Rise of Gnosticism October 3, 2001 In the beginning of the second century the early church was forced to take a stance so as to justify their very existence. With Gnosticism on the rise and already posing as a threat that would confuse the public as to who the Church was and what they stood for, the Church had some decisions to make. Their decision about creating criteria, a canon, a creed, and justifying that they had …showed first 75 words of 969 total…

…showed last 75 words of 969 total…done what they did then there might not be Christianity. The Church would just be another religion or god for the Romans to worship. The fact that the Church had historical evidence, (in the Hebrew Scriptures) eyewitness accounts, (from the gospels) and apostolic succession passed on from generation to generation, was all the Church needed to refute the Gnostic movement. In doing so the Church transformed the way that Christians address their faith even today.