With regards to unity . There are different kinds of unity. The family, the community, the nation, the world, one's religion. The unity of mankind is to love all humanity unconditionally regardless of what they believe. This is achievable.
There is only one. Family, community, nation, world, and religion all go together. That is why there is no common foundation.
Working together is achievable. Common foundation is not.
We cannot force others to accept God. We just must accept others the way they are then we can be united.
Take out the word force.
If you accept diversity, you accept that each has their own foundation. It is not One. You said they are one many many many times and disregard other people view for that of the words of bahaullah and god.
Either listen to the people who follow the faith or listen to your god and override the people. It can't be both.
I don't believe Buddha ever said God was an illusion. But attachment to the senses does brings suffering.
Then you do not believe in The Buddha's teachings. Attachment to god (in his case, the Hindu gods) is a form of suffering. He challenge Hindu gods to prove his point and one it. God (the abrahamic one) isn't in Buddhism. He challenged and disproved Hindu gods.
As an atheist, I don't see the difference between the god of abraham and hindu gods as beings
if they were not defined by their culture, language, and tradition.
We Baha'is pray to God. All our prayers are addressing God.
Why address god if you can't receive any message to him directly?
If he is unknowable accept through his prophets, the point of prayers is moot. Logically, you'd go to the prophet's words (which you do) to talk about god rather than from your own experiences.
I value people's experiences. That's why we don't agree.
I agree that Christ or His personality rather than the truth within Him has become like an idol. God is independent of the Prophets. The sun can exists without the rays but the rays can they exists independently of the sun? No they can't.
No. People are worshiping christ, the person, as if he is actually god. There is no abstract language involved.
They believe the person has the truth or personality and without his life, death, and resurrection (all literal) all the spiritual truths he has would not exist.
If you need the prophets to understand god and god doesn't talk to you directly, he is dependant on the prophets for you to understand him.
The rays
are the sun. No analogy.
Baha'u'llah's Words are not just 'someone else' they are God's Words. God's Words can change hearts, empower people, bestow knowledge and spiritual life.
This emphasis my point above (and in my post). Without god's words, do you have god? When god's words change your heart, empower you, and bestow knowledge, you are using those words as an idol. That is your faith.
Other people go to god directly. Nothing wrong with that. The issue is finding unity between prophet and non prophet faiths. Half of you are saying go to god directly the other half, go through someone else to get to him.
I'm saying we are the ones not God who rely on the Prophets as we cannot directly experience God direct. It would be like trying to visit the sun. The light of the sun reaches us through its rays.
Why pray to god if you can't experience him directly?
That's like writing to my friend overseas but not expecting her to write me back unless she did so through someone she know
that already passed away.
God exists for everyone so any person can pray to God but seeing God the way His Manifestation sees Him is to see God more clearly and so we gain a deeper appreciation and love for God than if we just worship our own ideas of God.
To me "god" is an experience. It's (not him and not her) life itself. Energy. Spirits (with an -s) all for healing and communication. It's not separate from life. There are no prophets in between. So prayer is founded on one's individual experience with their experiences and life itself.
If you don't trust your experiences, you go to an outside source. In my opinion, god doesn't work that way. If you say you have a personal relationship with god, it is personal. By having a personal relationship with the prophets, you are putting the prophets the same level as god.
In other abrahamic traditions, that's idolism.
Certitude is not an idol.
It is. Nothing wrong with that. If it were not, you would not need it to express yourself about your faith. Your dependance on scripture makes Bahaullah's and other prophet's writings idols.
That is a fact.
Most of what I'm saying are facts. I don't have much opinions outside of cultural appropriation because I don't believe in god. But I can express what I
know based on my experienced and what I read.
I just don't base what I know on knowledge. That's our differences. Finding a common ground is important. If you admit there is none, how can you accept who I am if you separate us by not having a common ground as your prophet says we have?
