.asp?mydate=All&recordnumber=4144&threadnumber=736&threadname=McCarthy%27s+Western+Novels&threadtopic=%22Blood+Meridian%22+and+Gnosticism&UserName=&UserPassword= 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.jadaproductions.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ The soul while not material was, like the body, apart of the world and the two act together to conceal the spiritual element from man's awareness.
  • http://www.jadaproductions.com/cormacmccarthy/getthread.asp?mydate=All&recordnumber=4144&threadnumber=736&threadname=McCarthy%27s+Western+Novels&threadtopic=%22Blood+Meridian%22+and+Gnosticism&UserName=&UserPassword= 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.jadaproductions.com [Source type: Original source]

 .The conception of a resurrection of the body, of a further existence for the body after death, was unattainable by almost all of the Gnostics, with the possible exception of a few Gnostic sects dominated by Judaeo-Christian tendencies.^ Almost ALL the non-Christian Gnostic figures are PRE-Christian Gnostic figures.
  • Yaldabaoth Saklas Samael or Jehovah's blind foolishness creates Order in YaHWHeY's MATHIMATIA=95=59 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC tonyb.freeyellow.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Augustine was converted to Christianity out of the Gnostic sect Manicheanism.
  • Marmalade - semi-random musings - Posts tagged by "". 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC my.opera.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Epiphanius acknowledges that all the heretical forms of Christianity were derived from the Pagan Mythology--that is, they were survivals of the original pre-historic Gnostic religion.
  • Gnostic and Historic Christianity 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.africawithin.com [Source type: Original source]

 .With the dualistic philosophy is further connected an attitude of absolute indifference towards this lower and material world, and the practice of asceticism.^ Many Gnostics had an ascetic attitude towards the material world and the body.
  • Marmalade - semi-random musings - Posts tagged by "". 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC my.opera.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ This development called "individuation" by Jung is characterized by increasing self-unification, stability and the ability for mental abstraction and asceticism, a definite movement away from the horizontal world of materiality toward stability and solitariness, uprightness and vertically oriented hierarchy.
  • http://www.jadaproductions.com/cormacmccarthy/getthread.asp?mydate=All&recordnumber=44788&threadnumber=9636&threadname=McCarthy%27s+Southern+Works&threadtopic=Gnosticism+in+Blood+Meridian&UserName=&UserPassword= 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.jadaproductions.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ (In this connection, it would be fruitful to refer to Hegel's analysis of the French Revolution's "Reign of Terror" as the inevitable consequence of the Enlightenment political philosophy of absolute individual autonomy.
  • http://www.jadaproductions.com/cormacmccarthy/getthread.asp?mydate=All&recordnumber=44788&threadnumber=9636&threadname=McCarthy%27s+Southern+Works&threadtopic=Gnosticism+in+Blood+Meridian&UserName=&UserPassword= 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.jadaproductions.com [Source type: Original source]

 .Marriage and sexual propagation are considered either as absolute Evil or as altogether worthless, and carnal pleasure is frequently looked upon as forbidden.^ Because they considered matter, including physical bodies, to be fundamentally evil, it's likely that most Gnostics were also ascetics (denying bodily pleasures).
  • The Da Vinci Opportunity: How the Da Vinci Code Can Be Helpful 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.markdroberts.com [Source type: General]

 Then again asceticism sometimes changes into wild libertinism. .Here again Gnosticism has exercised an influence on the development of the Church by way of contrast and opposition.^ Colossian church was influenced by Gnostic .
  • House: Heresies in the Colossian Church: Pt. 1 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC faculty.gordon.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

 ^ Furthermore, the norms of the Church as passed down through Peter were certainly not tainted by gnostic influence.
  • Political Crossfire Forums :: View topic - Did Jesus claim to be God? 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.politicalcrossfire.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Acts 8:9-13 ( Go to this verse :: Verse pop-up ) Here is the earliest indication of Gnosticism as a religion—or at least a philosophy, a way of life that eventually became a religion—having an impact on the Christian church.
  • Gnosticism (Forerunner Commentary) :: Bible Tools 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC bibletools.org [Source type: Original source]

 .If here a return was made to the old material view of the resurrection (the apostolic avaaraacs -rijs vapKOS), entirely abandoning the more spiritual conception which had been arrived at as a compromise by Paul, this is probably the result of a reaction from the views of Gnosticism.^ Galatians 4:9-10 ( Go to this verse :: Verse pop-up ) The common, traditional explanation of Galatians 4:9-10 is that Paul is reprimanding the Galatians for returning to Old Testament observances that were a form of "bondage."
  • Gnosticism (Forerunner Commentary) :: Bible Tools 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC bibletools.org [Source type: Original source]

 ^ He returns triumphant to his father's kingdom, throwing off the old clothes of the lower, material personality and reclaiming his rightful heritage, the princely Vesture, or spiritual body.
  • Gnostic Christianity and the Myth of Sophia 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.essene.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Here, we must remember that a key characteristic of Gnosticism is the syndrome of the secret 136 or what Barthes calls the age-old struggle between a secret and an utterance.
  • IJBS 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.ubishops.ca [Source type: Original source]

 .It was just at this point, too, that Gnosticism started a development which was followed later by the Catholic Church.^ You can define Gnostics narrowly enough so that the term becomes limited to a set of groups starting in the second century, but that is just a definition of convvenience.
  • Marmalade - semi-random musings - Posts tagged by "". 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC my.opera.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ "Bishops from affiliated or distant branches of the Gnostic Catholic Church with or without an historical connection with the OTO may affiliate with the OTO upon mutual recognition (9.04.B)."
  • Ecclesia Gnostica Catholica : Gnostic Catholic Church 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC user.cyberlink.ch [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

 ^ My last point had to do with the tendency of scholarship to describe the conflict between Gnosticism and orthodox Christianity as a power struggle between the victims (Gnostics) and the oppressors (The Roman Catholic Church, in league with the Roman Empire).
  • The Da Vinci Opportunity: How the Da Vinci Code Can Be Helpful 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.markdroberts.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

 .In spite of the rejection of the ascetic attitude of the Gnostics, as a blasphemy against the Creator, a part of this ascetic principle became at a later date dominant throughout all Christendom.^ Ultimately ALL rebels against the creator are gnostics.
  • Gnosticism, Sumer, Henotheism & Satan as YHWH? | 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC profoundprophecy.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Christian beliefs that later became the Gnosticism .
  • House: Heresies in the Colossian Church: Pt. 1 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC faculty.gordon.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

 ^ His witness is, indeed, all the more impressive because he produces it quite incidentally while refuting the Gnostic and Docetic rejection of the Lords real humanity" (ibid., 19798).
  • Eucharist... actual body and blood? 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC forums.ccmmagazine.com [Source type: Original source]

 .And it is interesting to observe how, e.g., St Augustine, though desperately combating the dualism of the Manichaeans, yet afterwards introduced a number of dualistic ideas into Christianity, which are distinguishable from those of Manichaeism only by a very keen eye, and even then with difficulty.^ Only later Christian consciousness began to value the idea of hell more than the idea of the transfiguration and divinization of the world...

 ^ Gematria has not only been used by those practicing mysticism, but also by those trying to use numbers in the Bible to predict the future.
  • TNN Online: Theology News Network - Messianic Issues - The Effect of Mysticism and Gnosticism on the Messianic Movement 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.tnnonline.net [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Your words were very profound to me, and I sense you believe in a soul, and perhaps a soul that stays near us after death...even if its only a few days.
.The Gnostic religion also anticipated other tendencies.^ By Late Antiquity, some Gnostic and Neoplatonist thinkers had expanded this syncretic equation to include Aion, Adonis, Attis, Mithras and other gods of the mystery religions.
  • Marmalade - semi-random musings - Posts tagged by "". 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC my.opera.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Gnosticism (aka mysticism) is Satanism synthesized with other religions, including Christianity and Judaism.

 ^ Also, the Shi’ites had many converts from other religions including Manichaeanism along with Christianity and Gnosticism.
  • Marmalade - semi-random musings - Posts tagged by "". 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC my.opera.com [Source type: Original source]

 .As we have seen, it is above all things a religion of sacraments and mysteries.^ Maybe religion is a good thing after all.
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ One of the things that we had talked about when we first had the idea of The Matrix was an idea that I believe philosophy and religion and mathematics all try to answer.
  • The Philosophy of the Matrix 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC onwardoverland.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ For in these days the morning and evening are counted, until, on the sixth day, all things which God then made were finished, and on the seventh the rest of God was mysteriously and sublimely signalized.
  • Marmalade - semi-random musings - Posts tagged by "". 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC my.opera.com [Source type: Original source]

 .Through its syncretic origin Gnosticism introduced for the first time into Christianity a whole mass of sacramental, mystical ideas, which had hitherto existed in it only in its earliest phases.^ Gnosticism is the modern term used to refer to a religious and philosophical movement that originated in the first or second century A.D., that was especially strong in the second and third centuries A.D. and that was considered heretical by the majority of Christians at that time as well as the majority of pagan bearers of the Platonic philosophical traditions (i.e., Neo-Platonists).
  • The Da Vinci Opportunity: How the Da Vinci Code Can Be Helpful 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.markdroberts.com [Source type: General]

 ^ However, they fall into the popular trap of saying that there were numerous Christianities right from the beginning, suggesting that Gnosticism might even have been earliest, with orthodox Christianity only later emerging.” Yes, this is speculative because so little survived from the first century, but there is support for it.
  • Marmalade - semi-random musings - Posts tagged by "". 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC my.opera.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ They could only be the same in the time of Eusebius by the non-historical having been falsely converted into the 85 historical.
  • Gnostic and Historic Christianity 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.africawithin.com [Source type: Original source]

 .But in the long run even genuine Christianity has been unable to free itself from the magic of the sacraments; and the Eastern Church especially has taken the same direction as Gnosticism.^ Thus, even among the diverse and disorganized diaspora of Protestantism a simple respect for Biblical authority will reveal a consistent Christian position proclaimed by the "church" howeverit is identified.
  • Touchstone Magazine - Mere Comments: Egalitarian Gnosticism? 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC merecomments.typepad.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ In the earlier centuries of Christianity, Epiphany was considered to be more important than Christmas, even by the so-called orthodox church.

 ^ In his discussion of Gnostic texts which dealt with the anointing rite, the Church Father Irenaeus (130-200 AD), accused the Gnostics of initiating with "secret sacraments."
  • http://www.iamm.com/man-cu.htm 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.iamm.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

 .Gnosticism was also the pioneer of the Christian Church in the strong emphasis laid on the idea of salvation in religion.^ Does gnostic Christianity, with its belief in a personal path to enlightenment, bear similarities to eastern religions?
  • Gnosticism 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.mcs.ca [Source type: Original source]

 ^ To be serious, I actually do feel drawn to Christianity, specifically certain Gnostic ideas.
  • Marmalade - semi-random musings - Posts tagged by "". 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC my.opera.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Epiphanius acknowledges that all the heretical forms of Christianity were derived from the Pagan Mythology--that is, they were survivals of the original pre-historic Gnostic religion.
  • Gnostic and Historic Christianity 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.africawithin.com [Source type: Original source]

 .And since the Gnostics were compelled to draw the figure of the Saviour into a world of quite alien myths, their Christology became so complicated in character that it frequently recalls the Christology of the later dogmatic of the Greek Fathers.^ They have thus banished themselves in this world (since they are here outside of the Pleroma) into a place which has no existence.
  • Valentinus: The Gnostic Trinitarian Heretic 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.cogwriter.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ In the Gnostic myth, the supreme god is completely perfect and therefore alien and mysterious, "ineffable," "unnamable," "immeasurable light which is pure, holy and immaculate" (Apocryphon of John).
  • The Philosophy of the Matrix 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC onwardoverland.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Logos - "word from the mind of the mind of the father" Greek-Judaic-Gnostic Christian.
  • Gnostic Pagan Pantheon & Correspondences 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.gnostics.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
.Finally, it was Gnosticism which gave the most decided impulse to the consolidation of the Christian Church as a church.^ Bricaud and Chevillon had early given their gnostic churches a Christian basis, however heretical it might seem.
  • Ecclesia Gnostica Catholica : Gnostic Catholic Church 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC user.cyberlink.ch [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

 ^ These distinctions are present, at least implicitly, in most forms of Gnosticism, but Christian Gnosticism adds to this with the Christ figure.
  • http://www.jadaproductions.com/cormacmccarthy/getthread.asp?mydate=All&recordnumber=4144&threadnumber=736&threadname=McCarthy%27s+Western+Novels&threadtopic=%22Blood+Meridian%22+and+Gnosticism&UserName=&UserPassword= 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.jadaproductions.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ The theology of the fall is a theory of alienation; but instead of Gnosticism, Christian theology believes in the original purity of creation and the final salvation of creation by the work of God’s grace.
  • Eschaton Si, Immanent No! « The American Catholic 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC the-american-catholic.com [Source type: Original source]

 .Gnosticism itself is a free, naturally-growing religion, the religion of isolated minds, of separate little circles and minute sects.^ First, I was taken aback a bit by your use of the term "subjective" but this forced me to get a little clearer about the nature of Gnosticism.
  • http://www.jadaproductions.com/cormacmccarthy/getthread.asp?mydate=All&recordnumber=4144&threadnumber=736&threadname=McCarthy%27s+Western+Novels&threadtopic=%22Blood+Meridian%22+and+Gnosticism&UserName=&UserPassword= 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.jadaproductions.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ The difference is that Gnosticism represents a broad grouping of religious sects and Christianity is a specific religion.
  • Marmalade - semi-random musings - Posts tagged by "". 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC my.opera.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ This is right after the heresiologists were gaining power of Catholicism and the Gnostics were growing into large religions of their own.
  • Marmalade - semi-random musings - Posts tagged by "". 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC my.opera.com [Source type: Original source]

 The homogeneity of wide circles, the sense of responsibility engendered by it, and continuity with the past are almost entirely lacking in it. .It is based upon revelation, which even at the present time is imparted to the individual, upon the more or less convincing force of the religious imagination and speculations of a few leaders, upon the voluntary and unstable grouping of the schools round the master.^ "The baptism of John was a step upon the way into the center, and of more general application than is the baptism of Jesus, for few are ready yet for the second initiation.

 ^ And since they jointly require (almost by definition) the presence of suffering, it can be said more or less truly that we "define [even the best] reality through misery and suffering."
  • The Philosophy of the Matrix 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC onwardoverland.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ (Marsanes) - In the beginning, the Father created a group of beings through which he could reflect upon himself - even though they did not know it.
  • A GLOSSARY OF GNOSTIC TERMS A - F 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.gnosticq.com [Source type: Original source]

 .Its adherents feel themselves to be the isolated, the few, the free and the enlightened, as opposed to the sluggish and inert masses of mankind degraded into matter, or the initiated as opposed to the uninitiated, the Gnostics as opposed to the " Hylici " (Wiwi); at most in the later and more moderate schools a middle place was given to the adherents of the Church as Psychici (1/vXtKoi). This freely-growing Gnostic religiosity aroused in the Church an increasingly strong movement towards unity and a firm and inelastic organization, towards authority and tradition.^ Before the discovery at Nag Hammadi, Gnostic documents not inferred from references in the church fathers were few and far between.
  • The Gnostic Gospels 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.inplainsite.org [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

 ^ As Oakeshott observes, Hobbess philosophy has always aroused strong feelings in his readers; and the investigation of those strong feelings tends to reveal as much about those readers as it does about Hobbes.
  • Gnostic but not Rationalist 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.artsci.lsu.edu [Source type: Original source]

 ^ The NIV Study Bible comments that the seeds of what later became the full-blown Gnosticism of the second century were present in the first century and already making inroads into churches.
  • TNN Online: Theology News Network - Messianic Issues - The Effect of Mysticism and Gnosticism on the Messianic Movement 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.tnnonline.net [Source type: Original source]

 .An organized hierarchy, a definitive canon of the Holy Scriptures, a confession of faith and rule of faith, and unbending doctrinal discipline, these were the means employed.^ According to the canonical account these were the pre-historic Christians, whether called Essenes or Nazarenes; the worthy, the faithful, or the Brethren of the Lord.
  • Gnostic and Historic Christianity 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.africawithin.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Of course there is much in the canonical scriptures which mention these archons of vain imaginings as well: .
  • tb » Saving The Gnostic Body 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.timboucher.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ No, we now have the everyperson enlightend masters of religious feminism leading the way to uncovering the hidden, true and real meaning of Holy Scripture.
  • Touchstone Magazine - Mere Comments: Egalitarian Gnosticism? 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC merecomments.typepad.com [Source type: Original source]

 .A part was also played in this movement by a free theology which arose within the Church, itself a kind of Gnosticism which aimed at holding fast whatever was good in the Gnostic movement, and obtaining its recognition within the limits of the Church (Clement of Alexandria, Origen).^ Clement of Alexandria, and Origen, theologian and teacher (c.
  • Gnostic Christianity and the Myth of Sophia 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.essene.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Clement of Alexandria also claimed to be a Gnostic Christian.
  • Gnostic and Historic Christianity 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.africawithin.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ No one seems to have understood that Good and Evil advance together, as part of the same movement.
  • IJBS 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.ubishops.ca [Source type: Original source]

 .But the mightiest forces, to which in the end this theology too had absolutely to give way, were outward organization and tradition.^ Some Christians were born Jewish and had to find some way to rationalize their new faith and give it a sense of being a part of a larger tradition.
  • Marmalade - semi-random musings - Posts tagged by "". 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC my.opera.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Consequently, a major concern of the Church leadership became, not theology, but the elimination of those elements which stood in the way of absolute power.
  • Gnostic Christianity and the Myth of Sophia 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.essene.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ In this way the spiritual force of Egyptian religion shows a direct link with Christian theology.
  • Marmalade - semi-random musings - Posts tagged by "". 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC my.opera.com [Source type: Original source]
.It must be considered as an unqualified advantage for the further development of Christianity, as a universal religion, that at its very outset it prevailed against the great movement of Gnosticism.^ The pre-Christian Gnostic movement was complex.
  • Gnosticism 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.mcs.ca [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Any religion that believes in him is considered Christian.
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Does gnostic Christianity, with its belief in a personal path to enlightenment, bear similarities to eastern religions?
  • Gnosticism 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.mcs.ca [Source type: Original source]

 .In spite of the fact that in a few of its later representatives Gnosticism assumed a more refined and spiritual aspect, and even produced blossoms of a true and beautiful piety, it is fundamentally and essentially an unstable religious syncretism, a religion in which the determining forces were a fantastic oriental imagination and a sacramentalism which degenerated into the wildest superstitions, a weak dualism fluctuating unsteadily between asceticism and libertinism.^ Even atheists feel their religion is true.
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ His witness is, indeed, all the more impressive because he produces it quite incidentally while refuting the Gnostic and Docetic rejection of the Lords real humanity" (ibid., 19798).
  • Eucharist... actual body and blood? 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC forums.ccmmagazine.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ By Late Antiquity, some Gnostic and Neoplatonist thinkers had expanded this syncretic equation to include Aion, Adonis, Attis, Mithras and other gods of the mystery religions.
  • Marmalade - semi-random musings - Posts tagged by "". 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC my.opera.com [Source type: Original source]

 .Indirectly, however, Gnosticism was certainly one of the most powerful factors in the development of Christianity in the ist century.^ But, be that as it may, Gnostic "Christianity" enables one to enjoy the myth of the resurrection with out endorsing its historicity.
  • The Da Vinci Opportunity: How the Da Vinci Code Can Be Helpful 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.markdroberts.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

 ^ It is clear, however, that Gnostic Christianity flourished from at least the 2nd - 5th c.
  • The Philosophy of the Matrix 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC onwardoverland.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ These documents were all written in the latter half of the first century, and add even further support to the reliability of the New Testament gospels in the things that matter most to Christians, and that are denied by the Gnostics.
  • The Da Vinci Opportunity: How the Da Vinci Code Can Be Helpful 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.markdroberts.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
VIII. This sketch may be completed by a short review of the various separate sects and their probable connexion with each other. .As a point of departure for the history of the development of Gnosticism may be taken the numerous little sects which were apparently first included under the name of " Gnostics " in the narrower sense.^ As for the later history of the Gnosticism, it is only speculation on how far back its roots in Manicheism may go.
  • 99_12_03_Corbusier+Gnosticism 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC home.worldcom.ch [Source type: Original source]
  • 99_12_03_Corbusier+Gnosticism 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC home.worldcom.ch [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Its author, Richard Smith, ostensibly reviews the numerous developments in Western culture which appear to be related to Gnosticism.
  • Gnosticism 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.mcs.ca [Source type: Original source]

 ^ While a connection between the Sethians and Dositheans is only a suggestion, certain Dositheans apparently constituted a baptizing sect of the first and second centuries c.e.
  • SETHIAN GNOSTICISM: 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC jdt.unl.edu [Source type: Original source]

 .Among these probably belong the Ophites of Celsus (in Origen), the many little sects included by Epiphanius under the name of Nicolaitans and Gnostics (Haer. 25.26); the Archontici (Epiphanius, Haer.^ In the gnostic texts, Sophia functions at many levels under various names in a highly complex way.
  • SETHIAN GNOSTICISM: 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC jdt.unl.edu [Source type: Original source]

 ^ See CONSORT. - Many important angels are named in the Gnostic texts.
  • A GLOSSARY OF GNOSTIC TERMS A - F 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.gnosticq.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Specifically, these humans are Neo (the Gnostic Redeemer / Messiah) and Morpheus and Trinity, both of whom are named for gods.
  • The Philosophy of the Matrix 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC onwardoverland.com [Source type: Original source]

 xl.), Sethites (Cainites) should also here be mentioned, and finally the Carpocratians. .Common to all these is the dominant position assumed by the " Seven " (headed by Ialdabaoth); the heavenly world lying above the spheres of the Seven is occupied by comparatively few figures, among which the most important part is played by the µ rrlp, who is sometimes enthroned as the supreme goddess in heaven, but in a few systems has already descended from there into matter, been taken prisoner, &c.^ There is, however, the thorny matter of what it actually means to “transfigure the world and bring it to its perfection” (to quote Henry Karlson), or “prefigure the Kingdom in history” (to quote Michael Iafrate).
  • Eschaton Si, Immanent No! « The American Catholic 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC the-american-catholic.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Most sources describe proprioceptive awareness as the sense of understanding “relative position of neighbouring parts of the body”: .
  • tb » Saving The Gnostic Body 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.timboucher.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.

