A primary criticism of the New Testament is that critics say that Christians intentionally left out and/or suppressed certain writings, primarily what we call the Gnostic Gospels, and that they should be part of our New Testament and aren\u2019t.
\nWe need to take their challenges seriously because our New Testament contains both how to be saved by faith in Jesus AND how to live our lives after we accept Him as Savior in ways that are pleasing to Him.
\nBut there are always alternative voices, ways to be saved, and live a \u201cspiritual\u201d life.
\nThe Gnostic Gospels are an ancient alternative what we are going to look at because it isn\u2019t just scholars who are influenced by them. Here is a typical quote that could be said by many,
\n\u201cIt seems to me that the only true Christians were the Gnostics, who believed in self-knowledge, i.e. becoming Christ themselves, reaching the Christ within, the light is the truth. Turn on the light.\u201d
\nJohn Lennon is the person who said it, and you don\u2019t have to listen to those famous, past or present, to hear the idea of God within you (without Jesus. This claim is very popular today in some of the philosophical heirs of it in various cults such as Scientology, modern church \u201cprogressive\u201d movements, and the challenges of \u201cdeconstruction.\u201d
\nIn this lesson, we\u2019ll start with what the Bible warned us about false teachers and then we\u2019ll go into detail showing how these views are false. To do that we\u2019ll read some of the source documents.
\nPeople are sometimes afraid to read them but they shouldn\u2019t be\u2014don\u2019t simply listen to what critics say about the Bible, check it out and you\u2019ll see for yourself the truth of Biblical teaching.\n\nLink to download notes and infographics: https://wp.me/pazrJD-W8
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