"
"The evidence is that Revelation was written centuries before the Bible was codified," And so was Daniel and Ezekiel. That's not evidence it means something else.
"so it makes much more sense for Revelation to be referring to deviations from its own prophecies," Why? What "deviations"?? Do you have the original copies? I dont believe so. I doubt you've read Revelation, and just believe what gnostics wrote over what God had people write. It describes EVENTS not "deviations". It only "makes sense" if youre a Gnostic - which you are.
" rather than referring to deviations from the canon structure of the Bible, which wouldn't be codified until centuries later. " Your premise is that its referring to deviations AT ALL. Messed up premise = messed up conclusion. Bad tree, bad fruit. Just like Jesus said!! You dont need to make up fairy tale belief interpretation speculation guesses about what Jesus meant by that.
Gnostics are like darwinian evolutionists, they make up guesses and extrapolations galore. Two wings same bird. Bird being "false ideas". mabye Gnosticism is the real ""truth hider"" because it confuses people. The Gospel is so simple, sensible, and God-focused.
But your beliefs are a confusing mess, which is a red flag. Sign it was manmade. ""What a tangled web of lies we weave if we set out to decieve."" you seem to believe the stuff, telling your actual beliefs, but IDK the motives of the inventors of gnosticism.
Next youll be telling me gnosticism was made confusing by ""them"" (whoever they are) to make gnosticism look stupid??
"So many take mans word literally (like how you probably take some gnostic teachings literally) but wish to reinterpret the Bible."
"One of the advantages of my view of the Bible is that you can take much of it literally, including Genesis and creationism. "
I believe the Bible is true in all history. I believe that history is history, metaphor is metaphor, poetry is poetry, and prophecy is prophecy. They are in their respective zones and do not launch incursion into other zones. But you believe otherwise im sure. I believe we only need the Bible to know what is what. Not interpretations, not gnostic beliefs, nada.
"It was always awkward how Christians would say that Genesis is true, but then most would say that the Earth isn't really flat with a dome over it." Where is Genesis stating its flat?
"I really believe it is flat with a dome over it and I can explain how. Gnostics can do this too."" Nope. Timezones, math, the kola borehole, the mechanics of eclipses, the circular shadow on the moon, why stars look like a blurred circle in some pics, ISS and satellite mechanics, pendulums that prove gravity, the fact airplanes falling down get you in freefall, etc. etc. DEBUNK flat earth theory.
actually, the Bible seems to promote a round earth. It does not target a specific earth shape, but leans toward round. Would you like to learn how?
"That works as long as the Bible is the be-all-end-all, but there's no reason to think that. The early Church wanted you to believe that - it was hiding the truth from you."
1.Yes there is. It's God Word. If God had other written Words they would be in the Bible. God lacks neither the Power nor the Character, despite your pessimistic view of God. You believe that mans fallible authority is the beall endall. Gnosticism is mans word not God's Word. God inspired the Bible so human error never entered the first instances.
- The devil wants to hide the Christian Truth from us. But he didnt succeed, the Bible is the bestselling book now. So if your belief was "truth", then it would be promoted, not hidden. Humans can easily fall to the allure of "secret knowledge" -- and youve just been SCAMMED!! Plus, didnt they dispute and debate more and not "hide" as much?
"My interpretation is far more consistent with the literal text than yours," Examples?
" and your traditional explanation doesn't even make sense because Revelation was written long before the Bible was codified, as I explained."" As i explained revelation never referred to deviation. For example, we read of "A beast from the sea." there is NOWHERE Revelation anywhere is referring to some "prophecy devations".
"It was wiped out because some, including YHWH, wanted to hide the truth from you." Untrue. It was wiped out because it was a bunch of hogwash. I can make up a blue frog religion where sacrificing firewood to frogs daily will give you good luck, and that blue frogs created the universe by sneezing at a ball millions of times. How long do you think those beliefs will last?
Itll be debunked by evidence after evidence, which is what happened to gnosticism. Gnostic beleifs just didnt (and STILL DONT) have the organicness and convincing power that comes with actual truth.