 .Numerous little groups are distinguished from the mass, sometimes by one peculiarity, sometimes by another.^ Listening to one group of Christians giggle at another for bizarre beliefs is hilarious.
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

 .On the one hand we have sects with a strongly ascetic tendency, on the other we find some characterized by unbridled libertinism; in some the most abandoned prostitution has come to be the most sacred mystery; in others again appears the worship of serpents, which here appears to be connected in various and often very loose ways with the other ideas of these Gnostics - hence the names of the " Ophites," " Naasseni."^ Gnosticism was one of these religions.
  • Gnostic Christianity and the Myth of Sophia 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.essene.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ I have no way of verifying one way or the other.
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ We propose that the truths we find in these ideas were the same as that taught by the Gnostics.
  • Gnostic Christianity and the Myth of Sophia 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.essene.com [Source type: Original source]

 .To this class also fundamentally belong the Simoniani, who have included the probably historical figure of Simon Magus in a system which seems to be closely connected with those we have mentioned, especially if we look upon the " Helena " of this system as a mythical figure.^ And Valentinus was one of the many others who spread gnosticism after Simon Magus apparently originated it.
  • Valentinus: The Gnostic Trinitarian Heretic 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.cogwriter.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Historic Christianity was based upon faith without that knowledge, and those who knew the least were actually considered and designated the better believers, just as it is in the Salvation Army of to-day.
  • Gnostic and Historic Christianity 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.africawithin.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Those who have not known to whom they belong, where will their souls be?’ And he said to me, ‘In those, the despicable spirit has gained strength when they went astray.
  • A GLOSSARY OF GNOSTIC TERMS A - F 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.gnosticq.com [Source type: Original source]

 .A particular branch of the " Gnostic " sects is represented by those systems in which the figure of Sophia sinking down into matter already appears.^ The Gnostic Jesus is predominantly a dispenser of cosmic wisdom who discourses on abstruse themes like the spirit's fall into matter.
  • The Gnostic Gospels 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.inplainsite.org [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

 ^ The central mythic figures of Sophia, Yaldabaoth, the archons and the Gnostic Christ redeemer also each find parallels with key figures in the film and function in similar ways.
  • The Philosophy of the Matrix 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC onwardoverland.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ The Gnostic documents do not present their system as a crypto-psychology (with various cosmic forces representing psychic functions), but as a religious and theological explanation of the origin and operation of the universe.
  • The Gnostic Gospels 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.inplainsite.org [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

 .To these belong the Barbelognostics (in the description given by Irenaeus the figure of the Spirit takes the place of that of Sophia), and the Gnostics whom Irenaeus (i.^ Irenaeus encountered these Gnostic invocations of the ineffable.
  • The Gnostic Gospels 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.inplainsite.org [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

 ^ Plus, I'm just fascinated by these great myths that percolated down through the millennia to finally take form in the figure of Jesus and the rest of the cast.
  • Marmalade - semi-random musings - Posts tagged by "". 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC my.opera.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ There is also a lower mother figure, the Spirit, who emits Sophia-Prunicos, who by gravity descends to and agitates the waters below, taking on a material body.
  • SETHIAN GNOSTICISM: 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC jdt.unl.edu [Source type: Original source]

 30) describes (cf. Epiphanius, Haer. xxvi.). .And here may best be included Bardesanes, a famous leader of a Gnostic school of the end of the 2nd century.^ Toward the end of the first century, the true gospel of Jesus Christ and His true church were being suppressed and slowly engulfed by a religious movement called Gnosticism .
  • Gnosticism (Forerunner Commentary) :: Bible Tools 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC bibletools.org [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Since Gnostics practised multiple baptisms, the catechumen may have been baptized a first time at the end of the renunciation, and second time at the end of the invocation, to prepare him for a third and final baptism.
  • A GLOSSARY OF GNOSTIC TERMS A - F 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.gnosticq.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ For present purposes, gnosticism and rationalism may best be understood as technical terms meant to describe a specific and circumscribed set of phenomena, as will be discussed in the paragraphs to follow.
  • Gnostic but not Rationalist 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.artsci.lsu.edu [Source type: Original source]

 .Most scholars, it is true, following an old tradition, reckon Bardesanes among the Valentinians.^ The Marcionites and the Valentinians were the most influnential sects of early Christianity and they were still living traditions.
  • Marmalade - semi-random musings - Posts tagged by "". 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC my.opera.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Those who are true followers of the LDS Faith believe in modern revelation, just as it was in the Old and New Testament.
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ For the Gnostics, as Gnostic scholar Pheme Perkins puts it, "most of the cosmos that we know is a carefully constructed plot to keep humanity from returning to its true divine home."
  • The Gnostic Gospels 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.inplainsite.org [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

 .But from the little we know of Bardesanes, his system bears no trace of relationship with the complicated Valentinian system, but is rather completely derived from the ordinary Gnosticism, and is distinguished from it apparently only by its more strongly dualistic character.^ Many years later, when I visited Assisi itself and sat quietly for a while in the little church of San Damiano, I felt a peace and a gentle presence, but no more strongly than I had felt at the movie theater.
  • Anton Karl Kozlovic : Religious Film Fears 4: Abandoning Orthodoxy, Paganisation and the Ascendancy of Post-Christian Culture - Quodlibet Journal 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.quodlibet.net [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

 ^ But if your own judgements are not so dualistic and you view the judge more ambiguously then the Syrian-Egyptian tradition bears closer examination.
  • http://www.jadaproductions.com/cormacmccarthy/getthread.asp?mydate=All&recordnumber=4144&threadnumber=736&threadname=McCarthy%27s+Western+Novels&threadtopic=%22Blood+Meridian%22+and+Gnosticism&UserName=&UserPassword= 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.jadaproductions.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Gnosticism was the process, or system, of knowing more than anybody else, particularly the "mysteries."
  • Gnosticism (Forerunner Commentary) :: Bible Tools 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC bibletools.org [Source type: Original source]

 .The systems of Valentinus and his disciples must be considered as a further development of what we have just characterized as the popular Gnosticism, and especially of that branch of it to which the figure of Sophia is already known.^ Just as they fail to see that their own doctrines are only branches of what first evolved into the RCC, they also fail to see the gnosticism in those doctrines.
  • Gnosticism, Sumer, Henotheism & Satan as YHWH? | 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC profoundprophecy.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ As mentioned above, the Roman Catholics and others consider that Valentinus was a Gnostic heretic.
  • Valentinus: The Gnostic Trinitarian Heretic 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.cogwriter.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Second, one must not splinter the already diffused splinters of light any further.
  • 99_12_03_Corbusier+Gnosticism 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC home.worldcom.ch [Source type: Original source]
  • 99_12_03_Corbusier+Gnosticism 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC home.worldcom.ch [Source type: Original source]

 .In them above all the world of the higher aeons is further extended and filled with a throng of varied figures.^ Irenaeus and his successors divorced Jesus even further from the world by making him co-equal with God, the creator of all.
  • Gnostic Christianity and the Myth of Sophia 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.essene.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ THE CROWN OF THE FATHER - The Father’s crown is the aeons that surround him, filled with light: “This is the Father of the All.
  • A GLOSSARY OF GNOSTIC TERMS A - F 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.gnosticq.com [Source type: Original source]

 .They also exhibit a variation from the characteristic dualism of Gnosticism into monism, in their conception of the fall of Sophia and their derivation of matter from the passions of the fallen Sophia.^ Various gnostic concepts are mentioned.
  • Valentinus: The Gnostic Trinitarian Heretic 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.cogwriter.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ This harmless author was kidnapped off the street and impressed into the gnostic camp, because he is a rational man and rationality was what they lacked.
  • Answering Gnosticism 23 September 2009 4:37 UTC thriceholy.net [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Sinning, therefore, in all these particulars, against the Spirit of God, they fall into the irremissible sin.
  • Valentinus: The Gnostic Trinitarian Heretic 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.cogwriter.com [Source type: Original source]

 The figures of the Seven have here entirely disappeared, the remembrance of them being merely preserved in the name of the Agpaovp y y6s (050,u s). .In general, Valentinianism displays a particular resemblance to the dominant ideas of the Church, both in its complicated Christology, its triple division of mankind into 7rvcvyartKoi, i/ivxtKoi and amt.., and its far-fetched interpretation of texts.'^ Being a Mormon, I don’t quite understand why the idea of the Book of Mormon can seem so far fetched.
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Both of these ideas, moral relativity and civic duty, have been present in certain churches of God today, as well as in Paul’s time.
  • Gnosticism (Forerunner Commentary) :: Bible Tools 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC bibletools.org [Source type: Original source]

 .A quite different position from those mentioned above is taken by Basilides (q.v.^ And they assert that God Himself can do no otherwise, but that every one of the [different kinds of substance] mentioned passes away to those things which are of the same nature.
  • Valentinus: The Gnostic Trinitarian Heretic 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.cogwriter.com [Source type: Original source]

 ). From what little we know of him he was an uncompromising dualist. .Both the systems which are handed down under his name by Irenaeus and Hippolytus, that of emanations and the monistic-evolutionary system, represent further developments of his ideas with a tendency away from dualism towards monism.^ In knowing this, we can understand that the solar system itself is on the evolutionary arc, evolving towards an increasingly unified spiritual expression.
  • Gnostic Christianity and the Myth of Sophia 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.essene.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ He also represents the resistance to growth of the lower to the higher order, the duality and 'evil' discussed in the section 'Second-Ray Solar System'.
  • Gnostic Christianity and the Myth of Sophia 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.essene.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ The serpent of duality represents the climb upward onto the next plane of growth when animal man takes a soul, develops mentality , and steps into the most difficult stage of the evolutionary journey.
  • Gnostic Christianity and the Myth of Sophia 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.essene.com [Source type: Original source]

 .Characteristically, in these Basilidian systems the figure of the " Mother " or of Sophia does not appear.^ And after these things, I arose from the dead.” (Melchizedek) - Melchizedek appears as a saviour figure who is both the offerer and the offering.
  • A GLOSSARY OF GNOSTIC TERMS A - F 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.gnosticq.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ There is also a lower mother figure, the Spirit, who emits Sophia-Prunicos, who by gravity descends to and agitates the waters below, taking on a material body.
  • SETHIAN GNOSTICISM: 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC jdt.unl.edu [Source type: Original source]

 ^ These virgin mothers are fertility deities (even when made into historical figures).
  • Marmalade - semi-random musings - Posts tagged by "". 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC my.opera.com [Source type: Original source]

 .This peculiarity the Basilidian system shares with that of Satornil of Antioch, which has only come down to us in a very fragmentary state, and in other respects recalls in many ways the popular Gnosticism.^ "I imagine throwing around accusations of gnosticism and fornication with the Zeitgeist make you feel very good about yourself, but they don't scare us."
  • Touchstone Magazine - Mere Comments: Egalitarian Gnosticism? 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC merecomments.typepad.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ The other thing about formal names is that we don’t know everyone on earth’s names: only the people who are the most important to us.
  • tb » Saving The Gnostic Body 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.timboucher.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ I imagine throwing around accusations of gnosticism and fornication with the Zeitgeist make you feel very good about yourself, but they don't scare us.
  • Touchstone Magazine - Mere Comments: Egalitarian Gnosticism? 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC merecomments.typepad.com [Source type: Original source]

 .By itself, on the other hand, stands the system preserved for us by Hippolytus in the Philosophumena under the name of the Naasseni, with its central figure of " the Man," which, as we have seen, is very closely related with certain specifically pagan Gnostic speculations which have come down to us (in the Poimandres, in Zosimus and Plotinus, Ennead ii.^ And also, I should like to add one more message on certain small issues relating to Corb, and then close them off with his death.
  • 99_12_03_Corbusier+Gnosticism 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC home.worldcom.ch [Source type: Original source]
  • 99_12_03_Corbusier+Gnosticism 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC home.worldcom.ch [Source type: Original source]

 ^ He also announced among them what related to the knowledge of the Father -- namely, that he cannot be understood or comprehended, nor so much as seen or heard, except in so far as he is known by Monogenes only (Irenaeus.
  • Valentinus: The Gnostic Trinitarian Heretic 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.cogwriter.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Voegelin, on the other hand, tends to relate all phenomena to the measuring stick of the entire realm of experience, ranging from immanent to transcendent.
  • Gnostic but not Rationalist 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.artsci.lsu.edu [Source type: Original source]

 q). .With the Naasseni, moreover, are related also the other sects of which Hippolytus alone gives us a notice in his Philosophumena (Docetae, Perates, Sethiani, the adherents of Justin, the Gnostic of Monoimos).^ The true importance of the Gnostic Scriptures is that they give us back a Christianity that, even in its own time, barely saw the light of day.
  • Gnostic Christianity and the Myth of Sophia 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.essene.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ The Da Vinci Code's favoring of Gnosticism gives us .
  • The Da Vinci Opportunity: How the Da Vinci Code Can Be Helpful 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.markdroberts.com [Source type: General]

 ^ In other words, if it were followed, Gnosticism, like many Quaker sects, > could not thrive because they do not believe in procreation.
  • 99_12_03_Corbusier+Gnosticism 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC home.worldcom.ch [Source type: Original source]
  • 99_12_03_Corbusier+Gnosticism 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC home.worldcom.ch [Source type: Original source]

 .Finally, apart from all other Gnostics stands Marcion.^ Regarding other Christian religions, after the final judgment, if I end up in Hell, I can not repent at all whatsoever.
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ In other words, why does Voegelin see Hobbes as the quintessential gnostic while Oakeshott sees him as no rationalist at all?
  • Gnostic but not Rationalist 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.artsci.lsu.edu [Source type: Original source]

 ^ A part of it, however, is maintained by Marcion and Apelles and Valentinus, and all other impugners of the resurrection.
  • Valentinus: The Gnostic Trinitarian Heretic 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.cogwriter.com [Source type: Original source]

 .With him, as far as we are able to conclude from the scanty notices of him, the manifold Gnostic speculations are reduced essentially to the one problem of the good and the just God, the God of the Christians and the God of the Old Testament.^ God is too big for just One religion.
  • United Communities of Spirit 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.origin.org [Source type: Original source]

 ^ The God of the New Testament is one and the same.
  • Answering Gnosticism 23 September 2009 4:37 UTC thriceholy.net [Source type: Original source]

 ^ OLD TESTAMENT God commanded His people to worship Him alone.

