• Gnostic Christian Bishop
    1.4k
    I am my highest authority, judge and guide. Who is yours?

    As a Gnostic Christian, I follow the esoteric teachings of Jesus.

    Matthew 6:22 The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.

    John 14:23 Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.

    Romans 8:29 For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.

    This fits perfectly with the bibles teachings that we are to judge all things and hold to the good.

    1 Thessalonians 5:21 Test all things; hold fast what is good.

    This is a compulsion to be our own masters instead of just kowtowing to someone else’s opinions.

    This is also why Christians used their inquisitions on us. Freedom of thought was not allowed by Christianity.

    A concept and freedom that Christians now seem to promote.

    Many Christians follow the teachings of, to us, a genocidal and infanticidal demiurge, Yahweh.

    How Christians can see him as a good god is beyond me and Christians shy away from any apologetics as to why they think such a satanic god is good.

    I see my judgements as more moral than that immoral demiurge and that is why I have rejected him for Jesus.

    Do you follow 1 Thessalonians 5:21, or do you let someone else do your judging for you?

    Regards
    DL

  • Arne
    796
    depends on the issue.
  • Qwex
    366
    It is either that your using God to help you judge, or by your Gnostic Christian religion, you are not someone who fits that description. God is a higher authority? No? Or you think you're equal to God. To which I'd say good, but messy.
  • Arne
    796
    It is either that your using God to help you judge, or by your Gnostic Christian religion, you are not someone who fits that description.Qwex

    This is a good point. To ask:

    Do you follow 1 Thessalonians 5:21, or do you let someone else do your judging for you?Gnostic Christian Bishop

    is perplexing.

    Resting a claim to be one's own "highest authority" upon the authority of Thessalonians 5:21 is nonsensical.
  • Qwex
    366
    Value.

    What is the perfect judge('judge' used like scales)?

    That's what I think OP's off the beaten path, thought train is about.

    'scuse my high justice.

    Value may stab you in the back, but knowing that, she's a good judge.(some shoddy motto).
  • Gnostic Christian Bishop
    1.4k
    It is either that your using God to help you judge, or by your Gnostic Christian religion, you are not someone who fits that description. God is a higher authority? No? Or you think you're equal to God. To which I'd say good, but messy.Qwex

    I am an esoteric ecumenist and I use the help of all I know to judge. So do you. No?

    If god wants to be my authority he has to show up and earn that privilege.

    Regards
    DL
  • Gnostic Christian Bishop
    1.4k
    depends on the issue.Arne

    You have more than one process when judging?

    Show the different processes please.

    Regards
    DL
  • Gnostic Christian Bishop
    1.4k
    Resting a claim to be one's own "highest authority" upon the authority of Thessalonians 5:21 is nonsensical.Arne

    Really. What do you follow that has you putting the highest authority in another, without you absorbing and embracing the ideology and making it your own?

    Regards
    DL
  • Arne
    796
    You have more than one process when judging?Gnostic Christian Bishop

    the question was not about the process I use in making a judgment.

    Instead, the question was whether I am the "highest authority" regarding my judgments.

    And again, that depends upon the issue.

    If I have medical issues, I am going to find a doctor worthy of being the "higher authority" on the issues.

    And please do not confuse final authority with highest authority and please do not respond in such a way as to make your own vacuous.
  • Arne
    796
    Really. What do you follow that has you putting the highest authority in another, without you absorbing and embracing the ideology and making it your own?Gnostic Christian Bishop

    I know that words have meaning and no reasonable person would subscribe to an ideology where they would refer to their self as the "highest authority" while referring to someone else as the "highest authority."

    Just saying.
  • Gnostic Christian Bishop
    1.4k
    And please do not confuse final authority with highest authorityArne

    So you might not give final authority to the best authority. Ok. Not the brightest choice, but Ok.

    If I have medical issues, I am going to find a doctor worthy of being the "higher authority" on the issues.Arne

    Yes, after you judge and embrace his authority as the best. That is making yourself the final authority.

    Regards
    DL
  • Arne
    796
    quote="Gnostic Christian Bishop;378082"]So you might not give final authority to the best authority. Ok. Not the brightest choice, but Ok.[/quote]

    You cited a higher authority to support your claim that you are your own highest authority.

    You can address the obvious contradiction or you can continue to pretend it is not there.

    It matters not to me.
  • Gnostic Christian Bishop
    1.4k
    You cited a higher authority to support your claim that you are your own highest authority.Arne

    I am happy to look at that if you would quote it. I would have to see how I wrote it and am not sure what statement you are talking about.

    If I do consider someone a higher authority than myself on an issue, I am duty bound to accept such information, work it into my ideology, and move on from this new position and knowledge. I do not cut off seeking an even better opinion or fact.

    Being my own authority does not mean never changing my mind on an issue.

    Gnostic Christians are perpetual seeker as we do not want to end as idol worshipers and entrenched in a stagnant and never improving ideology. We perpetually raise the bar of expectation.

    We are always climbing Jacob's ladder and do not want to think we are at the end of learning.

    We evolve and so should our thinking.

    Regards
    DL
  • Arne
    796
    I am my highest authority, judge and guide. Who is yours?

    As a Gnostic Christian, I follow the esoteric teachings of Jesus.
    Gnostic Christian Bishop

    So who is your highest authority, you or Jesus?
  • tim wood
    8.7k
    1 Thessalonians 5:21 Test all things; hold fast what is good....
    Do you follow 1 Thessalonians 5:21, or do you let someone else do your judging for you?
    Gnostic Christian Bishop

    1 Thess. 5:20-22: 20 Do not treat prophecies with contempt 21 but test them all; hold on to what is good, 22 reject every kind of evil.

