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Unveiling Gnostic Beliefs and Canon Exclusions

Explore the Gnostic beliefs deemed too subversive by the church. Delve into why the Gnostic gospels were excluded from the Bible and the role of divine sparks in salvation. Understand Marcion's Gnostic roots in forming the New Testament canon in 140 AD.

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Unveiling Gnostic Beliefs and Canon Exclusions

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  1. “You can’t ask that.”

  2. Dan Brown and the books the church is trying to hide. Why were the Gnostic gospels excluded from the Bible? Is it because the authorities saw them as too politically and socially subversive?

  3. Dan Brown’s Da Vinci Code, already a major film and surely the most lucrative novel ever written by a borderline illiterate… -David Bentley Hart

  4. “You can’t ask that.”

  5. Four features of Gnostic Belief • The present world of space, time and matter is an inexorably bad place which only exists because an evil god created it.

  6. Four features of Gnostic Belief • The present world of space, time and matter is an inexorably bad place which only exists because an evil god created it. • Human beings, consisting as they do of physical matter are themselves essentially bad, unless…

  7. Four features of Gnostic Belief • The present world of space, time and matter is an inexorably bad place which only exists because an evil god created it. • Human beings, consisting as they do of physical matter are themselves essentially bad, unless… • We discover within us a divine spark which is meant for another world. The aim is to be delivered from this evil material cosmos to a higher spiritual existence.

  8. Four features of Gnostic Belief • The present world of space, time and matter is an inexorably bad place which only exists because an evil god created it. • Human beings, consisting as they do of physical matter are themselves essentially bad, unless… • We discover within us a divine spark which is meant for another world. The aim is to be delivered from this evil material cosmos to a higher spiritual existence. • The way to this salvation is through a secret knowledge (‘gnosis’) revealed to us by a revealer.

  9. “You can’t ask that.”

  10. Spiritual Egalitarianism Gnostic: Only those with the divine spark are alive and will have eternal life everyone else is already dead

  11. Spiritual Egalitarianism Gnostic: Only those with the divine spark are alive and will have eternal life everyone else is already dead Canonical: Every human being is made in the image of God.

  12. Environmentalism Gnostic: The material world is evil

  13. Environmentalism Gnostic: The material world is evil Canonical: Creation waits for its redemption

  14. Feminism Gnostic: Only men can have eternal life

  15. Feminism Gnostic: Only men can have eternal life Canonical: Women are the first witnesses to the new life of resurrection.

  16. “You can’t ask that.”

  17. Marcion puts together the first New Testament canon in 140AD

  18. Marcion puts together the first New Testament canon in 140AD • Marcion was a Gnostic

  19. Marcion puts together the first New Testament canon in 140AD • Marcion was a Gnostic • The original canon had 13 books

  20. Marcion puts together the first New Testament canon in 140AD • Marcion was a Gnostic • The original canon had 13 books • No Gnostic gospels were included.

  21. Marcion puts together the first New Testament canon in 140AD • Marcion was a Gnostic • The original canon had 13 books • No Gnostic gospels were included. • Why?

  22. Marcion puts together the first New Testament canon in 140AD • Marcion was a Gnostic • The original canon had 13 books • No Gnostic gospels were included. • Why? • No authority because of recent vintage

  23. Marcion puts together the first New Testament canon in 140AD • Marcion was a Gnostic • The original canon had 13 books • No Gnostic gospels were included. • Why? • No authority because of recent vintage • The gnostic gospels did not exist at the time

  24. “You can’t ask that.”

  25. Pancake Night & Baptism at the Creber’s! Tuesday February 26th 7:00pm

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