 .Between these two powers Marcion affirms a sharp and, as it appears, originally irreconcilable dualism which with him rests moreover on a speculative basis.^ But these beings are all considered subordinate to God the Father, and any power they have comes solely from him.
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ THE BRIDAL CHAMBER AS THE UNION OF SOUL AND SPIRIT - Since the soul is feminine and the spirit is masculine, then each person may unite these two aspects of him/herself in the Bridal Chamber.
  • A GLOSSARY OF GNOSTIC TERMS A - F 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.gnosticq.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ The debate between these two camps has been going on for more than three decades, and isn't over yet.
  • The Da Vinci Opportunity: How the Da Vinci Code Can Be Helpful 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.markdroberts.com [Source type: General]

 .Thanks to the noble simplicity and specifically religious character of his ideas, Marcion was able to found not only schools, but a community, a church of his own, which gave trouble to the Church longer than any other Gnostic sect.^ I’m happy to see that you have your beliefs for your own reasons rather than someone who believes on others’ words, or worse yet, is forced to believe.
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ According to Dan Brown's fictional mouthpiece, Sir Leigh Teabing, the truly human Jesus, who among other things was married to the Magdalene, is to be found in the Gnostic gospels, rather than the biblical ones.
  • The Da Vinci Opportunity: How the Da Vinci Code Can Be Helpful 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.markdroberts.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

 ^ The Church in Jerusalem, at the head of which was James, called the "brother of the Lord," was one of the Essenic or Therapeutic communities that were founded by the Gnostic Nazarenes.
  • Gnostic and Historic Christianity 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.africawithin.com [Source type: Original source]

 .Among his disciples the speculative and fantastic element of Gnosticism again became more apparent.^ Sociological analysis of Gnostic documents can offer some suggestions, but these are more speculative than solid.
  • The Da Vinci Opportunity: How the Da Vinci Code Can Be Helpful 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.markdroberts.com [Source type: General]

 ^ And their imperfection became apparent in their lack of knowledge; and they recognized that they were naked...” (Hypostastis of the Archons) - Naked in this context means ‘naked of the spiritual element’: “they recognized that they were naked of the spiritual element.” See GARMENT. 4.
  • A GLOSSARY OF GNOSTIC TERMS A - F 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.gnosticq.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Or is the gnostic element one way of expressing a more general utopian impulse?
  • http://www.jadaproductions.com/cormacmccarthy/getthread.asp?mydate=All&recordnumber=4144&threadnumber=736&threadname=McCarthy%27s+Western+Novels&threadtopic=%22Blood+Meridian%22+and+Gnosticism&UserName=&UserPassword= 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.jadaproductions.com [Source type: Original source]

 .As we have already intimated, Gnosticism had such a power 1 For the disciples of Valentinus, especially Marcus, after whom was named a separate sect, the Marcosians, with their Pythagorean theories of numbers and their strong tincture of the mystical, magic, and sacramental, see Valentinus And Valentinians.^ If the gnostics were the romantic heroes their defenders claim: "We can see, then, that such gnosticism was more than a protest movement against orthodox Christianity.
  • Answering Gnosticism 23 September 2009 4:37 UTC thriceholy.net [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Marcus, mentioned above, is believed to have learned from or about Valentinus--more information on him can be found in the article Marcus and the Marcosians: Developers of the Eucharist?
  • Valentinus: The Gnostic Trinitarian Heretic 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.cogwriter.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ With his typical rhetorical style and power Voegelin thus makes a strong case for Hobbes as a gnostic, and it is worth recounting here the major components of his argument.
  • Gnostic but not Rationalist 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.artsci.lsu.edu [Source type: Original source]
of attraction that it now drew within its limits even JudaeoChristian sects. .Among these we must mention the JudaeoChristian Gnostic Cerinthus, also the Gnostic Ebionites, of whom Epiphanius (Haer.) gives us an account, and whose writings are to be found in a recension in the collected works of the Pseudo-Clementine Recognitions and Homilies; to the same class belong the Elkesaites with their mystical scripture, the Elxai, extracts of which are given by Hippolytus in the Philos. (ix.^ These will give us a framework in which to view Gnostic thought.
  • Gnostic Christianity and the Myth of Sophia 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.essene.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Valentinus, the best known and most influential of the Gnostic heretics, was born according to Epiphanius (Haer., XXXI) on the coast of Egypt.
  • Valentinus: The Gnostic Trinitarian Heretic 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.cogwriter.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ In 1947 in Nag Hammadi, Egypt, a large collection of manuscripts was discovered which included what we now call the Gnostic Scriptures, sometimes referred to as the Gnostic Gospels.
  • TNN Online: Theology News Network - Messianic Issues - The Effect of Mysticism and Gnosticism on the Messianic Movement 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.tnnonline.net [Source type: Original source]

 13). .Later evidence of the decadence of Gnosticism occurs in the Pistis-Sophia and the Coptic Gnostic writings discovered and edited by Schmidt.^ Later on, the sayings of the Lord were also called the writings, as we see by pseudo-Dionysius, who charges the Gnostics with having falsified the Writings of the Lord.
  • Gnostic and Historic Christianity 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.africawithin.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ By contrast, we had virtually no copies of the Gnostic writings till some were discovered in the 1900's.
  • The Da Vinci Code, Gnosticism, Leonard Da Vinci, and the Bible 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC gospelway.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ In the Gnostic text Pistis Sophia Jesus explains that when one attains this state, "though he be a man in the world, yet shall he be king with Me in My Kingdom.
  • http://www.iamm.com/man-cu.htm 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.iamm.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

 .In these confused records of human imagination gone mad, we possess a veritable herbarium of all possible Gnostic ideas, which were once active and now rest peacefully side by side.^ Gnosticism seems to have been once the topic of this thread, but I'm sorry now that I brought Willeford into it.
  • http://www.jadaproductions.com/cormacmccarthy/getthread.asp?mydate=All&recordnumber=4144&threadnumber=736&threadname=McCarthy%27s+Western+Novels&threadtopic=%22Blood+Meridian%22+and+Gnosticism&UserName=&UserPassword= 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.jadaproductions.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Hobbes, after all, is the creator of a system (that favorite pursuit of gnostic thinkers), and he goes so far as to suggest that this system can solve the problems of human nature.
  • Gnostic but not Rationalist 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.artsci.lsu.edu [Source type: Original source]

 ^ The Galatians were drawn in—their fascination was piqued by these Jewish and Gnostic ideas.
  • Gnosticism (Forerunner Commentary) :: Bible Tools 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC bibletools.org [Source type: Original source]

 .None the less, the stream of the Gnostic religion is not yet dried up, but continues on its way; and it is beyond a doubt that the later Mandaeanism and the great religious movement of Mani are most closely connected with Gnosticism.^ In the absence of a teleological end for man that was beyond doubt, or more specifically, of absolute certainty, Hobbes decided to deal with man from the perspective of his most basic elements.
  • Gnostic but not Rationalist 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.artsci.lsu.edu [Source type: Original source]

 ^ The Gnostics considered those who worshipped the Demiurge to be centered on the material plane; they had not yet found their connection to the spiritual universe.
  • Gnostic Christianity and the Myth of Sophia 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.essene.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ If you sign up for just polygamy you are in no way shape or form part of the lds religion….it is a whole different ball game.
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

 .These manifestations are all the more characteristic since in them we meet with a Gnosticism which remained essentially more untouched by Christian influences than the Gnostic systems of the 2nd century A.D. Thus these systems throw an important light on the past, and a true perception of the nature and purpose of Gnosticism is not to be obtained without taking them into consideration.^ His influence was the true beginning of the Christian Gnostic movement.
  • Gnostic Christianity and the Myth of Sophia 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.essene.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Is remaining politically correct more important than Jesus of the Bible?
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ The ALL is more Mind than mind.
  • United Communities of Spirit 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.origin.org [Source type: Original source]

BIBLIOGRAPHY

A. Neander, Genetische Entwicklung d. vornehmsten gnostischen Systeme (Berlin, 1818); F. Chr. Baur, Die christl. Gnosis in ihrer geschichtl. Entwicklung (Tubingen, 1835); E. W. Moller, Gesch. der .Kosmologie in der griechischen Kirche bis Origenes (Halle, 1860); R. A. Lipsius, Der Gnosticismus (Leipzig, 1860; originally in Ersch and Gruber's Encyclopadie); H. L. Mansel, The Gnostic Heresies of the 1st and 2nd Centuries (London, 18 75); K. Kepler, Uber Gnosis and altbabylonische Religion, a lecture delivered at the Congress of Orientalists (Berlin, 1881); A. Hilgenfeld, Ketzergeschichte des Urchristentums (Leipzig, 1884); and in Ztschr.^ Bricaud and Reuss then revealed their idea of introducing Crowley's Gnostic Mass as a Gnostic religion for the 18 of the Scottish Rite, at the Zurich Masonic Congress in 1920.
  • Ecclesia Gnostica Catholica : Gnostic Catholic Church 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC user.cyberlink.ch [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

 ^ John: Fritjof Schuon, Gnosis , and Hans Jonas, The Gnostic Religion , are good places to start.
  • http://www.jadaproductions.com/cormacmccarthy/getthread.asp?mydate=All&recordnumber=4144&threadnumber=736&threadname=McCarthy%27s+Western+Novels&threadtopic=%22Blood+Meridian%22+and+Gnosticism&UserName=&UserPassword= 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.jadaproductions.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Simon of Samaria was the first and foremost of all the founders of Gnosticism, and the father of all its heresies; and he was a century earlier.
  • Gnostic and Historic Christianity 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.africawithin.com [Source type: Original source]

 far wissenschaftl. Theol. 1890, i. " Der Gnosticismus "; A. Harnack, Dogmengeschichte, i. 271 seq. (cf. the corresponding sections of the .Dogmengeschichten of Loofs and Seeberg); W. Anz, " Zur Frage nach dem Ursprung des Gnosticismus," Texte u.^ H. J. Krämer, Der Ursprung der Geistmetaphysik : Untersuchungen zur Geschichte des Platonismus zwischen Platon und Plotin (Amsterdam: P. Schippers, I964).
  • 3fold 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC jdt.unl.edu [Source type: Original source]

 ^ For these "ways," see H. Dörrie, "Die Frage nach dem Transzendenten im Mittelplatonismus," Les sources de Plotin (Entretiens sur l'antiquité classique V; Vandoeuvres-Geneva: Fondation Hardt, I960), pp.
  • 3fold 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC jdt.unl.edu [Source type: Original source]

 Untersuchungen, xv. 4 (Leipzig, 1897); R. Liechtenhahn, Die Offenbarung im Gnosticismus (Göttingen, 1901); C. Schmidt, " Plotins Stellung zum Gnosticismus u. kirchl. Christentum " Texte u. Untersuch. xx. 4 (1902); E. de Faye, Introduction a l'etude du Gnosticisme (Paris, 1903); R. Reitzenstein, Poimandres (Leipzig, 1904); G. Kruger, article " Gnosticismus " in Herzog-Hauck's Realencyklopadie (3rd ed.) vi. 728 ff.; Bousset, " Hauptprobleme der Gnosis," Forschungen z. Relig. u. Lit. d. alten u. neuen Testaments, 10 (1907); T. Wendland, Hellenistisch-romische Kultur in ihren Beziehungen zu Judentum and Christentum (1907), p. 161 seq. .See further among important monographs on the individual Gnostic systems, R. A. Lipsius, " Die ophitischen Systeme," Ztschr.^ See CONSORT. - Many important angels are named in the Gnostic texts.
  • A GLOSSARY OF GNOSTIC TERMS A - F 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.gnosticq.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ For further reading on female divinities in Gnosticism, see Pagels, pp.
  • The Philosophy of the Matrix 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC onwardoverland.com [Source type: Original source]

 f. wissensch. Theologie (1863); G. Heinrici, Die valentinianische Gnosis u. d. .Heilige Schrift (Berlin, 1871); A. Merx, Bardesanes von Edessa (Halle, 1863); A. Hilgenfeld, Bardesanes, der letzte Gnostiker (Leipzig, 1864); A. Harnack, " Uber das gnostische Buch Pistis-Sophia," Texte u.^ THE EUCHARIST IN CONJUNCTION WITH SEALS - In late Gnostic texts, such as The Pistis Sophia and The Acts of Thomas, the eucharist is performed in conjunction with seals.
  • A GLOSSARY OF GNOSTIC TERMS A - F 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.gnosticq.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ The 'Pistis Sophia' is in Carl Schmidt: "Koptisch-Gnostische Schriften", Berlin 1981.
  • Ecclesia Gnostica Catholica : Gnostic Catholic Church 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC user.cyberlink.ch [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

 ^ In the Gnostic text Pistis Sophia Jesus explains that when one attains this state, "though he be a man in the world, yet shall he be king with Me in My Kingdom.
  • http://www.iamm.com/man-cu.htm 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.iamm.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

 Untersuch. vii. .2; C. Schmidt, " Gnostische Schriften," Texte u.^ The 'Pistis Sophia' is in Carl Schmidt: "Koptisch-Gnostische Schriften", Berlin 1981.
  • Ecclesia Gnostica Catholica : Gnostic Catholic Church 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC user.cyberlink.ch [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

 ^ C. Schmidt, Gnostische Schriften in koptischer Sprachen aus dem Codex Brucianus (TU 8; Leipzig: Hinrichs, 1892), 6-14.
  • SETHIAN GNOSTICISM: 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC jdt.unl.edu [Source type: Original source]

 Untersuch. viii. .I, 2; and also the works mentioned under § II. of this article.^ Allogenes is also to be included among the various Sethian works under the name of Allogenes mentioned by Epiphanius around 375 C.E. ( Pan .
  • SETHIAN GNOSTICISM: 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC jdt.unl.edu [Source type: Original source]

 (W. Bo.) White-tailed Gnu, or Black Wildebeest (Connochaetes gnu).

Gnu >>

Wiktionary

Up to date as of January 15, 2010

Definition from Wiktionary, a free dictionary

See also gnosticism

Contents

English

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Etymology

Pronunciation

  • (UK) IPA: /ˈnɒstɪsɪzəm/
  • (US) IPA: /ˈnɑstəsɪzəm/

Noun

Singular
Gnosticism
Gnosticism (uncountable)
  1. A wide variety of Jewish and early Christian sects having an interest in gnosis, or divine knowledge and generally holding the belief that there is a god greater than the Demiurge, or the creator of the world.

Translations

Gnosticism

Bible wiki

Up to date as of January 23, 2010

From BibleWiki


A system of theology and philosophy. .It came into prominence in the first centuries of the common era, and the 'founders of the early church felt it was nessesary to undertake its refutation.^ The NIV Study Bible comments that the seeds of what later became the full-blown Gnosticism of the second century were present in the first century and already making inroads into churches.
  • TNN Online: Theology News Network - Messianic Issues - The Effect of Mysticism and Gnosticism on the Messianic Movement 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.tnnonline.net [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Enoch 14:8-23, dated in the early first century B.C. 24 Enoch's .
  • House: Heresies in the Colossian Church: Pt. 1 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC faculty.gordon.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

 ^ Toward the end of the first century, the true gospel of Jesus Christ and His true church were being suppressed and slowly engulfed by a religious movement called Gnosticism .
  • Gnosticism (Forerunner Commentary) :: Bible Tools 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC bibletools.org [Source type: Original source]

 .Writers on the history and dogmas of the Church have often devoted much attention to the subject, endeavoring to fathom and define its nature and importance.^ It's true that, historically, the pietists often failed to appreciate church history and doctrine.
  • Touchstone Magazine - Mere Comments: Egalitarian Gnosticism? 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC merecomments.typepad.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ From a Gnostic view this means much of the novel is devoted to the nature of evil and how and why the world is such a flawed and horrible place.
  • http://www.jadaproductions.com/cormacmccarthy/getthread.asp?mydate=All&recordnumber=4144&threadnumber=736&threadname=McCarthy%27s+Western+Novels&threadtopic=%22Blood+Meridian%22+and+Gnosticism&UserName=&UserPassword= 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.jadaproductions.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Salvation : The Bible : Nature of God : Heaven & Hell : Church History : Messianic Issues : Biblical Practices : Ten Commandments .
  • TNN Online: Theology News Network - Messianic Issues - The Effect of Mysticism and Gnosticism on the Messianic Movement 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.tnnonline.net [Source type: Original source]

 .It has proved even more attractive to the general historians of religion, and has resulted in a voluminous literature.^ As a former Mormon and current atheist, I view religion with great respect and even more so when it’s practitioners exhibit great tolerance.
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ I have enjoyed my talks about religion with Baptists and even try to learn more from the Jehovah’s Witness people, but they have just wanted to leave the literature (which I read).
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ LDS beliefs are no more bizarre than most other religions, it’s just that you can prove that it is based on hooey.
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

 .Some scholars, according to their various points of view, have sought its origins.^ The original writing of the various documents, of course, took place sometime before A.D. 350-400, but not, according to most scholars, before the second century.
  • The Gnostic Gospels 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.inplainsite.org [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

 ^ The original writing of Thomas has been dated variously between A.D. 50 and 150 or even later, with most scholars opting for a second century date.
  • The Gnostic Gospels 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.inplainsite.org [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

Contents

Jewish Gnosticism.

.Jewish gnosticism unquestionably antedates Christianity, for Biblical exegesis had already reached an age of five hundred years by the first century C.E. Judaism had been in close contact with Babylonian-Persian ideas for at least that length of time, and for nearly as long a period with Hellenistic ideas.^ Gnosticism was the major competing influence with Jewish mysticism in the First Century.
  • TNN Online: Theology News Network - Messianic Issues - The Effect of Mysticism and Gnosticism on the Messianic Movement 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.tnnonline.net [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Mani was heavily influenced by Gnostic Christianity-calling himself a "disciple of Christ" and the Paraclete", or biblical healer.

 ^ Gnosticism is the modern term used to refer to a religious and philosophical movement that originated in the first or second century A.D., that was especially strong in the second and third centuries A.D. and that was considered heretical by the majority of Christians at that time as well as the majority of pagan bearers of the Platonic philosophical traditions (i.e., Neo-Platonists).
  • The Da Vinci Opportunity: How the Da Vinci Code Can Be Helpful 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.markdroberts.com [Source type: General]

 .Magic, also, which, as will be shown further on, was a not unimportant part of the doctrines and manifestations of gnosticism, largely occupied Jewish thinkers.^ A four-part documentary called "The Gnostics" was released in mid-1989 and shown in one-day screenings across the country along with a lecture by the producer.
  • The Gnostic Gospels 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.inplainsite.org [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

 .There is, in general, no circle of ideas to which elements of gnosticism have been traced, and with which the Jews were not acquainted.^ Gnosticism combined ideas from Greek philosophy, oriental mysticism, and Christianity—a classic example of syncretism , combining elements of different religions.
  • Gnosticism (Forerunner Commentary) :: Bible Tools 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC bibletools.org [Source type: Original source]

 ^ There is no doubt that during the first few centuries A.D. the church experienced a titanic struggle between Gnostic Christianity and orthodox Christianity.
  • The Da Vinci Opportunity: How the Da Vinci Code Can Be Helpful 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.markdroberts.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

 ^ But there is no need of craning one's neck out of joint in looking to India, or straining in that direction at all, for the origin of that which was Egyptian born and Gnostic bred!
  • Gnostic and Historic Christianity 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.africawithin.com [Source type: Original source]

 .It is a noteworthy fact that heads of gnostic schools and founders of gnostic systems are designated as Jews by the Church Fathers.^ The Church in Jerusalem, at the head of which was James, called the "brother of the Lord," was one of the Essenic or Therapeutic communities that were founded by the Gnostic Nazarenes.
  • Gnostic and Historic Christianity 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.africawithin.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ This settled the question of who headed the church, and would thus celebrate the Crowleyan version of the "Gnostic Mass".
  • Ecclesia Gnostica Catholica : Gnostic Catholic Church 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC user.cyberlink.ch [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

 ^ There are, in fact, differing schools of Gnosticism with differing Christologies.
  • The Gnostic Gospels 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.inplainsite.org [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

 .Some derive all heresies, including those of gnosticism, from Judaism (Hegesippus in Eusebius, "Hist.^ Epiphanius acknowledges that all the heretical forms of Christianity were derived from the Pagan Mythology--that is, they were survivals of the original pre-historic Gnostic religion.
  • Gnostic and Historic Christianity 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.africawithin.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ There were Jewish Gnostics, but some Gnostics hated Judaism.
  • Marmalade - semi-random musings - Posts tagged by "". 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC my.opera.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Those Gnostic texts that discuss Jesus' crucifixio n and resurrection display a variety of views that, nevertheless, reveal some common themes.
  • The Gnostic Gospels 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.inplainsite.org [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

 Eccl." iv. 22; comp. Harnack, "Dogmengesch." 3d ed. i. 232, note 1). .It must furthermore be noted that Hebrew words and names of God provide the skeleton for several gnostic systems.^ Galatians 1:4 ( Go to this verse :: Verse pop-up ) Much of the controversy involved in this letter has to do with Gnostic Judaism, which was not the system that God gave to Moses.
  • Gnosticism (Forerunner Commentary) :: Bible Tools 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC bibletools.org [Source type: Original source]

 ^ In other words, man can become a god through the immediate knowledge of the spiritual truth held by the ancient Gnostics.

 ^ "The Hebrew word used to denominate God in Genesis is Elohim.

 .Christians or Jews converted from paganism would have used as the foundation of their systems terms borrowed from the Greek or Syrian translations of the Bible.^ When the Christians and the [Pagan] Greeks saw this, they referred the signs to their own religions.
  • Marmalade - semi-random musings - Posts tagged by "". 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC my.opera.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Thus, for example, although Voegelins term gnostic has its historical roots in Christian gnosticism, his use of this term considerably broadens its Christian meaning.
  • Gnostic but not Rationalist 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.artsci.lsu.edu [Source type: Original source]

 ^ A representative of the traditional cursus honorum, Symmachus was a pagan at a time when the senatorial aristocracy was rapidly converting to Christianity.
  • Marmalade - semi-random musings - Posts tagged by "". 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC my.opera.com [Source type: Original source]

 .This fact proves at least that the principal elements of gnosticism were derived from Jewish speculation, while it does not preclude the possibility of new wine having been poured into old bottles.^ Sabbath, new moons, and other Jewish elements.
  • House: Heresies in the Colossian Church: Pt. 1 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC faculty.gordon.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

 ^ They reject it because it was repudiated by the founders of the historic faith; because it offers no facts to prove, whereas it does offer facts that furnish us with disproof of a physical resurrection.
  • Gnostic and Historic Christianity 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.africawithin.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ McCarthy is incorporating Gnostic elements into the novel not to push the Gnostic creed but to enable him to better ask an absolutely basic and fundamental normative question.
  • http://www.jadaproductions.com/cormacmccarthy/getthread.asp?mydate=All&recordnumber=4144&threadnumber=736&threadname=McCarthy%27s+Western+Novels&threadtopic=%22Blood+Meridian%22+and+Gnosticism&UserName=&UserPassword= 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.jadaproductions.com [Source type: Original source]

Pre-Christian.

