I claim that they cannot be the
exact words of Jesus because that is logically impossible given how many men were involved in writing the Bible, men who did not know Jesus. How then could they know
exactly what Jesus said?
The Baha'i position on this is as follows:
The Bahá'ís believe what is in the Bible to be true in substance. This does not mean that every word recorded in that Book is to be taken literally and treated as the authentic saying of a Prophet....
The Bahá'ís believe that God's Revelation is under His care and protection and that the essence, or essential elements, of what His Manifestations intended to convey has been recorded and preserved in Their Holy Books. However, as the sayings of the ancient Prophets were written down some time later, we cannot categorically state, as we do in the case of the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh, that the words and phrases attributed to Them are Their exact words
(9 August 1984 to an individual believer)
The Bible: Extracts on the Old and New Testaments
(From letters written on behalf of the Universal House of Justice)
I can have my cake and eat it too because when I quote it I have in mind that it is not the exact words of Jesus or the prophets. As the quote above says:
"The Bahá'ís believe what is in the Bible to be true in substance. This does not mean that every word recorded in that Book is to be taken literally and treated as the authentic saying of a Prophet...."
No, this is
how you interpret the scriptures, what you believe they mean by what is written in the verses.
I could read the same verses and interpret them to mean something different, so who is to say your interpretation is right and mine is wrong?
You -- and other Christians -- are the pot calling the kettle black when you say that I am on a mission to claim that Baha'u'llah is superior to Christ, because that is
your mission, not mine, since it is Christians who believe and say that Jesus is the only Way to God and the only true Messiah for all of time and eternity. By contrast, Baha'is do not say or believe that Baha'u'llah is the Only Way; we simply believe He is the Mediator that God wants us to go through in this age and that His message and His social teachings and laws are pertinent to this age. Moreover, Baha'is believe there will be more Manifestations of God in the future as the needs of humanity change, and we are the only major religion that has this belief.
The following is what Baha'is believe about Manifestations of God (Prophets/Messengers of God.)
Baha’u’llah warns us
never to make any distinction between any of the Messengers of God because they all arise to proclaim the same religion, since there is only one eternal religion of God. Baha’u’llah wrote that the works and acts of all the Messengers of God were all ordained by God, a reflection of His Will and Purpose, meaning that all the religions are
equally true and all the Messengers are
equal in stature.
"Beware, O believers in the Unity of God, lest ye be tempted to make any distinction between any of the Manifestations of His Cause, or to discriminate against the signs that have accompanied and proclaimed their Revelation. This indeed is the true meaning of Divine Unity, if ye be of them that apprehend and believe this truth. Be ye assured, moreover, that the works and acts of each and every one of these Manifestations of God, nay whatever pertaineth unto them, and whatsoever they may manifest in the future, are all ordained by God, and are a reflection of His Will and Purpose. Whoso maketh the slightest possible difference between their persons, their words, their messages, their acts and manners, hath indeed disbelieved in God, hath repudiated His signs, and betrayed the Cause of His Messengers.” Gleanings From the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh, pp. 59-60
Surely, the intensity of the Revelation of Jesus and Baha’u’llah and the potency of their light was greater than that of others, but that does not make them
better, they just had a more vital mission.
“These attributes of God are not, and have never been, vouchsafed specially unto certain Prophets, and withheld from others. Nay, all the Prophets of God, His well-favored, His holy and chosen Messengers are, without exception, the bearers of His names, and the embodiments of His attributes. They only differ in the intensity of their revelation, and the comparative potency of their light. Even as He hath revealed: “Some of the Apostles We have caused to excel the others.”
Gleanings From the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh, p. 48
“Know that the attributes of perfection, the splendor of the divine bounties, and the lights of inspiration are visible and evident in all the Holy Manifestations; but the glorious Word of God, Christ, and the Greatest Name, Bahá’u’lláh, are manifestations and evidences which are beyond imagination, for They possess all the perfections of the former Manifestations; and more than that, They possess some perfections which make the other Manifestations dependent upon Them. So all the Prophets of Israel were centers of inspiration; Christ also was a receiver of inspiration, but what a difference between the inspiration of the Word of God and the revelations of Isaiah, Jeremiah and Elijah!” Some Answered Questions, pp. 149-150