Message from @Bookworm
Discord ID: 504511990354411520
God is a totality that is the source from which all comes from.
Abrahamic religions also carry a whole lot of '0ld sk00l' baggage.
Not really from a timeline perspective
Christianity is only 2000 years old.
And Islam only 1600
1400, I think.
You right
Seventh century
But Judaism is, what, 3000, 3500 years old depending on how you count it?
Yeah, but Judaism as we know it began alongside Christianity.
Rabbinic Judaism arose at the same time as Christianity, and both came from the same line.
I mean, Buddhism is 2600 years old
And that is the youngest of the Dharmic religions I believe, excluding Sikhism.
The problem is that Abrahamic religions are exclusivists
I don't know, it just seems disingenuous to try and change religious doctrine based off of what sells, rather than what one believes the truth to be.
Gnosticism has always been here.
The earliest known Christian work, the Gospel of Thomas, was Gnostic.
The Nazarenes, the judeo-christians of the first century, were believed to be Gnostic.
And a similar (possibly equivalent) sect, the Ebionites, were stated as Gnostics by the Gentile Church.
Gnosticism has existed since at least a couple centuries before Christianity, I'm not sure where exactly you could say they started to be a distinct group.
I'm trying to refute your point of changing religious doctrine to what sells.
But...changing religious doctrine to sell it better to western audiences is your point.
But who is changing?
I think Dvir is getting more to Gnosticism doesn't hold the view that God is an individual and a direct giver of laws.
I'm pretty sure that's true.
Gnosticism takes from Neoplatonic philosophy in many ways, and in itself is a merger of the Hellenistic values of the ancient world and the new Christian values.
And at certain points it was possible that Gnostic doctrine would become dominant in the Christian world. Valentinus, the founder of the Valentinian sect, was inline to become the Pope. It was only after failing to do so that he went his own ways.
And Valentinianism spread throughout the whole Roman Empire, admittedly being primarily practiced by the educated and academics rather than the commoners.
Okay. I'm pretty sure that's all accurate.
I'm sorry, I think it's because it's late for me, I'm just not following.
Can we pick this up later?
I've been trying to follow the conversation and from what I get it's more that melding Gnostism with Christianity would help shore up those parts of Christianty that turn people away from 'religion' and towards more materialistic and nihilistic thinking.
Okay. I understand the utilitarian viewpoint, but I'm afraid I can't agree.
Beliefs should be based around what is correct, not what is useful.
How come no one is debating in the voice chat?
But religion is subjective
Text is good for posterity, helps go over things later.
Just like any other form of the humanities
Hmm? Most religions have concrete statements about objective reality that are true or false.
The Gnostic view of the material world is largely disconnected.