Cosmogonic-theological speculations, philosophemes on God and the world, constitute the substance of gnosis. .They are based on the first sections of Genesis and Ezekiel, for which there are in Jewish speculation two well-established and therefore old terms: "Ma'aseh Bereshit" and "Ma'aseh Merkabah."^ The peshat , therefore, which was taken to include the corpus of talmudic law as well, was only the Torah's outermost aspect, the husk that first met the eye of the reader.
  • TNN Online: Theology News Network - Messianic Issues - The Effect of Mysticism and Gnosticism on the Messianic Movement 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.tnnonline.net [Source type: Original source]

 ^ There are seven archons and they rule the first seven spheres.
  • http://www.jadaproductions.com/cormacmccarthy/getthread.asp?mydate=All&recordnumber=4144&threadnumber=736&threadname=McCarthy%27s+Western+Novels&threadtopic=%22Blood+Meridian%22+and+Gnosticism&UserName=&UserPassword= 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.jadaproductions.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ There is no universal set of beliefs or practices for Jewish mystics of the First Century, other than the fact that they were a minority.
  • TNN Online: Theology News Network - Messianic Issues - The Effect of Mysticism and Gnosticism on the Messianic Movement 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.tnnonline.net [Source type: Original source]

 .Doubtless Ben Sira was thinking of these speculations when he uttered the warning: "Seek not things that are too hard for thee, and search not out things that are above thy strength.^ Ruko: I was born and raised LDS. I know for a fact that none of these scriptures were taken out of context and that every one of these things is in fact actually believed by the LDS church.
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

 ^ If the people did not know these things, why did they not speak out against Peter's message?
  • The Da Vinci Code, Gnosticism, Leonard Da Vinci, and the Bible 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC gospelway.com [Source type: Original source]

 .The things that have been commanded thee, think thereupon; for thou hast no need of the things that are secret" (Ecclus.^ But John forbad him, saying, I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me?

 [Sirach] iii. 21-22, R. V.). .The terms here emphasized recur in the Talmud in the accounts of gnosis.^ The movement, which was not a single, monolithic social-theological reality, emphasized at its core a special claim to special gnosis ( gnosis , knowledge); thus the terms Gnostics and Gnosticism.
  • The Da Vinci Opportunity: How the Da Vinci Code Can Be Helpful 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.markdroberts.com [Source type: General]

 ."There is no doubt that a Jewish gnosticism existed before a Christian or a Judæo-Christian gnosticism.^ But aren't there Christian Gnostics?
  • http://www.jadaproductions.com/cormacmccarthy/getthread.asp?mydate=All&recordnumber=44788&threadnumber=9636&threadname=McCarthy%27s+Southern+Works&threadtopic=Gnosticism+in+Blood+Meridian&UserName=&UserPassword= 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.jadaproductions.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ However, there is no evidence this group existed before it was originated by Pierre Plantard in 1956.
  • The Da Vinci Code, Gnosticism, Leonard Da Vinci, and the Bible 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC gospelway.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ There were Jewish Gnostics, but some Gnostics hated Judaism.
  • Marmalade - semi-random musings - Posts tagged by "". 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC my.opera.com [Source type: Original source]

 .As may be seen even in the apocalypses, since the second century B.C. gnostic thought was bound up with Judaism, which had accepted Babylonian and Syrian doctrines; but the relation of this Jewish gnosticism to Christian gnosticism may, perhaps, no longer be explained "(Harnack," "Geschichte der Altchristlichen Litteratur," p.^ Galatians 1:4 ( Go to this verse :: Verse pop-up ) Much of the controversy involved in this letter has to do with Gnostic Judaism, which was not the system that God gave to Moses.
  • Gnosticism (Forerunner Commentary) :: Bible Tools 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC bibletools.org [Source type: Original source]

 ^ But, be that as it may, Gnostic "Christianity" enables one to enjoy the myth of the resurrection with out endorsing its historicity.
  • The Da Vinci Opportunity: How the Da Vinci Code Can Be Helpful 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.markdroberts.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

 ^ The esoteric tradition of Solomon spanned the centuries to the era of Gnostic Christianity which preceded the Merovingian Age.

 144). The great age of Jewish gnosticism is further indicated by the authentic statement that Johanan b. .Zakkai, who was born probably in the century before the common era, and was, according to Sukkah 28a, versed in that science, refers to an interdiction against "discussing the Creation before two pupils and the throne-chariot before one."^ It is evident that the "days, months, seasons and years" Paul refers to in verse 10 were the pagan, idolatrous festivals and observances that the Galatian Gentiles had observed before their conversion.
  • Gnosticism (Forerunner Commentary) :: Bible Tools 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC bibletools.org [Source type: Original source]

 ^ In another place in the Gospel of Thomas , Jesus is quoted as saying, "[Blessed is] the one who came into being before coming into being."
  • Gnosticism (Forerunner Commentary) :: Bible Tools 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC bibletools.org [Source type: Original source]

 ^ The answer that Machiavelli proposes, according to Strauss, is the common good of existing societies, which is to say those things by virtue of which societies are created and maintained: .
  • Gnostic but not Rationalist 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.artsci.lsu.edu [Source type: Original source]

Sources.

.In consequence of this interdiction, notwithstanding the great age and the resulting high development of Jewish gnosticism, only fragments of it have been preserved in the earlier portions of traditional literature.^ Only later, and as a result of the contact with medieval Jewish philosophy, the Kabbalah became a Jewish mystical theology, more or less systematically elaborated.
  • TNN Online: Theology News Network - Messianic Issues - The Effect of Mysticism and Gnosticism on the Messianic Movement 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.tnnonline.net [Source type: Original source]

 ^ I only set up the discussion comparing Christian and Jewish messianic traditions in order to learn something new.
  • Marmalade - semi-random musings - Posts tagged by "". 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC my.opera.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Gnosticism as we normally think of it is nothing other than these earlier strains colliding with Romanized Jewish culture.
  • Marmalade - semi-random musings - Posts tagged by "". 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC my.opera.com [Source type: Original source]

 .The doctrines that were to be kept secret were of course not discussed, but they were occasionally touched upon in passing.^ They are kept secret enough to be unverifiable to the average person.
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ They then report His 'secret' sayings on such occasions.
  • Answering Gnosticism 23 September 2009 4:37 UTC thriceholy.net [Source type: Original source]

 ^ (Of course Thomas may have been kept secret for a long time, so it could have been written earlier and simply never mentioned.
  • The Da Vinci Opportunity: How the Da Vinci Code Can Be Helpful 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.markdroberts.com [Source type: General]

 .Such casual references, however, are not sufficient to permit any conclusions with regard to a Jewish gnostic system.^ Gamaliel was held in such high regard, that the Jewish Sages believed that full honor was not believed to be given to the Torah following his death.
  • TNN Online: Theology News Network - Messianic Issues - The Effect of Mysticism and Gnosticism on the Messianic Movement 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.tnnonline.net [Source type: Original source]

 ^ My initial conclusion is that there is not a great deal of terminology that is explicitly and specifically Gnostic and when such terms do occur their significance is deliberately undercut.
  • http://www.jadaproductions.com/cormacmccarthy/getthread.asp?mydate=All&recordnumber=4144&threadnumber=736&threadname=McCarthy%27s+Western+Novels&threadtopic=%22Blood+Meridian%22+and+Gnosticism&UserName=&UserPassword= 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.jadaproductions.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ With such a dualistic conceptual ancestor, the gnostic reading has to be extremely careful not to reduce everything in the novel into some simplified dualistic schematic, where everything can be categorized into a system of differences.
  • http://www.jadaproductions.com/cormacmccarthy/getthread.asp?mydate=All&recordnumber=4144&threadnumber=736&threadname=McCarthy%27s+Western+Novels&threadtopic=%22Blood+Meridian%22+and+Gnosticism&UserName=&UserPassword= 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.jadaproductions.com [Source type: Original source]

 .If such a system ever existed (which may be assumed, although the Jewish mind has in general no special predilection for systems), it surely existed in the form of comments on the story of Creation and on Ezekiel's vision of the throne-chariot.^ Ennoia may take several forms, such as Pronoia or Protonoia.
  • A GLOSSARY OF GNOSTIC TERMS A - F 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.gnosticq.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ ADAM AND EVE - Although Gnostic texts provide different versions, the general outline of Adam and Eve, their creation and fall, is as follows: 1.
  • A GLOSSARY OF GNOSTIC TERMS A - F 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.gnosticq.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ In the mind of the Creator there is no hesitancy whatever in > > > proclaiming His jealousy, and He has no dislike for the word.
  • The Bible proved right again. - Atheism vs Christianity | Google Groups 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC groups.google.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
  • The Bible proved right again. - Atheism vs Christianity | Google Groups 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC groups.google.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

 .It is even probable that the carefully guarded doctrines lost much of their terrifying secrecy in the course of the centuries, and became the subject of discussion among the adepts.^ Tonight we'll be discussing what is probably the single most controversial subject in the world today: Zionism.
  • PodOmatic | Podcast - Gnostic Media - Jan Irvin 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC gnosticmedia.podomatic.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

 ^ As already discussed, the list of inspired books was well known even in the second century, with only a handful of books in doubt.
  • The Da Vinci Code, Gnosticism, Leonard Da Vinci, and the Bible 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC gospelway.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Through Joseph Smith, Jesus Christ revealed, restored, and corrected the doctrines that were lost, changed, or corrupted during the centuries after the death of the original apostles.
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

 Magic, at first approached with fear, likewise loses its terrifying aspects as the circle of its disciples enlarges. .The same thing happened in the case of gnosticism, which was itself largely colored by magic.^ In my case, this is because, even if I will never experience anything that happens to them, I still want things to go better, rather than worse, for my dependents.
  • The Philosophy of the Matrix 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC onwardoverland.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Richard, you are exactly right: the important thing is not the historicity of Gnosticism but how Gnostic themes/archetypes operate within BM itself.
  • http://www.jadaproductions.com/cormacmccarthy/getthread.asp?mydate=All&recordnumber=44788&threadnumber=9636&threadname=McCarthy%27s+Southern+Works&threadtopic=Gnosticism+in+Blood+Meridian&UserName=&UserPassword= 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.jadaproductions.com [Source type: Original source]

 .Hence it may be assumed that the scattered references of the amoraim of the third to the fifth century C.E., which in view of the statements made by the heresiologists of the Christian Church are recognized as being gnostic in nature,contain much older gnostic thought.^ Both the early Christians and the early Gnostics recognized that their views were mutually incompatible.
  • The Da Vinci Code, Gnosticism, Leonard Da Vinci, and the Bible 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC gospelway.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Gnosticism is the modern term used to refer to a religious and philosophical movement that originated in the first or second century A.D., that was especially strong in the second and third centuries A.D. and that was considered heretical by the majority of Christians at that time as well as the majority of pagan bearers of the Platonic philosophical traditions (i.e., Neo-Platonists).
  • The Da Vinci Opportunity: How the Da Vinci Code Can Be Helpful 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.markdroberts.com [Source type: General]

 ^ Bricaud and Chevillon had early given their gnostic churches a Christian basis, however heretical it might seem.
  • Ecclesia Gnostica Catholica : Gnostic Catholic Church 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC user.cyberlink.ch [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

 .They are quoted in the names of later scribes only because the latter modified the ideas in question or connected them with passages of Scripture, and not because they were the authors of them or the originators of the system.^ This harmless author was kidnapped off the street and impressed into the gnostic camp, because he is a rational man and rationality was what they lacked.
  • Answering Gnosticism 23 September 2009 4:37 UTC thriceholy.net [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Acts 17:11 - The Bereans were noble-minded, because they searched the Scriptures to determine whether or not they were being taught the truth.
  • The Da Vinci Code, Gnosticism, Leonard Da Vinci, and the Bible 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC gospelway.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ At a later date they were put forth as the original revelation of a personal teacher, and were made the foundation of the historical fiction concocted in the four gospels that were canonized at last.
  • Gnostic and Historic Christianity 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.africawithin.com [Source type: Original source]

 .It is also highly probable that a not inconsiderable part of the earliest Jewish gnosis is still extant, though in somewhat modified form, in the mystical small midrashim that have been collected in Jellinek's "Bet ha-Midrash," and in the medieval products of the Jewish Cabala.^ Only later, and as a result of the contact with medieval Jewish philosophy, the Kabbalah became a Jewish mystical theology, more or less systematically elaborated.
  • TNN Online: Theology News Network - Messianic Issues - The Effect of Mysticism and Gnosticism on the Messianic Movement 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.tnnonline.net [Source type: Original source]

 ^ While it has existed in various primitive forms, Jewish mysticism was a major competing outside influence with Gnosticism in the First Century.
  • TNN Online: Theology News Network - Messianic Issues - The Effect of Mysticism and Gnosticism on the Messianic Movement 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.tnnonline.net [Source type: Original source]

 ^ The general character of Asian religion, Weber concluded, was a form of Gnosis , that is, knowledge in the spiritual mystically acquired [not from God, but "mystically acquired"].
  • Gnosticism (Forerunner Commentary) :: Bible Tools 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC bibletools.org [Source type: Original source]

 .Although at present means are not at hand to distinguish the earlier from the later elements, it is undeniable that the devotees of secret science and magic in general can not be easily exterminated, though they may seem to disappear from time to time.^ You may easily unsubscribe at any time.
  • Gnosticism (Forerunner Commentary) :: Bible Tools 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC bibletools.org [Source type: Original source]

 ^ It may include the number of Pneumatics who, at present, are trapped in the Lower Aeons, but will come to know (gnosis) that they belong in the Upper Aeons.
  • A GLOSSARY OF GNOSTIC TERMS A - F 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.gnosticq.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ The rite of the Bridal Chamber may imitate and ritually make present that anticipated event at the end of time.
  • A GLOSSARY OF GNOSTIC TERMS A - F 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.gnosticq.com [Source type: Original source]

 .Krochmal, and after him Joel, have already pointed out gnostic doctrines in the Zohar.^ It's significant to point out that fatalism was sometimes an accusation against Gnosticism and this attitude of Augustine may be a carryover from his own Gnostic background.
  • Marmalade - semi-random musings - Posts tagged by "". 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC my.opera.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ I’d also like to point out (as you already know) that you are accountable for the knowledge you have.
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ What matters most about Him, from a Gnostic point of view, is the content of His revelations, since these supposedly enable us to achieve spiritual immortality.
  • The Da Vinci Opportunity: How the Da Vinci Code Can Be Helpful 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.markdroberts.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

 .Further investigation will show the relationship of gnosticism to the Cabala, as well as that of both to magic in general.^ Their position shows how comparatively flexible the Church was in its early years, because the writings of both have much similarity to Gnostic thought.
  • Gnostic Christianity and the Myth of Sophia 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.essene.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ What you and many well meaning Christians would offer them would be breaking the bonds of relationship, creating further isolation, fragmentation, guilt and shame.
  • Touchstone Magazine - Mere Comments: Egalitarian Gnosticism? 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC merecomments.typepad.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ The Gnostic nature of this Christ is further and fully corroborated by both Irenus and Tertullian.
  • Gnostic and Historic Christianity 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.africawithin.com [Source type: Original source]

Definition and Terminology.

.In the gnosticism of the second century "three elements must be observed, the speculative and philosophical, the ritualistic and mystical, and the practical and ascetic" (Harnack, l.c. p.^ Things like Jewish mysticism, numerology, Hebrew letter pictures, the Bible code, and Gnostic writings have very little practical value in them.
  • TNN Online: Theology News Network - Messianic Issues - The Effect of Mysticism and Gnosticism on the Messianic Movement 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.tnnonline.net [Source type: Original source]

 ^ You can define Gnostics narrowly enough so that the term becomes limited to a set of groups starting in the second century, but that is just a definition of convvenience.
  • Marmalade - semi-random musings - Posts tagged by "". 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC my.opera.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ While it has existed in various primitive forms, Jewish mysticism was a major competing outside influence with Gnosticism in the First Century.
  • TNN Online: Theology News Network - Messianic Issues - The Effect of Mysticism and Gnosticism on the Messianic Movement 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.tnnonline.net [Source type: Original source]

 219). .These three elements may all be traced to Jewish sources.^ When these elements are combined with Jewish zeal, a religion was created that undoubtedly appealed to a large segment of the Christian church.
  • Gnosticism (Forerunner Commentary) :: Bible Tools 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC bibletools.org [Source type: Original source]

 ^ This Jewish source sums up what Kabbalah is all about quite well.
  • TNN Online: Theology News Network - Messianic Issues - The Effect of Mysticism and Gnosticism on the Messianic Movement 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.tnnonline.net [Source type: Original source]

 ^ The most widely discussed of all Gnostic philosophers, he was known for his eloquence and the genius of his theological ideas, derived from a blend of Platonic, Hermetic, Jewish, and Christian elements.
  • Gnostic Christianity and the Myth of Sophia 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.essene.com [Source type: Original source]

 .The ritualistic and mystical element, however, was here much less developed than in Judæo-Christian and Christian gnosticism, as the liturgical worship and the religio-legal life had been definitely formulated for many ages.^ Mani was heavily influenced by Gnostic Christianity-calling himself a "disciple of Christ" and the Paraclete", or biblical healer.

 ^ However, Jewish mysticism continued to live on, and now there is an attempt among many to revive both of them in todays world.
  • TNN Online: Theology News Network - Messianic Issues - The Effect of Mysticism and Gnosticism on the Messianic Movement 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.tnnonline.net [Source type: Original source]

 ^ The esoteric tradition of Solomon spanned the centuries to the era of Gnostic Christianity which preceded the Merovingian Age.

 Although very clear traces of it exist, it is difficult to determine exactly the limits of gnosis and to distinguish between what belongs to its domain and what to the domains of theology and magic. .This difficulty is due to the nature of gnosis itself, the chief characteristic of which is syncretism, and also to the nature of the Jewish sources, which do not deal with definite problems, but with various questions indiscriminately.^ Some of these essays are more pedagogical in nature - instructing the reader in the various ways in which The Matrix raises questions that have been tackled throughout history by prominent philosophers.
  • The Philosophy of the Matrix 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC onwardoverland.com [Source type: Original source]

 .If the gnostic systems were not known through other sources, the statements relating to them in the rabbinical works could not be recognized.^ In other words, man can become a god through the immediate knowledge of the spiritual truth held by the ancient Gnostics.

