Oh, the humanity. My apologies...
The silence on the heresies other than Gnosticism was (and still appears to be) deafening.
Gnosticism was, as was said, probably the most prominent heresy mentioned in the New Testament. Its name comes from the Greek word gnosis which means “knowledge”, but what the Gnostics were promoting was not the true knowledge of God as taught by the Apostles, but a sort of esoteric pseudo-knowledge or mysticism derived from personal, direct spiritual experiences which they took to be Divine revelation.
Some of the most prominent characteristics of this ancient heresy that so destabilized so many early Christians included the following:
A disdain for and impatience with the orthodox process of presenting God’s propositional truth to the believer for him to understand and process with his reason, in favor of direct, intuitive insight gained by experience. The effect this had was to produce a sort of intellectual anarchy wherein the spectrum of Gnostic belief, though always having certain characteristics, was so broad as to almost defy definition, since its beliefs were determined by individual speculation.
Now to be sure, receiving spiritual insight and revelation directly from the Holy Spirit is very Biblical. We need to remember that the heroes of the faith all got what they did directly from God long before there even were any holy writings. Moses and Paul for instance, received truth from God this way and what they got became what we now today call the Holy Scriptures. Abraham likewise was willing to sacrifice Isaac as a burnt offering based solely on a subjective experience (Gen 22). If that were you or I, we would probably have said, “I rebuke you Satan in Jesus Name!” But today we have a “more sure word of prophecy” (II Pet 1:19), the Word of God, and the Word and the Spirit agree.
Therefore whatever we get by revelation must agree with the basic revelation of God as already given in the Scriptures. And it is here where the Gnostic error manifested, because for whatever reason, they would either take this principle too far or they would just come to the wrong conclusions.
Whether it was out of vanity, stubbornness, a desire to be different, an honest misunderstanding or whatever, only God knows the motives lurking within the human heart. But regardless, it must be one of the great ironies of the Scriptures to read the Apostle John telling the believers that they can overcome the subversions of the Gnostics because “ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things” (I Jn 2:20), such an unction in fact that they didn’t even need a man—even John himself—to teach them (2:27)!
A tendency to spiritualize the Scriptures, always looking for deep symbolic and allegorical meanings to everything. For the same reasons the Gnostics were given to myth and poetry more than to literal meanings and historical accounts of things. In so doing they were turning on its head the orthodox dictum of, “Be literal where possible, and allegorical when necessary” in favor of, “Be allegorical as much as possible. It sounds more impressive.”
What we have to understand about this factor is the paradoxical nature of so much that we find about Biblical truth. For instance, First Corinthians 2:10 speaks of “the deep things of God” that the Holy Spirit “searches out”, so there is a valid concept involved here. The works of say, Kevin Connor, who has written much about the types and symbols found in the Bible is an example of the good side of this.
But there is a bad side too, a kind of “deep things” that are so deep and “spiritual”, no one can understand what’s being talked about! The Gnostics were given to this sort of thing in such extremes or in ways that were so out of bounds as to take a good concept and turn it into a bitter poison. In fact, the Gnostics had a phrase for this—”the depths of God”. But their version of such things was so perverse as to prompt Jesus in Revelation 2:24 to sarcastically refer to them as, “the depths of Satan, as they speak.”
The Gnostics also regularly claimed that their teachings did in fact come from the Apostles, but were secretly handed down to them because only the very spiritual could handle such deep things. I imagine they used Jesus’ words to great effect here when He said, “I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now” (Jn 16:12), as well as similar sentiments (Mt 13:11; 19:11, etc.).
The apostles strongly condemn the ways of these false Gnostic teachers who are “turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness”, who “walk after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness”, (Jude 47,8,16; II Pet 2:10, 14, 18), etc. etc. As well, we have where Paul speaks of those who follow practices which have “the appearance of wisdom in self-imposed religion, false humility, and neglect of the body, but are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh (Col 2:23 NKJ).
In other words, here we have another great irony, (something Paul especially loved to savor), in that although these people go to great lengths to deny their physical flesh, they’re walking in a kind of “spiritual flesh”, that is, a kind of spiritual pride or showboatism.
The Example of John
There is the ever-evolving and ever-individualistic Gnostic dogma, which much of the New Testament is directed at correcting Gnostic ideas. But it’s like listening to a phone conversation. You only hear one person talking and you have to speculate or ask for more information before you can find out what the other party was saying.
The writings of John for example, were much given to dealing with this error. John did not write until toward the end of the first century, by which time the Gnostic influence was tearing apart the churches of the empire. In his Gospel for instance, when he said that Jesus is “the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world,” (Jn 1:9), he was making a concession to the Gnostics about that last characteristic. He was stating that, in essence, there was a half truth involved here, that the Holy Spirit can bear witness to every man’s human spirit to bring that Light Who is Christ Jesus into a person’s heart. But the thrust of his words is that Jesus is that uncreated God; not the human soul.
Likewise, the First Epistle of John is almost totally devoted to helping people deal with the seductive Gnostic error in their midst (I Jn 2:26). When John writes, “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us” (1:8), he is actually addressing that Gnostic lie that there is no sin, only ignorance. In other words, what the second “we” in the verse is referring to is not “we Christians”, but “we, the human race”. Many times Bible teachers have used this verse to excuse sin in Christians, but they are always hard pressed to explain then John’s obvious contradiction in 3:6-9 where he says among other things, “Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed [i.e., the believer] remaineth in him; and he cannot sin [in good conscience, at least], because he is born of God.”
Then in chapter 2 verse 2 John addresses another Gnostic error. Like the Calvinists years later, Gnostics taught that Christ did not die for all men, but only for the elect (i.e., those who come into this wonderful “knowledge”). But John says here that, “He is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.” In other places, John accuses the Gnostics among them of professing much love, but in reality “hating” the believers because they are trying to seduce them away from the true faith into a pseudo knowledge of God . He calls them “murderers” for this (3:15), following in the example of Cain who brought an offering that God did not accept (3:12). Yet their apparent superior “knowledge” was causing the believers to feel very inferior and condemned (3:20).
John says these Gnostics were operating under the influence of deceiving spirits (4:1), and that they denied Christ was God in the flesh, but rather an enlightened adept who learned the gnosis way and upon whom the “Christ spirit” came while He was on the cross (4:2).
Gnosticism Today
To be sure, the early Gnostic heresies were serious errors, serious enough to damn the soul according to the Apostles (II Pet 2:3,12,17; I Jn 2:22,23; II Jn 9, etc.). If any of these doctrines are still around today, they’re found in outright cults and New Age circles. But what I am alarmed at are the tendencies of similar principles to be found within orthodox Charismatic and Pentecostal circles today. And these principles follow the sorts of patterns outlined in the first two characteristics mentioned above.
from http://intotruth.org/apostasy/NewGnostics.htm
So you keep playing the Gnosticism tune as loud as you can, and then commit YET ANOTHER logical fallacy (argument from silence) when I spend my time directly addressing the lie you persist in shouting out?
It's painfully obvious that you have no interest in honest discussion at all. You just keep spreading lies and refusing to acknowledge them when you're called on them.
The truth of Reformed doctrine certainly doesn't rest upon my willingness to defend it against intellectually dishonest people such as yourself.
Feel free to have the last word, but don't both copying me on it. In fact, please do not post to me any more in this thread until such time as you are willing to admit your clear and blatant misrepresentation of my beliefs in the face of repeated correction.