Hi Trailblazer. Good evening. Well I can't agree with that.
Malachi 3:6 says "I Yahweh change not...". I really don't understand how you can say what you have when you have scriptures like
Isaiah 40:8.
I did not say that God changes, God is unchanging. However humans do change over time and the world we live in also changes over time, so what God wants for humans (God’s Will) changes over time. That is why I said:
“What God wants for humans now is not in the Bible. The Bible represents what God wanted for humans thousands of years ago, not what God wants for humans now or in the future.”
Moreover, the Word of God stands forever, because it came from God and it is the record of what God revealed, but that does not mean that everything in the Bible still applies to people living in the present age.
Anyone that thinks that they are lots of ways to getting in to the Kingdom are mistaken.
Matthew 7:13-14 says:
"Enter ye in by the narrow gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many are they that enter in thereby. For narrow is the gate, and straitened the way, that leadeth unto life, and few are they that find it."
Matthew 7:13-14 Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.
That was written and applied only to when Christianity was the narrow gate that led to life, when there were very few Christians in the first centuries, but Christianity is no longer the narrow road that leads to life because about 30% of the world population is now Christians. Given that Christianity is the largest religion in the world, Christianity is now the broad road.
I believe that just as Christianity was the small gate and the narrow road that led to eternal life in the first centuries when there were few Christians, the Baha'i Faith is now the small gate and the narrow road that leads to eternal life in this age. The Baha’i Faith and is the narrow gate because
only a few people recognize God’s new religion in the beginning and enter through that gate.
I believe that in every new age, the religion at the narrow gate is the new religion God wants us to find and follow,
and it is the gate that leads to eternal life. But it is not that easy for most people to find this gate because most people are steeped in religious tradition or attached to what they already believe. If they do not have a religion, most people are suspicious of the new religion and the new messenger. If they are atheists they do not like
the idea of messengers of God or they think they are all phonies.
Jesus told us to enter through the narrow gate, the gate that leads to eternal life, and
He said few people would find that gate...
It is narrow, so it is difficult to get through... It is difficult to get through because one has to be willing to give up all their preconceived ideas, have an open mind, and think for themselves. Most people do not normally embark upon such a journey. They go through the wide gate, the easy one to get through – their own religious tradition or their own preconceived ideas about God or no god. They follow that broad road that is easiest for them to travel.
I believe that everlasting life now comes through Baha’u’llah:
“The Book of God is wide open, and His Word is summoning mankind unto Him. No more than a mere handful, however, hath been found willing to cleave to His Cause, or to become the instruments for its promotion. These few have been endued with the Divine Elixir that can, alone, transmute into purest gold the dross of the world, and have been empowered to administer the infallible remedy for all the ills that afflict the children of men. No man can obtain everlasting life, unless he embraceth the truth of this inestimable, this wondrous, and sublime Revelation.” Gleanings From the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh, p. 183
Yahshua also says in
Matthew 7:13-14:
"I am the way, and the truth, and the life: no one cometh unto the Father, but by me."
John 14:6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
I believe that when Jesus said that it was true, and it remained true during the Christian dispensation.
Dispensation
- the divine ordering of the affairs of the world.
- an appointment, arrangement, or favor, as by God.
- a divinely appointed order or age:
e.g. the old Mosaic, or Jewish, dispensation; the new gospel, or Christian, dispensation.
Definition of dispensation | Dictionary.com
According to my beliefs by an arrangement of God the divine ordering of the affairs of the world is only according to one religion at a time. Thus each religion only applies to the age (dispensation) in which it is revealed.
Once a Manifestation of God has completed His Mission on earth, what He revealed is pertinent only until the next Messenger of God appears. Moreover, every time God sends a new Messenger, His Revelation abrogates all the Revelations that came before it and the divine ordering of the affairs of the world is according to the religion that He establishes.
I believe that the divine ordering of the affairs of the world is through the latest Manifestation of God and I believe that Manifestation is Baha'u'llah.
I believe that Baha’u’llah is the Manifestation of God for the present dispensation so He is the way to the Father.
“This is the Day when the loved ones of God should keep their eyes directed towards His Manifestation, and fasten them upon whatsoever that Manifestation may be pleased to reveal. Certain traditions of bygone ages rest on no foundations whatever, while the notions entertained by past generations, and which they have recorded in their books, have, for the most part, been influenced by the desires of a corrupt inclination.” Gleanings From the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh, p. 171
I am not God so I cannot say it there are
other ways to get into the Kingdom of God, but I believe that the way God wants everyone to enter it in this age is through Baha’u’llah.
)