 ^ I am trying to work my way through some of the major symbols and themes of BM and show that reading them through a Gnostic lens is illuminating of the text as a whole.
  • http://www.jadaproductions.com/cormacmccarthy/getthread.asp?mydate=All&recordnumber=44788&threadnumber=9636&threadname=McCarthy%27s+Southern+Works&threadtopic=Gnosticism+in+Blood+Meridian&UserName=&UserPassword= 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.jadaproductions.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ The sources of Gnosticism for William Blake, Cormac McCarthy and Harold Bloom are distinct from each other and each distinct from the original Gnostics.
  • http://www.jadaproductions.com/cormacmccarthy/getthread.asp?mydate=All&recordnumber=4144&threadnumber=736&threadname=McCarthy%27s+Western+Novels&threadtopic=%22Blood+Meridian%22+and+Gnosticism&UserName=&UserPassword= 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.jadaproductions.com [Source type: Original source]

 .These elements were, in fact, discovered only in the first half of the last century (Krochmal, Grätz), and new ones have been ascertained by more recent investigators (Joel, Friedländer, etc.^ Peter 3:15,16; 1 Timothy 5:18 - First-century Christians studied New Testament writings and cited them as authority.
  • The Da Vinci Code, Gnosticism, Leonard Da Vinci, and the Bible 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC gospelway.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ These documents were all written in the latter half of the first century, and add even further support to the reliability of the New Testament gospels in the things that matter most to Christians, and that are denied by the Gnostics.
  • The Da Vinci Opportunity: How the Da Vinci Code Can Be Helpful 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.markdroberts.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

 ^ THE SON AS AUTOGENES, SELF-BEGOTTEN, ONLY-BEGOTTEN, FIRST-BEGOTTEN - Although the One is referred to above as ‘self-begotten’, usually the term Autogenes describes the Son (who is either the Word, the saviour Seth or the Christ).
  • A GLOSSARY OF GNOSTIC TERMS A - F 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.gnosticq.com [Source type: Original source]

 ); much, however, still remains to be done.
.The speculations concerning the Creation and the heavenly throne-chariot (i.e., concerning the dwelling-place and the nature of God), or, in other words, the philosophizings on heaven and earth, are expressly designated as gnostic.^ There is one God, the creator and sustainer of the heavens and the earth.
  • United Communities of Spirit 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC origin.org [Source type: Original source]
  • United Communities of Spirit 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.origin.org [Source type: Original source]

 ^ I believe in God the father almighty, creator of heaven and earth.
  • United Communities of Spirit 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC origin.org [Source type: Original source]
  • United Communities of Spirit 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.origin.org [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Berachot 55a, Bezalel knew how to combine the letters by which the heavens and earth were created.
  • TNN Online: Theology News Network - Messianic Issues - The Effect of Mysticism and Gnosticism on the Messianic Movement 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.tnnonline.net [Source type: Original source]

 .The principal passage with reference thereto is as follows: "Forbidden marriages must not be discussed before three, nor the Creation before two, nor the throne-chariot even before one, unless he be a sage who comprehends in virtue of his own knowledge ["hakam u-mebin mida'ato"].^ A one must be a one, even if it is also many.
  • http://www.jadaproductions.com/cormacmccarthy/getthread.asp?mydate=All&recordnumber=44788&threadnumber=9636&threadname=McCarthy%27s+Southern+Works&threadtopic=Gnosticism+in+Blood+Meridian&UserName=&UserPassword= 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.jadaproductions.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ He regards Hobbes as a thinker who has willfully misrepresented his own knowledge; he accuses Hobbes of saying things that he knows to be untrue.
  • Gnostic but not Rationalist 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.artsci.lsu.edu [Source type: Original source]

 ^ THE SON AS AUTOGENES, SELF-BEGOTTEN, ONLY-BEGOTTEN, FIRST-BEGOTTEN - Although the One is referred to above as ‘self-begotten’, usually the term Autogenes describes the Son (who is either the Word, the saviour Seth or the Christ).
  • A GLOSSARY OF GNOSTIC TERMS A - F 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.gnosticq.com [Source type: Original source]

 .Whoever regards four things would better not have been born: the things above, the things below, the things that were before, and the things that shall be.^ For whoever does these things is detestable to the Lord ; and because of these detestable things the Lord your God will drive them out before you.
  • TNN Online: Theology News Network - Messianic Issues - The Effect of Mysticism and Gnosticism on the Messianic Movement 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.tnnonline.net [Source type: Original source]

 .Whoever has no regard for the honor of his God would better not have been born" (Ḥag.^ If God is no deceiver, then if (3) is false, we would in Heaven know that we have no free will.
  • The Philosophy of the Matrix 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC onwardoverland.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ I would feel much better about giving in to those urges that I feel I was born with, being promiscuous that is, and it would help a great deal to at least have the law of the land recognize its validity even if God doesn’t.
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Or did a man become the first God, no that makes no sense as man has to be a spirit baby in order to choose where on Earth to be born.
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

 ii. 1). As Johanan b. Zakkai refers to this interdiction, it must have been formulated in pre-Christian times (Tosef., Ḥag. ii. 1, and parallels). The characteristic words "hakam u-mebin mi-da'ato" occur here, corresponding to the Greek designations γνῶσις and γνωστικοί (I Tim. vi. 20; I Cor. viii. 1-3). .The threefold variation of the verb (image) in the following passage is most remarkable: "In order that one may know and make known and that it become known, that the same is the God, the Maker, and the Creator" (Abot iv.^ It is about coming to know God, and coming to know as we are known.
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ "In truth who knows God becomes God ."
  • Quotes - Religion - Theology - Judaism, Hinduism, Taoism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Christianity, Christian Gnosticism, Islam 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.macroknow.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ The 'Followers of Horus'...may be identified with a single and originally heliopolitan 'brotherhood' of temple-makers whose function was to prepare and initiate the generations of the Horus kings in order to bring about the 'resurrection' of what was remembered as 'the former world of the gods'."

 end; Krochmal, "Moreh Nebuke ha-Zeman," p. .208); these words clearly indicate the gnostic distinction between "God" and the "demiurge."^ These distinctions are present, at least implicitly, in most forms of Gnosticism, but Christian Gnosticism adds to this with the Christ figure.
  • http://www.jadaproductions.com/cormacmccarthy/getthread.asp?mydate=All&recordnumber=4144&threadnumber=736&threadname=McCarthy%27s+Western+Novels&threadtopic=%22Blood+Meridian%22+and+Gnosticism&UserName=&UserPassword= 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.jadaproductions.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ The true God and the creator God are distinct, the core instance of a dualism that holds throughout Gnosticism.
  • http://www.jadaproductions.com/cormacmccarthy/getthread.asp?mydate=All&recordnumber=4144&threadnumber=736&threadname=McCarthy%27s+Western+Novels&threadtopic=%22Blood+Meridian%22+and+Gnosticism&UserName=&UserPassword= 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.jadaproductions.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Egyptian religion also made the distinction between God who created the sun and the sun itself as the solar disk.
  • Marmalade - semi-random musings - Posts tagged by "". 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC my.opera.com [Source type: Original source]

 "Not their knowledge but my knowledge" (Ḥag. 15b), is an allusion to gnosis, as is also the statement that man has insight like angels (Gen. R. viii. 11 [ed. Theodor, p. 65, (image) ]). .These expressions also occur elsewhere, while γνῶσις and γνωστικός are not found once in the rabbinical vocabulary, though it has borrowed about 1,500 words from the Greek; it may be concluded, therefore, that these speculations are genuinely Jewish.^ These words, opening up his book The Wisdom of the Hebrew Alphabet , confirm that the theological meanings of Hebrew letters are derived from Jewish mysticism.
  • TNN Online: Theology News Network - Messianic Issues - The Effect of Mysticism and Gnosticism on the Messianic Movement 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.tnnonline.net [Source type: Original source]

 ^ These appeared around the One as its ‘images’ or ‘reflections’ in the mirror of the watery light (the Greek word eikon means both image and reflection).
  • A GLOSSARY OF GNOSTIC TERMS A - F 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.gnosticq.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ The Catholics are reminded about the Inquisition all the time, even though it occured in the 17th century.
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

 .In classical Greek γνωστικός does not mean "one who knows," but "that which is to be known"; hence the technical term may even have been coined under Jewish influence.^ One does not find in the Gnostic writings a concern for building a community of believers, though there may well have been such communities.
  • The Da Vinci Opportunity: How the Da Vinci Code Can Be Helpful 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.markdroberts.com [Source type: General]

 ^ THE SON AS AUTOGENES, SELF-BEGOTTEN, ONLY-BEGOTTEN, FIRST-BEGOTTEN - Although the One is referred to above as ‘self-begotten’, usually the term Autogenes describes the Son (who is either the Word, the saviour Seth or the Christ).
  • A GLOSSARY OF GNOSTIC TERMS A - F 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.gnosticq.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ The one book that lit crit types who want to dig Gnosticism and don't know anything about it yet use is Elaine Pagels.
  • http://www.jadaproductions.com/cormacmccarthy/getthread.asp?mydate=All&recordnumber=4144&threadnumber=736&threadname=McCarthy%27s+Western+Novels&threadtopic=%22Blood+Meridian%22+and+Gnosticism&UserName=&UserPassword= 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.jadaproductions.com [Source type: Original source]

A Secret Science.

.Gnosis was originally a secret science imparted only to the initiated (for instance, Basilides, in Epiphanius, "Hæreses," xxiv.^ Salvation does not come by means of Divine forgiveness but only through gnosis , or secret knowledge.
  • The Da Vinci Code, Gnosticism, Leonard Da Vinci, and the Bible 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC gospelway.com [Source type: Original source]

 5) who had to bind themselves by oath, ἄητα φυλάξαι τὰ τῆς διδασκαλίδα σιγώμενα (Justin, "Gnost." in Hippolytus, "Philosophosemena," v. 24; comp. ib. v. 7: ἀπόῤῥητος λόγος και μυστικός; also Wobbermin, "Religions-geschichte Studien zur Frage der Beeinflussung des Urchristenthums Durch das Antike Mysterien wesen," p. 149; and Aurich, "Das Antike Mysterienwesen in Seinem Einfluss auf das Christenthum," p. 79). .The gnostic schools and societies, however, could not have made very great demands on their adherents, or they could not have increased enough to endanger the Church as they did.^ However this was a very uncommon form of Gnosticism.
  • http://www.jadaproductions.com/cormacmccarthy/getthread.asp?mydate=All&recordnumber=4144&threadnumber=736&threadname=McCarthy%27s+Western+Novels&threadtopic=%22Blood+Meridian%22+and+Gnosticism&UserName=&UserPassword= 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.jadaproductions.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ They did not have a great amount of influence over the common people, who viewed them as collaborators with Rome.
  • TNN Online: Theology News Network - Messianic Issues - The Effect of Mysticism and Gnosticism on the Messianic Movement 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.tnnonline.net [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Bricaud and Chevillon had early given their gnostic churches a Christian basis, however heretical it might seem.
  • Ecclesia Gnostica Catholica : Gnostic Catholic Church 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC user.cyberlink.ch [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

 The Pneumatics, who formed a closed community, endeavored to enlarge it (Herzog-Hauck, l.c. vi. 734). .Indeed, most gnostic sects probably carried on an open propaganda, and the same may be observed in the case of Jewish gnosticism.^ But in a religion so vulnerable to centrifrugal forces as gnosticism it seems to me that it would be possible for commonly used words to not necessarily carry the same meaning.
  • http://www.jadaproductions.com/cormacmccarthy/getthread.asp?mydate=All&recordnumber=4144&threadnumber=736&threadname=McCarthy%27s+Western+Novels&threadtopic=%22Blood+Meridian%22+and+Gnosticism&UserName=&UserPassword= 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.jadaproductions.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ There have not been that many, thankfully, who have delved into the Bible code, but the thinking behind the Bible code is very much related to the same thinking of Jewish mysticism and Gnosticism.
  • TNN Online: Theology News Network - Messianic Issues - The Effect of Mysticism and Gnosticism on the Messianic Movement 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.tnnonline.net [Source type: Original source]

 ^ As previously discussed, the Gnostic sects were a mix of Greco-Roman religion, and beliefs from the mystery cults, Jewish mysticism, and Eastern religion.
  • TNN Online: Theology News Network - Messianic Issues - The Effect of Mysticism and Gnosticism on the Messianic Movement 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.tnnonline.net [Source type: Original source]

 The chief passages, quoted above, forbid in general the teaching of this system, and Eleazar (3d cent.) refused in fact to let Johanan (d. 279) teach him it. .Origen, who lived at the same time in Palestine, also knew the "Merkabah" as a secret science ("Contra Celsum," vi.^ You know those people who are stuck in the same place in their lives?
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ The man who believes that the secrets of this world are forever hidden lives in mystery and fear.
  • http://www.jadaproductions.com/cormacmccarthy/getthread.asp?mydate=All&recordnumber=44788&threadnumber=9636&threadname=McCarthy%27s+Southern+Works&threadtopic=Gnosticism+in+Blood+Meridian&UserName=&UserPassword= 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.jadaproductions.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ After staying for some time in North Africa as Augustine's disciple, he was reportedly sent by him in 415 to Palestine with a letter of introduction to Jerome, then living in Bethlehem.
  • Marmalade - semi-random musings - Posts tagged by "". 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC my.opera.com [Source type: Original source]

 18; comp. Friedländer, "Der Vorchristliche Jüdische Gnosticismus," pp. 51-57, on Philo and the conditions of being initiated). Joseph, the Babylonian amora (d. 322), studied the "Merkabah"; the ancients of Pumbedita studied "the story of the Creation" (Ḥag. 13a). .As they studied it together, they were no longer strict in preserving secrecy.^ When Yeshua and His Disciples walk down a road together, it can no longer be treated as them walking down a road.
  • TNN Online: Theology News Network - Messianic Issues - The Effect of Mysticism and Gnosticism on the Messianic Movement 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.tnnonline.net [Source type: Original source]

 ^ When a blind man and one who sees are both together in darkness, they are no different from one another.
  • A GLOSSARY OF GNOSTIC TERMS A - F 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.gnosticq.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Maybe they think something could go wrong with the machines, or maybe they keep forgetting that while in the machine they will no longer be aware of their choice to enter the machine.
  • The Philosophy of the Matrix 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC onwardoverland.com [Source type: Original source]

 .Still less concealment was there in post-Talmudic times, and hardly any in the Middle Ages.^ Interestingly enough, under its entry for Sorcery, EJ tells us that While there is no information about the measure of law enforcement in this field in talmudic and pre-talmudic times, it seems certain that this branch of the law fell into disuse in the Middle Ages.
  • TNN Online: Theology News Network - Messianic Issues - The Effect of Mysticism and Gnosticism on the Messianic Movement 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.tnnonline.net [Source type: Original source]

 ^ While polygamy has been officially abolished in current times, the Church still maintains that in Heaven there will be polygamy.
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ There is no basis for forcing anything else out of the lines, and no writer tried to do so until the early Middle Ages.
  • Eucharist... actual body and blood? 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC forums.ccmmagazine.com [Source type: Original source]

 Philosophy never has been hedged with secrecy, and the mandate of secrecy reminds one of the κρύβε, κρύβε of the magic papyri. .Gnosis was concealed because it might prove disastrous to the unworthy and uninitiated, like magic formulas.^ I don't watch it like I used to partly because when Magic retired I was watching all the news coverage and crying like a baby.

 .By "correct knowledge" the upper and the lower world may be put in motion.^ Therefore, when he is about to go down into the water, he unclothes himself, in order that he may put on the living man (garment of light).” (Gospel of Philip) - One strips off the garments of the Lower Aeons (darkness, abyss, corporeal and psychic existence) and puts on the garments of the Upper Aeons (light, knowledge, thought, Fatherhood).
  • A GLOSSARY OF GNOSTIC TERMS A - F 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.gnosticq.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ It may include the number of Pneumatics who, at present, are trapped in the Lower Aeons, but will come to know (gnosis) that they belong in the Upper Aeons.
  • A GLOSSARY OF GNOSTIC TERMS A - F 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.gnosticq.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ And the light will withdraw up to its root.” (On the Origin of the World) - The Lower Aeons are called the Deficiency because they lack the Upper Aeons’ light and fullness.
  • A GLOSSARY OF GNOSTIC TERMS A - F 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.gnosticq.com [Source type: Original source]

 .When Eleazar was discussing the thronechariot, fire came down from heaven and flamed around those present; the attending angels danced before them, like wedding-guests before the groom, and the trees intoned songs of praise.^ Egyptians and Phoenicians believed that the phoenix was the representation of a god who 'rose to heaven in the form of a morning star, like Lucifer, after his fire-immolation of death and rebirth.

 ^ Again and Again Jesus first repeated what he said, then summarized: "I am the living bread which came down from heaven; if any one eats of this bread, he will live for ever; and the bread which I shall give for the life of the world is my flesh.
  • Eucharist... actual body and blood? 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC forums.ccmmagazine.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Now when Solomon had made an end of praying, the fire came down from heaven, and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices; and the glory of the LORD filled the house.

 .When Eliezerand Joshua were studying the Bible, "fire came down from heaven and flamed around them," so that the father of Elisha b.^ Brigham Young taught that Adam was actually God the father and that Eve was one of God’s many wives that he brought down from heaven.
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Now when Solomon had made an end of praying, the fire came down from heaven, and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices; and the glory of the LORD filled the house.

 ^ When King Solomon prayed to dedicate the Temple, fire came down from heaven.

 .Abuyah, the gnostic referred to below, asked affrightedly: "Do you mean to set my house on fire?"^ If you want to evaluate my judgment of the Gnostic gospels, go ahead and check these out as well.
  • The Da Vinci Opportunity: How the Da Vinci Code Can Be Helpful 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.markdroberts.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

 ^ The world is very big, you know…) 3) You assume my family is in any way religious, that I have ever had Scriptures in my house or that they were ever read to me.
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ You can define Gnostics narrowly enough so that the term becomes limited to a set of groups starting in the second century, but that is just a definition of convvenience.
  • Marmalade - semi-random musings - Posts tagged by "". 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC my.opera.com [Source type: Original source]

 (Yer. Ḥag. 77a, b; comp. Lev. R. xvi. 4; Friedländer, "Der Vorchristliche Jüdische Gnosticismus," p. 59). .These men were all pupils of Johanan b.^ And if ye shall believe in Christ ye will believe in these words, for they are the words of Christ, and he hath given them unto me; and they teach all men that they should do good.
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ But other men in the picture have some of these characteristics, and "Phillip" has all these characteristics.
  • The Da Vinci Code, Gnosticism, Leonard Da Vinci, and the Bible 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC gospelway.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ And if ye shall believe in Christ ye will believe in these words, for they are the words of Christ, and he hath given them unto me; and they teach all men that they should do good.” (2 Nephi 33:6,9,10) .
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

 Zakkai. .When two other scholars interpreted the Merkabah the earth shook and a rainbow appeared in the clouds, although it was summer.^ JUDAS THOMAS THE TWIN - Although two important gospels are attributed to Thomas, this name appears to be an epithet for Judas.
  • A GLOSSARY OF GNOSTIC TERMS A - F 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.gnosticq.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Most scholars (but not all) believe that Matthew and Luke used Mark, so only two of these witnesses are independent of the others (Mark and John).
  • The Da Vinci Opportunity: How the Da Vinci Code Can Be Helpful 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.markdroberts.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

 .These stories indicate that this secret doctrine revealed the eternally acting media of the creation of heaven and earth.^ Berachot 55a, Bezalel knew how to combine the letters by which the heavens and earth were created.
  • TNN Online: Theology News Network - Messianic Issues - The Effect of Mysticism and Gnosticism on the Messianic Movement 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.tnnonline.net [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Revelations 10:6 And sware by him that liveth for ever and ever, who created heaven, and the things that therein are, and the earth, and the things that therein are, and the sea, and the things which are therein, that there should be time no longer: .
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Mysteries and of the series of Initiations was based: thence, the construction of the Pyramids, the everlasting record and the indestructible symbol of these Mysteries and Initiations on Earth, as the course of the stars are in Heaven.
Knowledge of this kind was dangerous for the uninitiated and unworthy. When a boy read the Merkabah (Ezek. i.) before his teacher and ."entered the ḥashmal with his knowledge" [ (image) ], fire came out of the ḥashmal [comp.^ And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them.