If "they" are SoOOoOoO powerful, how come we have access to gnosticism on the internet today? We can search it up if we want to, and get "your truth" TM , for free. Just because its not famous doesnt mean some top secret plwer people are actively hiding it. Btw, truthhiders do NOT fear lies enough to censor them. If anyone was censoring your teachings it was CATHOLICS, not Christians. They claim Jesus, but, like you, attach rubbish to truth.
Christians are being censored these days, not gnostics. "Get with the times", as some say. The era of the "Very Powerful Catholic" is behind us.
"It didn't quite die out. It went dormant, like Trump from 2020-2024. I'm expecting a big resurgence, as with Trump."
Buddism and jainism also went dormant. But you dont think theyre true. Plus, trump was demonstrably beneficial for us. Gnosticism did nothing but confuse and trick people so that their destiny would be lake of fire, apart from God.
"What would you expect from evil forces? Them wanting you to think that truth is Weak? or that it is STRONG?? please answer this, thx."
"Bible interpretation, especially gnostic interpretation, gets so weird and complicated "
Making up your own interpretations and trying to justify silly unprovable things gets weird and complicated. The Bible is straightforward.
Take your Biblical Truth from the Bible. Never use eigesis. Always exegesis.
"fast that it's hard to see who is the "good" guy or the "bad" guy." Not as hard as yu think. The bad guy is the devil and people who diss Biblical Christianity, the Good is God and Saints.
" If you're looking for simple, cookie-cutter answer, us-vs-them cartoons... "
Not cartoons. Green is green, not purple, red, or blue. Is that fact a "cooky cutter cartoon"??
Just because our life can sometimes be complicated doesnt mean all of it is. Just because some Biblical text can be complex doesnt mean all of it is.
If i applied such a crazy view (gnostic apporach) to all my individual decisions I'd get nothing done. The real cartoons is overcomplicating everything where there is exactly Zero reason to.
"then gnosticism is not for you."
What does something being "not for me" entail in your context?
" To answer more directly: I think the forces hiding the truth from you want the gnostic truth to look weak to you so that you will find it unattractive, which is exactly what happened. " Yeah, and the forces "hiding [your] truth" (not!) want me to think santa and the tooth fairy are fake by giving evidence that debunks them, too. I think these "forces" you are talking about - their names are Reality, Truth, Evidence, Logic, and Reason. Mabye you can throw the Laws of Physics in there, too.
They can be reeeeal pains in the arm at times for those whose worldviews are not correct.
God is Omnipotent and Omniscient. If He wanted to hide your "truth" I wouldnt be seeing your comment. God has nothing to fear at all, and definitely not from falsehood.
There is no interpretation needed. Revelation 22:18 is clear. There is no evidence it means something else. So many take mans word literally (like how you probably take some gnostic teachings literally) but wish to reinterpret the Bible. Scripture interprets Scripture. Let the Bible influence your thoughts on the nonBiblical. NOT foreign content influencing your beiliefs on the Bible. The Bible should be your highest authority.
If there is any evidence my "interpretation" of 22:18 is wrong, please do give it. Until there is evidence otherwise, we assume it is literal. This is how its always been done. Otherwise you can make up anything, and contradictions will abound and confuse people. The enemy loves gnosticism because it resulted in confusion. Ever wonder why gnosticism was wiped out?
If gnosticism was true it wouldnt die out so hard. Do you really believe truth is that weak that it dies so easily? Yeesh.
What would you expect from evil forces? Them wanting you to think that truth is Weak? or that it is STRONG?? please answer this, thx.
https://www.gotquestions.org/Bible-verses-about-the-gospel.html
Jesus saves --
No prophecy of Scripture is a matter of private interpretation. So yes, gnosticism does deny that part. It adds error to truth. Revelation 22:18 .
How is gnosticism anywhat compatible with the Bible? Riiight, reinterpret, eisegete and extrapolate (read: MAKE STUFF UP) to your desire. Not suprised if many gnostics also believe darwinian evolution and abiogenesis.
"But Big Media told me walls dont work!!"
Gnosticism has never proven true, the Bible has proven true contrary to gnostic interpretations of it. See Christsforgiveness channel.
Gnosticism relies on eigesis, not exegesis.
made a sub called c/debateagnostic .