Is God or Religious Truth Real?

[Unity of Mankind]

That's the very essence of a straw man, thanks for admitting you tried that tactic of avoidance.

Please explain what you mean by "That's"?

Other than one sarcastic reply to Tony, in trying to make a point, you will not find me making any such "messenger" claim. That's just a self-serving straw man fabrication of your's.

I never posted to you or anyone you made a "messenger" claim!

I did, however, contrast your personal opinions about God and truth to what I consider Revelations from God through the major religions of the world, such as Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.

What I observe is that the impact of your personal reflections about God and truth has and will not in any way impact mankind at all whereas what you have expressed as gobbledygook in any religion has been proven false by reason of their historical immense impact on mankind and the furtherance of civilization. How could you possibly argue otherwise?

 

[Bird123]

And in that holy book you refer to so scathingly without even looking promotes the independent investigation of truth. So, no! I first question then accept as you put it, every single thing but only after it all adds up!

From my Baha'i perspective, as such a principle is recorded in the short obligatory prayer, God created everyone to know and love God.

However, God does not control everyone as though they were puppets on a string! Its called free will to make choices! If you have made personal choices about God for yourself how is that useful or even relevant for all of mankind?

From my perspective as a Baha'i heaven merely signifies closeness to God and hell remoteness from God and such a principle is relevant not only in earthly life but in life after your soul separates from your physical body in an afterlife. So there are degrees of closeness and remoteness and there are degrees of progress for all souls in the afterlife. Nevertheless, missed opportunities in this life cannot be duplicated in an afterlife.

Well, that is one way to skirt the issue entirely as if a prediction there will some day be no more cars satisfies the question of laws or rules in every other area of life! What about the outlawing of murder? Are societies to wait until everyone duplicates your personal experience before murderers are brought to justice?

There is so much you are blind to seeing.

If God created Hell knowing anyone would go there, that would make God a monster. God is not a monster. Hell does not exist.

Yes free will is a big part of God's system. Why do you think God is helpless under free will? Free will exists because true learning will not exist without it. One will never reach the Higher Level without free will.

One does not control others to Greatness. One walks them toward it. One is far from helpless doing that. One does not judge, blame,hate,condemn, punish,intimidate or coerce in the process. One does not create a we and they in this process as religion and mankind do. If one does, what are they really teaching? It's certainly not Unconditional Love.

The idea religion teaches that some are better or closer to God is just an excuse to hate, judge, blame and condemn. These are among the petty things mankind needs to understand then rise above.

God creates all His children to be perfect. God is not through creating us yet. There is much to Discover on the road to perfection.

Mankind makes laws and rules. It is not God doing it. I know you are blind to this. As one advances on the journey toward perfection, one Discovers what the best choices really are. Since intelligence will choose the Best choices, laws and rules will not be necessary. There is also no need to define good or evil. We will all choose and Discover for ourselves. In time, only the best choices will be viable choices to us all. Why? It is the only intelligent thing to do.

Laws and rules are mankind's attempt to control others. Mankind is a controlling lot. This is another petty thing mankind will need to overcome. Do you want to control others?? Do you define good verses evil for others? Doesn't your religion attempt to do this?

God gave everyone a different view to guaranty mankind a larger view than any one person could have. Doesn't mankind attempt to control the thinking which narrows the diversity of views? The first thing God pointed out to me is that mankind carries such a narrow view. I cry that!!

It has never ever been about good verses evil. It's about the education of all of God's children. In a multilevel classroom, one will see others learning lessons one has already learned. This isn't an excuse to judge, blame, hate or condemn. Copy God. Place knowledge around them,pointing them in the right direction. In the end, each must Discover for themselves. Intelligence can not be forced.

Do you see me Pointing??

That is what I see. It's very clear!!

 

[Unity of Mankind]

Likewise, I always check out what you've posted on these Baha'i threads. I only wish they could give you some straight answers.

As a Baha'i I think I just posted to Ancient Soul a very straight and forthright reply contrasting his nonexistent impact on mankind with the major religions of the world such as Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.

 

[Ancient Soul]

So are we to believe only you are the guide to spiritual understanding? If that is what you are claiming for yourself then I see no difference to that and what “messengers”, “prophets", etc, claim.

