Am I over simplifying when I put side by side the writing of Bishop Spong and what Irenaeus claimed were the so-called gnostic beliefs of Valentinus and his followers.
Are religious types having similar arguments 1900 years later?
"God is the Source of Life who is worshiped when we live fully. God is the Source of Love who is worshiped when we love wastefully. God is the Ground of Being who is worshiped when we have the courage to be. Jesus is a God-presence, a doorway, an open channel. The fullness of his life reveals the Source of Love, and the being of his life reveals the Ground of All Being."
- The Bishop's Voice, Bishop Spong
"For while the (Valentinian gnostics) confessed faith in one God, in their private meetings they insisted on discriminating between the popular image of God as -- master king, lord, creator, and judge -- and what that image represented -- God understood as the ultimate source of all being. Valentinus calls that source 'the depth'".
- From The Gnostic Gospels chapter 2, Elaine Pagels quoting or paraphrasing Irenaeus, a 2nd Century Greek Bishop, a proto-orthodox who thought gnostics like Bishop Valentinus were heretics.
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