Christian Gnostic Writings


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Topic: Religions > Bible
User: "Echo2Drs"
Date: 17 Oct 2004 11:06:44 PM
Object: Christian Gnostic Writings
Christian Gnostic writings
The quote from Jesus from the Christian Gnostic gospel, the Book of Thomas
the Contender, describes Jesus teaching reincarnation:

"Watch and pray that you may not be born in the flesh, but that you may leave
the bitter bondage of this life." (Book of Thomas the Contender 9:5)

In another part of the Book of Thomas the Contender, Jesus tells the disciple
Thomas that after death, those people who were once believers but have remained
attached to things of "transitory beauty," will be consumed "in their concern
about life" and will be "brought back to the visible realm."
The following quote from Jesus in the Gospel of Thomas affirms Jesus teaching
reincarnation to his disciples:

"When you see your likeness, you are happy. But when you see your images that
came into being before and that neither die nor become visible, how much you
will bear!" (Gospel of Thomas, saying 84)

More excerpts from this very interesting gospel will be profiled later.
In the Secret Book of John, written by 185 A.D. at the latest, reincarnation
is placed at the center of the discussion concerning the salvation of souls.
The following is a summary of the Secret Book of John's perspective on
reincarnation.
Everyone has drunk from the water of forgetfulness and lives in a state of
ignorance. Some people are able to overcome ignorance by having the life-giving
Spirit descend upon them. These souls "will be saved and will become perfect,"
that is, escape the cycle of birth and rebirth. John asks Jesus what will
happen to those who do not attain salvation. They are hurled down "into
forgetfulness" and thrown into "prison," the Christian Gnostic symbol for a new
body.
Jesus says the only way for these souls to escape is to acquire knowledge after
coming from forgetfulness. A soul can accomplish this by finding a teacher who
can lead the soul in the right direction:

"This soul needs to follow another soul in whom the Spirit of life dwells,
because she is saved through the Spirit. Then she will never be thrust into
flesh again." (Secret Book of John 14:20)

Another Christian Gnostic book, the Pistis Sophia (Greek for "Faith Wisdom"),
outlines a system of punishment and rewards that includes reincarnation. The
book explains the differences in one's fate as a result of past-life actions. A
"man who curses" will be given a body that is continually "troubled in heart."
A "man who slanders" will be given an "oppressed" body. A thief will be given a
"lame, crooked and blind body." A "proud" and "scornful" man will be given "a
lame and ugly body" that "everyone continually despises." From this, we can see
how this earth, as well as hell, is a place of education through suffering.
According to the Pistis Sophia, some souls experience hell as a place of
shadows and torture. However, after these souls pass through hell, they return
to earth for further experiences. Only a relatively few extremely evil souls
are not permitted to reincarnate. These souls are cast into "outer darkness"
until a time when they are "destroyed and dissolved."
The Pistis Sophia combines the ideas of reincarnation and divine union in a
verse beginning with the question:

"[What happens to] a man who has committed no sin, but done good persistently,
but has not found the mysteries?" (Pistis Sophia)

The Pistis Sophia reveals such a soul will receive "a cup filled with thoughts
and wisdom," allowing the soul to remember its divine origin and pursue the
"mysteries of the light" until it finds them and is able to "inherit the light
forever." To "inherit the light forever" is a Gnostic term for union with God.
In the Gospel of Phillip, Jesus makes a clear distinction between the
resurrection of the spirit (i.e., spiritual rebirth) and the resurrection of
the body (i.e., physical rebirth, reincarnation):

"People who say they will first die and then arise are mistaken. If they do not
first receive resurrection while they are alive, once they have died they will
receive nothing." (Gospel of Philip 73:1-4)

In the Apocryphal book, Wisdom of Solomon, recognized as canonical by the
Catholic Church, is the following verse:

"I was given a sound body to live in because I was already good." (Wisdom of
Solomon 8:19-20)

This verse raises the following question: How is it possible to get a body
after you have already been good, unless reincarnation is true?
Among the works of the Christian Gnostics are some of the early gospels,
including secret gospels which were not preserved in the New Testament. The
Gospel of Thomas was the first gospel ever written and is considered by
scholars to be the most reliable gospel. Much of this gospel contains sayings
of Jesus that are contained in the four New Testament gospels.
The Christian Gnostic gospels reveal a clear and strong vision of the
resurrection as a past and present event. Below is a verse from the Gospel of
Thomas that shows the "resurrection" to be a past event:

"His followers said to him, 'When will the rest for the dead take place, and
when will the new world come?' He said to them, 'What you look for has come,
but you do not know it.'" (Gospel of Thomas, saying 51)

In the verse above, Jesus says the resurrection and the kingdom are already
here. In Gnostic terms, this quote from Jesus refers to a person's past
"resurrection" (i.e., physical rebirth, reincarnation) and the fact that we are
already living in the kingdom of God which exists within us. Only through the
Christ gnosis can this kingdom be realized and the cycle of resurrection end.
The sayings that are presented below are excerpts of the Gospel of Thomas
that are not present in the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.
.

User: "Pastor Dave"

Title: Re: Christian Gnostic Writings 18 Oct 2004 08:15:34 AM
On 18 Oct 2004 04:06:44 GMT, while wondering if all
people love cupcakes,
(Echo2Drs)
yodeled:

Christian Gnostic writings

Agnostic texts do not prove anything and the Apostles
battled gnosticism in the church.
--
± Pastor Dave ±
"As for me, I have not hastened from being a pastor to follow thee: neither
have I desired the woeful day; thou knowest: that which came out of my lips
was right before thee." - Jeremiah 17:16
"And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is
the word of God:" - Ephesians 6:17
/}
@#####{]::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::>
\}
.

User: "Pastor Dave"

Title: Re: Christian Gnostic Writings 18 Oct 2004 06:31:33 AM
On 18 Oct 2004 04:06:44 GMT, while wondering if all
people love cupcakes,
(Echo2Drs)
yodeled:

Christian Gnostic writings

Gnostic texts do not prove anything and the Apostles
battled gnosticism in the church.
--
Pastor Dave Raymond
http://web.tampabay.rr.com/1stcentury/
"I have more understanding than all my teachers:
for thy testimonies are my meditation." - Psalm 119:99
"All scripture is given by inspiration of God,
and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof,
for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
That the man of God may be perfect, throughly
furnished unto all good works." - 2 Timothy 3:16-17
/
o{}xxxxx[]::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::>
\
"And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of
the Spirit, which is the word of God:" - Ephesians 6:17
"The fact of evolution is the backbone of biology
and biology is thus in the peculiar position of
being a science founded on an unproved theory.
Is it then science, or faith? Belief in the
theory of evolution is thus exactly parallel to
belief in special creation. Both are concepts
which believers know to be true, but neither,
up to the present, has been capable of proof.
- L. Harrison Matthews, FRS, Introduction to
the 1971 edition of Charles Darwin's Origin
of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or
the Preservation of Favored Races in the
Struggle for Life
.
User: "Echo2Drs"

Title: Re: Christian Gnostic Writings 18 Oct 2004 10:38:08 AM

Gnostic texts do not prove anything and the Apostles
battled gnosticism in the church.

Don't worry, it doesn't matter if you believe it or not, God loves all It's
children! :-)
Maybe in your next life you will work it out! :-)
.



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