In Response To: Gnostic Christianity in Halo *long* (UrsusArctos)
: I was reading the Unauthorized Guide to the Da Vinci Code (Both the book and
: its unauthorized guide are awesome, in totally different ways). The guide
: mentioned a lot about Gnostic Christianity, a very different form of
: Christianity from the one worshipped today. The various Gnostic sects were
: deemed heretical and purged by the Church centuries ago.
: Gnostics have a different philosophy regarding understanding God ( 'gnosis'
: is the Greek word for knowledge). They believed that every human being had
: a divine spark within him or her, and by discovering that spark, one could
: acquire a knowledge of God, entirely on one's own.
: Christ was the one who taught others how to find that spark. He was revered
: as a mortal prophet, but not as the son of God. Gnostics also had very
: different views concerning Judas Iscariot and Mary Magdalene, but I won't
: bother to go into them.
: In the Halo pretext, one person in particular, Master Chief Petty Officer
: John-117, appears to have a strangely divine spark in him. Forget the
: ultra-high tech battle armor or surgical alterations, John is different
: from the start. Not only are his courage and leadership in excess of the
: other SPARTANS, what happens on Halo 04 is inexplicable.
: Cortana is amazed by John's amazing luck. John can use Forerunner technology,
: like the light bridge switch, instinctively. He mentions "finally
: feeling at home" on Halo 04. And don't forget what 343 Guilty Spark
: has to say to him in Two Betrayals, "When you last asked me, would I
: do it? Having considerable time to ponder, my answer has not
: changed." Joe Staten, in his October 2004 interview, confirms that
: the time Guilty Spark has had to think is 100,000 years, give or take or a
: few.
: What gives? We've known for a long time that John-117 alludes to John the
: Baptist, who baptised Christ. From what I read, the Gnostics believe that
: John was previously born as the prophet Elijah(The name
: means:"Whose/My God is the Lord), who was due to be reincarnated
: because he did not know of the True God (The God of the New Testament)
: and, in doing so, would restore the Holy Land(Which, in the Haloverse, is
: Earth).
: Reincarnation would certainly explain what Guilty Spark said. If John finds
: that spark of the divine deep within him, he could save the human race
: from the flood monstrosity.
: Another striking example of Gnosticism being present in Halo is the position
: of women, whom Gnostics held in the same regard as men spiritually.
: Agreed, Halo is set far enough in the future to make male-female equality
: a worldwide reality, but the spiritual angle can't be ignored. Halo has
: powerful female characters like Catherine Elisabeth Halsey(Dr.Halsey),
: Miranda Keyes, and of course, Cortana. Among the SPARTANS the best
: shot(Linda) and fastest runner(Kelly) are both females. Halo 2 shows that
: there are quite a few female marines in the corps.
: The position of women and the sacred feminine is also underlined by a moment
: seen at the beginning of Halo. Master Chief inserts Cortana into his
: helmet. Although it can be interpreted as-"The hero's got his gal.
: Heh heh heh", there's a spiritual side to the affair. John(Male,
: consciousness) and Cortana(Female, psyche or soul) unite inside the
: MJOLNIR armor. Psyche(soul) and consciousness together produce a spiritual
: whole. The power of the moment is highlighted in the prolonged whiteout
: and the rising music. Even the corny dialogue, Cortana talking about
: John's architecture, John telling her not to get funny ideas, represent
: the relationship between consciousness and psyche.
: At the end of Halo 2, Cortana is seen chatting with Gravemind, who earlier
: proclaimed, "I am a monument to your sins". Cortana conspiring
: with sin personified represents the fall of the psyche, which, eventually,
: will get redeemed.
: Special end note to Jillybean : Cortana's heading for evil now but she'll
: eventually return to good.
I understand everything you are saying and it all makes sense, but it's the two passages in the bible I don't understand. Actually, I understand them, but I don't understand how you can connect them to John.
Maybe I'm reading the wrong verses, but from two different passage lookup sites, they are the same thing.
1:17 For the law was given by Moses, [but] grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.
11:7 Then after that saith he to his disciples, Let us go into Judaea again.
Can you explain this to me?
Tj-
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