[adiaireton8]

You seem to be suggesting that "all denominations are equivalent" is the better position.

Catholics believe that Christ founded only one Church, and made Peter the rock on which He built His Church. All other "denominations" not in full communion with Peter's episcopal successor are in some form of schism from the Church Christ founded. We believe *that* is the "better" position, because we believe that is the truth. We believe that the notion that all denominations are equivalent is false, and is a form of gnosticism that denies the necessity of full *visible*, *material*, and *institutional* unity, as well as the possibility of schism and heresy.

-A8

[TheThirdRuffian]

I don't think you are using the word "gnostism" correctly. Generally, it refers to "secret" teaching --- e.g., like the mormons who think you need the secret temple handshake to get into higher levels of heaven, that sort of thing. Gnosticism (Greek: γνώσις gnōsis, knowledge) refers to a diverse, syncretistic religious movement consisting of various belief systems generally united in the teaching that humans are divine souls trapped in a material world created by an imperfect spirit, the demiurge, who is frequently identified with the Abrahamic God. The demiurge may be depicted as an embodiment of evil, or in other instances as merely imperfect and as benevolent as its inadequacy permits. This demiurge exists alongside another remote and unknowable supreme being that embodies good. In order to free oneself from the inferior material world, one needs gnosis, or esoteric spiritual knowledge available to all through direct experience or knowledge (gnosis) of God.[1][2] Jesus of Nazareth is identified by some Gnostic sects as an embodiment of the supreme being who became incarnate to bring gnosis to the Earth. In others he was thought to be a gnosis teacher, and yet others, nothing more than a man (see, for instance, the writings of Valentinus).[3] Gnosticism was popular in the Mediterranean and middle eastern regions in the second and third centuries, though some scholars claim it was suppressed and was actually popular as early as the first century, predating Jesus Christ[4] as a dualistic heresy in areas controlled by the Roman Empire when Christianity became its state religion in the fourth century. Conversion to Islam and the Albigensian Crusade greatly reduced the remaining number of Gnostics throughout the middle ages, though a few isolated communities continue to exist to the present. Gnostic ideas became influential in the philosophies of various esoteric mystical movements of the late 19th and 20th centuries in Europe and North America, including some that explicitly identify themselves as revivals or even continuations of earlier gnostic groups.