March 15th, 2010 by jgrimes

What does it mean to be Gnostic?

It is written in the Christian doctrine, “Miscellanies,” by TITUS FLAVIUS CLEMENS (better known as St. Clement of Alexandra) that,

• God’s truth is to be found in revelation, another portion of it in philosophy. It is the duty of the Christian to neglect neither. Religious science, drawn from this twofold source, is even an element of perfection; the instructed Christian—“the true Gnostic”—is the perfect Christian. He who has risen to this height is far from the disturbance of passion; he is united to God, and in a mysterious sense is one with Him. Such is the line of thought indicated in the work, which is full of digressions. “

Clement of Alexandra was a self-proclaimed, and formally converted, Palestine Jew.  He is one of the founding fathers of Christianity, and was the foremost instructor of the Catechetical school of Alexandria.

A Catechetical school, was one such school that taught higher education, through oral dictations.  They arose to popularity in 190 ad.   The most commonly addressed subject-matters, taught in this fashion, was the  elements of religion.  As they peaked in popularity, their specialty provided the extra preparation needed, for initiation into Christianity.

In the bible, there are many references to people being furthered instructed in knowledge, in many given subjects.  Take (1 Corinthians 14:19); “Let him that is instructed in the word, communicate to him that instructed him, in all good things.”  Those instructions would have come from a Catechetical school.  Simply put- Clement of Alexandria, was an earlier Christian Theology professor.  His philosophy and written ideology, would have been accepted as the truth, and given great weight over other theories.  Therefore how is it then, that the average modern-day Christian, has no idea what it means to be Gnostic?  It is without a doubt that the spirituality of Gnosticism, was clearly being dictated orally to those leading early Christian followers.

It is said that when John the Baptist first laid eyes on Jesus, at the shore of the Jordon River, he knelt before Christ and said, “I’m not worthy to baptist the son of God.”  In fact, it was John the Baptist who first publicly recognize Christ, as the son of God.  Up until that hour, Jesus was referred to as a gifted spiritual prophet, and biblical nomad.  The Gospels teach us that Christ was both human and divine.  He was made of flesh and bone, yet his hands could work great miracles.  Miracles, that could have only come from God himself.  Be that as it may, his blood spilled red, for Christ was just a man.   However, he was a man clearly gifted with divine foresight, with divine healing properties.  He was gifted in religious wisdom, and could create miracles out of tangible objects such as food, water and wine.   He was born to be a powerful, biblical legend; like that of Abraham, Noah, Moses, David, Jacob, and Daniel.  Jesus Christ was a Gnostic.  Which means, “One touched by God.”  Nowadays, to be Gnostic means virtually the same as it did in Jesus time.  John the Baptist could have been said to be “Gnostic.”  Many faithful followers of John the Baptist, do indeed believe he was.  So who were these early Gnostics, and what did they stand for?

“We seek to follow the injunction from the Gospel of Thomas:  ‘If you see what is before your face, there is nothing that will not be revealed to you.’ We seek to know what is real, and to follow that beyond our current notions, ideas, and understandings. We stand apart in that we do not prejudge the real to exclude what is called the spiritual.  We do not exclude what has always been a part of human experience, nor what has always been a part of human culture.”—Gnostic Institute website.

However, does accepting this way of life, make you a Gnostic? No, it does not.  For being a true Gnostic, means you must be divinely embraced by God.  Essentially, you must have been blessed with special senses.  Someone who is Gnostic, is said to have a clearer image in their mind, of how God operates his master plans.  They are said to be more knowledgeable in religious study, and any odd religious perplexities makes sense to them, and not to everyone else.  A Gnostic is divinely gifted by God.  As one blogger writes, “Many of us would not take issue with the bumper sticker that says, I am a spiritual being having a physical experience.”

The word Gnostic is of Greek origin.  It literally means, “a certain type of knowledge.” The type of knowledge the word is referring to, comes from a divine insight into understanding the supernatural.  However, as with all religious or spiritual belief systems, their is a core principle in which to live by.  Gnostics believe that an evil God created the earth.  Its very representation is evil, and our fleshy bodies are personal prisons, for our captive souls to dwell in.  The Gnostics believe, there is another God.  One even more powerful than the earth’s creator, and the one whom Jesus Christ answers too.  It is through Jesus, to whom our messages and needs are correlated to this other God.  Heaven is based off the belief, that there are different levels to Paradise.   Our spiritual worth on earth, plays a vital role to our future position in heaven.  Much like that of the Buddhist or Hindu belief systems.  The Gnostics also believe that everything on earth, is of evil decent.  That our true nature and our souls were sent here to suffer materialist wants, needs and desires.  Needless to say, Gnosticism has it odd perplexities just the same as the Catholics or the Baptists do.  However, Gnosticism is a much wiser religion, and has played a key role in the early developmental periods of Christianity.  Our very core and basic fundamentals, has been from Gnostic philosophies.

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