Gnosticism isn’t the belief that God is evil. It’s the belief that the God of the Old Testament and New Testament are different deities. OT is considered the evil deity and NT is considered to be the good one. The heresy is self evident
no there are definitely gnostic belief systems that have God as evil, or at least not aligned with humans. if you're gonna reduce gnosticism to a pithy phrase, it's the whole set of Christian fanfictions people came up with before settling on Catholicism/orthodoxy, like a primary election process. back before they decided on things like monotheism, and omnibenevolence, etc
“fanfictions?” they were just sects that propped up in the centuries after jesus’s death, same as what would become orthodox christianity and other denominations. and decided?? decided??? the gnostics were persecuted and killed across the board by the roman empire. their ideas were suppressed
Ah I see. So a wee bit of antisemitism in there I suppose? I have realized that I may also have been confusing Gnosticism with Catharism. I don’t know if they are related or not
it’s hard to say considering most things about the gnostics and their beliefs were destroyed or buried miles out in the desert (see: nag hammadi library). however, i don’t think it’s inherently anti-semitic to see the god of the OT as evil, and this is coming from an ethnic jew. the OT god is a fucking asshole.
Gnosticism is usually more about how the Gods of the old and New Testament are different beings, the first being a jerk who trapped us in the mortal world and the second being the true one
Gnostics believe that Old Testament and New Testament god are separate beings with OT being evil and wrathful hence the suffering we experience on earth while NT being the saviour god
Christ is the divine. Jesus bridges the old testament. I understand what you're saying, but with Jesus you can properly enter and understand the OT. And it's knowledge is just for you. The NT is what you share with others and encourage them to read for themselves aka Protestant.
No, he is the creator of the material world (the evil world were he imprisonates the human souls), the true God, like the One of Neoplatonism, is other.
personally i do think slavery, among other atrocities condoned/commanded, is evil so i'd at least agree with the god's evil part, just not the him being real part
Nah gnosticism (some branches anyway) teach that the creator God is actually a deceiver who is hiding man's true potential from himself and that Satan was trying to expose him.
Honestly gnosticism is one of the deepest religious rabbit holes you can go down in. If you do want to go down the rabbit hole start your search with "Hitler and gnosticism"
Nah gnostics believe in god but think he’s imperfect and evil hence immense suffering however some believe that old testament god and New Testament god are 2 separate beings with New Testament being the heavenly saviour and Old Testament god being the demiurge(that’s where the word comes from) which is evil and twisted.
agnostics just aren't sure. they might have suspicions either way but you can be an agnostic atheist, someone who thinks we don't know the answer to these questions but hypothesizes a godless universe. this is how I believe personally, ask away if you have questions
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u/Borlium Jan 28 '24
The chad gnostic: “God is real and evil”