What true Messengers, Prophets, or as Baha’is express it, Manifestations of God, has proven historically is that all of them indelibly impacted the world around them. There are many examples such as Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, and to that list I would add Krishna and Buddha which constitute a different line of religion. What I consider a mythology or man-made gobbledygook is what I perceive coming from you! What is your proof you have indelibly impacted the world? Answer! None!

Please explain what you mean by "That's"?

Seriously?

You have no idea what "That's" means???!!!

Sigh...

that's
contraction of
that is or that has

I never posted to you or anyone you made a "messenger" claim!

I did, however, contrast your personal opinions about God and truth to what I consider Revelations from God through the major religions of the world, such as Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.

What I observe is that the impact of your personal reflections about God and truth has and will not in any way impact mankind at all whereas what you have expressed as gobbledygook in any religion has been proven false by reason of their historical immense impact on mankind and the furtherance of civilization. How could you possibly argue otherwise?

I re-posted your attempted claim that "I" am trying to be a "messenger" up top so that everyone can see your deceit, and now your denial of the deceit.

So go and find where I ever claimed to be a "messenger", or what post of mine you claim is in "religious gobbledygook".

Now HERE is a perfect example of the gobbledygook I'm talking about:

"Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh

The Revelation which, from time immemorial, hath been acclaimed as the Purpose and Promise of all the Prophets of God, and the most cherished Desire of His Messengers, hath now, by virtue of the pervasive Will of the Almighty and at His irresistible bidding, been revealed unto men. The advent of such a Revelation hath been heralded in all the sacred Scriptures. Behold how, notwithstanding such an announcement, mankind hath strayed from its path and shut out itself from its glory.

Say: O ye lovers of the One true God! Strive, that ye may truly recognize and know Him, and observe befittingly His precepts. This is a Revelation, under which, if a man shed for its sake one drop of blood, myriads of oceans will be his recompense. Take heed, O friends, that ye forfeit not so inestimable a benefit, or disregard its transcendent station. Consider the multitude of lives that have been, and are still being, sacrificed in a world deluded by a mere phantom which the vain imaginations of its peoples have conceived. Render thanks unto God, inasmuch as ye have attained unto your heart’s Desire, and been united to Him Who is the Promise of all nations. Guard ye, with the aid of the one true God—exalted be His glory—the integrity of the station which ye have attained, and cleave to that which shall promote His Cause. He, verily, enjoineth on you what is right and conducive to the exaltation of man’s station. Glorified be the All-Merciful, the Revealer of this wondrous Tablet."

*****************************

Geez...

Now THAT is a perfect example of the bombastic religious gobbledygook meant to bedazzle and fool everyone into thinking it's something "special" without holding even the slightest true spiritual meaning, that I keep referring to.

 

[Ancient Soul]

As a Baha'i I think I just posted to Ancient Soul a very straight and forthright reply contrasting his nonexistent impact on mankind with the major religions of the world such as Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.

Which had NOTHING to do with my statement.

So it's NOT a straight answer.

 

[Trailblazer]

Unity of Mankind said: So are we to believe only you are the guide to spiritual understanding? If that is what you are claiming for yourself then I see no difference to that and what “messengers”, “prophets", etc, claim.

Ancient Soul said: I re-posted your attempted claim that "I" am trying to be a "messenger" up top so that everyone can see your deceit, and now your denial of the deceit.

So go and find where I ever claimed to be a "messenger", or what post of mine you claim is in "religious gobbledygook".

Unity of Mankind never said that you tried or claimed to be a messenger (see above).

 

[Ancient Soul]

Unity of Mankind said: So are we to believe only you are the guide to spiritual understanding? If that is what you are claiming for yourself then I see no difference to that and what “messengers”, “prophets", etc, claim.
Unity of Mankind never said that you tried or claimed to be a messenger (see above).

Sure, deceitfully edit out where it was directly implied, that's so "you".

Like this part you edited out from "Unity of Mankind"s post:

"So are we to believe only you are the guide to spiritual understanding? If that is what you are claiming for yourself then I see no difference to that and what “messengers”, “prophets", etc, claim.

What true Messengers, Prophets, or as Baha’is express it, Manifestations of God, has proven historically is that all of them indelibly impacted the world around them. There are many examples such as Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, and to that list I would add Krishna and Buddha which constitute a different line of religion. What I consider a mythology or man-made gobbledygook is what I perceive coming from you! What is your proof you have indelibly impacted the world? Answer! None!"

Why so much hate just because you failed meeting my challenge?

 

[Trailblazer]

Sure, deceitfully edit out where it was directly implied, that's so "you".

