I have finally gotten a copy (be it PDF format, hard copy, or HTML) of some of the gnostic gospels? My question is this: What are some of your opinions about the Gnostic Gospels? I ask because I would like to hear the general Hipforums opinion.
I have heard about it but i haven't read them. Is it about how Yahweh was born in the great death and is only the physical God but believes he is omnipotent? anyway from what I've heard it's really interesting stuff.
Gnosticism comes in lots of varieties, but the Gnostic scriptures, along with the Ebionite writings that we get mainly in second hand fragments, show us the variety of beliefs going under the name "Christianity" befpre the "canon" of twenty-seven books became established as the "New Testament" in the fourth century. The gnostic beliefs are really complicated, with the aeons and the demiurge Yaldaboath (the Hebrew Yaweh), who thinks he's God but isn't. Pretty farfetched. I also find it hard to relate to the radical dualism, with the world depicted as evil and the spirit good. And the emphasis on an elite with special, secret understanding of reality reminds me of the Rosicrucians and New Age gurus of today. The gnostic gospel, if you can call it that, that had the biggest impact on me is the Gospel of Thomas.especially the saying that the kingdom of heaven is spread out everywhere upon the earth, and we do not see it. And the third saying, that the kingdom is inside of us and outside of us: "When you come to know yourselves, you will realize it is you who are sons of the living Father." That resonates with me for some reason. It corresponds to an intuition I already had, that's a little different from the traditional Christian teachings you get from Pat Robertson.
