Gnosticism 

Most of the writings about Gnosticism were destroyed by the early so-called orthodox Christians AKA the Roman Catholic Church.  The Christians started burning these documents starting in the first century. Perhaps some of them were simply locked away to keep them from being read by the common folks who may see some Light in them.  Another case of wasteful Destruction of Knowledge by the Burning of Books done for God! This activity would now be considered a hate crime and be criminal.  This willful and Criminal destruction makes it very hard to study the ideas of early Gnosticism. Perhaps many of these Gnostic documents are still intact but are hidden in the Vatican Secret Archives, or elsewhere, in an attempt to 'protect' God or perhaps just to protect the Catholic Church and perhaps even other Christian faiths. The attitude seems to be that if it does not totally agree with the established religion it must not be read by anyone who cannot simply ignore, and continue to hide, the information.  I find it absurd that any information could ever be harmful to the Supreme Being, however it could perhaps be harmful to certain religions and could thus have an effect upon their ability to collect funds for their use.

The writings of Gnosticism were considered heretical and those who practiced it was considered Heretics.

Very little useful information was known about Gnosticism until the discovery at Nag Hammadi in 1945.  Up until that find most of the information came from the orthodox Christians who demonized Gnosticism.  The comments made by the early Roman Catholic Church condemning Gnosticism should probably not be considered as either honest of factual as any Religion attempting to destroy another religious belief system will only publish what it considers to be bad about the Religions that is being condemned.  Sort of like a politician will usually only say bad things about his or her opponent.

Gnosticism seems to have has some similar beliefs to orthodox Christianity and a few differences.

Gnosticism seemed to consider the One True God to also have a feminine part called the Spirit and that Jesus came from god and the Spirit to form the Trinity.

The feminine part of God was perhaps called the Wisdom of God or Sophia also considered the Creative Force that created an imperfect offspring all by herself that was known as the Demiurge, who the Gnostics considered to be the horrible Christian God.  Gnosticism considered the Demiurge to be the same as the Devil. 

Gnostics did not believe like the Catholic Church did, and still does believe, that man is sinful by nature, often called Original Sin.  They felt that man erred from Ignorance and could be made better, and achieve Salvation, by learning to correct his ways by studying and learning special Knowledge called 'Gnosis' which came from the study of man's inner self or soul. 

I do not now, and never will, believe that each human child is automatically born a sinner.  Sinning, like proper behavior is a learned process that depends upon what the child learns from its parents and from society.  I think sinners are made, not created as sinners at birth. Low-life parents usually create Low-life children.

Freemasons have often been accused of practicing Gnosticism. It is said by some that the "G" of Freemasonry represents Gnosis, Gnostic or Gnosticism.  Freemasonry, like Gnosticism, does encourage its members to acquire more Knowledge and thus become better men.  Perhaps the critics of the Masons are at least somewhat correct on this.  One must remember that Freemasonry does not favor any one Religion over another but attempts to use only the 'good' parts of each of the various Religions.  

Gnosticism considered Jesus Christ to have been a principle teacher of this special Gnosis that could lead to Salvation.  Gnostics considered that Jesus Christ came from the One True God and the Holy Spirit but not from the horrible God of the Christians they called the Demiurge.  They said that Jesus Christ taught them special Knowledge, or Secret Knowledge, called Gnosis that was not taught to the general congregation of the Churches.  The Roman Catholic Church did not like this as it was attempting to gain strength and power over more people.

Gnosticism not being an Expansionist Religion had no need to murder those not agreeing with it.

Gnostics did not think Jesus Christ had a Virgin Birth  but came from God and the Holy Spirit and was put in a human body by Mary and Joseph having Sexual Intercourse.  

Perhaps Gnosticism should be thought of as involving more philosophy instead of simply Religion.

For additional information please see:


    Burning of Books 
    Catholic Church 
    Christian God 
    Christians  
    Christianity
    Demiurge 
    Destruction of Knowledge 
    Devil 
    Expansionist Religion 
    Freemason 
    Freemasonry 
    G in Freemasonry 
    Gnosis 
    Gnostic 
    Gnostic Gospels 
    Heretics 
    Ignorance 
    Jesus Christ 
    Joseph 
    Knowledge 
    Light 
    Mary 
    Masons 
    MPD_0006 Gnosticism 
    Nag Hammadi  
    Original Sin 
    Qumran 
    People killed for God 
    Philosopher 
    Religion  
    Roman Catholic Church 
    Salvation 
    Satan 
    Scientist 
    Secret Knowledge 
    Sexual Intercourse 
    Son of God 
    Sophia (Wisdom of God) 
    Three Parts of the Trinity 
    Trinity 
    Virgin 
    Virgin Births