An Aberrant Gnostic

  For some reason, my brain keeps going back to the 1957 that was run in various newspapers in the United States that had the following screeching headline :   The article was one of the earliest known discussions regarding Professor Henri C. Puech and his preliminary analysis of The Gospel of Thomas.  In that article, written by Manuel Komroff, five "sayings" recorded by the doubting Thomas of Jesus were highlighted in the article.  One of the sayings that caught my eye was this, as displayed in the article : What exactly does that mean?  So, with curiosity in my head, I went back to Google's Gemini to ask some questions.  Here is what I discovered, per the assistance of AI... Q : What is the ancient Gnostic symbolic interpretation of the saying "Jesus said : He that is near Me is near the fire.  He is that is far from Me is far from the fire."?   A: Within early Gnostic circles, "fire" often symbolized divine knowledge, or gnosis. It r...

  Or, at least that is what Philip said... According to The Herald's May 27, 1961 article : The translations of the NHL appear to finally have gotten to what is known at this time as The Gospel of Philip .  So what does this article discuss?   The article introduces the Gnostics, a primitive religious group in early Christianity with unorthodox beliefs surrounding the creation story. Contrary to the biblical version, they believed Adam's rib to be the root of evil. Eve, created from this rib, is blamed for bringing trouble into the world by introducing the separation of sexes. This idea is found in a Gnostic document called "The Gospel of Philip." The article outlines the Gnostic ideas discovered in both "The Gospel of Philip" and "The Gospel of Thomas." Both texts express that gender division caused a "fall" for mankind. To gain salvation, individuals must overcome separation – women becoming more like men. Notably, in "T...