hey

[bleak]

I found you through a duckduckgo search (avoid goo gle at all costs) for the Fazinni Resurrection art thing that "graces" some sanctuary at the Vatican. I am a Christian but belong to a church of one; me, because I can't find a church that actually teaches what Jesus taught.

I have "heretical" beliefs for instance I don't believe that the "God" of the Old Testament is the same God that Jesus called "Father" who is the one true God. I don't believe that the Bible is the "Word of God" but rather it is the words of MEN who wrote down what they thought would serve them in some cases but includes a lot of truthful knowledge especially the stuff in red. I think Paul was truly a gifted person but made some mistakes for example Colossians 3:22.

I believe Thomas and Mary Magdalene were true disciples of Jesus Christ. I read the Gnostic scriptures in the Nag Hammadi library. I refute the Nicene Creed/Council, "Emporer" Constantin, Ireneaus (the "heretic hunter"), Hippolytus and a whole lot more of the so-called "theologians" of the early church and the Catholic church of course who are the hypocrites Jesus called out. Well, that's about it for now. Hope I can find some like-minded minds here. And if not, maybe I can change your mind.

[Midnight]

Welcome, bleak. You can learn a lot here - the admins don't put up with ANY false teachings.  I'll pray that you find the truth. 

[bleak]

And I pray you find it as well. I'm sure you are a good person and mean well but the truth cannot be arbitrated by admins or anyone else. So please leave my post as is and I won't bother anyone here. Maybe someone will come along and find it useful.

[bleak]

Well, at least you didn't ban me. I was banned on "christianchat dot com" a few days ago for introducing myself just as I did here. Well, a bit more but nothing radically differnet. If anything, I testified to my belief in Jesus Christ as the Saviour of Mankind. Some so-called "Christians" are that by self proclamation only. For as Jesus said...

"You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you: ‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are merely human rules.'" ~ Matthew 15:7-9

The text below this line are all the responses I got along with my comment to that person. Their comments are in quotes obviously. I spent a lot of time attempting to write thoughtful responses only to find that I had been banned in the interim. I learned a long time ago to write long comments in another app for "safe keeping."
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maxwel
"It's good you found a church where your beliefs don't sound crazy.
When you're preaching, umm, try to act surprised once in a while... just to keep things fresh."

There may not be a physical church I can look forward to attending but that doesn't mean there aren't individuals all over the world with similar views as mine. The heretic hunters like Iraneaus made sure of that.

Ugly
"So the one person in billions that knows the truth. No ego there. No delusions either."

Not by a long shot. I'm not egoless and/or perfect. I believe Christ was the only perfect man to walk this earth. Just because the mob says it's true doesn't mean it's true. Mobs have been wrong in the past and so they still are and always will be.

"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven." ~ Matthew 7:21

pckts
"I'm going to repost this because we get a lot of "gnostics" here who think they have discovered secret truth, which is a ridiculous belief in itself. To think God didn't provide us his Word and that you have to hunt it down on the internet finding buried caches of documents most of the human race have never heard of. You need to follow the canonical Bible and believe it, rather than disregarding it because you don't like the way God acted in the OT. You need to rectify your issues and come to terms with the fact the old testament and new testament God are the same person, rather than cherry pick what you consider scripture and reject God as an archangel or whatever your twisted religion believes."
Originally Posted by pckts
"The gnostics were a form of devil worshipers and secret society. They told followers they could achieve "Christ consciousness" by following their guidelines similar to Scientology today. They were like a group that wanted to take advantage of Christians with big egos by telling them they could become god, gnosticism itself is a term associated with achieving god "form" through knowledge.

They alter stories in The Bible, such as saying Jesus planned for Judas to betray him and that it was their plan together. A number of stories are altered to deceive their followers because they are a cult that abuses and manipulates with lies.

They also portray satan as the hero "The bringer of light (knowledge), and portray God as evil and controlling. Skull and Bones society worships the number 322, because of Genesis 3:22 where God says if they eat from the tree of life they will become "Gods like us". People throughout history have attempted to use this to manipulate others into believing they can become gods through knowledge to set them on a selflish, power lusting, and ego-driven path, acting as agents of satan in the process.