 Ezek. i. 4, "as ḥashmal out of the fire"] and consumed him [Ḥag. .13a], for the boy was one who knew [ (image) = γνωστικός].^ If any one knew the truth it would be someone who has been the religion there whole life.
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ (Dialogue of the Saviour) - Thus, a man and woman may become consorts who recognize one another as the male and female reflections (or images) of one androgynous angel.
  • A GLOSSARY OF GNOSTIC TERMS A - F 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.gnosticq.com [Source type: Original source]

 .Gnosis is neither pure philosophy nor pure religion, but a combination of the two with magic, the latter being the dominant element, as it was the beginning of all religion and philosophy.^ One of its condemning features is that it combined certain elements of Christianity with the "mystery religions" extant at the time.
  • Gnosticism (Forerunner Commentary) :: Bible Tools 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC bibletools.org [Source type: Original source]

 ^ When these elements are combined with Jewish zeal, a religion was created that undoubtedly appealed to a large segment of the Christian church.
  • Gnosticism (Forerunner Commentary) :: Bible Tools 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC bibletools.org [Source type: Original source]

 ^ One of the things that we had talked about when we first had the idea of The Matrix was an idea that I believe philosophy and religion and mathematics all try to answer.
  • The Philosophy of the Matrix 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC onwardoverland.com [Source type: Original source]

 .The expression "to shake the world," used by the gnostic Bar Zoma (Gen.^ They are used as allegories to help conceptualize the Gnostic problem and so turn the initiate away from the world, and inward to his spiritual self.
  • http://www.jadaproductions.com/cormacmccarthy/getthread.asp?mydate=All&recordnumber=4144&threadnumber=736&threadname=McCarthy%27s+Western+Novels&threadtopic=%22Blood+Meridian%22+and+Gnosticism&UserName=&UserPassword= 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.jadaproductions.com [Source type: Original source]

 R. ii. 4, and parallels), reminds one of the origins of gnosis. .The phrase "to trim the plants," occurring in the second leading passage on Jewish gnosticism, quoted below, must be noted here, for it refers, of course, to the influencing of the heavenly world by gnostic means.^ Referring to Good (Light) and Darkness (Evil), Jonas notes that: the foundation of Manis teaching is the infinity of the primal principles; the middle part concerns their intermingling; and the end, the separation of the Light from the Darkness 10 Here, creation occurs during the Second Epoch, with Evil in control of the process.
  • IJBS 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.ubishops.ca [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Of course, the most transparent reference to Buddhist ideas occurs in the waiting room at the Oracle's apartment, where Neo is introduced to the "Potentials."
  • The Philosophy of the Matrix 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC onwardoverland.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Here, we must remember that a key characteristic of Gnosticism is the syndrome of the secret 136 or what Barthes calls the age-old struggle between a secret and an utterance.
  • IJBS 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.ubishops.ca [Source type: Original source]

Gnostic Signs.

The ophitic diagram that Krochmal shows in the pictures that "may not be looked upon" (Tosef., Shab., and parallels), is evidently derived from magic, for the cabalistic sign of the pentagram is found on one of the earliest shards (Bliss and Macalister, "Excavations in Palestine During the Years 1898-1900," plates 29, 42; Dr. Emaus, in "Vajda, Magyar Zsidó Szemle," xvii. 315 et seq.). .A mere reference to this view must suffice here; its importance has been noted by Anrich, l.c. pp.^ Note: This clip can be viewed here.
  • The Philosophy of the Matrix 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC onwardoverland.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ This is a fascinating and ongoing hermeneutic question, but I want to move on from the specifics of it here and address its primary importance from the point of view of our own thematic.
  • Marmalade - semi-random musings - Posts tagged by "". 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC my.opera.com [Source type: Original source]

 86-87; it points the way to an understanding of Jewish gnosis. .A few interesting examples may be given here.^ Here’s a link you may find interesting…also I forgot about Josef Stalin and Vlad the Impaler also being baptized as well.
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Here are a few examples that pertain especially to the life of Christ: .
  • The Da Vinci Code, Gnosticism, Leonard Da Vinci, and the Bible 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC gospelway.com [Source type: Original source]

 The following passage occurs in the Berlin Papyrus, i. .20, Parthey: "Take milk and honey and taste them, and something divine will be in your heart."^ When something is right He will let us know in our heart but it takes work on our part to seek and study it out in our mind and heart.
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ If you really have that type of heart, a need to repent, then why wait and take your chances.
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

 The Talmud, curiously enough (Ḥag. 13a), refers the phrase, "Honey and milk are under thy tongue" (Cant. iv. .11), to the Merkabah, one of the principal parts of Jewish gnosis, saying that the knowledge of the Merkabah, which is sweeter than milk and honey, shall remain under the tongue, meaning that it shall not be taught (comp.^ Each new being that ‘knows’ (gnosis) the One, becomes a part of the creation that reflects the One to itself - like a series of mirrors arranged row on row.
  • A GLOSSARY OF GNOSTIC TERMS A - F 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.gnosticq.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ One of the primary thrusts of Jewish mysticism was to view the Hebrew Scriptures as esoteric and try to find a hidden meaning behind everything.
  • TNN Online: Theology News Network - Messianic Issues - The Effect of Mysticism and Gnosticism on the Messianic Movement 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.tnnonline.net [Source type: Original source]

 ^ A question I have about gnosis is how in some forms it suggests literality, which is to say its not only about knowledge but the specific path to knowledge.
  • http://www.jadaproductions.com/cormacmccarthy/getthread.asp?mydate=All&recordnumber=44788&threadnumber=9636&threadname=McCarthy%27s+Southern+Works&threadtopic=Gnosticism+in+Blood+Meridian&UserName=&UserPassword= 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.jadaproductions.com [Source type: Original source]

 Dietrich, "Abraxas." p. 157; "honey and milk must be offered"). .The Valentinians taught that in order to attain salvation the pneumatic required nothing further "than gnosis and the formulæ [ἐπιήματα] of the mysteries" (Epiphanius, "Hæreses," xxxi.^ He taught that nature rather than reason is the true reality; nothing exists but atoms and voidThe chief purpose of man is to achieve happiness.
  • TNN Online: Theology News Network - Messianic Issues - The Effect of Mysticism and Gnosticism on the Messianic Movement 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.tnnonline.net [Source type: Original source]

 7).

The Four Who Entered Paradise.

"Four scholars, Ben Azzai, Ben Zoma, Aḥer [Elisha b. .Abuyah], and Rabbi Akiba, entered paradise [ (image) = πασάδεισος]; Ben Azzai beheld it and died; Ben Zoma beheld it and went mad; Aḥer beheld it and trimmed the plants; Akiba went in and came out in peace" (Tosef., Ḥag.^ And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them.

 ii. 3; Ḥag. 14b; Yer. Ḥag. 77b; Cant. R. i. 4). .The entering into paradise must be taken literally, as Blau points out ("Altjüdisches Zauberwesen," pp.^ Nietzsche points out that human beings are normally socialized into shared, banal social meanings, and that it is hard to think differently.
  • The Philosophy of the Matrix 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC onwardoverland.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ As a member of the church, you must know that every item on this list is true and accurate and no scripture has been taken out of context.
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ He pointed out that all thinking presupposes a thinker: even in doubting, you realize that there must at least be a self which is doing the doubting.
  • The Philosophy of the Matrix 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC onwardoverland.com [Source type: Original source]

 115 et seq.). .The following proof may be added to those given there: "In the beginning of the Paris Papyrus is that great ἀπαθανατισμός, in which the mystic rises above stars and suns ἔν ἐκστάσει οὐκ ἐν ἐαυτῳ ὤν, near to the Godhead.^ Towards the beginning of the monologue there is the following riff on Western culture's obsession with rational knowledge and technological power.
  • http://www.jadaproductions.com/cormacmccarthy/getthread.asp?mydate=All&recordnumber=4144&threadnumber=736&threadname=McCarthy%27s+Western+Novels&threadtopic=%22Blood+Meridian%22+and+Gnosticism&UserName=&UserPassword= 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.jadaproductions.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ It may not be as organized from Rome down (as it is from Salt Lake City down), but there is an expectation that weekly offerings will be given and that there is a spiritual reward for that offering.
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ It seems that there may have been a few doctrinal similarities, but those similarities would also have been shared with the Pharisees.
  • TNN Online: Theology News Network - Messianic Issues - The Effect of Mysticism and Gnosticism on the Messianic Movement 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.tnnonline.net [Source type: Original source]

 By such art Iamblichus, freed from his body, endeavored to enter the felicity of the gods ['De Mysteriis,' i. .12], and thus his slaves said that they had seen him, ten ells above the earth, his body and garments gleaming in golden beauty" (Dietrich, l.c. p.^ They invite a former classmate, David Kentley, to their apartment for drinks, strangle him, and hide his body in a chest, thus, they believe, demonstrating their superiority.
  • http://www.jadaproductions.com/cormacmccarthy/getthread.asp?mydate=All&recordnumber=44788&threadnumber=9636&threadname=McCarthy%27s+Southern+Works&threadtopic=Gnosticism+in+Blood+Meridian&UserName=&UserPassword= 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.jadaproductions.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ They said to him "Why do you love her more than all of us?"
  • A GLOSSARY OF GNOSTIC TERMS A - F 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.gnosticq.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ KJV - For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead ; so that they are without excuse.

 152). Paul (II Cor. xii. 1-4) speaks similarly of paradise, a passage that Joel ("Die Religionsgesch." i. 163, note 3) misinterprets as a "picture of gnosis." This instructive passage is as follows: "It is not expedient for me, doubtless, to glory. I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord. .I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago (whether in the body, I can not tell; or whether out of the body, I can not tell: God knoweth); such an one caught up to the third heaven.^ Was God one a man?
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Third off, oh what the heck, I’ll just tell you what I think…remember though, I might be one of the less than edumacated ones.
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ What is interesting about Arctor is that he has a split personality such that one half of him is both spying on and looking out for his other half.
  • Marmalade - semi-random musings - Posts tagged by "". 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC my.opera.com [Source type: Original source]

 And I know such a man. . . . .How that he was caught up into paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter."^ And Ananias hearing these words fell down, and gave up the ghost: and great fear came on all them that heard these things.
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ The more sure word of prophecy means a man’s knowing that he is sealed up unto eternal life, by revelation and the spirit of prophecy, through the power of the Holy Priesthood.
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ I didn’t realize how long it had been around, there were members of it that were born into it that had only heard of Christ.
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

"Trimming the Plants."

.Philo says, similarly: "Some one might ask, 'If true holiness consists in imitating the deeds of God, why should I be forbidden to plant a grove in the sanctuary of God, since God did the same thing when He planted a garden?'^ Some things are just true no matter what anyone else says.
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Why doesn’t God say what he means.
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Here, then, is eternal life – to know the only wise and true God; and you have got to learn how to be Gods yourselves,… the same as all Gods have done before you…” .
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

 . . . .While God plants and sows the beautiful in the soul, the spirit sins, saying, 'I plant '" ("De Allegoriis Legum," §§ 52 et seq.; ed.^ Romans 3:23 says all have sinned and > > fallen short of the glory of God so they fail the doctrinal test.
  • The Bible proved right again. - Atheism vs Christianity | Google Groups 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC groups.google.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
  • The Bible proved right again. - Atheism vs Christianity | Google Groups 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC groups.google.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

 ^ A Kabbalistic dictum likens the letters to human beings, as it were, saying that every letter has body, spirit, and soul .
  • TNN Online: Theology News Network - Messianic Issues - The Effect of Mysticism and Gnosticism on the Messianic Movement 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.tnnonline.net [Source type: Original source]

 ^ On the other hand, only God through His Grace is responsible for lifting the soul out of sin.
  • Marmalade - semi-random musings - Posts tagged by "". 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC my.opera.com [Source type: Original source]

 Mangey, §§ 117 et seq.). Philo here speaks also of trimming the trees. .It is evident that this is the language of gnosis, but the words are used allegorically, as in Scripture.^ We are told that the Holy Spirit is essentially masculine, but the Hebrew word used in the Scriptures to denote spirit is Ruach, a feminine noun.

 ^ We must be able to look at Hebrew words in passages of Scripture and see how they are used in other passages of Scripture, to determine their correct Biblical meaning.
  • TNN Online: Theology News Network - Messianic Issues - The Effect of Mysticism and Gnosticism on the Messianic Movement 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.tnnonline.net [Source type: Original source]

 ^ The language used is polytheistic, and in the light of Scripture should be rejected; but the doctrine intended by this language in the context of the teachings of the fathers and of Eastern Orthodoxy is quite biblical, and is thus not actually polytheistic.

 .The literal interpretation here is perhaps also the correct one.^ Thus we have here one of the oldest literary witnesses to the essentials of the Christian gospel, which centers in the theological interpretation of the historical death and resurrection of Jesus.
  • The Da Vinci Opportunity: How the Da Vinci Code Can Be Helpful 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.markdroberts.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

 .The mystic imitates God, as Philo says, in planting a grove—that is, the mystic becomes himself a creator.^ The Lord created you and me for the purpose of becoming Gods like himself.” .
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Great Tribulation : Gnostic mysticism will lead mankind into the Luciferic initiation with the delusion of becoming gods.

 ^ In one story the demiurge creates the world and in living within it actually forgets there is power high than himself and comes to think of himself as the one true god.
  • http://www.jadaproductions.com/cormacmccarthy/getthread.asp?mydate=All&recordnumber=4144&threadnumber=736&threadname=McCarthy%27s+Western+Novels&threadtopic=%22Blood+Meridian%22+and+Gnosticism&UserName=&UserPassword= 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.jadaproductions.com [Source type: Original source]

 He likewise has the power to destroy. .There were books on the plants of the seven planets—for example, a work by Hermes, Βοτάναι τῶν 'Αροσκόπων (Dietrich, l.c. p.^ But there were also texts describing the Qumrans communitys behavior and practices, as well as some sectarian extra-Biblical works like the Book of Enoch.
  • TNN Online: Theology News Network - Messianic Issues - The Effect of Mysticism and Gnosticism on the Messianic Movement 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.tnnonline.net [Source type: Original source]

 157, note 1). Hence the planets were also regarded as "plantations," and Aḥer's "trimming of the plants" in paradise must be interpreted in this sense. Berechiah (4th cent.) interpreted the words of Canticles i. .4, "God brought me into his apartments," to refer to the mysteries of the Creation and the throne of God (Cant.^ The topics of your questions have gone deeper into God’s mysteries than any other religion even attempts to aproach.
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ "The structure [of the Church] itself will be overthrown, when, in the vivid language of a living writer, 'Human reason leaps into the throne of God and waves her torch over the ruins of the Universe.'"

 ^ Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever.

 R. ad loc.; Bacher, "Ag. Bab. Amor." iii. 356). Hence he regarded the knowledge of the Merkabah as an entering of the apartments of God, or as entering the "Pardes." .Akiba says to his companions who have entered paradise: "When you come to the pure marble stones, do not say, 'Water, water!'^ What will come will come, you have no say in that whatsoever.
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Are you saying that one can enter the Celestial Kingdom without being sealed in celestial marriage to a spouse in a temple while alive (or after death by proxy?
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ The traitor Cypher, who represents Judas Iscariot, among other figures, ironically says to Neo, "Man, you scared the B'Jesus outta me."
  • The Philosophy of the Matrix 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC onwardoverland.com [Source type: Original source]

 for of this it is said (Ps. ci. .7): 'He that worketh deceit shall not dwell within my house'" (Ḥag.^ Protennoia: “I am the life of my Epinoia that dwells within every Power and every eternal movement, and (in) invisible Lights and within the Archons and Angels and Demons, and every soul dwelling in Tartaros, and (in) every material soul.
  • A GLOSSARY OF GNOSTIC TERMS A - F 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.gnosticq.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

 ^ NEW HEAVENS & NEW EARTH Only the saved will inhabit the New Jerusalem; none shall dwell there who 'defileth or worketh abomination or maketh a lie'.

 xiv. 6). "Ben Zoma stood and pondered; R. Joshua passed him and addressed him once and twice, but received no answer. The third time he answered quickly. .Then Joshua said to him: 'Whence the feet [ (image) (image) ]?'^ And he (Yaltabaoth) said to the authorities which attend him, ‘Come, let us create a man according to the image of God and according to our likeness, that his image may become a light for us.’ (...
  • A GLOSSARY OF GNOSTIC TERMS A - F 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.gnosticq.com [Source type: Original source]

 He answered, 'Nothing "whence," my master.' .Then R. Joshua said, 'I call heaven and earth to witness that I will not stir from this placeuntil you answer me, Whence the feet?'^ You ask any church leader and they will tell you that polygamy has been abolished on earth, and they will likely be evasive when asked about polygamy in heaven.
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ In your comment #83, you said that Jehovah’s Witnesses must also tithe?
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ We don’t call it three heavens but there is heaven, and Jesus will set forth the new earth and hell is very real!!!
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

 .Ben Zoma answered thus: 'I was contemplating the Creation, and between the lower and the upper waters the distance is not greater than two or three fingers' breadth, for it is not written that the Spirit of God "moved," but that the Spirit of God "hovered," just as a bird moves his wings, and his wings touch it and do not touch it.'^ In the Upper Aeons, angelic beings reproduce when two consorts consent to ‘create’ a third.
  • A GLOSSARY OF GNOSTIC TERMS A - F 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.gnosticq.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Do they do anything other than create more spirit babies?
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ BODY - In Gnosticism, the body is regarded as a vessel, created by the Archons, to imprison spirits in the matter of the Lower Aeons.
  • A GLOSSARY OF GNOSTIC TERMS A - F 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.gnosticq.com [Source type: Original source]

 Joshua then turned and said to his pupils, 'Ben Zoma is gone [ (image) ].'" Ben Zoma remained on earth but a few days longer (Gen. R. ii. 17). The expression "is gone" refers to ecstasy, the corresponding expression in the parallel passages being (image) ("he is always beside himself").

The Creation of the World.