Like this part you edited out from "Unity of Mankind"s post:

"So are we to believe only you are the guide to spiritual understanding? If that is what you are claiming for yourself then I see no difference to that and what “messengers”, “prophets", etc, claim.

What true Messengers, Prophets, or as Baha’is express it, Manifestations of God, has proven historically is that all of them indelibly impacted the world around them. There are many examples such as Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, and to that list I would add Krishna and Buddha which constitute a different line of religion. What I consider a mythology or man-made gobbledygook is what I perceive coming from you! What is your proof you have indelibly impacted the world? Answer! None!"

It was not implied that you claimed to BE a Messenger.
Unity of Mankind was just comparing you with the Messengers as far as impact upon the world.

Why so much hate just because you failed meeting my challenge?

I have no hate. I just believe in justice, so I do not like people being falsely accused.

 

[Ancient Soul]

It was not implied that you claimed to BE a Messenger.
Unity of Mankind was just comparing you with the Messengers as far as impact upon the world.

I have no hate. I just believe in justice, so I do not like people being falsely accused.

Enough of your deceitful games already.

Everybody can read for themselves and see how she most certainly DID imply that "I" was claiming to be a "messenger". That's why I highlighted all the "you" (Meaning me.) statements she made.

You are full of hatred for me because I made you see that your religion is lacking in any true spiritual teachings, as you FAILED the simple challenge I offered you to try proving me wrong. But you could not, because your fake "messenger" had nothing but bombastic gobbledygook to offer.

Look, you have no facts to present here, so take your hate and go elsewhere.

 

[Unity of Mankind]

Mankind makes laws and rules. It is not God doing it. I know you are blind to this. As one advances on the journey toward perfection, one Discovers what the best choices really are. Since intelligence will choose the Best choices, laws and rules will not be necessary. There is also no need to define good or evil. We will all choose and Discover for ourselves. In time, only the best choices will be viable choices to us all. Why? It is the only intelligent thing to do.

Please explain to me how traffic laws are not necessary at the present time despite your prediction cars will not exist in the future.

Do you have any concept of justice at all when it comes to societies and civilization? Why should a murderer not be brought to justice for his cruel actions? What possible objections do you have against the Ten Commandments of Moses, one of which outlaws murder? Another excellent one is not to bear false witness against thy neighbor!

You speak of choices as though poor choices could never bring harm to others or oneself. Does intelligence always make the best choices? Not necessarily! What if a choice not only involves the chooser but adversely brings harm to others or even to oneself? So you can't imagine an intelligent criminal? Criminals use their Intelligence to commit crimes and get away with it. Furthermore, intelligence has to do with mental aptitude which can often be misapplied to express selfish or lustful feelings of the heart. So you can't imagine living a life of greed doesn't deprive others? What does greed have to do with intelligence anyway! Intelligence or its absence has nothing to do with greed, murder, or any other destructive act you or anyone else can imagine!

I would argue rules or laws in a religious context serves as guides to nurture positive qualities of the soul. Did God create evil? No! Evil is merely the absence of the positive quality of good such as, for example, developing a goodly character. Evil in and of itself does not exist. It is a negation or absence of good. So humans have the capacity do develop the spiritual quality of goodness when enlightened by the Word of God and through obedience to the Laws of God. That is why, for example, the Ten Commandments of Moses was so important because it furthered the nobility of human life rather than the negative consequences of disobeying them.

You say "In time, only the best choices will be viable choices to us all. Why? It is the only intelligent thing to do." So during such an interval for best choices to be made, which, by the way, is pure conjecture that best choices are inevitable, what happens to the welfare of individual human beings or of even greater destructive consequences that historically has already occurred to society or civilization in both World War I and World War II? I argue that without vital principles and Laws emanating from God through Manifestations of God or Prophets such as a Moses, a Christ, a Mohammad or a Baha'u'llah, the human race and most life on planet earth would surely perish!

 

[Trailblazer]

Everybody can read for themselves and see how she most certainly DID imply that "I" was claiming to be a "messenger". That's why I highlighted all the "you" (Meaning me.) statements she made.

No, what they can read is that he made no such claim

 

[Unity of Mankind]

Seriously?

You have no idea what "That's" means???!!!

Sigh...

that's
contraction of
that is or that has

Contraction of that is or that has? Seriously? Isolated from anything I wrote "Contraction of that is or that has" is meaningless by itself.

