GP003: Simon Magus and Gnostic Christianity
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In this episode of the Gnostic Podcast Dr. Jay Forrest explores the claim that Simon Magus of Acts chapter 8 is the founder of Gnosticism. The claim was made by the early heresy hunters, but is it true? The simple answer is no. As we explain, there were two other Simons that were confused with this Simon of Acts. The Simon Magus of the book of Acts was a magician and nothing more. He converted to Christianity and that’s all we hear from him. The next Simon was a non-Christian Gnostic who lived a generation or two after the first Simon. Justin and the other heresy hunters got the two confused. The third Simon is actually a code name used by the Ebionites for the apostle Paul. The reason this question is so important is that people wrongly point to Acts 8 to “prove” that Gnosticism was proven wrong by the apostle Peter. The only thing wrong was that Simon Magus was trying to buy the power to give the Holy Spirit. Simon Magus was not a Gnostic and Gnostic Christianity did not start with him. Jesus started Gnostic Christianity, and Thomas, Paul, and John carried on Jesus’ original teaching.
CREDITS
Theme Music was “I believe” by Dale Rucklos
Closing Song was “The Dreamer’s Overture” by J.T. Bruce
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BOOKSTORE
Lost Christianities: The Battles for Scripture and the Faiths We Never Knew
The Gnostic Gospels
Gnosticism: New Light on the Ancient Tradition of Inner Knowing
Simon Magus: An Essay on the Founder of Simonianism
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That is utterly ridiculous, saying that Jesus started Gnosticism!
Everything he said rejected such teachings. He believes God is love, goodness, and the creator of the earth, for instance; yet, Gnosticism teaches that the creator of the Earth is much closer to how Satan would be described.
That is very sick and very silly of you!
First of all, I never said that Jesus started Gnosticism. But then, Jesus didn’t start Orthodoxy either. Jesus didn’t start the Roman Catholic Church, or the Protestant Church, or the Eastern Orthodox Church. Jesus was a Jew and his religion was Judaism. Actually Christianity started as a Jewish heresy, if you want to be historically correct.
And to be clear, you might want to actually listen to the podcasts before commenting. Gnosticism is not one thing, it is a blanket term to cover a number of different systems of thought. And one of those systems does NOT teach that the creator of the Earth is much closer to how Satan would be described. As I say in a number of podcasts and on the website under beliefs, “We believe that God created the universe.” How very silly of you!