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To: alt.religion.gnostic,alt.satanism From: Kater MogginSubject: Re: Ryan's Alt.satanism FAQ Date: Sun, 16 Mar 2003 07:26:31 GMT wantthat99@aol.com: > Orthodoxy interpets Genesis as the serpent being the devil; the > serpent tempts them to eat and so the serpent is evil while Elohim is > good and has the right to be pissed off. The eating results in a fall > and we now have to work to get back into heaven. > (Some) Gnostic interpretation reverses this. Hypostasis of the Archons > for example, where the snake is the "female instructing principle" and > an emissary of the Father, and eating is a means to get back to true > origins of the Father and the Pleroma. (By the way, HoA is interesting > in another way too. There, you've got a distinction between "God" and > the "rulers" and the "chief ruler". That's not just another can of > worms, it's a clue to this). > But now, here you've got Apocryphon of John, which is truly a puzzle. > Here, the eating of the tree of knowledge is a good thing, yet the > snake/serpent is still evil. So how come? What's going on here? I think I can explain. Yes, it's a good thing to eat from the tree of knowledge in the Apocryphon of John, but if you look closely, you'll see the savior credits herself for getting Adam and Eve to do so. ApJohn 22:9: "It was I who brought about that they ate." That confuses John, who asks, "Lord, was it not the serpent that taught Adam to eat?" The savior smiles and answers, "The serpent taught them to eat from wickedness, begetting, lust [and] destruction, that he might be useful to him." Remember there are two trees. In Genesis they're known as the tree of knowledge of good and evil and the tree of life. Same goes for the Apocryphon of John. The savior gets Adam and Eve to to eat from the tree of knowledge, but the snake teaches them to eat from "the tree of their life" (21:24-25), where "they" are the archons, "their life" is life in this world, and the tree's fruit is poison (21:23). In short, the snake is evil here in the Apocryphon of John because he teaches Adam and Eve to eat the fruit of the tree of life, as opposed to the savior, who teaches them to eat from the tree of knowledge. > And who's the serpent by the way, do you think? I'd say he's the archons' servant or their symbol. Layton claims he's one particular archon. GS, p. 45. -- Moggin to e-mail, remove the thorn
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