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Is the God of the Old Testament evil, as Gnostics believed?
Logan Graham
It takes a very selective reading of the Hebrew scriptures to fail to see that the God portrayed there balances the attributes of justice and mercy. Commandments such as "love your neighbor as yourself" (Leviticus 19:18) is hardly a satanic commandment!
Anonymous
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What do Christians believe as evil?
studied, I am not a theologian. The bible see evil as working against God's will. God in his purest form is love (unconditional); evil would therefore be hate. You can get into really deeply philosophical debates but evil centers around the devil. Lucifer was the fallen angel that wanted to be God's equal. God vanquished him to earth for eternity or is known as the "fallen angel". Therefore, the devil has great spiritual powers but only of this world and the flesh. The devil disguises himself, uses the pleasure and desire of the flesh and is the consummate "liar". While not a simple question with a simple answer, evil is the work of the devil. More simply said, anything in opposition to God plan and order for you.
What did the sumerians believe the gods wanted?
Sumerian believed their God wanted them to behave themselves.
What did the Sumerians believe in?
The Sumerians believed in many gods such as An, Ki, Enki, Enlil, Inanna, the sun god Utu, and the moon god, Sin.See the related Wikipedia link listed below for more information:
What were tupac's beliefs?
Tupac never made it clear what religion he was, but we know he believed in God and Christ.
What does yah veh mean?
um....do you mean yaWeh as in god? That is a common old testament word for God. It's also common in Latin to see w's as v's which is why you might have seen it spelled differently.
Why do the Gnostics considers the god of the Bible as evil?
Many Gnostics saw the God of the Old Testament as an angry and capricious god, who demanded sacrifices, encouraged genocide and was vain, in that he demanded constant worship. They could not imagine that the God of the Old Testament could be the same god as the loving god of the New Testament. Because they could not see the Old Testament God and the New Testament God to be the same, they decided that the Old Testament God was a lesser god, who was not even aware of the New Testament God in the higher heavens. Thus, he believed himself to be the only God and the Lord of creation, but there was (in Gnostic view) a higher God. To many, it was not so much that the Old Testament God was evil, it was that he was wholly ignorant.
What religion has a vengeful god?
Parts of the Old Testament describe God as a wrathful and vengeful god. The New Testament insists that God is a loving god, but Judaism has not really resiled from the Old Testament description. The early Gnostics were unable to reconcile the two separate views of God, so they insisted that there must really be two different gods.
What did the gnostics believe?
god
Can you say that God of the Bible is good and Demiurge is the bad God?
This is not an entirely accurate statement of the Gnostic Christian belief about the nature of God. They could not believe that the harsh and unjust God of the Old Testament was the same as the loving and forgiving God of the New Testament, so they believed there must be two gods. The God of the Old Testament became the Demiurge, while the supreme God is the God of the New Testament. Thus, God of the New Testament is good and the Demiurge, the God of the Old Testament, is the bad God.
What were Gnostic beliefs?
AnswerThe term 'Gnostic' comes from the Greek word "to know". The ancient Gnostics, nearly all of whom were Christians, sought knowledge about God and Jesus, through personal revelation - knowledge was available to all, equally. Because the Gnostic view was that all, equally, had access through prayer to the divine, the Gnostic churches had little need for clergy and few Gnostic sects had their own bishops.Unlike the 'Catholic-Orthodox' branch of Christianity that would eventually dominate the faith, their was no concept of an imposed dogma outside of which all other ideas were heresy. The faithful were free to try to find new knowledge, and if others accepted someone's new view of Christianity, then a new denomination could be formed by the followers of that view. Because Gnostics strove for the truth, but accepted that they were still only on the path to finding the truth, the Gnostic religious leaders did not persecute those who left their community.There were numerous Gnostic sects in early Christianity, and some scholars think that Gnostics may have constituted up to half the Christian population during the third century. Because of the diversity of the Gnostic branch of Christianity, there was no one set of Gnostic beliefs.One of the most important and widespread beliefs was that the vengeful God of the Old Testament was a different God than the loving God of the New Testament. Many believed that the Genesis creation was by the Demiurge ('craftsman' God), a lesser God, whom some believed to be ignorant of the higher God above him.Most Gnostics were quite strict vegetarians, who believed that certain vegetables, particularly melons, contained more 'light'. The world itself was considered evil, and many Gnostics felt it wrong to bring a baby into this evil world. A common Gnostic view was that sex was acceptable, as long as it was unlikely to result in conception. Marriage was strongly discouraged.AnswerGnostic beliefs differed from Christian beliefs and ran counter to them. They were based on Greek philosophy such as Plato's writings. Gnostics believed knowledge and salvation were available to only a select few, God was impersonal and did not love anyone, Jesus was neither literally human nor divine, His sufferings and body were merely illusory, matter was evil while the spirit was inherently good which divorced personal accountability from actions, salvation was attained through the gaining of knowledge, and the Bible was not believed to be God's word.