So go and find where I ever claimed to be a "messenger", or what post of mine you claim is in "religious gobbledygook".

So go and find where I ever wrote that you claimed to be a messenger? Who is the deceiver? What I actually wrote was the following: So are we to believe only you are the guide to spiritual understanding? If that is what you are claiming for yourself then I see no difference to that and what “messengers”, “prophets", etc, claim. Besides! Why would I say you claim to be a messenger since your position about them is that they are all fraudulent?

Now HERE is a perfect example of the gobbledygook I'm talking about:

"Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh

The Revelation which, from time immemorial, hath been acclaimed as the Purpose and Promise of all the Prophets of God, and the most cherished Desire of His Messengers, hath now, by virtue of the pervasive Will of the Almighty and at His irresistible bidding, been revealed unto men. The advent of such a Revelation hath been heralded in all the sacred Scriptures. Behold how, notwithstanding such an announcement, mankind hath strayed from its path and shut out itself from its glory.

Say: O ye lovers of the One true God! Strive, that ye may truly recognize and know Him, and observe befittingly His precepts. This is a Revelation, under which, if a man shed for its sake one drop of blood, myriads of oceans will be his recompense. Take heed, O friends, that ye forfeit not so inestimable a benefit, or disregard its transcendent station. Consider the multitude of lives that have been, and are still being, sacrificed in a world deluded by a mere phantom which the vain imaginations of its peoples have conceived. Render thanks unto God, inasmuch as ye have attained unto your heart’s Desire, and been united to Him Who is the Promise of all nations. Guard ye, with the aid of the one true God—exalted be His glory—the integrity of the station which ye have attained, and cleave to that which shall promote His Cause. He, verily, enjoineth on you what is right and conducive to the exaltation of man’s station. Glorified be the All-Merciful, the Revealer of this wondrous Tablet."

So where is the gobbledygook? As far as I can tell from what you have previously posted, namely that all religions amount to nothing but gobbledygook, why would anyone, myself included, expect your opinion of any part of Sacred Scripture of any Divinely Revealed Religion be any different?

Apparently the only source you consider free of gobbledygook is yourself yet, as I have pointed out to you before, whatever your personal assessment of God is or how people can find and discover God, as you claim you have, has not impacted the world at all the way the great religions of the world have!

 

[CG Didymus]

HERE is a perfect example of the gobbledygook

So where is the gobbledygook?

(T)he Purpose and Promise of all the Prophets of God...hath now... been revealed unto men...mankind hath strayed from its path and shut out itself from its glory... lovers of...God... Strive that ye may... recognize and know Him... and observe... His precepts... This is a Revelation, under which, if a man shed for its sake one drop of blood, myriads of oceans will be his recompense. Take heed, O friends, that ye forfeit not so inestimable a benefit... and cleave to that which shall promote His Cause.

Sorry but I had to cut out an awful lot of flowery words to get to what I think Baha'u'llah was trying to say. Oh, and speaking of "Say", When he says "Say" what is the reader supposed to do at that point? Read it out loud? And isn't that kind of stealing from the style of the Quran to write like that?

 

[Ancient Soul]

Seriously?

You have no idea what "That's" means???!!!

Sigh...

that's
contraction of
that is or that has



I re-posted your attempted claim that "I" am trying to be a "messenger" up top so that everyone can see your deceit, and now your denial of the deceit.

So go and find where I ever claimed to be a "messenger", or what post of mine you claim is in "religious gobbledygook".

Now HERE is a perfect example of the gobbledygook I'm talking about:

"Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh

The Revelation which, from time immemorial, hath been acclaimed as the Purpose and Promise of all the Prophets of God, and the most cherished Desire of His Messengers, hath now, by virtue of the pervasive Will of the Almighty and at His irresistible bidding, been revealed unto men. The advent of such a Revelation hath been heralded in all the sacred Scriptures. Behold how, notwithstanding such an announcement, mankind hath strayed from its path and shut out itself from its glory.

