Knowledge is Power... Kind of
One of the most pronounced of the Gnostic creeds is "Knowledge is power." Those in the World trudge along by this, trying harder and harder to know in order to find their salvation.
Salvation for those in the Kingdom--and along with it, genuine power--comes from one source, the Creator of the entire universe, Jesus Christ.
I thought about that for a moment, and thought, couldn't one feasibly ask, "What about knowledge of Christ? Couldn't it be the case that one must have knowledge of this One Who Saves? Wouldn't he then derive his 'power' from the knowing of that One? And isn't that then the result of some effort put forth by the know-er, making it just as much a Gnostic endeavor as anything?"
Wow. That's a fine challenge, and I'm sure one that has been considered before many times by many others in many ways.
My answer may also be one that's been previously considered, but I really don't hear it much because the World is so predictably Catholicized that it should certainly not get too much airplay. My goodness, that the One Person Who'd Wholly Fulfill would be so easily embraced epistomologically is just something World operatives are not too crazy about having out there. So of course the Gnostic lies get out there instead and people are stuck with hitting the textbooks.
The fact is Jesus is right there in front of everyone as much as the shirt on their bodies are. Jesus died for every individual in the world, so Jesus is more like that shirt hanging on your shoulders than he is some esotric concept to grasp if one is lucky enough to have an intrepid evangelical guru introduce him to you.
The question is, are you going to want to wear the shirt that's already there? If you don't, Jesus gives you the option of taking it off. He doesn't want to give you the Kingdom if you really don't want it. He's cool with that.
Qualifying note: I'm not saying Jesus is already accepted by people. They are already condemned of their sin by the law. My shirt metaphor is simply to challenge the whole presumption in the above question. It is interesting as I think about the shirt that a biblical metaphor is indeed that one may be "clothed with Christ," to be covered with His righteousness.
When it comes to knowing Jesus, I believe every individual can't help but know of Him in some very simple non-laborious way. The question is not knowing but submitting to His Lordship. Anyone can know of Him, and I imagine Gnostic practioners may know a lot of cool things about Him. He, however, would like one to know Him.
Many will and many won't. I believe many of those who won't will find themselves squirming around in the World looking for the quite elusive knowledge that will save them. Oh they might have some temporal power with it--the Agents of Cain have seven times as much power with it.
But it won't mean much in eternity.
Or right now for that matter.
For a bit more about this "squirming around in the World" stuff, my most recent home page webzine piece is on it.
Salvation for those in the Kingdom--and along with it, genuine power--comes from one source, the Creator of the entire universe, Jesus Christ.
I thought about that for a moment, and thought, couldn't one feasibly ask, "What about knowledge of Christ? Couldn't it be the case that one must have knowledge of this One Who Saves? Wouldn't he then derive his 'power' from the knowing of that One? And isn't that then the result of some effort put forth by the know-er, making it just as much a Gnostic endeavor as anything?"
Wow. That's a fine challenge, and I'm sure one that has been considered before many times by many others in many ways.
My answer may also be one that's been previously considered, but I really don't hear it much because the World is so predictably Catholicized that it should certainly not get too much airplay. My goodness, that the One Person Who'd Wholly Fulfill would be so easily embraced epistomologically is just something World operatives are not too crazy about having out there. So of course the Gnostic lies get out there instead and people are stuck with hitting the textbooks.
The fact is Jesus is right there in front of everyone as much as the shirt on their bodies are. Jesus died for every individual in the world, so Jesus is more like that shirt hanging on your shoulders than he is some esotric concept to grasp if one is lucky enough to have an intrepid evangelical guru introduce him to you.
The question is, are you going to want to wear the shirt that's already there? If you don't, Jesus gives you the option of taking it off. He doesn't want to give you the Kingdom if you really don't want it. He's cool with that.
Qualifying note: I'm not saying Jesus is already accepted by people. They are already condemned of their sin by the law. My shirt metaphor is simply to challenge the whole presumption in the above question. It is interesting as I think about the shirt that a biblical metaphor is indeed that one may be "clothed with Christ," to be covered with His righteousness.
When it comes to knowing Jesus, I believe every individual can't help but know of Him in some very simple non-laborious way. The question is not knowing but submitting to His Lordship. Anyone can know of Him, and I imagine Gnostic practioners may know a lot of cool things about Him. He, however, would like one to know Him.
Many will and many won't. I believe many of those who won't will find themselves squirming around in the World looking for the quite elusive knowledge that will save them. Oh they might have some temporal power with it--the Agents of Cain have seven times as much power with it.
But it won't mean much in eternity.
Or right now for that matter.
For a bit more about this "squirming around in the World" stuff, my most recent home page webzine piece is on it.
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