Difference between revisions of "Gnosticism"
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| − | ''When Hitler was fighting for power, he published a program of his Nazi Party. There, in the article 24, it was declared: "We are all for | + | ''When Hitler was fighting for power, he published a program of his Nazi Party. There, in the article 24, it was declared: "We are all for positive Christianity." Many genuine Christians got hooked for it. |
| − | But when Hitler finally had acquired the full power in the country, it was suddenly disclosed what many had overlooked: The Positive Christianity has been just disguised Nazism. | + | But when Hitler finally had acquired the full power in the country, it was suddenly disclosed what many had overlooked: The 'Positive Christianity' has been just disguised Nazism. |
At the same time, the fight against the Bible triggered its ramp. Especially the Old Testament was taken under the heavy fire. Everywhere you could hear and read: Well, the New Testament can be allowed to circulate for some time, because the teaching there in is about the God of love. Just one thing, the letters of Jew Paul must be eliminated from there, they smack too much of the Spirit of the Old Testament. As for the Old Testament itself - oh, that’s a terrible book, a dirty book, a horrifying book! There in, a voice of the Judeo-Syrian God of desert and revenge can be heard.'' | At the same time, the fight against the Bible triggered its ramp. Especially the Old Testament was taken under the heavy fire. Everywhere you could hear and read: Well, the New Testament can be allowed to circulate for some time, because the teaching there in is about the God of love. Just one thing, the letters of Jew Paul must be eliminated from there, they smack too much of the Spirit of the Old Testament. As for the Old Testament itself - oh, that’s a terrible book, a dirty book, a horrifying book! There in, a voice of the Judeo-Syrian God of desert and revenge can be heard.'' | ||
*Objections to Old Testament by [[New Atheism]] on the grounds that it makes references to ''cruel God the Creator''; [[Richard Dawkins]] in his [[The God Delusion]] (2006) wrote (p.31): | *Objections to Old Testament by [[New Atheism]] on the grounds that it makes references to ''cruel God the Creator''; [[Richard Dawkins]] in his [[The God Delusion]] (2006) wrote (p.31): | ||
| − | ''"The God of the Old Testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction: jealous and proud of it; a petty, unjust, unforgiving control-freak; a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser; a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully."''{{#tag:ref|cf."''To the faithful you show yourself faithful, to the blameless you show yourself blameless, to the pure you show yourself pure, but to the devious you show yourself shrewd.''" [http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=%202%20Samuel%2022:26-27&version=NIV Bible, 2 Samuel 22: 26-27 (NIV)]|group=note}} | + | ''"The God of the Old Testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction: jealous and proud of it; a petty, unjust, unforgiving control-freak; a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser; a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully."''{{#tag:ref|cf."''To the faithful you show yourself faithful, to the blameless you show yourself blameless, to the pure you show yourself pure, but to the devious you show yourself shrewd.''" [http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=%202%20Samuel%2022:26-27&version=NIV Bible, 2 Samuel 22: 26-27 (NIV)]|group=note}} |
==Notes== | ==Notes== | ||
Revision as of 15:28, October 27, 2012
Gnosticism (after gnôsis, the Greek word for "knowledge" or "insight") is the name given to a loosely organized religious and philosophical movement that flourished in the first and second centuries A.D. Though the exact origins of this school of thought cannot be traced with any certainty, it is possible to infer that certain non-canonical sources dating from the first and second centuries A.D. were used to develop it. It is considered a heresy by most modern Christians.
Literary critic Harold Bloom distinguishes Gnosticism from Christianity and Judaism in his book Agon:
"Gnosticism polemically is decidedly not a faith, whether in the Christian sense, pisits, a believing that something was, is, and will be so; or in the Hebraic sense, emunah, a trusting in the Covenant. If religion is a binding, then Gnosticism is an unbinding, but not for the sake of things or persons merely as they are. Gnostic freedom is a freedom for knowledge, knowledge of what in the self, not in the psyche or soul, is Godlike, and knowledge of God beyond the cosmos. But also it is a freedom to be known, to be known by God, by what is alien to everything created, by what is alien to and beyond the stars and the cosmic system and our earth."
Generally, Gnostics believed that the Abrahamic God was in fact two separate and independent entities. They believed that the Demiurge was the God of the Israelites and the Old Testament. He created the world and man imperfectly, and was malevolent. This belief largely stemmed from accounts of the highly interventionist God in the Old Testament directly and indirectly killing large numbers of people. The Gnostics believed that the second god was a good, benevolent god who is embodied in Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ came to save humanity from sin and suffering, the evils of the material world.