Say: O ye lovers of the One true God! Strive, that ye may truly recognize and know Him, and observe befittingly His precepts. This is a Revelation, under which, if a man shed for its sake one drop of blood, myriads of oceans will be his recompense. Take heed, O friends, that ye forfeit not so inestimable a benefit, or disregard its transcendent station. Consider the multitude of lives that have been, and are still being, sacrificed in a world deluded by a mere phantom which the vain imaginations of its peoples have conceived. Render thanks unto God, inasmuch as ye have attained unto your heart’s Desire, and been united to Him Who is the Promise of all nations. Guard ye, with the aid of the one true God—exalted be His glory—the integrity of the station which ye have attained, and cleave to that which shall promote His Cause. He, verily, enjoineth on you what is right and conducive to the exaltation of man’s station. Glorified be the All-Merciful, the Revealer of this wondrous Tablet."

*****************************

Geez...

Now THAT is a perfect example of the bombastic religious gobbledygook meant to bedazzle and fool everyone into thinking it's something "special" without holding even the slightest true spiritual meaning, that I keep referring to.

Contraction of that is or that has? Seriously? Isolated from anything I wrote "Contraction of that is or that has" is meaningless by itself.

But YOU were the one asking what it was, so what is your problem now?

I guess that was some kind of diversionary tactic away from facing the bombastic gobbledygook writings of Bahá’u’lláh.

So go and find where I ever wrote that you claimed to be a messenger? Who is the deceiver? What I actually wrote was the following: So are we to believe only you are the guide to spiritual understanding? If that is what you are claiming for yourself then I see no difference to that and what “messengers”, “prophets", etc, claim. Besides! Why would I say you claim to be a messenger since your position about them is that they are all fraudulent?

Look who's the deceiver now! You are another one who deceitfully edits out the part of your statements directly implying that "I" am some kind of "messenger" that you feel the need to attack to avoid facing the fact of the bombastic gobbledygook writings of Bahá’u’lláh.

So let's do a recap of the WHOLE rant of your's shall we:

"So are we to believe only you are the guide to spiritual understanding? If that is what you are claiming for yourself then I see no difference to that and what “messengers”, “prophets", etc, claim.

What true Messengers, Prophets, or as Baha’is express it, Manifestations of God, has proven historically is that all of them indelibly impacted the world around them. There are many examples such as Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, and to that list I would add Krishna and Buddha which constitute a different line of religion. What I consider a mythology or man-made gobbledygook is what I perceive coming from you! What is your proof you have indelibly impacted the world? Answer! None!"

Twist it all you want, but you claimed it, so now you own it.

So where is the gobbledygook? As far as I can tell from what you have previously posted, namely that all religions amount to nothing but gobbledygook, why would anyone, myself included, expect your opinion of any part of Sacred Scripture of any Divinely Revealed Religion be any different?

Maybe if you had actually read my post, you wouldn't be asking such a stupid question. As I posted examples of this bombastic gobbledygook:

""Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh

The Revelation which, from time immemorial, hath been acclaimed as the Purpose and Promise of all the Prophets of God, and the most cherished Desire of His Messengers, hath now, by virtue of the pervasive Will of the Almighty and at His irresistible bidding, been revealed unto men. The advent of such a Revelation hath been heralded in all the sacred Scriptures. Behold how, notwithstanding such an announcement, mankind hath strayed from its path and shut out itself from its glory.

Say: O ye lovers of the One true God! Strive, that ye may truly recognize and know Him, and observe befittingly His precepts. This is a Revelation, under which, if a man shed for its sake one drop of blood, myriads of oceans will be his recompense. Take heed, O friends, that ye forfeit not so inestimable a benefit, or disregard its transcendent station. Consider the multitude of lives that have been, and are still being, sacrificed in a world deluded by a mere phantom which the vain imaginations of its peoples have conceived. Render thanks unto God, inasmuch as ye have attained unto your heart’s Desire, and been united to Him Who is the Promise of all nations. Guard ye, with the aid of the one true God—exalted be His glory—the integrity of the station which ye have attained, and cleave to that which shall promote His Cause. He, verily, enjoineth on you what is right and conducive to the exaltation of man’s station. Glorified be the All-Merciful, the Revealer of this wondrous Tablet."

****************************

Now THAT is the classic bombastic gobbledygook that is only meant to bedazzle people into thinking something clever is "in there", but there's nothing but bombastic gobbledygook.

 

[Bird123]

Please explain to me how traffic laws are not necessary at the present time despite your prediction cars will not exist in the future.

Do you have any concept of justice at all when it comes to societies and civilization? Why should a murderer not be brought to justice for his cruel actions? What possible objections do you have against the Ten Commandments of Moses, one of which outlaws murder? Another excellent one is not to bear false witness against thy neighbor!

