3. TIL of The Testimony of Truth, a 4th century Gnostic manuscript that tells the s...

TIL of The Testimony of Truth, a 4th century Gnostic manuscript that tells the story of The Garden of Eden from the point of view the serpent, a gnostic symbol for divine wisdom and knowledge, in which it depicts God as jealous and the villain in the story.

I came across this incredible story in an amazing book by Morris Berman from back in the 80s, the second book in a trilogy on consciousness called Coming To Our Senses: Body and Spirit in the Hidden History of the West

Astonishing stuff. he explains the rise of Christianity as a heretic cult, Jesus and the followers were gnostic practitioners who were discovering god within through experience, esoteric practices, and Judaism at the time was a syncretism of esoteric magic, occult, Hellenistic stuff from Greece and buddhist practices from the east as well as all the torah stuff, kabbalah. and it was a revolutionary practice in the face of the oppression from the bloody romans. they were the saviours of their own souls by communing with god. the gnostic, esoteric, experiential Christianity was overpowered by the dogmatic, power-hungry, organised element and the histories snuffed out, the lads chose which canons they'd allow in the official autobiography of lord god. the council of Nicea put an end to the discussion as to whether you could experience god directly and anything that wasn't their orthodoxy was heresy. hence the gnostic gospels such as these were banned out right - dangerous knowledge

Because if you could experience God yourself, if you could realise that you are in fact a manifestation of God, then the church is immediately redundant.

i cannot recommend these books by Morris Berman enough

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