I have read a bit of Elaine Pagels and am keen to read her latest book....'Revelations'...I think it is called. I went through a phaze of reading everything I could get my hands on about the Gnostics and what they believed...ended up with this look on my face..
Interesting. I find gnostics to be not so caught up in the "details" of doctrine. I find that comforting.
Because as a JW, it was made to seem (for example) that we MUST KNOW THE TRUTH ABOUT THE TRINITY!!! Really? We must know the exact nature of God or be destroyed? My children do not know the exact nature of me, and I am of the same species as them. I think if it was really important to God that we know the EXACT nature of him, then he would've told us.
If believing God is a Trinity (whatever your variation of that belief is) makes you feel closer to him, then good.
If believing he is androgenous, as opposed to having male attributes, makes you feel closer to him, then good.
I believe the important thing is the SEARCH, not so much the FINDING. My children may never understand me completely either, and that's okay.
That's what I find comforting about the gnostic beliefs.