.Thinkers have devoted much time to speculations on the creation of the world; even the Jews who were loyal to the Law connected these speculations with the first chapter of the Torah, which dominated the whole of Jewish life and thought.^ Nay, ye cannot say this; for that same spirit which doth possess your bodies at the time that ye go out of this life, that same spirit will have power to possess your body in that eternal world.
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Revelations 10:6 And sware by him that liveth for ever and ever, who created heaven, and the things that therein are, and the earth, and the things that therein are, and the sea, and the things which are therein, that there should be time no longer: .
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ But by the time of Augustine, Christians still had not devoted much time and energy to theological reflection or interaction with the intellectual ideas circulating around the Mediterranean region.
  • Marmalade - semi-random musings - Posts tagged by "". 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC my.opera.com [Source type: Original source]

 .In order to check the philosophemes a scribe of the third century said, paraphrasing Prov.^ Luke 23:34a, "Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do" it was included by the first scribe, marked by the first corrector as doubtful, but a third corrector removed the mark.
  • The Bible proved right again. - Atheism vs Christianity | Google Groups 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC groups.google.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
  • The Bible proved right again. - Atheism vs Christianity | Google Groups 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC groups.google.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

 xxv. .2, "In the first chapter of the Torah it is the glory of God to conceal things; in the following ones, to search them out" (Gen.^ Descartes' own way out of his evil demon skepticism was to first argue that one cannot genuinely doubt the existence of oneself.
  • The Philosophy of the Matrix 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC onwardoverland.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Ruko: I was born and raised LDS. I know for a fact that none of these scriptures were taken out of context and that every one of these things is in fact actually believed by the LDS church.
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ One of the things that we had talked about when we first had the idea of The Matrix was an idea that I believe philosophy and religion and mathematics all try to answer.
  • The Philosophy of the Matrix 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC onwardoverland.com [Source type: Original source]

 R. ix., beginning). .In view of the unfriendly attitude of official Judaism the existence of the numerous gnostic allusions can be explained only on the ground that not all speculations on the Creation were held to touch upon the knowledge of the act of creation (comp.^ Whereas the Gnostics believed that truth could only come through revelation from God, contemporary interpreters of Gnosticism believe that we get to create it for ourselves, an utterly non-Gnostic article of faith.
  • The Da Vinci Opportunity: How the Da Vinci Code Can Be Helpful 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.markdroberts.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

 ^ They do not, for example, actually believe the wild cosmology of many Gnostic writers, with levels upon levels of heavenly beings, and with earth created by a fallen deity.
  • The Da Vinci Opportunity: How the Da Vinci Code Can Be Helpful 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.markdroberts.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

 ^ Explain to us” Jesus proceeds to explain it with absolute, instinctive truths and such an infallible logic, that it could only be available to the son of the Creator.
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

 the principal passage in Ḥagigah). The wise Joshua himself gives an explanation of the Creation (Gen. R. x. 3). .The leading questions of cosmology are: How, and by whom, and by what means, was the world created?^ This difference is expressed most clearly in the creation myths, which explain how our travesty of a world came about.
  • http://www.jadaproductions.com/cormacmccarthy/getthread.asp?mydate=All&recordnumber=4144&threadnumber=736&threadname=McCarthy%27s+Western+Novels&threadtopic=%22Blood+Meridian%22+and+Gnosticism&UserName=&UserPassword= 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.jadaproductions.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ That leads Grau to question the rationality of Cypher's choice to live in an illusory world of pleasant private experiences, rather than facing painful reality.
  • The Philosophy of the Matrix 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC onwardoverland.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ T hanks to Descartes, we moderns have to face the question: how can we ever get outside of our private inner experiences so as to come to know the things and people in the public external world?
  • The Philosophy of the Matrix 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC onwardoverland.com [Source type: Original source]

 ."A philosopher said to the patriarch Gamaliel II. (c. 100), 'Your God is a great builder, but He had efficient means—clay, darkness, and water, wind, and watery depths [tehom]'" (Gen.^ But Peter said to him, May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money!
  • TNN Online: Theology News Network - Messianic Issues - The Effect of Mysticism and Gnosticism on the Messianic Movement 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.tnnonline.net [Source type: Original source]

 ^ AND yet it is, according to your D&C practiced after life (which breaks down by the way to mean that only men will become Gods and the women will continue to be one of their many wives).
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ And can you imagine yourself in that great day of judgment to lie to God and say that your works have been works of righteousness upon the earth?
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

 R. i. 4). Johanan (d. .279) said: "One should not strive to know what was before the Creation, because in speaking of the palace of an earthly king one does not mention the dungheap that was formerly on that spot" (Ḥag.^ In one schema, the Elect are ‘pre-existent’ because they existed before the foundation of the world.
  • A GLOSSARY OF GNOSTIC TERMS A - F 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.gnosticq.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ This is necessary because, though The Da Vinci Code doesn't discuss Gnosticism directly, it does draw from Gnostic writings, and it does speak favorably of the gospels generally known as Gnostic.
  • The Da Vinci Opportunity: How the Da Vinci Code Can Be Helpful 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.markdroberts.com [Source type: General]

 ^ It’s all very complicated and confusing and it’s wrong to say ‘I know the truth and you don’t’, because no one knows it, really.
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

 16a). .One may see the nature of these speculations from such passages: "If God had not said to heaven and earth: 'Enough!'^ Yes, these are extreme examples, but such is the nature of life.
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ The contents of these confessions, which have largely to do with the nature of God and Jesus, have been affirmed by Christians for sixteen centuries.
  • The Da Vinci Opportunity: How the Da Vinci Code Can Be Helpful 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.markdroberts.com [Source type: General]

 ^ One does not find in the Gnostic writings a concern for building a community of believers, though there may well have been such communities.
  • The Da Vinci Opportunity: How the Da Vinci Code Can Be Helpful 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.markdroberts.com [Source type: General]

 they would still continue to extend" (Gen. R. iv. 6). .God is therefore called (image) ("he spake, (image) = "enough"), and among the Naasenes 'Ησαιδαῖος = (image) plays, in fact, an important part (Hilgenfeld, "Ketzesgeschichte des Urchristenthums," p.^ The most important texts of Augustine’s later period are the so-called ‘anti-Pelagian’ writings (dated 400 onwards) and the monumental City of God (completed in 426).
  • Marmalade - semi-random musings - Posts tagged by "". 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC my.opera.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ And I see that you chose to ignore the fact that you claimed that only > the resurrection is important to you while claiming that the miracles > are not so important, yet the resurrection IS A MIRACLE: > " > How does your god guide you, concretely speaking?
  • The Bible proved right again. - Atheism vs Christianity | Google Groups 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC groups.google.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
  • The Bible proved right again. - Atheism vs Christianity | Google Groups 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC groups.google.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

 ^ There are those that teach the theory of evolution as a fact, when in reality there are some parts that cannot be explained and there is a reason to why it is called the “theory of evolution”.
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

 257). .The spheres of the sun and moon are in the second of the seven heavens (Gen.^ Understand that you have within yourself, upon a small scale, a second universe: within you is a sun, there is a moon, and there are also stars.

 R. vi. 5). .The creation of light was especially puzzling, several kinds being distinguished (ib. iii.^ Zoroastrianism created the extreme dualism of dark and light, good and evil; and this emphasized God as being in polar opposition to evil.
  • Marmalade - semi-random musings - Posts tagged by "". 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC my.opera.com [Source type: Original source]

 4).

Demiurge.

Jewish thought was particularly sensitive in regard to monotheism, refusing all speculations that threatened or tended to obscure God's eternity and omnipotence. .R. Akiba explained that the mark of the accusative, (image) , before "heaven and earth" in the first verse of Genesis was used in order that the verse might not be interpreted to mean that heaven and earth created God ("Elohim": Gen.^ "The Hebrew word used to denominate God in Genesis is Elohim.

 ^ Gen 3:4,5 Lucifer's offspring are created after his image.

 ^ Berachot 55a, Bezalel knew how to combine the letters by which the heavens and earth were created.
  • TNN Online: Theology News Network - Messianic Issues - The Effect of Mysticism and Gnosticism on the Messianic Movement 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.tnnonline.net [Source type: Original source]

 R. i. .1), evidently attacking the gnostic theory according to which the supreme God is enthroned in unapproachable distance, while the world is connected with a demiurge (comp.^ In the Gnostic myth, the supreme god is completely perfect and therefore alien and mysterious, "ineffable," "unnamable," "immeasurable light which is pure, holy and immaculate" (Apocryphon of John).
  • The Philosophy of the Matrix 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC onwardoverland.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ But the above doesn't really weaken AB's argument about the judge's possible status as a 'demiurge' who would duplicate God's world, and produce an imperfect copy.
  • http://www.jadaproductions.com/cormacmccarthy/getthread.asp?mydate=All&recordnumber=4144&threadnumber=736&threadname=McCarthy%27s+Western+Novels&threadtopic=%22Blood+Meridian%22+and+Gnosticism&UserName=&UserPassword= 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.jadaproductions.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ You've touched on this already when you said "The judge could still be seeking after God, but just as the demiurge in his ignorance created this world, so Holden in his ignorance seeks God through knowledge of the world."
  • http://www.jadaproductions.com/cormacmccarthy/getthread.asp?mydate=All&recordnumber=4144&threadnumber=736&threadname=McCarthy%27s+Western+Novels&threadtopic=%22Blood+Meridian%22+and+Gnosticism&UserName=&UserPassword= 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.jadaproductions.com [Source type: Original source]

 Gen. R. viii. 9, and many parallel passages). The archons of the gnostics perhaps owe their existence to the word (image) = ἀρχή. The first change made by the seventy translators in their Greek version was, according to a baraita (2d cent. at latest), to place the word ."God" at the beginning of the first verse of Genesis.^ Did the first God have a wife to begin the process of exaltation?
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

 .Rashi, who did not even know gnosticism by name, said it was done in order to make it impossible for any one to say, "The beginning ['Αρχή as God] created God [Elohim]."^ It is a name which the One uses to ‘know itself’ and name itself.
  • A GLOSSARY OF GNOSTIC TERMS A - F 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.gnosticq.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ The One as ‘unbegotten’ and ‘self-begotten’: “Great is the good Self-begotten who stood, the God who had already stood.
  • A GLOSSARY OF GNOSTIC TERMS A - F 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.gnosticq.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ (Marsanes) - In the beginning, the Father created a group of beings through which he could reflect upon himself - even though they did not know it.
  • A GLOSSARY OF GNOSTIC TERMS A - F 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.gnosticq.com [Source type: Original source]

 Genesis i. 26 they rendered: "I [not "We"] will create a man" (comp. Gen. R. viii. 8). .The plural in the latter passage is explained on the ground that God took counsel with the souls of the pious.^ The passage uses the plural “gods” true.
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

 Genesis v. .2 was amended to: "Man and woman created he him" (not "them"), in order that no one might think He had created two hermaphrodites (thus Rashi; comp.^ Cypher is so called because of what he does (decode the Matrix) and what he is_a clever encrypter of his own character and motives (no one can decode him till it is too late).
  • The Philosophy of the Matrix 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC onwardoverland.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ One of the gnostic icons (they liked making graven images too) was a figure with the body of a man and the head of a cock (No, not that kind).
  • http://www.jadaproductions.com/cormacmccarthy/getthread.asp?mydate=All&recordnumber=4144&threadnumber=736&threadname=McCarthy%27s+Western+Novels&threadtopic=%22Blood+Meridian%22+and+Gnosticism&UserName=&UserPassword= 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.jadaproductions.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Thus, the aeons were created as a watery light that ‘mirrors’ the One to itself: “For it is he (the One) who looks at himself in his light which surrounds him, namely the spring of the water of life.
  • A GLOSSARY OF GNOSTIC TERMS A - F 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.gnosticq.com [Source type: Original source]

 Gen. R. viii.; ἀνδρόγυνος, διπρόσοτος: "Philosoph." ed. Duncker, v. 7, p. 132; Adam ἀρσενόϑηλυς and other passages in Hilgenfeld, l.c. pp. 242, 255; μητροπάτωρ in Wobbermin, l.c. pp. 81, 85; derived from Babylonian cosmogony; Berosus, in Eusebius, "Chronicon," ed. Schöne, i. 14-18). Gen. xi. 7 was changed so as to read "I will come down."

Syzygy Doctrine.

.It may be mentioned here, in connection with these views about original hermaphroditism, that even the earlier authorities of the Talmud were acquainted with the doctrine of syzygy (Joel, l.c. i.^ There is no clear evidence that the earlier Christ concept was originally connected to the Jewish messianic concept.
  • Marmalade - semi-random musings - Posts tagged by "". 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC my.opera.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ I think these posts should be about the mormon doctrines that separates mormonism from Christianity.
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Here’s a link you may find interesting…also I forgot about Josef Stalin and Vlad the Impaler also being baptized as well.
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

 159 et seq.). .The following passages indicate how deeply the ancients were imbued with this doctrine: "All that God created in His world, He created male and female" (B. B. 74b; comp.^ "'All that is created by the 'Ancient of the Ancients' can live and exist only by a male and a female,' says the Sohar.

 ^ So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

 ^ Here, then, is eternal life – to know the only wise and true God; and you have got to learn how to be Gods yourselves,… the same as all Gods have done before you…” .
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

 Ḥag. 15a, "mountains and hills," and R. H. 11a). .God made man out of the dust of the earth (Gen.^ I believe God created man from dust.
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

 ^ And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man.

 ii. 7): "dust" ("'afar") is masculine, "earth" ("adamah") is feminine. .The potter also takes male and female earth in order that his wares may be sound (Gen.^ See ANDROGYNE. - The man and his wife may each be a male and female ‘image’ of the one androgynous angel in the Upper Aeons.
  • A GLOSSARY OF GNOSTIC TERMS A - F 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.gnosticq.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ "It takes male and female to bring forth life.

 ^ Jesus said, "I myself shall lead her in order to make her male, so that she too may become a living spirit resembling you males.
  • The Da Vinci Opportunity: How the Da Vinci Code Can Be Helpful 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.markdroberts.com [Source type: General]

 R. xiv.). .The doctrine of the division of the waters into male and female is intimately connected with the gnosis of the Creation.^ See RESTORATION. - The initial division of Christ and Sophia manifest itself, eventually, in the division of Adam and Eve, and ultimately, in the division of all humans into male and female.
  • A GLOSSARY OF GNOSTIC TERMS A - F 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.gnosticq.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ The restitution will not only re-unite Christ and Sophia, but the human descendents of Adam and Eve that were separated into male and female.
  • A GLOSSARY OF GNOSTIC TERMS A - F 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.gnosticq.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ "Many Kabbalists conceive of God as embodying both male and female energies, which were divided during creation as part of the process of emanation.

 .R. Levi said: "The upper waters [rain] are male; the lower waters ["tehom," the great water in which the earth floats] are female, for it is written [Isa.^ See CONSORT. - Meanwhile, in the Lower Aeons, a male and female sexually unite to ‘beget’ their off-spring.
  • A GLOSSARY OF GNOSTIC TERMS A - F 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.gnosticq.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Alexander the Great had attempted to use Amun for this purpose, but he was more prominent in Upper Egypt, and not as popular with those in Lower Egypt, where the Greeks had stronger influence.
  • Marmalade - semi-random musings - Posts tagged by "". 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC my.opera.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ See MALE AND FEMALE. - Although Barbelo is the feminine principle in the Gnostic Trinity of Father, Mother and Son, she is called ‘male’ because she generated the Upper Aeons (while Sophia Achamoth, as ‘female’, generated the Lower Aeons).
  • A GLOSSARY OF GNOSTIC TERMS A - F 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.gnosticq.com [Source type: Original source]

 xlv. .8]: 'Let the earth open [as the woman to the man] and bring forth salvation [generation]'" (Yer.^ The Epiphany, or showing forth of the inner person, is a spiritual initiation into the mystery of the inner life of the soul, which brings the revelation of the innate divinity of man .

 ^ Sacrifice brings forth the blessings of heaven; Earth must atone for the blood of that man.
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ God is bringing forth seed in the earth like Jesus Christ Himself.

 Ber. 14a, 21; comp. Pirḳe R. El. v. and xxiii., "male and female waters"). .The rain is called "rebi'ah" because it mingles with the earth (ib.; Simon b.^ Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the LORD did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the LORD scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.

 Gamaliel, 2d cent.). The rain is the spouse of the earth (Ta'an. 6b, where the expressions used are "bride" and "groom"). .In the introduction to the Zohar sins also are divided into male and female.^ "Many Kabbalists conceive of God as embodying both male and female energies, which were divided during creation as part of the process of emanation.

 ^ Lucifer is further divided into Isis, the female principal, and Osiris, the male principal."

 ^ See THREE TYPES OF HUMANS. - Although the Third Adam was also androgynous, Yaltabaoth divided it into male and female.
  • A GLOSSARY OF GNOSTIC TERMS A - F 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.gnosticq.com [Source type: Original source]

Prince of the World.

.The Jews of course emphatically repudiated the doctrine of the demiurge, who was identified by some Christian gnostics with the God of the Old Testament and designated as the "accursed God of the Jews," from whom all the evil in the world was derived (Epiphanius, "Hæreses," xl.^ By Late Antiquity, some Gnostic and Neoplatonist thinkers had expanded this syncretic equation to include Aion, Adonis, Attis, Mithras and other gods of the mystery religions.
  • Marmalade - semi-random musings - Posts tagged by "". 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC my.opera.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ 'The man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition...who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God,...so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God' (II Thess.

 ^ Old Testament Period : Pagan cultures believed and passed on to posterity the doctrine of the divinity of man.

 7; comp. Harnack, "Geschichte der Altchristlichen Litteratur," p. 174; Herzog-Hauck, l.c. vi. 736; Friedländer, l.c. p. 69). The monotheism of the Jews was incompatible with a demiurge of any kind. The passage Abot iv. .22, already quoted, is evidently directed against the demiurge and similar views: "To be announcedand to be made known that He is the God, the God, the Maker, the Creator, the Prudent, the Judge .^ That I may in my possession now have the quotes of your religious founders that made no claim at the authority of God, but recognize that it must exsist?
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ "[James Parks] Morton's views evolved 'The Earth is God's Body, Jesus and Earth--God incarnate in the flesh of the Earth, flesh of the water , the flesh of the elements of creation and how that creation is suffering -- the passion of the creation .'...

 ^ And thus the whole creation was made blind, in order that they may not know God, who is above all of them.
  • A GLOSSARY OF GNOSTIC TERMS A - F 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.gnosticq.com [Source type: Original source]

 . . that He shall judge . . . for all belongs to Him. .If thy bad inclination assures thee that the nether world will be thy refuge, [know] that thou hast been created and born against thy will, that thou wilt live and die against thy will, and that thou wilt give account before the King of Kings against thy will."^ Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.

 ^ And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: 23 I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.” .
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world.

 The belief in a "prince of the world" is a reflex of the demiurge. .When God said, "I arrange everything after its kind," the prince of the world sang a song of praise (Ḥul.^ You've touched on this already when you said "The judge could still be seeking after God, but just as the demiurge in his ignorance created this world, so Holden in his ignorance seeks God through knowledge of the world."
  • http://www.jadaproductions.com/cormacmccarthy/getthread.asp?mydate=All&recordnumber=4144&threadnumber=736&threadname=McCarthy%27s+Western+Novels&threadtopic=%22Blood+Meridian%22+and+Gnosticism&UserName=&UserPassword= 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.jadaproductions.com [Source type: Original source]

 60a). It was he that recited Ps. xxxvii, .25, for it is he, not God, who lives only since the Creation (Yeb.^ And since the laws come from some chosen prophet, who’s only a man and in no way devine, everyone is subject to the whims of human frailty.
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ I refuse to pray to another man, only to God the creator who is Jesus.
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Only one God who we worship and who makes our salvation possible through Jesus.
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

 16b). .He desired God to make King Hezekiah the Messiah, but God said, "That is my secret"; God would not reveal to the demiurge His intentions in regard to Israel (Sanh.^ That would be to make evidence an > idol or God.
  • The Bible proved right again. - Atheism vs Christianity | Google Groups 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC groups.google.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
  • The Bible proved right again. - Atheism vs Christianity | Google Groups 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC groups.google.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

 ^ That would be to make evidence an idol or God.
  • The Bible proved right again. - Atheism vs Christianity | Google Groups 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC groups.google.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
  • The Bible proved right again. - Atheism vs Christianity | Google Groups 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC groups.google.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

 ^ If I were God I would give my angels some pretty phenomenal power.
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

 94a; comp. Krochmal, l.c. p. 202).

Two Principles.

.The two powers ("shete reshuyot"), a good and an evil, are often mentioned.^ Even when the righteous go to war, they too risk being creators-and-destroyers: a good resplendent with all the power of Evil, wherein the Good shines with the energy of Evil.
  • IJBS 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.ubishops.ca [Source type: Original source]

 ^ The irreducible duality of the two pulsions, Eros and Thanatos, reawakens the ancient Manichean version of the world, the endless antagonism of the twin principles of good and evil.
  • IJBS 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.ubishops.ca [Source type: Original source]

 .In order to explain evil in the world the gnostics assumed two principles, which, however, are not identical with the Mazdean dualism (comp.^ Gnosticism is more asymmetric with the true God being separate from this world while the God of evil is trapped within it.
  • http://www.jadaproductions.com/cormacmccarthy/getthread.asp?mydate=All&recordnumber=4144&threadnumber=736&threadname=McCarthy%27s+Western+Novels&threadtopic=%22Blood+Meridian%22+and+Gnosticism&UserName=&UserPassword= 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC www.jadaproductions.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Issues of justice have to do with the evil world that Gnostics must transcend, not transform.
  • The Da Vinci Opportunity: How the Da Vinci Code Can Be Helpful 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.markdroberts.com [Source type: General]

 ^ Zoroastrian priests or Magi had Mani impaled as a heretic, probably because he deepened their dualism of Good and Evil with a Gnostic dualism of Spirit (Good) and Matter (Evil).
  • IJBS 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.ubishops.ca [Source type: Original source]

 Yer. Ber., end; Krochmal, l.c. p. 208, note; Ḥul. 87a; Friedländer, l.c. pp. 80 et seq.). .On dualisms, trinities, eight powers ("dyas," "tetras," "ogdoas"), see Hilgenfeld, l.c. pp.^ The second ogdoad-power, the Mother, the virginal Barbelon.” (Gospel of the Egyptians) See TRINITY. 4.
  • A GLOSSARY OF GNOSTIC TERMS A - F 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.gnosticq.com [Source type: Original source]

 236 et seq. Hypostases often occur (Krochmal, l.c. p. 205). .God has two thrones, one for judgment, and one for "ẓedaḳah" (benevolence, justice, and mercy; Ḥag.^ Millennium (end): All nations will worship God at the Great White Throne judgment.