You speak of choices as though poor choices could never bring harm to others or oneself. Does intelligence always make the best choices? Not necessarily! What if a choice not only involves the chooser but adversely brings harm to others or even to oneself? So you can't imagine an intelligent criminal? Criminals use their Intelligence to commit crimes and get away with it. Furthermore, intelligence has to do with mental aptitude which can often be misapplied to express selfish or lustful feelings of the heart. So you can't imagine living a life of greed doesn't deprive others? What does greed have to do with intelligence anyway! Intelligence or its absence has nothing to do with greed, murder, or any other destructive act you or anyone else can imagine!

I would argue rules or laws in a religious context serves as guides to nurture positive qualities of the soul. Did God create evil? No! Evil is merely the absence of the positive quality of good such as, for example, developing a goodly character. Evil in and of itself does not exist. It is a negation or absence of good. So humans have the capacity do develop the spiritual quality of goodness when enlightened by the Word of God and through obedience to the Laws of God. That is why, for example, the Ten Commandments of Moses was so important because it furthered the nobility of human life rather than the negative consequences of disobeying them.

You say "In time, only the best choices will be viable choices to us all. Why? It is the only intelligent thing to do." So during such an interval for best choices to be made, which, by the way, is pure conjecture that best choices are inevitable, what happens to the welfare of individual human beings or of even greater destructive consequences that historically has already occurred to society or civilization in both World War I and World War II? I argue that without vital principles and Laws emanating from God through Manifestations of God or Prophets such as a Moses, a Christ, a Mohammad or a Baha'u'llah, the human race and most life on planet earth would surely perish!

You do not have to worry. Society will protect itself from violent crime. On the other hand, isn't it a bigger crime not to Solve the problem of crime rather than focus on punishment, payback or revenge?? Crime will always exist until the problems are solved. How much effort is being done to do that??

You say that evil is the absence of good. Who decides what is good? When you judge others based on yourself or your holy book's idea of good, isn't that evil? You can dance around those petty things, however they are what they are.

You say your religion promotes goodness. How can it promote true goodness and a Higher Level when it teaches people to value so many petty things?

You say your holy book comes from God. How can it when you promote so many of those petty things? That is proof that you holy book does not come from God.

So you think a criminal is intelligent. What are you missing? Clearly neither you nor the criminal understands all sides. Would you want to experience being a victim of crime or the payback a criminal will receive? Would you want to experience the experiences of those living around either or both. What happens to friends and families? Ripples are everywhere. True intelligence comes from understanding all sides.

World war 1 & 2. You must remember this world is a multilevel classroom. The students at this level have much to learn.

Everyone wants to have it made. When adversity hits, it seems all anyone can focus on is the bad. Why are so many blind to any goodness that comes out of adversity? If one says, I'll never let that happen again, isn't something learned through the process?

People have been preaching doom and gloom since the beginning of time. The latest worry is the global warming and environmental issues. Worry not. At some point the kiddies will just have to clear their rooms. In the meantime, the health issues from the pollution will lead mankind into new discoveries and understanding in medicine. There will also come understanding of how the ecosystem of the Earth works.

Kiddies can play havoc with things, however God will not allow the classroom to be destroyed. Contrary to popular belief. There are many intelligent people on Earth today to lead in the right directions.

Regardless of anything, God has fixed it all ahead of time for we are all Eternal.

Oh yes. You speak of how right and how important your religion is yet it will never prevent such things as wars and crime. Religions existed through all this yet prevented nothing.

Religion does not teach. The only way to really learn is through God's system. One must Live their Lessons. Given enough lives and lessons, one will Discover that the only viable choice is Unconditional Love. One would never be able to create a Heavenly state until this is learned.

That's what I see. It's very clear!!!

 

[Trailblazer]

(T)he Purpose and Promise of all the Prophets of God...hath now... been revealed unto men...mankind hath strayed from its path and shut out itself from its glory... lovers of...God... Strive that ye may... recognize and know Him... and observe... His precepts... This is a Revelation, under which, if a man shed for its sake one drop of blood, myriads of oceans will be his recompense. Take heed, O friends, that ye forfeit not so inestimable a benefit... and cleave to that which shall promote His Cause.

Sorry but I had to cut out an awful lot of flowery words to get to what I think Baha'u'llah was trying to say. Oh, and speaking of "Say", When he says "Say" what is the reader supposed to do at that point? Read it out loud? And isn't that kind of stealing from the style of the Quran to write like that?

