It's called Gnosticism, and it seems to be alive and well in the Reformed world.
***Maybe you guys think “knowledge” and “grace” are two ways of saying the same thing
It’s called Gnosticism, and it seems to be alive and well in the Reformed world.***
It is the underpinning of Reformed theology. If people couldn’t claim that they KNEW that the indwelling Holy Spirit helped, guided and directed them to do the things that they were doing, the whole thing falls apart.
The Calvinistic theology of the elite is, of course, only a variant on Gnostic beliefs from 1500 to 1800 years previous, in which an elite “knew” that they were special.
Gnosticism is prevalent in the fascist liberal world of today. Hillary Clinton openly states that she will take money away from those that she wishes to take it away from, and give it to those whom she wishes to give it to. Because she ‘knows’ that she is of the elite and is therefore entitled to do as she wishes, because she is of the elite.
That same type of circular logic is paraded constantly here. No proofs are required, selected cherry picked verse is plucked from Scripture to show evidence, and the self-identified elite giggle amongst themselves like teenage girls knowing that they are superior in every way to the serfs and plebians surrounding them. Or they show great sympathy and sorrow, like snooty blue haired ladies in soup kitchens, relieved as all get out that they won’t have to associate with the riff raff once this lifetime lets out.
It is a self serving ideology, as opposed to the others-serving message of Jesus.