Pete in Panama
Active Member
There's a lot there & I'd like to take a salient point or 2 but right now my life's gotten a bit 'interesting' so it'll be a few more days...Another thing I should mention is that I don't think it is right for Christians to take "The Bible" and make it their own and add in their "New Testament" to it and include it as being "The Bible." They do what Baha'is do to the NT. They interpret it in a way that fits Baha'i beliefs. But I don't think it is accurate as to how the writers intended their writings to be taken. Not that I believe what they said is true, but I think they intended for people to believe in a devil, in hell, in demons and in a Jesus that rose physically from the dead and is going to return.
They told stories of a Jesus that had a miraculous birth, walked on water and healed lepers, the blind, the crippled and even brought people back to life. They wanted Jesus to be a God/man and greater than any prophet that had come before. I think it was all an exaggerated, embellished story that was written by men and made into "The Word of God". But that's just a guess. And how do Baha'is take the NT? It seems like they can make it the Word of God when they need to to and the words of men when they want to. And make whatever they want, even though it is written as an actual event, like the resurrection, into an allegorical story.
Here is a little more context...
5 For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.
6 And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.
7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.
8 All these are the beginning of sorrows.
9 Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake.
10 And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another.
11 And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many.
12 And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.
13 But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.
14 And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.
15 When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand 16 Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains: 17 Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house: 18 Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes.
19 And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days!
20 But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day: 21 For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.
22 And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened.
23 Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not.
24 For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.
25 Behold, I have told you before.
26 Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not.
27 For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
If there are wars and rumors of wars, then I don't see how it can be the end yet. And we do still have wars and rumors of wars, yet it's almost 200 since the Baha'i Faith started. Many false Christs will come. There will be the abomination of desolation. There will be a great tribulation. It seems very possible, we are heading towards that day... but Baha'is say that day has already happened... in one sense. But Baha'is, themselves have the world heading toward a great tribulation, because the world, for the most part, rejected Baha'u'llah. To me, that is not how the NT has things. Jesus comes down and destroys all evil people and casts the devil into an abyss. But, that is accepting a prophetic vision as being real. As I understand it, Revelation had some people voting against making it "Scripture". But then again, it was people voting on which stories and letters to make "Scripture"?
I can fully understand why some people reject the NT. And, I can understand why some Christians take it to be the Word of God. But Baha'is have found a way to reject it and accept it at the same time. They have found a way to make it say exactly what they need it to say. Wars and rumors of wars? I don't even know if Jesus really said that. What if it was just something Matthew thought would be a good thing to say? So, no matter what I think or say will change what Baha'is need to believe about it. It cannot be literal. Wars and rumors of wars will continue, even though the "End", the coming of the "Christ", Baha'u'llah, has already come and gone.