If people who don't like the flowery style can read the Writings of Abdu'l-Baha or Shoghi Effendi and get the same information, since they were both appointed interpreters of Baha'u'llah's Writings.

Probably the reason that Baha'u'llah's Writings sound a lot like the Qur'an is because Baha'u'llah was a Muslim who was born into the Muslim tradition. That's not stealing.
.

 

[PearlSeeker]

Please forgive, but that's WAY too broad a question for me to reply to. I would not know where to begin and don't have the staggering amount of time it would take.

So how about using the "Religious Forums" own search field. You can start by using words like soul, spiritual, and God, then type in "Ancient Soul" in the member field. That should pull up all of my posts relating to those topics. That should help you out with the basics anyway.

The answers are hard to track. I don't know why the search engine breaks down every time I search... Anyway, I did find something but all things are already known from religious and philosophical teachings. Why do you dismiss these teachings then? For example:

"/... /a sphere of energy that extends way beyond the human body. Within it are smaller circles of energy that can be combined to accomplish all the tasks required for the soul to function."
--> Well known in New Age, Hinduism etc.: aura, energy body, energy centers (chakras).

"[Human soul] will spend as many physical lifetimes as required until it has spiritually evolved enough to pass God's judgment and enter the spiritual realm/universe. From then on the soul will exist as a purely spiritual entity that will continue to evolve thru-out all eternity and take on ever greater roles in helping God with his plan for ALL souls."
--> More or less reincarnation in New Age, Hinduism, Jewish Kabbalah.
--> Universal salvation and "harvest" /judgement in Christianity.
Note: some sources say that body-mind-spirits (in contrast to angels) always evolve in some kind of body.

Everyone has a direct connection to God.
--> This is known in mysticism in every theist religion. It is also generally known as the conscience.

"God is purely SPIRITUAL in nature."
--> "God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth." (John 4:24)

I agree there is much confusion and misinformation in religions but aren't you throwing baby out with the bathwater?

 

[Trailblazer]

I agree there is much confusion and misinformation in religions but aren't you throwing baby out with the bathwater?

Imo, it makes more sense to throw the old bathwater away, run new bathwater, and clean the baby up.

 

[Unity of Mankind]

Sorry but I had to cut out an awful lot of flowery words to get to what I think Baha'u'llah was trying to say. Oh, and speaking of "Say", When he says "Say" what is the reader supposed to do at that point? Read it out loud? And isn't that kind of stealing from the style of the Quran to write like that?

Insofar as gobbledygook is concerned you are taking it out of context as I was quoting "Ancient Soul" in regard to his view that all religions are gobbledygook. To the followers of Baha'u'llah the "flowery words" as you put it is no obstacle or problem at all in order to understand the essential substance of what the Pen of Baha'u'llah revealed.

By the way! When you accuse Baha'u'llah of "stealing from the style" of the Quran it would do well for you to note Mohammad Himself was accused of that kind of thing, as for example, that Mohammad stole ideas from a variety of sources such as from Christianity and elsewhere.

Also, despite Baha'u'llah's Revelation being separate from Mohammad's Revelation Western scholars for a long time categorized the Baha'i Faith as a sect of Islam just as early Christianity was categorized by a well known Jewish scholar in his day was a sect of Judaism.

If the basic Baha'i principle of the "Oneness of God, the Oneness of religion, and the Oneness of mankind" is true, and that religions is a never ending process, then in that context both differences and similarities are to be expected.

Lastly, the most fundamental commonality of the major religions of the world from a Baha'i perspective is that they all emanate from one single source; God!

 

[Ancient Soul]

The answers are hard to track. I don't know why the search engine breaks down every time I search...

That could be any number of things causing your searches to fail. Use of a Script Blocker, not allowing cookies, ad blocker, incompatible browser, firewall, etc...

The answers are hard to track. I don't know why the search engine breaks down every time I search... Anyway, I did find something but all things are already known from religious and philosophical teachings. Why do you dismiss these teachings then? For example:

"/... /a sphere of energy that extends way beyond the human body. Within it are smaller circles of energy that can be combined to accomplish all the tasks required for the soul to function."
--> Well known in New Age, Hinduism etc.: aura, energy body, energy centers (chakras).

