A system of false teachings that existed during the early centuries of Christianity refers to Gnosticism. Its name came from the Greek word for knowledge, gnosis. The Gnostic believed that human knowledge and human wisdom was the way to salvation. For this reason, Gnosticism was condemned as false and heretical by writers of the New Testament.

The knowledge of Gnosticism comes from several sources. First, there are the Gnostic texts which are known as the New Testament - Apocrypha. These texts are not recognized as Scripture because they contain teachings or doctrines which differ from those in the Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible. Then, there are refutations of the Gnostic by the early Church fathers. Some of the important ones are Saint Irenaeus - Against Heresies; Saint Tertullian - Against Marcion of Sinope.

There is still a third source about Gnosticism is the New Testament itself. Many Gnostic teachings were condemned by the writers of the New Testament. Saint Paul emphasized a wisdom and knowledge that comes from God and does not concern itself with idle, speculations, fables, and moral laxity. Both in Saint John gospel and in the epistles, as well as in apostle Paul epistles, countered heretical teaching which in a broad sense, can be considered Gnostic.

If the world hates you,
remember that it hated me before you.
If you belonged to the world,
the world would love you as its own;
but because you do not belong to the world,
because my choice withdrew you from the world,
therefore the world hates you.
Remember the words I said to you:
A servant is not greater than his master.
If they persecute me,
they will persecute you too;
if they kept my word,
they will keep yours as well.
But it will be on my account that they will do all this,
because they do not know the one who sent me. - John 15:18-21 -

You must not love this passing world
or anything that is in the world.
The love of the Father cannot be
in any man (human being) who loves the world. - 1 John 2:15 -

It is not every spirit, my dear people, that you can trust;
test them, to see if they come from God;
there are many false prophets, now, in the world.
You can tell the spirits that come from God by this:
every spirit which acknowledges that Jesus the Christ has come in the flesh,
is from God;
but any spirit which will not say this of Jesus
is not from God,
but is the spirit of Antichrist,
whose coming you were warned about.
Well, now he is here, in the world. - 1 John 4:1-3 -

There are many deceivers about in the world, refusing to admit that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh. They are the Deceiver; they are the Antichrist. Watch yourselves, or all our work will be lost and not get the reward it deserves. If anybody does not keep within the teaching of Christ but goes beyond it, he cannot have God with him: only those who keep to what he taught can have the Father and the Son with them. If anyone comes to you bringing a different doctrine, you must not receive him in your house or even give him a greeting. To greet him would make you a partner in his wicked work. - 2 John:7-11 - 3 John: 9-11 -

Make no mistake about it: if anyone of you thinks of himself as wise, in the ordinary sense of the word, then he must learn to be a fool before he really can be wise. Why? Because the wisdom of this world is foolishness to God. As scripture says: The Lord knows wise men thoughts: he knows how useless they are; or again: God is not convinced by the arguments of the wise. So there is nothing to boast about in anything human: Paul, Apollos, Cephas, the world, life and death, the present and the future, are all your servants; but you belong to Christ and Christ belongs to God. - 1 Cor. 3:18-23 -

Make sure that no one traps you and deprives you of your freedom by some second hand, empty, rational philosophy based on the principles of this world instead of on Christ. In his body lives the fullness of divinity, and in him you too find your own fulfilment, in the one who is the head of every Sovereignty and Power. Christ alone is the true head of men and angels. - Col. 2:8-10 -

Remind them of this; and tell them in the name of God that there is to be no wrangling about words: all that this ever achieves is the destruction of those who are listening. Do all you can to present yourself in front of God as a man who has come through his trials, and a man who has no cause to be ashamed of his life's work and has kept a straight course with the message of the truth. - 2 Tim. 2:14-15 -

However, God's solid foundation stone is still in position, and this is the inscription on it: 'The Lord knows those who are his own' and 'All who call on the name of the Lord must avoid sin.' - 2 Tim. 2:19 -

My dear Timothy, take great care of all that has been entrusted to you. Have nothing to do with the pointless philosophical discussions and antagonistic beliefs of the 'knowledge' which is not knowledge at all; by adopting this, some have gone right away from the faith. Grace be with you, - 1 Tim. 6:20-21 -

The Gnostic accepted the Greek idea of a radical dualism between God (Spirit) and the world (matter). According to their world view, the created order was evil, inferior, and opposed to the good. God may have created the first order but each successive order was the work of anti-gods, archons, (spiritual principalities) a demiurge. (a subordinate deity) Next, the Gnostic believed that the earth is surrounded by a number of cosmic spheres which separate man from God. 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.

