joeboonda said:
I hear you Scott, and agree that God reveals himself to those who seek after him. Looking at Romans 5:13 it says For until the law sin was in the world; but sin is not imputed when there is no law. Jesus said to the Pharisees in John 9:41 If ye were blind, ye should have no sin, but now ye say, we see, therefore your sin remaineth. Then he went on to say that HE was the wy, that he would lay down his life for us, and if we accept that gift, we have eternal life freely.
So, God has revealed himself through the ages, men believe in God by faith, he will not hold one accountable that has not heard of Jesus' free gift, but, he who has heard, will be. God's revelation to man reaches its zenith with Jesus: John 3:16 For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life. So to those who have heard the good news (gospel) and have not repented (turned) from 'their' way of 'earning' God's favor or salvation, and die in their sins, they are lost, the payment was made and they rejected it. John 3:17-18 says: For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved; He that believeth on him is not condemned; but her that believeth not is condemned alaredady, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
I am glad that agreement is growing.
Who was Jesus and what does that mean in relation to the other Revealers of God?
"And when the days of Moses were ended, and 18 the light of Jesus, shining forth from the dayspring of the Spirit, encompassed the world, all the people of Israel arose in protest against Him. They clamoured that He Whose advent the Bible had foretold must needs promulgate and fulfil the laws of Moses, whereas this youthful Nazarene, who laid claim to the station of the divine Messiah, had annulled the law of divorce and of the sabbath day -- the most weighty of all the laws of Moses. Moreover, what of the signs of the Manifestation yet to come? These people of Israel are even unto the present day still expecting that Manifestation which the Bible hath foretold! How many Manifestations of Holiness, how many Revealers of the light everlasting, have appeared since the time of Moses, and yet Israel, wrapt in the densest veils of satanic fancy and false imaginings, is still expectant that the idol of her own handiwork will appear with such signs as she herself hath conceived!"
(Baha'u'llah, The Kitab-i-Iqan, p. 18)
"it is clear and manifest that when the fire of the love of Jesus consumed the veils of Jewish limitations, and His authority was made apparent and partially enforced, He the Revealer of the unseen Beauty, addressing one day His disciples, referred unto His passing, and, kindling in their hearts the fire of bereavement, said unto them: "I go away and come again unto you." And in another place He said: "I go and another will come Who will tell you all that I have not told you, and will fulfil all that I have said." Both these sayings have but one meaning, were you to ponder upon the Manifestations of the Unity of God with divine insight.
Every discerning observer will recognize that in the Dispensation of the Qur'án both the Book and the Cause of Jesus were confirmed. As to the matter of names, Muhammad, Himself, declared: "I 21 am Jesus." He recognized the truth of the signs, prophecies, and words of Jesus, and testified that they were all of God. In this sense, neither the person of Jesus nor His writings hath differed from that of Muhammad and of His holy Book, inasmuch as both have championed the Cause of God, uttered His praise, and revealed His commandments. Thus it is that Jesus, Himself, declared: "I go away and come again unto you." Consider the sun. Were it to say now, "I am the sun of yesterday," it would speak the truth. And should it, bearing the sequence of time in mind, claim to be other than that sun, it still would speak the truth. In like manner, if it be said that all the days are but one and the same, it is correct and true. And if it be said, with respect to their particular names and designations, that they differ, that again is true. For though they are the same, yet one doth recognize in each a separate designation, a specific attribute, a particular character. Conceive accordingly the distinction, variation, and unity characteristic of the various Manifestations of holiness, that thou mayest comprehend the allusions made by the creator of all names and attributes to the mysteries of distinction and unity, and discover the answer to thy question as to why 22 that everlasting Beauty should have, at sundry times, called Himself by different names and titles."
(Baha'u'llah, The Kitab-i-Iqan, p. 20)
Regards,
Scott
