Gnostic Christianity

Gnostic Christianity is a movement that was not just a religious one but it was

also a philosophical movement. It had roots in pre-Christian times; Gnostics

combined elements taken from Asian, Babylonian, Egyptian, Greek and Syrian

pagan religions, from astrology, and from Judaism and Christianity. Some of the

Gnostic Christian beliefs were that the Jehovah of the Hebrew Scripture was an

inferior Creator-God. He was viewed as fundamentally evil, jealous, rigid,

lacking in compassion and prone to committing genocide. In addition, the

Gnostics felt little to no discrimination towards women and they seemed to be

 more understanding of outside religions.

The beliefs of Gnosticism seem like a radical approach to Christianity but that is

 what would have attracted people to it, and people were starting to get annoyed

or maybe tired of what was going on with Christianity. The Corruption of the

Church at this time created a lot of animosity between people and the Church so

people started to stray away from the normal standard of Christianity to

something different. The allure of Gnostic Christianity was that God was not

necessarily all knowing or all-powerful and the humans and some control over

what God had set out for people. Christianity in 1500 C.E. would be a more of worshiping an extraordinary human being type of god instead of a more all knowing type of god. Christians would be more self-reliant on religious aspects and there was a greater fear of God not just respect, but a pure fear of God.  In Gnosticism, God was portrayed as someone who could come down upon you and hurt you in any severe many if he felt that

you were doing some thing wrong or you had done something wrong. Since the

people would know of God’s extreme capabilities they would always be on their

toes and watching what they were doing, because they did not want God to kill

them or ruin their lives. People would also have God as the upmost top of

 everything in their lives or God would get jealous and maybe he would do

something to you because they would have made him jealous.

Christianity at this time would be stricter and more reliant on the physical

 structure of  things and how they have a direct impact on your relationship with

God. I am just glad that this form of Christianity did not get into full swing, and

maybe because of all the extremes in this type of Christianity is why they did not

slip through the Christian cracks.