No changed lives Thirty years ago when we were in seminary my wife and I (like all graduate students of Bible and theology) studied the Gnostic writings. A simple reading of the texts shows they reflect a vastly different world-view than that of the Bible. Even young seminary students could see it was an effort of a different religion to co-opt Jesus—and the effort failed miserably. That is a historical fact. Few took the Gnostic-Jesus seriously. There was no explosive movement of changed lives that resulted from these writings as like that with resulted from the proclamation of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. And there won’t be any explosion of changed lives today. In the end, the proof of the pudding is in the eating, as the old proverb says. The Gnostic-Gospels fail in their fundamental definition —they are not gospels, good news. Instead of being the declaration of what God has done to accomplish salvation FOR us, they are just the same old same old—a rehash of self improvement techniques and (sometimes) good advice about ethical living. This is NOT the good news that transforms lives. It is merely, like all other religions besides the true Gospel, a do-it-yourself- salvation based on teachings which must be obeyed in order to reach enlightenment. Nothing could be farther from the true Gospel, the news that Jesus, by his life and death, has actually SAVED us and given us new life, free for the taking. monergism/thethreshold/articles/onsite/gnostics.html
Posted on: Sat, 27 Dec 2014 02:40:12 +0000
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