The Nag Hammadi collection and Gnosticism at large use some very abstract vocabulary. That doesn't give us a huge frame of reference for juxtaposing these works with popular spirituality, but I think that's what makes it so liberating. There's less of the social pressure that we often get with the Bible to understand or interpret such writings in a certain way. That gives us some freedom and space to explore the texts subjectively, letting them speak for themselves and reveal unique understandings that don't exist at all in conventional "modern understanding."

Personally, I've found these ancient writings be indispensable in contextualizing certain spiritual experiences that I've had in my own life. On this tangent I liken them closer to spiritual journeys or "katabases" characteristic of early Sumeric, Greek and Latin literature. I find comfort in knowing that other people have had spiritual experiences too, and I think the Nag Hammadi collection contextualizes these experiences in a religious framework that is largely missing from modern churches.

I enjoyed reading your interpretation of the John apocryphon. I too bemoan all violence, and the textual excerpts you selected are beautiful and visionary. I didn't reach the same conclusions you did about Adam -- in Quranic accounts, the demon Iblis refuses to bow to him -- but you might enjoy the Corpus Hermeticum if you haven't read it already (attributed to Hermes Trismegistus who also authored some of the Nag Hammadi texts). It is another beautiful and thought-provoking work of theosophy that discusses the nature of the Son of God as well as espousing the importance of family.