Another core belief is that satan in the old testament is somehow related to Christ in the new testament. They want to confuse you into believing or associating Christ with the adversary, to manipulate you into serving the adversary and doing his work. They convoluted and spin The Truth of The Bible to get you to worship the devil, and it's packaged nicely with a bow on top so many do not realize this.

Why are you attracted to gnosticism, outside of the promises of becoming a god and other worldly powers, do you doubt the literal word of The Bible? Do you think information was suppressed and that these gnostic gospels have "secret knowledge" that contradict it?

They undermine Christ's divinity so "you can do it too" and they are satan apologists or revisionists.

And what is it you think you are doing? You outright deny the validity of scripture when you don't like it, and accept outside fabricated material when you like it. You are far worse than people that misinterpret scripture."

You know nothing about Gnosticism. Zero. Yes, there were one or two sects that practiced sorcery (the Sethians and one other) but nowhere in the texts I've read (most of the Nag Hammadi Scriptures and the Pistis Sophia) does satan worship come into it. You are confused by the very sources you accuse me of reading. I read books. That's where the knowledge is. Don't let the ones who persecuted the early Christians and tried to hide a lot of Christs' teachings block you from an intelligent rather than an obtuse decision like that of a cartoon character (Bugs Bunny for example) or a holly wood MKUltra victim (let's say Taylor Swift) because that is how disparate (note: not desperate) your opinion is from the actual history of Gnosticism.

It could be Genesis 3:22 that S&B used or it could be Colossians 3:22 "SLAVES, obey your earthly masters..." Unless you are a member, you don't really know, do you. If it is Genesis, the knowledge could be a lot more than just knowing; it could mean something entirely different. Why don't you read the article on wikipedia about the "demiurge" for a start. That is what the Gnostics called the God of the OT.

Are not all of the rulers of the world satanists? Do not they think they are gods the way they lie, manipulate, steal and murder? And yet you probably believe every single word you hear on the news. You probably don't know that you've been lied to and misled from the day you were born until today. Blatent, egregious lies. That isn't my fault; it's yours.

"Another core belief is that satan in the old testament is somehow related to Christ in the new testament." A core belief? Where did you hear that? I don't believe Christ is in any way "related" to satan and I haven't read any such thing. If I did, I would discard it. He was/is the superior of satan and satan must stand in back of Him. Like I said, read about the demiurge.

I was "brought up" as Catholic and I mean figuratively because no one in all my 8 years of Catholic grammar school or all boy's Catholic high school ever taught me a thing about the Bible. Not really. And it's not cuz I wasn't listening. They just had other agendas like gay sex and beating small boys with large boards. To tell you the truth, I don't know why I'm drawn to the Gnostics; I just am and have been since the early 80's when I began this search for the truth.

Typical rush to judgement regarding my beliefs instead of following what the very same Bible told you. "11 Brothers and sisters, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against a brother or sisterd or judges them speaks against the law and judges it. When you judge the law, you are not keeping it, but sitting in judgment on it. 12 There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the one who is able to save and destroy. But you—who are you to judge your neighbor?" ~ James 4:11-12

Frazier991
"You are misinterpreting the term "Son of Man", He is the Son, but in man form-scripture is clear on this. Liken it to a brick wall being called a "wall of brick". He is not saying He is the "Son of Man" like you would say you are the son of your parents-Jar of clay, statue of plaster, etc. The Son-'of man'"

That is your opinion probably based on what you were told. You don't really know that; you only believe it. You know that he was called "the Adam" in the OT up until Adam and Eve realized they were naked and forced to work in the garden, right? After that, he was just Adam. BTW, if A=1 (the first letter in the alphabet), D=4, M=13. Or in Hebrew; Aleph, Daleth, Mem (a funny coincidence that Mem is 13 as well). 1 + 4 + 1 + 13 = 19. 1 + 9 = 10. 1 + 0 = 1. Adam was the first man.

