A Book to Avoid Reading

I was recently asked if I would read a copy of a new book entitled The Book of the Shepherd: The Story of One Simple Prayer and How It Changed the World and write a review of it. Since the book was supposed to be about The Prayer of St. Francis, with which we are all familiar, I agreed.

The Book of The Shepherd was a quick, easy read and a sweet fable which espoused simple values; however, there was definitely something about the story that made me feel uncomfortable. I couldn't quite put my finger on it, but as I read the list of resources, I found my answer. "The author is grateful to the following people and sources: The Gnostic Gospels by Elaine Pagels...The Golden Compass by Phillip Pullman..."

I would not recommend this book to any Catholic or Christian due to the heretical information presented in it.

What are the gnostic gospels? 

To answer this question, we must first understand what gnosticism is. Gnosticism refers to a religious belief that was espoused by perhaps a dozen or more rival sects located in the areas of Syria, Egypt, Greece and Italy about the year A.D. 100. The gnostics espoused a dualistic system: A God who was the source of all good and everything spiritual versus a Devil who was the source of all evil and everything material. For them, God and the Devil were equal in power. (Remember that Catholics believe that the Devil is a creature, a fallen angel, who definitely is not equal to God in any way.) Spiritual aeons were the intermediaries between God and the material world. A human being’s person — body and soul — was corrupt, being part of the physical world; the person’s spirit — a “divine spark” — was imprisoned within the body. The way to release the divine spark required a special knowledge, a gnosis.

Jesus, a created aeon, entered this world entering the body of a human Jesus. The aeon Jesus revealed this gnosis. However, at the crucifixion, the aeon Jesus left the body of the human Jesus to return to the heavens. For example, in the gnostic Gospel of Judas (so highly publicized by the National Geographic Society), Jesus supposedly said to Judas, “You will exceed all of them. For you will sacrifice the man that clothes me.” In other words, Judas will facilitate the killing of the human Jesus, thereby liberating the aeon Jesus. Therefore, the gnostics deny the incarnation, the sacrifice of the cross for our sins, and the resurrection; as such, they deny the mystery of redemption and salvation as Christians believe.

Because of these warped beliefs, the gnostics denied the sacraments, because God would never use material things, like bread and wine, water or oil, through which to convey grace. They did not make the sign of the cross, because the divine aeon Jesus did not die on the cross as a sacrifice for our sins. They avoided eating meat because it is physical flesh. They abstained from marriage and marital love, so as not to create a child and imprison him in a wretched body. Interestingly, some gnostics engaged in orgies as an expression of contempt for the body and the moral laws of marriage. (Recall in The Da Vinci Code how the great religious ceremony was ritualized fornication.)

These gnostic groups composed their writings, and labeled them with titles, such as “The Gospel of Thomas” or “The Gospel of Philip” or “The Acts of Peter.” Of course none of these works can be traced to the apostolic times or apostolic authorship. The gnostics appended the names of the saints to these bogus writings to give them some credibility. Again these writings cannot be traced to the apostolic age when the writings of the New Testament appeared, they cannot be linked to the witness of an apostle or disciple, and they are heretical. Little wonder the Church condemned these writings. (Via Catholic Culture.)

My advice: Avoid this book at all costs -- it is heretical.

Comments

  1. Thanks for always being a beacon of truth in our foggy world :) This is good info to know.

    ReplyDelete

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