A Review of What We Covered Sunday 4/22

• We finished the Ancient Gnostic view of God and Reality. Concerning the Ancient Gnostic view of God the main thing to know is that ancient gnosticism believed in an unknowable, impersonal (no relationship) God that is so separate and protected from creation that only through special knowledge (more on this later) can human beings know him. They also despised a lesser so-called god who is the evil creator of this evil world called the universe and some of these gnostics equated this god with the God of the Old Testament. Concerning the Ancient Gnostic view of Reality the main thing to know is that the universe is dualistic- matter (anything physical or material) is evil and anything spiritual (non-material) is good. The created universe is meaningless.
• We also looked at 1 Timothy1:3-7 and 2 Peter 2:1-3 to see some examples of early gnostic thought. I will provide more commentary on these passages later this week.
• Folks, I want to encourage you to not become frustrated or discouraged with this material. As I stressed Sunday morning it will begin to come together once we get to the modern day manifestations and to the biblical apologetic or defense.