Posted on 04/14/2006 4:17:26 PM PDT by eyezofthestorm
Sorry, my tag got cut.
Make that...
You forgot to add the (((IDIOT ALERT))) tag!
"Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free," John 8:32
There are always those who want very much for the gnostic promise to be reality. You find this expressed in groups like the UFO group that did themselves in to go off with the comet, in mainstream hindu thought that sees reality made up much like the ancient gnostic sects, and in those who are always in pursuit of "hidden" knowledges.
It really doesn't matter to them what the original apostles taught...they're always cooking up some idea how the true teaching was lost, repressed, only passed down to enlightened masters or some such.
This is so full of error it's unbelievable!
eyezofthestorm,
You've been on FR since Jan 06 and have posted only one other article in which you attack, "right-wing fundamentalist fascists".
Are you sure you aren't a troll?
I'm betting you are.
"Literal Christianity is unverifiable and therefore a matter of blind wishful thinking."
I'll let Paul answer you...
"Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?
But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised.
For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.
But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead..."
If the central events of the New Testament did not literally occur then Christian faith is a vanity and Christians are wasting their time. But, as Paul testifies, Christ did die on a literal cross and was literally raised from the dead.
Hey holds the key.
Are you speaking to me?
I have over 250 posts here on FR under my current name. I have gone through at least 3-5 names due to the fact of computer crashes (loss of password) to changes of email address. I can give you a few names that I've had if you wish to look them up. I have been here prior to the election wars of 2000. I just recently posted an article of the Crucifixion of Christ what day was it. So you insinuations of being a troll are not merited in my opinion.
My comments about this current topic are based on the Old Testament and the character of God. To say that God was lonely or felt sorry or that He tempted Adam and Eve is without scriptural support.
"Are you speaking to me? "
No, I was speaking to eyezofthestorm. I included you in the post because you have been in on the thread here. Sorry for the confusion.
I think you have stumbled upon a troll.
That's OK.
One of my favorite passages:
For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written, "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the cleverness of the clever I will thwart."
Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe.
For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.
I Corinthians 1:18-24
Great neo-pagan post. Full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.
What do you expect from idiots who have never actually read the bible never mind understand it. These "writers" gather their information from various anti- Christian sites then create their own personal blend of BS to make themselves feel good about and justify their own disbelief.
The "Christianity corrupted gnosticism" statement shows just how poorly the writer of this trash researched his information. His description of judgment day, lack of understanding the meaning of the second death, etc. shows the level of his biblical knowledge. It's truly amazing just how hateful these people are towards a gospel that only teaches God's love.
Let me guess: You're a big fan of The Da Vinci Code.
What hogwash. Gnosticism is just a collective name for a large number of greatly-varying and pantheistic-idealistic sects, wingnuts and moonbats who believe anything from chants to magic spells and magic potions, borrowing the phraseology and some of the tenets of the chief religions of the day.
Although Gnosticism may at first sight appear a mere thoughtless syncretism of well nigh all religious systems in antiquity, it has in reality one deep root-principle, which assimilated in every soil what is needed for its life and growth; this principle is philosophical and religious pessimism.
The Gnostics borrowed their terminology almost entirely from existing religions, but they only used it to illustrate their great idea of the essential evil of this present existence and the duty to escape it by the help of magic spells and a superhuman Saviour.
Whatever they borrowed, this pessimism they did not borrow -- not from Greek thought, which was a joyous acknowledgment of and homage to the beautiful and noble in this world, with a studied disregard of the element of sorrow; not from Egyptian thought, which did not allow its elaborate speculations on retribution and judgment in the netherworld to cast a gloom on this present existence, but considered the universe created or evolved under the presiding wisdom of Thoth; not from Iranian thought, which held to the absolute supremacy of Ahura Mazda and only allowed Ahriman a subordinate share in the creation, or rather counter-creation, of the world; not from Indian Brahminic thought, which was Pantheism pure and simple, or God dwelling in, nay identified with, the universe, rather than the Universe existing as the contradictory of God; not, lastly, from Semitic thought, for Semitic religions were strangely reticent as to the fate of the soul after death, and saw all practical wisdom in the worship of Baal, or Marduk, or Assur, or Hadad, that they might live long on this earth. This utter pessimism, bemoaning the existence of the whole universe as a corruption and a calamity, with a feverish craving to be freed from the body of this death and a mad hope that, if we only knew, we could by some mystic words undo the cursed spell of this existence -- this is the foundation of all Gnostic thought.
Gnosticism is pseudo-intellectual, and trusts exclusively to magical knowledge. Moreover, Gnosticism, placed in other historical surroundings, developed from the first on other lines than Buddhism.
The bastard children of the gnostics might well be the current crop of pagans / neo-Druids / Wiccans and Scientologists.
It really doesn't matter the setting, the phraseology or the hierarchy. It only matters that a chosen few have the mystical knowledge and that much work and more payment must happen before each prospective sucker applicant can make the grade.
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