What do christianity Judaism and Muslims faith have in common?
They all believed in one god and believed that good would overcome evil.
What are Gnostics?
To quote the American Heritage Dictionary, the definition of 'gnostic' is:---1. gnostic Of, relating to, or possessing intellectual or spiritual knowledge.2. Of or relating to Gnosticism.n. A believer in Gnosticism.---The origins of the word are found in the Greek 'gnosis'which refers to the spiritual knowledge of an enlightened human being.It is from a focus on gnosis that the religious movement known as Gnosticism hails; the followers of which are called Gnostics.http://www.samaelgnosis.us/
How is God just?
Answer: Arguably, God is not just. The Old Testament frequently talks of God favoring the Israelites over all the other people of his creation, even causing Joshua to commit genocide in capturing the land of the Canaanites.The early Christian Gnostics could not equate the harsh and unjust God of the Old Testament with the loving God that they felt the New Testament portrayed, so they developed the belief that the Old Testament God was a different and inferior God to that of the New Testament. However, Christianity chose to continue with the monotheistic ideals of Judaism and accept that there is only one God, the God of the Old Testament and the New Testament. If the Old Testament accurately describes the Israelite interaction with God, then he is not always just.Answer: Loving His children regardless of who they are, showing us signs of comfort, giving us mercy and compassion, leading us to light, forgiving us when we have trespassed, giving us life and free will to choose in life, is how He just.
What did the New Testament writers believe about God his word and their own writings?
The New Testament writers believed that God's word was inspired and authoritative. They saw their own writings as a means to convey God's message and teachings to others. They sought to faithfully communicate the message of Jesus Christ and the principles of the Christian faith through their writings.
What were Zoroasters ideas about good and evil?
Zoroaster believed in the duality of good and evil, represented by the concepts of Ahura Mazda (god of light and goodness) and Angra Mainyu (god of darkness and evil). He taught that individuals had the free will to choose between these forces through their thoughts, words, and actions. Zoroaster also believed in the eventual triumph of good over evil in a final judgment day.
What is the one thing the gnostics believe about god?
Agnostics do not believe anything about God. Agnostics do not believe in any type of religion.
What were the guiding premises of Gnosticism?
AnswerThere was never a single doctrine of Gnosticism. In fact, there have been Gnostic Christians, Gnostic Jews and even Gnostic pagans. This guides us to the true difference of gnosticism comapred to other religious beliefs. The word, 'gnostic' comes from the Greek for 'knowledge'. Thus, a Gnostic, of whatever faith, seeks to advance and deepen his or her knowledge of that faith, rather than passively believing whatever is taught by those in authority. Gnostics question and challenge accepted dogma, and propose new ways of looking at religious issues. This is the guiding premise of Gnosticism. One of the most widespread doctrines of Christian Gnostics is that the angry and jealous God of the Old Testament could not possibly be the loving God of the New Testament. From this developed a range of doctrines about just how the world was created, with two Gods and also Sophia (Lady Wisdom - see the Book of Proverbs and a whole range of 'Wisdom literature').Christian Gnostics were strongly vegetarian. They believed that 'light' existed in vegetables, but particularly in melons, so consumption of melons was encouraged. Many Gnostic denominations believed that the world is impure or evil and that for this reason sex should not be performed when there was any chance of bringing an innocent child into the world.
