Poll of the Day > Have you ever heard of the "Demiurge" (concept from Gnosticism?)

(+) Yeah! (+)

According to Gnosticism, the Demiurge is the creator of the material universe, and is a distinct entity from God, the "Supreme Being". Whereas God is known to be benevolent, the Demiurge is malevolent and some scholars have said the "God" of the Biblical Old Testament is really the Demiurge, and the real God is unknowable. The Demiurge concept is used to explain why God seems so cruel in the Bible.

i killed that guy in persona 5

hera posted...

i killed that guy in persona 5

Yep, that's the one!

PikachuMaxwell posted...

Have you ever heard of the "Demiurge" (concept from Gnosticism?)

Yes.



PikachuMaxwell posted...

The Demiurge concept is used to explain why God seems so cruel in the Bible.

It's slightly more complicated than that, in that the God who fathered Jesus was implied to be the true spiritual God, and it's mostly just the material God of the Old Testament who is the bad 'un. Which ties into other theories and complications due to language (like why "Elohim" is a feminine plural name of god, or why "El Shaddai" seems kind of like a violent god of war). There's also the question of how much it was influenced by Eastern religions, that have concepts like the entire universe being a cruel illusion and life itself being inevitable never-ending suffering, so the ideal state is to escape existence entirely.

There's also an argument to be made that the concept is inherently antisemitic, because it gives yet another excuse to shit on the Jews.

ParanoidObsessive posted...

Yes.

It's slightly more complicated than that, in that the God who fathered Jesus was implied to be the true spiritual God, and it's mostly just the material God of the Old Testament who is the bad 'un. Which ties into other theories and complications due to language (like why "Elohim" is a feminine plural name of god, or why "El Shaddai" seems kind of like a violent god of war). There's also the question of how much it was influenced by Eastern religions, that have concepts like the entire universe being a cruel illusion and life itself being inevitable never-ending suffering, so the ideal state is to escape existence entirely.

There's also an argument to be made that the concept is inherently antisemitic, because it gives yet another excuse to shit on the Jews.

Ah interesting post. Perhaps I should do more reading on the subject. Thanks for the post!

I remember seeing a thing. Oh, this was it.
https://imgur.com/gallery/TG2CWCS

@SKARDAVNELNATE

Wow, interesting comic! I learned a few things about Gnosticism. Thanks for that!

I remember beating that guy in the first Devil Summoner on the Saturn, he's downright hard and the dungeon afterwards is downright confusing in a game with areas of pure pain.

Gnosticism is also not one specific sect and belief, but just an early heretical text from christianity. It's hard to describe because it's full of different things, and by mushing things together into one viewpoint it naturally gets muddied.

I'm far from an expert, but yes, I have read some on gnosticism. From the little I read I like it better than generic Christianity, but overall I'm staying athiest.