    Context and understanding. Context and understanding. Context and understanding.
  • Gnostic Christian Bishop
    1.4k
    So who is your highest authority, you or Jesus?Arne

    As I said, I follow his ways or his guidance and have chosen to be my own highest authority.

    Regards
    DL
  • Gnostic Christian BishopAccepted Answer
    1.4k
    Context and understanding. Context and understanding. Context and understanding.tim wood

    Indeed. Without the stuttering.

    What don't you understand about---
    22 reject every kind of evil.tim wood
    -------

    -- not meaning just prophesies and being expanded to everything?

    Regards
    DL
  • Pantagruel
    3.2k
    I am my highest authority, judge and guide. Who is yours?Gnostic Christian Bishop

    I am ultimately responsible for everything I say and do and think. So I find myself pragmatically in the same category as you I think.
  • Gnostic Christian Bishop
    1.4k
    I think.Pantagruel

    Perfect.

    Let us pray that sheeple get into that.

    Regards
    DL
  • tim wood
    8.7k
    -- not meaning just prophesies and being expanded to everything?Gnostic Christian Bishop

    If you want to use biblical references, then use them. If not, then don't use them. Which is it?

    For example, consider the completely random sentence, "Notwithstanding that many people think GCB (fancy that, the same initials as yours - a coincidence!) is a complete ass****, I know for a fact that he's a wonderful fellow." Do you begin to see a problem here with making propositions from material taken out of context?
  • Gnostic Christian Bishop
    1.4k
    If you want to use biblical references, then use them. If not, then don't use them. Which is it?tim wood

    ??

    That was your quote, goof.

    If you cannot dither out that "every kind" means "every kind", which is equivalent to the "all things", that I used, go back to school.

    Regards
    DL
  • Artemis
    1.9k
    I am my highest authority, judge and guide. Who is yours?Gnostic Christian Bishop

    Who is this "I" person and what makes them so trustworthy?
  • tim wood
    8.7k
    I guess you do not know what a sentence is. Unfortunate. Using your approach, my "random" sentence becomes, "You're a complete ass****." Because, of course, the context - the rest of the sentence - doesn't matter.
  • Gnostic Christian Bishop
    1.4k
    Who is this "I" person and what makes them so trustworthy?Artemis

    Modern Gnostic Christians name our god "I am", and yes, we do mean ourselves.

    You are your controller. I am mine. You represent and present whatever mind picture you have of your God or ideal human, and so do I.

    The name "I Am" you might see as meaning something like, --- I think I have grown up thanks to having forced my apotheosis through Gnosis and meditation.

    In Gnostic Christianity, we follow the Christian tradition that Christians have forgotten that they are to do. That is, become brethren to Jesus.

    That is why some say that the only good Christian is a Gnostic Christian.

    Here is the real way to salvation that Jesus taught.

    Matthew 6:22 The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.

    John 14:23 Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.

    Romans 8:29 For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.

    Allan Watts explain those quotes in detail.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=alRNbesfXXw&feature=player_embedded

    Joseph Campbell shows the same esoteric ecumenist idea in this link.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGx4IlppSgU

    The bible just plainly says to put away the things of children. The supernatural and literal reading of myths.

    Regards
    DL
  • Gnostic Christian Bishop
    1.4k
    tim woodtim wood

    Stop looking in the mirror.

    Regards
    DL
  • Arne
    796
    I am ultimately responsible for everything I say and do and think. So I find myself pragmatically in the same category as you I think.Pantagruel

    Insisting on being one's own highest authority is not the same as accepting responsibility for all one does. The world is full of the highest authority rejecting responsibility for the negative consequences of exercising authority. For many, the more authority they claim, the quicker they are to blame.
  • Artemis
    1.9k
    Modern Gnostic Christians name our god "I am", and yes, we do mean ourselves.

    You are your controller. I am mine. You represent and present whatever mind picture you have of your God or ideal human, and so do I.
    Gnostic Christian Bishop

    So what if you're being hypnotized, drugged, manipulated, or in some other way duped?
  • Pantagruel
    3.2k
    Insisting on being one's own highest authority is not the same as accepting responsibility for all one does. The world is full of the highest authority rejecting responsibility for the negative consequences of exercising authority. For many, the more authority they claim, the quicker they are to blame.Arne
    I would have to argue that what you are describing is an abuse of, rather than legitimate authority. Insofar as authority is legitimate, in my view it embraces full responsibility.
  • Banno
    23.1k
    I am my highest authority, judge and guide.Gnostic Christian Bishop

    Ah. That explains a lot.
  • Arne
    796
    I would have to argue that what you are describing is an abuse of, rather than legitimate authority. Insofar as authority is legitimate, in my view it embraces full responsibility.Pantagruel

    There is no necessary connection between authority and acceptance of responsibility and the "legitimacy" of the authority does not create one. The world is full of people who only exercise "legitimate" authority while still denying any and all responsibility when things go bad.

    Having mechanisms to force "legitimate" authority to accept responsibility is not the equivalent of "legitimate" authority "embrac[ing] full responsibility." I do not remember the last time that anyone in Washington "embraced full responsibility" for anything gone wrong. But they sure don't hesitate to push that envelope when it comes to exercising their "legitimate" authority. Even if he did it, its not a crime.
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