Magenta
"I heard an interesting teaching the other day on the plurality of God, and how certain terms were used throughout Scripture to denote this plurality. You can find it at fortressoffaith.com here: fortressoffaith.com/radio2/ under Taking the Gospel to the Jews, which is presented in three parts. Also, concerning being made in God's image, if I were to tell you I had an image in my mind as to how I would like to paint a picture, and then painted a picture according to that image, I could say my artwork was made in my image, but that would not mean I look like that painting. Most people do take it to mean we are a plurality of elements as well."

Thank you so much. I will listen to it. Your analogy reminds me of the world we live in and it is not wasted on me. "For the Law, since it has only a shadow of the good things to come and not the very form of things, can never, by the same sacrifices which they offer continually year by year, make perfect those who draw near." ~ Hebrews 10:01

Sweetmorningdew78
"I've got nothing to say about your post but I read your post and i am reading all the responses

Hello and welcome to CC Good morning!"

Thank you for the kind words.

tourist
"Your biggest problem is that you don't believe that the bible is the inspired Word of God. The bible is the most valuable spiritual resource that there is but serves no purpose if you don't believe the words. Regardless, glad to have you join us. Welcome to CC."

Thank you. Then why was so much left out? Why are there so many "other" books that go into Christ's teachings in much greater detail? The Nag Hammadi Scriptures were not discovered until 1945. Is that just a coincidence? Why were they buried in urns? Could it be that the keepers of them were persecuted as heretics and they knew that if they didn't safeguard these teachings, they would be lost forever? Isn't that a possibily? Because there are great teachings in the Nag Hammadi library. Have you ever read the Gospel of Thomas or the Gospel of Mary Magdalene? The Gospel of MM is the single most beautiful thing I've ever read in my entire life. It brings me to tears just thinking about it.
www.gnosis.org/library/marygosp.htm

You people don't know what you are missing.

Like I said, there is much truth in the Bible but the Bible was written and, more importantly, edited/revised BY MEN. I believe that much of it IS the "inspired word of God." Why do you conflate what I say with only your own projections?

See www.sacred-texts.com/chr/index.htm, earth-history.com/my-manuscript/chapter-1-biblical-monotheism for some history.

mj007
"Let's see if people allow you to be you and have your own beliefs as they have their own beliefs, which are different to the next (however might say that they are all similar). Let's see the positivity and love that Christians are so full of in admiration of God and of Jesus.

No-one is elite above the other, there is no-one righteous. Every person is entitled to their beliefs, as long as they aren't an intentional God hater (different to being angry at God, or hating God for your life presently because of circumstance which needs guidance), or a rejecter of Jesus, his existence, or especially his words (many do without realising it)."

Thank you very much. Well said. I hope so. For it is only my search for the truth. Most people are always quick to see the differences but take a long time to see the similarities. If ever they even attempt that at all.

more pckts
"mj007 believes gnostic material is authentic scripture, this is why his opinion differs on the matter.

You are preaching liberal values like "acceptance" and "let you be YOU". We are trying to put the person on the right path and make sure their religious foundation is correct, and not eroded with false gospels. False gospels undermine authentic gospel and the person's understanding and faith.

We are being positive and loving by informing the person the canonical Bible is The Truth, and gnostic material is fabricated and a deceptive lie. This matters take precedence over "individuality", "personal freedom" and your other values of the liberal kind."

Like I said, you know nothing. "Liberal?" That is absurd. If you knew even a fragment of the truth, you would really know that Matthew wasn't joking. "Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it." ~ Matthew 7:13

preacher4truth
"Soooo...the newcomer is gnostic and his username is bleak.

Alright."

I'm not sure how to take that? Are you saying to accept me at face value and that is good enough for you?

[maybetoday]

Welcome, bleak.  



May I point out something about the Bible?  The fact that it's the only "holy book" among all those in the world that contains prophecy (about 1/3 of it is prophetic) and the prophecy is coming to pass precisely the way God said it would, thousands of years ago, proves that it has divine authorship. 