The Gnostic also taught that man (human being) is composed of body, soul, and spirit. Since the body and the soul are part of man's earthly existence, they are evil. Enclosed in the soul, however, is the spirit, the only divine substance of man. This "spirit" is asleep and ignorant; it needs to be awakened and liberated by human knowledge.

According to the Gnostic, the aim of salvation is for the spirit to be awakened by human knowledge so the inner man can be released from his earthly dungeon and return to the realm of light where the soul becomes reunited with God. As the soul ascends, however, it needs to penetrate the cosmic spheres which separate it from its heavenly destiny. This, too, is accomplished by human knowledge. One must understand certain formulas which are revealed only to the initiated.

Ethical behaviour among the Gnostic varied considerably. Some sought to separate themselves from all evil matter in order to avoid contamination. For others Gnostic, ethical life took the form of libertinism. Thus, for them human knowledge meant freedom to participate in all sorts of self-indulgences. "But when self-indulgence is at work the results are obvious: fornication, gross indecency and sexual irresponsibility; idolatry and sorcery; feuds and wrangling, jealousy, bad temper and quarrels; disagreements, factions, envy; drunkenness, orgies and similar things. I warn you now, as I warned you before: those who behave like this will not inherit the kingdom of God." - Gal. 5:19-21 - Many reasoned that since they had received, what they believed or called 'divine knowledge' and were truly informed as to their so called 'divine nature' it didn't matter how they lived.

With such practiced and having an attitude of indifference toward the Gospel, and the Word of God. Saint Paul on many occasions, taught and reminded the Gnostic that the fact is, the Good News which he preached is not a human message that was given by men, it is something he learnt only through a revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ. And in fact you have there a great many people who need to be disciplined, who talk nonsense and try to make others believe it. Apostle Paul warned that if anyone preaches a version of the Good News different from the one we have already preached, whether it be ourselves or an angel from heaven, he/she is to be condemned.

I am astonished at the promptness with which you have turned away from the one who called you and have decided to follow a different version of the Good News. Not that there can be more than one Good News; it is merely that some troublemakers among you want to change the Good News of Christ; and let me warn you that if anyone preaches a version of the Good News different from the one we have already preached to you, whether it be ourselves or an angel from heaven, he is to be condemned. I am only repeating what we told you before: If anyone preaches a version of the Good News different from the one you have already heard, he is to be condemned. - Gal. 1:6-9 -

This is what you are to teach them to believe and persuade them to do. Anyone who teaches anything different, and does not keep to the sound teaching which is that of our Lord Jesus Christ, the doctrine which is in accordance with true religion, is simply ignorant and must be full of self-conceit - with a craze for questioning everything and arguing about words. All that can come of this is jealousy, contention, abuse and wicked mistrust of one another; and unending disputes by people who are neither rational nor informed and imagine that religion is a way of making a profit. Religion, of course, does bring large profits, but only to those who are content with what they have. We brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. - 1 Tim. 6:3-7 -

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Sunday, May 24, 2009

I have through years of reading, pondering, reflecting and contemplating, the 3 things that last; FAITH . HOPE . LOVE and I would like to made available my sharing from the many thinkers, authors, scholars and theologians whose ideas and thoughts I have borrowed. God be with them always. Amen!

I STILL HAVE MANY THINGS TO SAY TO YOU BUT THEY WOULD BE TOO MUCH FOR YOU NOW. BUT WHEN THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH COMES, HE WILL LEAD YOU TO THE COMPLETE TRUTH, SINCE HE WILL NOT BE SPEAKING AS FROM HIMSELF, BUT WILL SAY ONLY WHAT HE HAS LEARNT; AND HE WILL TELL YOU OF THE THINGS TO COME.

HE WILL GLORIFY ME, SINCE ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. EVERYTHING THE FATHER HAS IS MINE; THAT IS WHY I SAID: ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. - JOHN 16:12-15 -