The Gospel of Judas

[kahljorn]

"My main problem with gnostics is that they were intellectual parasites."

Agreed, but Christianity itself isn't exactly guiltless in this aspect, are they? I'm glad you agreed that the new testament was definitley influenced by plato, or by India. Whichever, I don't really know the true lineage there.
I don't really like gnostics either, I just think the basic teachings of it are a better representation of christianity.

"Most people assume that gnostics were a sizable voice in the early Christian community that were simply deleted by medieval popes, but if you look at the historical record it's quite clear that they were never taken seriously. "

How is that clear? How could we tell either way, if they were being discredited I'm pretty sure making it appear that they were never taken seriously would be a good route. I don't really understand where you come up with some of your conclusions. They seem biased.
Either way, I don't really care though. I'm just interested in the concepts of it.

"The most frustrating thing about this is that the American public is so intoxicated by Dan Brown's rewriting of history."

I hate dan brown.

"Saying that the early Church burned gnostic texts is like saying that the unavailability of "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion" in contemporary bookstores is due to a vast Jewish conspiracy."

I think pretty much every religion did that.

Also to the gnostics rewriting gospels and shit, didn't the church do that exact same thing?

Also I don't think all of the apocrypha came from the same unified base, I don't think there was ever much of a unified gnostic religion. Also like I said they are talking in symbols not directly. There's no proof jesus ever even existed as far as I know so to me it's all the same game.

"jesus seems more like a prophet than a sacrificed savior in this view, his role is to communicate with men about the divine so that they can get an understanding and start on the road to recovery, rather than redemption"

Redemption from sin comes when you escape sin or become enlightened or whatever. You're still gaining redemption ;/

lol sorry we have two threads going on about the same thing. I don't know how that happened, but it wasn't on purpose.