Chapter 14: The Gift of Jesus

Page 28

The word Gnostic is derived from the Greek word gnosis and in a

general sense just refers to spiritual knowledge. Gnostic Christians believe in the trinity concept albeit they assign the feminine name of Sophia to the Holy Spirit. Since I have read most of these documents, let me say that only a few of them have anything material to say. Most are a form of mythology

to me and often they contradict the teachings of the biblical canon. So, do not waste your time on Gnostic scriptures unless you want to delve deeper into “Christian mythology.”

I can contrast the Gnostic scriptures, which by and large are a mixture of various religious theologies to that of the Apocryphal books taken out of the Protestant Bible circa 1300 A.D. The biblical canon that I believe in is the Catholic Bible canon or any other Bible translation that also contains the Apocryphal books. These books are intermixed within the Catholic Bible.

They are located in between the Old and New Testaments in other Bibles. I highly recommend reading and studying all of the Apocryphal books. Of the Gnostic texts, I found these documents relevant to the biblical canon.

1. The Gospel of Philip 2. The Book of Thomas 3. The Gospel of Thomas 4. The Gospel of Truth

5. The Gospel of Mary

The “Secret Book of John” aka “The Apocryphon of John” and many others like it I found to be of a highly suspect nature. They were filled with

jargon of a mythical nature and seemingly geared more towards supporting Gnostic doctrine instead of reinforcing canon Scripture. I reviewed the Gnostic documents to reflect on their teachings of Jesus. To the extent they support and reinforce canon teachings, I believe they may be authentic.

It is important to make a decision exactly which text or texts you will take into your confidence. Intellectually, you cannot believe in opposing texts. I.E. In Genesis 1:31 God says “behold [creation] is good.” However,

in Gnostic scripture, it is called a mistake. Therefore choose carefully what you study. This book is written for believers in the Holy Bible, any version.