Synoptic diagram of the two fundamental drifts from the Christian faith (since the first Century)

- Christianity (of the Apostles) -
The Messiah [Yešûa‘], the Innocent One, pure face of Mercy, saves from Evil through the Holy Spirit:

He invites us to spread his power of salvation
– which opens to the new state of an extraordinary relationship with God, the others, and the world–
• first to our personal structures     /     • later to the world’s structures

– the two drifts or

self-salvation  /gnosis                >

Starting point: the experience of the gifts of the Spirit in us
Deviation: « I possess the Truth /the Spirit »

Doctrinal structuring: Salvation rests in the individual (from where it must emerge). Each one makes his own truth. Each person is "God" (as Jesus, the model of the Illuminated one)
"God" cannot love (He isn’t a Person)
– love is material, therefore harmful to the spiritual–

Good and evil do not really exist.
« Ecclesial » structuring: the "pure", the "liberated" from this material/human world, open for humankind the door
to the superior world (the great All, the angels, etc.
Precondition: by posing as "victims" of the apostolic Church,
they aim to eliminate her (mostly by absorbing her).

 counterfeit versions–

<            Judeo-nazareism (messianism)

Starting point: The future Kingdom of God’s Messiah
Deviation: « God chose us to establish this Kingdom. »

Doctrinal structuring: Collective salvation must be built right now (originally: we must continue the mission of the Messiah, who was prevented from completing it and was taken up to Heaven).
"God" does not want to love (He is too transcendent)
– love creates a relationship, therefore turns one away form the Cause–

In order to conquer "Evil", all means are good and pure.
« Ecclesial » structuring: innocent from all evil, the "sons of Light " are the representatives of God on earth to liberate and
subject her (originally: to ensure the return of the Messiah)
Precondition: by posing as "victims" of the apostolic Church, they aim to eliminate her (mostly by crushing her).

People are divided between "purified ones" (from earthly ties) and inferior ones, who are (still) impure

SUBJECTIVISM (of the "free" individual)

"FAITH": seeing the world with "I" at the center
"HOPE": reaching a place that is beyond good and evil
"CHARITY": cold compassion helping others to be "themselves"

A new conscience will replace the old one.
Desacralization (nothing is holy since everything is holy)

Systems of salvation through knowledge or magic

Among the fallouts: 20th century: spiritualism, consumerism
Dialectic tends to transcend interior contradictions
Parasitism, closing in on self, attraction to nothingness. In the end: personal annihilation.

People are divided between "Elect" avengers and God’s "enemies" (= working against Salvation)

SUBMISSION (to the "collective")

"FAITH": believing in the total domination of the "Cause"
"HOPE": conquering and conforming the world
"CHARITY": winning others to the Cause/Party

A new world will replace the old one.
Sacralization of power (in the hands of the "good") 

Systems of salvation aiming at world domination

Among the fallouts: 20th c.: atheistic or religious totalitarianisms
Dialectic tends to transcend exterior contradictions
Predation system /terrorism, elimination of all that is "different". In the end: collective self-destruction.

 

 

A few reminders about those two opposed reductions:

Understanding Gnosticism

Whatever intellectual or popular (magic) forms it subsequently adopted, the gnostic drift came from an individualistic re-interpretation of the Judeo-Christian idea of salvation; it took on a structured form after 70AD. In it, Jesus appears like the illuminated master who shows the way of deliverance to his disciples.

The starting point of gnosis is a kind a usurpation of the experience of the « Spirit », seen as a fragment of the divine power buried in us; the burying muffling of this power is supposed to be the cause of evil and human suffering. The history of this drifting in the various regions of the world still needs to be explored further, up to today’s ideology of pleasure and consumerism.

 

Understanding Judeonazareism

The drift of those who called themselves « Nazarenes » (whose hard core came from Jerusalem) became organized after the destruction of the Temple in the year 70 AD. It was a « messianic » re-interpretation of the Judeo-Christian idea of salvation; it believes that all of humankind must be subjected to those who hold the keys to its salvation – the pure « faithful » - using all means possible.

The influence of the Judeonazarene drift has been felt at various degrees a little everywhere; in the formation of Islam, this influence was direct and decisive : first the Arab group, then Muhammad, its future war chief, were shaped by members of that movement.

 

              
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