 ^ MILLENNIUM (end) All who have ever lived will worship God at the Great White Throne judgment.

 14a).
.The official view, and certainly also the common one, was that founded on Scripture, that God called the world into being by His word (see Ps.^ But of course human beings have offered answers to this question: one is God; another, the laws of nature.
  • The Philosophy of the Matrix 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC onwardoverland.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Although being disruptive is the best one can do in the Matrix world.
  • The Philosophy of the Matrix 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC onwardoverland.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ As the Vocie, the One calls or ‘cries out’ to the Elect, who recognize they are being called: “I am the real Voice.
  • A GLOSSARY OF GNOSTIC TERMS A - F 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.gnosticq.com [Source type: Original source]

 xxxiii. .6, 9: "By the word of the Lord were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth.^ For though there be that are called gods, whether in heaven or in earth, (as there be gods many, and lords many,) But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him.

 ^ Now when Solomon had made an end of praying, the fire came down from heaven, and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices; and the glory of the LORD filled the house.

 ^ Having modern revelation is good, but the Lord said, that in the mouth or two or three witnesses should every word be established.
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

 For he spake and it was done; he commanded, and it stood fast"). According to tradition, however, it required merely an act of His will, and not His word (Targ. Yer. to Gen. translates "He willed," instead of "He spake"). There were materialistic ideas side by side with this spiritual view. .The Torah existed 2,000 years before the Creation; it, and not man, knows what preceded Creation (Gen.^ For some reason I find that God (I Am) having existed from the beginning of time and creating man out of dust (perhaps could also be called matter, IMHO) is easier for me to grasp than the concept of external progression as IMHO God had to come before man.
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

 R. viii. 2). .It says, "I was the instrument by means of which God created the world" (Gen.^ Why doesn’t God say what he means.
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Just because man enjoys something does not mean it comes from God (The God who created the universe and man, not the man that became god as mormonism teaches).
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ So either you’re calling Jesus a lier, or you’re saying he was mistaken (which means he wasn’t the son of God and also a lier.
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

 R. i.). This idea is rationalized in the Haggadah by comparing the Torah with the plans of a builder. Rab (200 C.E.), a faithful preserver of Palestinian traditions, refers to the combinations of letters by means of which the world was created (Ber. 58a; Epstein, "Recherches sur le Sèfer Yezirah," p. 6, note 2).

The Sefer Yeẓirah.

.The gnosis of the Palestinian Marcus conceived the world to have come into being through the permutation of letters (Grätz, "Gnosticismus und Judenthum," pp.^ Come into being inside the bridal chamber!
  • A GLOSSARY OF GNOSTIC TERMS A - F 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.gnosticq.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ It glorified him and his perfect power, Barbelo, for it was for her sake that it had come into being.” This schema is repeated for Indestructibility, Eternal Life and Truth.
  • A GLOSSARY OF GNOSTIC TERMS A - F 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.gnosticq.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ PROGRAM OF SATAN Gnosticism is the belief that matter is evil and that emancipation comes through "gnosis" (knowledge).

 105 et seq.). The στοιχεῖα of the alphabet corresponds to the στοιχεῖα of the universe (Wobbermin, l.c. p. 128). Epstein calls this view an astrological one, and he expounds it further (l.c. pp. 23 et seq.). .The several elements of the alphabet play an important rôle in this cosmologic system, a reflection of which is found in one of the haggadah, in which the letters, beginning with the last, appear before God, requesting that the world be created through them.^ In one schema, the Elect are ‘pre-existent’ because they existed before the foundation of the world.
  • A GLOSSARY OF GNOSTIC TERMS A - F 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.gnosticq.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ This truth is taught in Deuteronomy 6:4, “Hear O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.” Isaiah writes about God, “Before me there was no god formed, nor will there be one after me.” There was no god created before or any to come for there is only one God.
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Each new being that ‘knows’ (gnosis) the One, becomes a part of the creation that reflects the One to itself - like a series of mirrors arranged row on row.
  • A GLOSSARY OF GNOSTIC TERMS A - F 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.gnosticq.com [Source type: Original source]

 .They are refused, until bet appears, with which begins the story of Creation.^ (Marsanes) - In the beginning, the Father created a group of beings through which he could reflect upon himself - even though they did not know it.
  • A GLOSSARY OF GNOSTIC TERMS A - F 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.gnosticq.com [Source type: Original source]

 Alef complains for twenty-six generations, and is only pacified when it heads the Decalogue (Gen. R. i. 1). .It was evidently held that the world came into being with the first sound that God uttered.^ Joseph Smith was not of authority to ‘baptise’ Oliver Cowdery unless God held Joseph Smith under the water first.
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ ENNOIA AS PRONOIA AND PROTONOIA - The Gnostic texts emphasize that all the beings which came to exist in the Upper Aeons were ‘first’ and so they ‘pre-exist’.
  • A GLOSSARY OF GNOSTIC TERMS A - F 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.gnosticq.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ OLD TESTAMENT PERIOD The city and tower of Babel were mankind's first attempt to unite the people of the world into a global religion.

 .Johanan thought that a breath sufficed, hence the world was created by ת (Gen.^ What the heretics posited was that the very creation of the world, hence the reality of the world, was the result of the existence of the evil demon.
  • IJBS 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.ubishops.ca [Source type: Original source]

 R. xii.). .This view is connected with another view, according to which God first caused the spirit ("ruaḥ" = wind) to be.^ For for this cause was the gospel preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit.” (1 Peter 4:6.
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ True worship of God is through the Holy Spirit and according to the truth of God's Word.

 ^ And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.

 .In the Sefer Yeẓirah, the three principal elements of the alphabet are (image) ; that is, (image) (air), (image) (water), and (image) (fire: Epstein, l.c. pp.^ Five Archons ‘of the Abyss’ are associated with the five sublunary realms created by earth, water, air and fire intermixed in the ether.
  • A GLOSSARY OF GNOSTIC TERMS A - F 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.gnosticq.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ These are the five 'sublunar' aeons composed of ether, fire, air, water and earth.
  • A GLOSSARY OF GNOSTIC TERMS A - F 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.gnosticq.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ There is water in water, there is fire in chrism.” “The fire is the chrism” (Gospel of Philip) See BAPTISM and CHRISM - The three Parousias are also like baptisms, hence, there is a Baptism of fire: “there are three baptisms - the first is the spiritual, the second is by fire, the third is by water.” (On the Origin of the World) See PAROUSIA 5.
  • A GLOSSARY OF GNOSTIC TERMS A - F 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.gnosticq.com [Source type: Original source]

 24 et seq.). .According to this conception there are three, not four, elements, as was commonly assumed after the Arabic period.^ So, according to you, there are no contradictions within the four > texts, I have explained this to you many times.
  • The Bible proved right again. - Atheism vs Christianity | Google Groups 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC groups.google.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
  • The Bible proved right again. - Atheism vs Christianity | Google Groups 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC groups.google.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

 ^ So, according to you, there are no contradictions within the four > > > texts, no errors of any kind and nothing was modified (edited, > > > removed, added) at later times?
  • The Bible proved right again. - Atheism vs Christianity | Google Groups 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC groups.google.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
  • The Bible proved right again. - Atheism vs Christianity | Google Groups 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC groups.google.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

 ^ ARCHONS - THEIR DESTRUCTION - There are a limited number of ages - sometimes three (three descents of a saviour figure like Pronoia or Protennoia), sometimes four (one age for each of the the Four Lights.
  • A GLOSSARY OF GNOSTIC TERMS A - F 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.gnosticq.com [Source type: Original source]

 Curiously enough, the second book of "Jeu," p. 195, and the "Pistis Sophia," p. 375 (quoted in Herzog-Hauck, l.c. vi. .734), refer to three kinds of baptism —with water, with fire, and with spirit.^ This baptism by fire is the baptism of the Holy Spirit."

 ^ The chrism is superior to baptism, for it is from the word ‘Chrism’ that we have been called ‘Christians’, certainly not because of the word ‘baptism’.” (Gospel of Philip) - Baptism in water is for the soul, but anointing with oil (fire) is for the spirit: “It is from water and fire that the soul and the spirit came into being (...
  • A GLOSSARY OF GNOSTIC TERMS A - F 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.gnosticq.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Now the light is the chrism.” (Gospel of Philip) - Incidentally, the baptism (in water) and the chrism (in fire) are related to the three Parousias, which are like three baptisms, one by water, one by fire (hence, chrism), and one of the spirit: “there are three baptisms - the first is the spiritual, the second is by fire, the third is by water.” (Origin of the world) (See PAROUSIA) 5.
  • A GLOSSARY OF GNOSTIC TERMS A - F 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.gnosticq.com [Source type: Original source]

 .It is impossible to say to what extent the Yeẓirah speculations influenced the Cabala and its principal manual, the Zohar, as well as its prominent adepts, at the close of the Middle Ages and in modern times, as there are no special studies on the subject.^ After this “probationary” time there is no repentance.
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Revelations 10:6 And sware by him that liveth for ever and ever, who created heaven, and the things that therein are, and the earth, and the things that therein are, and the sea, and the things which are therein, that there should be time no longer: .
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ So, according to you, there are no contradictions within the four > texts, I have explained this to you many times.
  • The Bible proved right again. - Atheism vs Christianity | Google Groups 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC groups.google.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
  • The Bible proved right again. - Atheism vs Christianity | Google Groups 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC groups.google.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

 .Many gnostic elements, as, for example, the syzygy doctrine (in which are found father, mother, and son), have doubtless been preserved in the Cabala, together with magic and mysticism.^ The Holy Spirit is really the Mother, and thus the Christian Trinity properly translated should be Father, Son and Mother.

 ^ BARBELO IN GENERAL - An important figure from the Sethian Gnostic texts - She is the second, feminine principle in the Gnostic Trinity of the Father, Mother and Son.
  • A GLOSSARY OF GNOSTIC TERMS A - F 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.gnosticq.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ This is the first thought, his image.” (Apocryphon of John) In the same manner, the Father and Mother then bring forth the Son.
  • A GLOSSARY OF GNOSTIC TERMS A - F 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.gnosticq.com [Source type: Original source]

Anti-Jewish Gnosis.

Gnosis was regarded as legitimate by Judaism. Its chain of tradition is noted in the principal passage in Ḥagigah, Johanan b. Zakkai heading the list. .Here is found the threefold division of men into hylics, psychics, and pneumatics, as among the Valentinians.^ THE ELECT AS THE PNEUMATIC RACE - The Elect are the Pneumatic race, who are ‘saved in every way’, in contrast with the Psychic race, who are saved by their works, and the Hylic race, who will be ‘destroyed in every way’: “The spiritual race will receive complete salvation in every way.
  • A GLOSSARY OF GNOSTIC TERMS A - F 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.gnosticq.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ The three Adams became the prototypes for the three different types of humans: the spirit-endowed (pneumatics), the soul-endowed (psychics), and the flesh-endowed (hylics).
  • A GLOSSARY OF GNOSTIC TERMS A - F 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.gnosticq.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ BEGETTING AMONG PNEUMATICS, PSYCHICS AND HYLICS - Sexual intercourse differs among Pneumatics, Psychics and Hylics.
  • A GLOSSARY OF GNOSTIC TERMS A - F 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.gnosticq.com [Source type: Original source]

 .Although these names do not occur, the "third group," as the highest, is specifically mentioned (Ḥag.^ Specifically, these humans are Neo (the Gnostic Redeemer / Messiah) and Morpheus and Trinity, both of whom are named for gods.
  • The Philosophy of the Matrix 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC onwardoverland.com [Source type: Original source]

 14b), as Krochmal pointed out before Joel. The ophitic diagram was also known, for the yellow circle which was upon it is mentioned (Joel, l.c. p. 142). .Gnosis, like every other system of thought, developed along various lines; from some of these the Jewish faith, especially monotheism, was attacked, and from others Jewish morality, with regard to both of which Judaism was always very sensitive.^ Very few will not return and these are the likes of Cain and Judas, etc.
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ There were Jewish Gnostics, but some Gnostics hated Judaism.
  • Marmalade - semi-random musings - Posts tagged by "". 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC my.opera.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ As you will see, the authors don't always agree with each other regarding how best to interpret the film.
  • The Philosophy of the Matrix 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC onwardoverland.com [Source type: Original source]

 .There were gnostics who led an immoral life, Aḥer (Elisha ben Abuyah) being among these, according to legendary accounts (comp.^ Those who seek after gnosis will be led into Luciferian occultism, aka Saturnian gnosticism.

 ^ Gnostics identify Yaldabaoth as the Creator God of the Old Testament, who himself decides to create archons (angels), the material world (Earth) and human beings.
  • The Philosophy of the Matrix 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC onwardoverland.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ DOUBLE-MINDEDNESS - Those who contend against the Gnostics do not understand on account of their ‘double-mindedness’: “They do not know the power of God, nor do they understand the interpretation of the scriptures, on account of their double-mindedness.” (Testimony of Truth) .
  • A GLOSSARY OF GNOSTIC TERMS A - F 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC www.gnosticq.com [Source type: Original source]

 Pes. 56a; Eccl. R. i 8; Harnack, l.c. pp. 166 et seq.; Hilgenfeld, l.c. pp. 244-250). But there were also gnostic sects practising asceticism (Herzog-Hauck, l.c. vi. 734, 755). Jose b. Ḥalafta seems to have belonged to one of these, for he speaks of "five plants [sons] that he planted." This is the language of gnosis. .Those parties which, though within Judaism, were nevertheless inimical to it—among them Judæo-Christianity—naturally used gnosis, then the fashion of the day, as a weapon against the ruling party, official Judaism.^ Though this collection of essays is part of the official web site for the Matrix films, the views expressed in these essays are solely those of the individual authors.
  • The Philosophy of the Matrix 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC onwardoverland.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Those who practice Gnostic mysticism hide within the organized Church system and claim to follow primitive Christianity.

 ^ No I came to my decision about becoming a Christian after much thought > > > after 2 years > > And what was the source of the Christian knowledge you used to make > > that decision during those two years?
  • The Bible proved right again. - Atheism vs Christianity | Google Groups 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC groups.google.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
  • The Bible proved right again. - Atheism vs Christianity | Google Groups 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC groups.google.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

 .(On the relation between Jewish and Christian gnosis see Harnack, l.c. p.^ In fact, I would like someone to honestly go through the Jewish and Christian scriptures in relation to strangeness.
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ I've been writing a fair amount about the mythological parallels between Christianity and previous religions, but I haven't written much about how this relates to values.
  • Marmalade - semi-random musings - Posts tagged by "". 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC my.opera.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ The more I learn and read the more differences I see between mormonism and Christianity.
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

 144, and Friedländer, l.c. p. 63; on antinomian gnosis see Friedländer, l.c. pp. .76 et seq.) The term "minim" in the Talmud often refers to gnostics, as Friedländer, and before him Krochmal and Grätz, have pointed out.^ It's significant to point out that fatalism was sometimes an accusation against Gnosticism and this attitude of Augustine may be a carryover from his own Gnostic background.
  • Marmalade - semi-random musings - Posts tagged by "". 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC my.opera.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ We have been down the contradiction path before, and out of the pile > > of them in your reference there was really only a single real > > contradiction, the genealogy of Jesus.
  • The Bible proved right again. - Atheism vs Christianity | Google Groups 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC groups.google.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
  • The Bible proved right again. - Atheism vs Christianity | Google Groups 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC groups.google.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

 ^ I would point out that its your lackadaisical approach to Him that keeps you from obtaining any level of knowledge.
  • Top 10 Bizarre Mormon Beliefs - Listverse 26 January 2010 0:49 UTC listverse.com [Source type: Original source]

 The knowledge of the origin and nature of man also belonged to gnosis (Irenæus. i. 14, 4 γιγνώσκω ὄεν εἰμί; comp. Clem. Al. Exc. ex.Theod. 78; see Homunculus; Adam). .There are also other traces of Gnosticism in Judaism (comp.^ There were Jewish Gnostics, but some Gnostics hated Judaism.
  • Marmalade - semi-random musings - Posts tagged by "". 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC my.opera.com [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Gnosticism (aka mysticism) is Satanism synthesized with other religions, including Christianity and Judaism.

 ^ There are many similarities between Manichaean scripture and that of Gnosticism, Christianity and Judaism.
  • Marmalade - semi-random musings - Posts tagged by "". 8 January 2010 3:03 UTC my.opera.com [Source type: Original source]

 Gen. R. vii. 5). See also Cosmogony; Creation.
Bibliography: N. Krochmal, Moreh Nebuke ha-Zeman, pp. 199 et seq., Lemberg, 1863; H. Grätz, Gnosticismus und Judenthum, Krotoschin, 1846 (the chief authority); Grätz, Gesch. iv. 112 et seq.; Joel, Die Religionsgesch. i. 103-170, Breslau, 1880; M. Friedländer, Der Vorchristliche Jüdische Gnosticismus, Göttingen, 1898; Schürer, in Theol. Litteraturzeitung, 1899, pp. 167-170; Hönig, Ophiten; A. Epstein, Recherches sur le sèfer Yezirah, Paris, 1894 (reprinted from R. E. J. xxviii.-xxix.); I. Matter, Histoire Critique du Gnosticisme, Paris, 1828; Mansel, The Gnostic Heresies, London, 1875; A. Hilgenfeld, Ketzergesch. des Urchristenthums, Leipsic, 1884; A. Harnack, Gesch. der Altchristlichen Litteratur, i., ib. 1893; idem, Doymengesch. 3d ed., Freiburg im Breisgan, and Leipsic, 1894; A. Dietrich, Abraxas, Leipsic, 1891; G. Aurich, Das Antike Mysterienwesen in Seinem Einfluss auf das Christenthum, Göttingen, 1894; G. Wobbermin, Religionsgesch. Studien zur Frage der Beeinflussung des Urchristenthums Durch das Antike Mysterienwesen, Berlin, 1896; G. R. S. Mead, Fragmente eines Verschollenen Glaubens (German transl. by A. von Ulrich), ib. 1902; A. Wurm, Die Irrlehrer im Ersten Johannesbrief, Freiburg im Breisgau, 1903; Biblische Studien, viii. 1. For other works, see Herzog-Hauck, Real-Encyc. vi. 728.
This entry includes text from the Jewish Encyclopedia, 1906.
Facts about GnosticismRDF feed

Simple English

Gnosticism comes from the Greek: gnosis which means knowledge.

Some religions and sects mostly in the few hundred years before and after Christ are said to be gnostic or practice gnosticism.

This is because these religions believe that there is a special, hidden knowledge that only a few people may have.

There are two problems finding out a lot about believers in gnosticism:

  1. Most Gnostic teachings were secret or hidden (occult);
  2. Most of what we know about Gnostics comes from attacks written by non-Gnostic Christians.

Contents

Beliefs

Gnosticism says that humans are divine souls trapped in the ordinary physical (or material) world. They say that the world was made by an imperfect spirit called the demiurge.

The demiurge is thought to be the same as the God of Abraham. The demiurge may be seen as evil, or sometimes just not perfect but doing the best it can.

The real God who is good, is distant and not easy to know. In order to get free from the material world, a person has to get gnosis. That is the special secret knowledge given only to a few special people.

Some Gnostic groups saw Jesus as sent by the supreme being, to bring gnosis to the Earth.

Other websites

Ancient Gnosticism

Modern Gnosticism


Retrieved from "http://yak.rapint.com/wiki/Gnosticism"

Citable sentences

Up to date as of December 12, 2010

Here are sentences from other pages on Gnosticism, which are similar to those in the above article.








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