Today, Gnosticism still exists in small, isolated communities throughout the world.
Gnostic Groups
Marcion's teaching was marked by a fundamental dualism that "looks like a combination of Christianity and Syrian gnosis". Marcion distinguished between the highest God (the merciful father revealed in Jesus Christ) and but just cruel God (the Creator and Lawgiver revealed in the Old Testament.) He regarded matter as evil, denied the resurrection of body, advocated a strict asceticism, and held to a docetic Christology. Marcion's dualism led him to make a complete disjunction between law and gospel and entitled rejecting the Old Testament in its entirety and as well those New Testament writings he judged to be infected by "the Judaizing" error. The Marcionite 'canon' consisted of the ten letters of the "Apostle" - the Pauline corpus minus the Pastoral Epistles - and the "Gospel" - an edited version of Luke.[1]
Gnosticism Today
Although there are no explicit declarations of any direct connections, it is still of great curiosity to find parallels of gnostic attitudes and traits in modern history:
- Rejection of Old Testament and manipulating (editing) the Scripture by Nazists resulting in dejudaized version of the New Testament (NT), titled Die Botschaft Gottes (The Message of God)[2]. Wilhelm Busch, pastor contemporary to era of Nazism in Germany, witnessed:[3]
When Hitler was fighting for power, he published a program of his Nazi Party. There, in the article 24, it was declared: "We are all for positive Christianity." Many genuine Christians got hooked for it. But when Hitler finally had acquired the full power in the country, it was suddenly disclosed what many had overlooked: The 'Positive Christianity' has been just disguised Nazism. At the same time, the fight against the Bible triggered its ramp. Especially the Old Testament was taken under the heavy fire. Everywhere you could hear and read: Well, the New Testament can be allowed to circulate for some time, because the teaching there in is about the God of love. Just one thing, the letters of Jew Paul must be eliminated from there, they smack too much of the Spirit of the Old Testament. As for the Old Testament itself - oh, that’s a terrible book, a dirty book, a horrifying book! There in, a voice of the Judeo-Syrian God of desert and revenge can be heard.
- Objections to Old Testament by New Atheism on the grounds that it makes references to cruel God the Creator; Richard Dawkins in his The God Delusion (2006) wrote (p.31):
"The God of the Old Testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction: jealous and proud of it; a petty, unjust, unforgiving control-freak; a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser; a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully."[note 1]
Notes
- ↑ cf."To the faithful you show yourself faithful, to the blameless you show yourself blameless, to the pure you show yourself pure, but to the devious you show yourself shrewd." Bible, 2 Samuel 22: 26-27 (NIV)
References
- ↑ David G. Dunbar et al. (1986 (Zondervan), 2005). "Nine: The Biblical Canon", in D.A. Carson and J.D. Woodbridge: Hermeneutics, Authority, and Canon. Eugene, Oregon: Wipf and Stock Publishers, 331. ISBN 1-59752-118-3.
- ↑ Russell Grigg. Did Hitler rewrite the Bible?. Creation Ministries International. Retrieved on 2012-10-27.
- ↑ Kritik ohne Kenntnis? (Busch) (German). Christlichen Medienverbreitungsmission (1. October 2009). “Wilhelm Busch erzählt: Als Hitler um die Macht kämpfte, veröffentlichte er ein Parteiprogramm. In dem stand als Punkt 24: “Wir sind für positives Christentum.” Viele treue Christen sind darauf hereingefallen. Als aber Hitler an der Macht war, erfuhr man, was viele vorausgesehen hatten: Positives Christentum ist dasselbe wie Nationalsozialismus. Zu gleicher Zeit begann der Kampf gegen die Bibel. Namentlich das Alte Testament wurde unter Trommelfeuer genommen. Überall konnte man hören und lesen: Nun ja, das Neue Testament könne man noch einige Zeit gelten lassen; denn da werde der Gott der Liebe gelehrt. Nur die Briefe des Juden Paulus müsse man ausmerzen. In denen sei der Geist des Alten Testaments zu spüren. Das Alte Testament aber – oh, das sei ein fürchterliches Buch, ein schmutziges Buch, ein grauenvolles Buch! Da rede der jüdisch-syrische Wüsten-Rache-Gott.”