"[Human soul] will spend as many physical lifetimes as required until it has spiritually evolved enough to pass God's judgment and enter the spiritual realm/universe. From then on the soul will exist as a purely spiritual entity that will continue to evolve thru-out all eternity and take on ever greater roles in helping God with his plan for ALL souls."
--> More or less reincarnation in New Age, Hinduism, Jewish Kabbalah.
--> Universal salvation and "harvest" /judgement in Christianity.
Note: some sources say that body-mind-spirits (in contrast to angels) always evolve in some kind of body.

Everyone has a direct connection to God.
--> This is known in mysticism in every theist religion. It is also generally known as the conscience.

"God is purely SPIRITUAL in nature."
--> "God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth." (John 4:24)

I agree there is much confusion and misinformation in religions but aren't you throwing baby out with the bathwater?

Sure, scattered thru-out all the thousands of man made religions are tiny tid-bits of spiritual terms, but they rarely explain much, if anything, about any of them. And if they do try explaining any spiritual matter, there's a high probability that it's all made up, false, lies. With the average person having no true spiritual grounding, they are unable to sort out the tiny tid-bits of spiritual information from all the lies. And since most people stay in the religion they were first brainwashed with, their spiritual path will always be stuck in the ditch for their entire lifetimes.

Now take your above examples. How is anyone ever going to sort out which are true, and which are false?

And even if they did stumble upon one of the true spiritual "truths" or half-"truths" in one religion, then what? It will only be a very limited piece of the puzzle, with only a limited understanding of what it means. As the carnal mind will never be able to DO anything with it because of it's inability to comprehend the full scope of ANY true spiritual matter.

Let's take your examples and I'll try explaining what I mean:

"/... /a sphere of energy that extends way beyond the human body. Within it are smaller circles of energy that can be combined to accomplish all the tasks required for the soul to function."
--> Well known in New Age, Hinduism etc.: aura, energy body, energy centers (chakras).

Now I haven't bothered to go examining all of their descriptions of what their "soul" constructs are, but how is one to determine which one, if any, is right?

And even if you just picked one of their descriptions, now what? Would it REALLY guide you on how to ACCESS and USE your soul and it's abilities? Highly unlikely or not at all. Now I do remember looking at some Hindu or some other religious diagrams a long time ago, but nothing came even close to what a soul really looks like. Mostly because a soul is a SPHERE and not a flat CIRCLE. This is critical if one needs to see ALL of the energy circles/fields both in the front and back of the soul.

Your next examples:

"[Human soul] will spend as many physical lifetimes as required until it has spiritually evolved enough to pass God's judgment and enter the spiritual realm/universe. From then on the soul will exist as a purely spiritual entity that will continue to evolve thru-out all eternity and take on ever greater roles in helping God with his plan for ALL souls."
--> More or less reincarnation in New Age, Hinduism, Jewish Kabbalah.
--> Universal salvation and "harvest" /judgement in Christianity.
Note: some sources say that body-mind-spirits (in contrast to angels) always evolve in some kind of body."

NO! In true spiritual matters, if one really wants to get it right and spiritually evolve, there is no such a thing as "More or less" , or "Universal salvation". That's the lazy approach most people take and why they never figure anything out and get anywhere, never even get to start out on a real spiritual path. And Christianity hates the very concept of reincarnation, so that example gets kicked out right away. Then on the last one you gave:

"Note: some sources say that body-mind-spirits (in contrast to angels) always evolve in some kind of body."

That's so vague nobody could get even an inkling of what that's all about. One first has to come to an understanding of how one's soul is to spiritually evolve after they pass God's judgment and get to enter the spiritual realm/universe/Heaven, and then they will see that there's no such a thing as "angels", "demons", deities, etc, as they are ALL just SOULS at different levels of their spiritual evolution.

Next example you gave:

"Everyone has a direct connection to God.
--> This is known in mysticism in every theist religion. It is also generally known as the conscience.

So?

What does this DO to help anyone?

Can you show me any that SHOWS people how to connect with your soul? Although they would also have some means of SHOWING people exactly what their souls ARE, so they can connect to it.

Last example:

""God is purely SPIRITUAL in nature."
--> "God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth." (John 4:24)

Again, so?

Does that give anyone a good understanding of the vastness and power of the True God?

THAT is the best MAN can do to explain the Christian "god" out of the whole bible?

Seriously, everybody throw out the bathwater/religions and have not the slightest worry about throwing any symbolic "baby" out along with it, it's ALL just wastewater that needs to be thrown out.