The standard for a biblical prophet is 100% accuracy - anything less, and he would have been stoned as a false prophet.  For example, if someone claimed to be a prophet and said, "On December 3, there will be a terrorist attack in London at 3:33 P.M. and 59 people will die," and on December 3 there actually was a terrorist attack in London at 3:32 P.M. and 59 people died," he'd have been considered a false prophet. God doesn't make mistakes and His true prophets (which all in the Bible are) are given no margin of error.

[bleak]

Dec 9, 2017 15:36:22 GMT -5 maybetoday said:

Welcome, bleak.  

May I point out something about the Bible?  The fact that it's the only "holy book" among all those in the world that contains prophecy (about 1/3 of it is prophetic) and the prophecy is coming to pass precisely the way God said it would, thousands of years ago, proves that it has divine authorship. 

The standard for a biblical prophet is 100% accuracy - anything less, and he would have been stoned as a false prophet.  For example, if someone claimed to be a prophet and said, "On December 3, there will be a terrorist attack in London at 3:33 P.M. and 59 people will die," and on December 3 there actually was a terrorist attack in London at 3:32 P.M. and 59 people died," he'd have been considered a false prophet. God doesn't make mistakes and His true prophets (which all in the Bible are) are given no margin of error.

I appreciate your comment. May I point something out to you? I do believe that Biblical prophecies are "coming true" and that much of what was written down in the Bible was Divine Inspiration. Do I believe every word in the Bible without question? No, I do not at this point in time, and the reason for that is Jesus Christ was not the chief Editor of the Bible and He did not actually say many of the things that are said in the Bible by his deciples. I'll give an example.

Did Jesus ever say "Slaves, obey your earthly masters without complaint." (Col 3:22)? I don't believe He did. The closest match I can find is Luke 20:19 "Render to Ceasar..." If you have something else regarding this, I'm all ears. But what if paying taxes to Ceasar isn't good enough for Ceasar? What if "Ceasar" won't be satisfied until you are killed, all of your family is killed, all of your friends and associates are killed and anyone whom "Ceasar" sees unfit to share the earth with are killed? Would you not then say that this ruler is unfit to be a ruler and should be disposed of? I would. Because everyone on earth has the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. And yet if you bow down to the these "authorities" without question because it says to in the Bible, I question your understanding of what Jesus said, did, and why he was here!

The gospels that are included in the Bible were proclaimed to be the only relevent gospels by whom? MEN. Men who not only had their own agendas but men who were NOT the true knowers of what Jesus Christ said and did. Men like Constantin and Irenaeus were actually hunters/killers of the early Christian Gnostics and they have blood on their hands. They burned many of the Words of Jesus as well because they did not fit in with their "vision" of what Christianity was; only what they saw it as. Namely, a system of CONTROL. "Believe what we say or go to hell." They called Gnostic Christians "heretics" which means "choice" but they were the true heretics, IMO. Read this short article about Gnosticism. The Gnostic Gospels do not supplant the Bible; they SUPPLEMENT IT. There are many false views of Gnosticism that cloud over this fact. Probably deliberately. www.gnosticschristians.com/introduction.html

The first words of the Gospel of Thomas: "These are the words of the LIVING JESUS." Christ wanted us to not only believe in Him but to EXPERIENCE his teachings. To blindly go forth without questioning was not something he taught. Also read the First Council of Nicaea on wikipedia especially the Arius controversy. To say that anyone actually knew exactly what Christ was in relation to God the Father and the Holy Spirit (or whatever) 300 years after His death and resurrection and to condemn anyone who didn't hold a particular view like Arius is to blindly follow MEN into perdition.

BTW, I don't hold your particular hypthetical scenario as true or even scientific. One minute? By whose watch? Even the North Pole is shifting as we speak. The only constant in this material world is CHANGE. Good luck.

Edit: If someone did predict such a "terrorist attack," I would first consider that they were an insider who was leaking information before I would think of them as a visionary although I wouldn't rule out the visionary theory until I knew their background. Many of the so-called "terrorist attacks" are actually intelligence agency operations (CIA, MI6 etc) used to advance their agendas of more control and destruction like wars, coups etc. The CIA has been doing this since the 50s. You are blindly naive if you think they weren't. Are these the "authorities" I should obey?