The syncretism that occurred with the Chruch and Ancient Greek thought appears so embedded as to be part of the bread of faith, this I grant you. And the dangers of this gnostic yeast that you pointed out are, in my expereince, true. The other observation that has held true over my sixty-five years of life is that those holdings gnostic beliefs appear to be both angry and fearful, which manifests in a staunch authoritarianism and rigidity. In a word, condemning. Many Fundamentalist, I believe, are baking and eating this bread.

What troubles me, and I may simply have misread this, is your liberal approach to the world. Granted, in Genesis after making Creation God said "This is good" and made us stewards of this garden. Also Romans1:19-20 makes it abudantly "plain" that creation reveals the existence, power, and nature of God. 

Yet numerous verses severely caution us against and condemns "worldliness": it is enmity towards God This distinction seems blurred in your piece. To be IN the world but not OF the world. I know that space constraints and your primary focus inhibited a deeper view of this aspect, yet I feel it needed mention. Having proachedd this topic with other Christians, most are quick to accuse of being gnostic. The confusion over this point is pronounced. Making rules to guard against this encroachment by some sects and congregations leads more to a perpetual consciousness of worldliness than relief from it.

There is not two opposing realities but there is reality and delusion as well as reality and illsuion, making it appear as equal and opposing forces. What did Jesus say about us? "They know not what they do." This is our worldly state of being, a blindness to the reality of Christ and spirit. It is not a basic malevolent nature in Man. We are just deceived. "Getting the eyes to see..." is the vital. Few have this vision. It is not "secret knowledge" but clarity of perception. The world completely changes and yet nothing has changed. 

We are "separated out." How? We live on earth as if already in heaven, through grace and the power of the Holy Spirit; the kingdom of God is within. Such a life is radically different than conventional wisdom and contrary to worldly values, so by demonstration we are to be a clear choice between godliness and worldliness. We are to divide soul from spirit, able to discern the eternal from the temporal. Why lay up treasures on the earth?

All create a false self and this self must die daily, not be embraced. Hidden in Christ, principles come before personalities. We are to be "a living sacrifice," pick up our cross daily. Sanctification is the steady reduction of acquired worldliness and the devastating effects that has had on our soul. We are being whittled down to our original self, the spitting image and likeness of God, that was there before the foundations of the world were laid. This confabulated personality is to be overcome, but that is left to God's handwe simply surrender all of ourselves to him, good and bad alike, to use as it pleases him. We are to be a means without ends. At least, that is how I see it.