Myths of Mankind: Jesus as Gnostic Sage

In no way does the follow repute or dishonor Jesus Christ. Rather it shows
that the good points of pagan mystery religions helped create the
Christianity we know today.

These notes will start with what the visiontv.ca website says and what I
figured out:

Myths of Mankind (Documentary Series)
The belief that Jesus Christ was "the only begotten Son of God" is a
cornerstone of Christianity. But Jesus himself made no such claim.
Modern-day scholars such as Elaine Pagels are challenging the traditional
understanding of who and what Jesus was. Part 2 of 2. (#2-4 The Son of God
Part 2) (Myths of Mankind (2): Ep 4) -
http://www.visiontv.ca/schedules/ProgramThisWeek_fr.php

June 7 - "A Christianity Before Christianity"
The first followers of Jesus adhered to a creed very different from the
Christian faith we know today. Indeed, the discovery of the Gnostic gospels
in 1945 is changing our whole understanding of early Christianity. Rooted in
ancient mystery religions, the Gnostic movement maintained that divinity
lies in each of us, and can find our way to God through self-knowledge.
Gnostics saw the life and death of Jesus in metaphorical terms. According to
some scholars, however, the Gnostic form of Christianity was pushed aside by
a literalist movement that saw Jesus as the only begotten son of God, and
emphasized the vast gulf between man and the divine. By the third century
Orthodox Christianity had allied itself with the Roman state, establishing a
religious monopoly. - http://www.visiontv.ca/HTML/Programs/Myths_Mankind.htm


My notes:

Jesus actually preached oneness with God -- this seems to be the path that
followers of most religions take when the oral tradition is valued over the
book (literalist) tradition.

The literalist movement emphasizes the vast gulf between man and the divine
places Jesus as the only way to become one with God.

Both Gnostic tradition and literalist tradition have their valid points.
Metaphor is used in the Bible: Genesis is a good example, as are the
proverbs.

The mystery religions originate in Egypt with the cult of Osiris. They were
borrowed by the Romans. Another mystery religion was the Mithraic cult.

The kind of Christianity practised is as Augustine wrote: The religion
called Christianity was practised before it was called -- and he even admits
the role the mystery religions played in the genesis of Christian
scriptures.

The point I make here is that it is upon non-Christian tradtions that
Christianity is based. As well, much of the myth about pagan religions is
distorted to imply a wrongness about them.

Indeed, there were few blood sacrifices since most ancient traditions
considered blood as defilement. Hence Christ said "That which comes out of
a man defiles him."

The Gnostic form of Christianity is similar to the Mahayana form of
Buddhism, where the sages, the mystics and even the priests are similar to
the bodhisattva ideal of a Buddhist "saint".

Overall, the documentary tries to maintain a balanced look at the Gnostic
movement, which was suppressed by government decree by Constatine, the
founder of Byzantium (Constantinople).