What were the guiding premises of Gnosticism?

Answer 1

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.