What if we accepted each others Religion?

[Agent Smith]

Omni viarum ad Roma (All roads lead to Rome) is a good idea. The Bahai faith isn't the only game in town, although it stands out as comparatively broader in scope. I had the good fortune of visiting a Bahai temple - ages ago - and it was a serene experience; I saw it from afar, I got closer, walked in through the door, sat down, looked around, got up and like everybody else that day, returned home.

 

[ppp]

The goal is to share what we have in common.

Humans are each, individually, the source of meaning.
Humans are collectively, the source of morality.
Sex should be friendly. Otherwise stick to mechanical toys; it's more sanitary.
There are no unquestionable truths.
Have all the opinions you want. They're free. Just don't confuse them with reality.
Meager helpings make poor droppings.

 

[CG Didymus]

All we don’t follow is the man made interpretations. Why should we follow that a priest says the Bible is literal? Hes human. He makes mistakes. I would feel much safer following what a Manifestation teaches than an ordinary person. We know the earth is 4.5 billion years old so the creation story is referring to something else. Literally it’s false for the world to be created in seven days. But if we treat them as divine days then we have the 7,000 year cycle approximately of the Adamic Cycle with seven Manifestation's of God. So the Bible needs to be viewed not in a superstitious manner but in a rational way. The resurrection is easily made sense of when we examine the disciples ‘vision’ on Mount tabor. They saw Moses and God but it was a ‘vision’ so why not the resurrection. It seems the majority prefer a drop of superstition to an ocean of truth.

Which Christian beliefs are "man-made" interpretations? Obviously, no matter what the gospels say, Baha'is believe that the physical resurrections is man-made. How about the Christian doctrine of Salvation? About heaven and hell? About Satan and demons and Jesus casting out demons?

The Creation story is easy pickin's. Sure, make the Adam and Eve story symbolic. Make the Tree of Life and the serpent symbolic. But take the seven days and make each day a thousand years? How does that help you? The Earth was formless and void for a thousand years? There were plants for a thousand years? Then in the next thousand years the Sun was created? Just stay with it being symbolic. Like maybe this character "God" might be symbolic too.

No, of course not. God didn't do those things in the story. Those were symbolic. But God is real.

Then you want to look at the resurrection in a "rational" way. Yeah, say it didn't happen. But that's not what the gospels say. So, it's not "priests" saying it... it is the disciples of Jesus saying it and writing it down and saying it and saying that they witnessed it. He was touched to confirm he had flesh and bone and was not a ghost. That is what the gospel writers are claiming. It is not some strange interpretation.

Now what it is, is a strange and unbelievable story. So, lots of people have no trouble doubting it. But... back then? Two thousand years ago? Why wouldn't they believe that it was possible? Why wouldn't they believe in the Creation story and the flood, and the parting of the seas and a prophet being swallowed by a big fish?

Call it superstition, call it symbolic, but don't keep saying how you believe in the Bible and the NT. The Bible the Baha'is believe in is a book of fiction. If Baha'is could just leave it at that, you'd probably have more people agreeing with you than you have by making up your "symbolic" interpretation.

 

[CG Didymus]

It;s very clear cut. Baha'u'llah in His Most Holy Book appointed His Eldest Son as the Interpreter of His teachings and He stated that Buddha was included as a Manifestation of God.

Okay, which of Baha'u'llah's writings is Abdul Baha' interpreting that shows that the Buddha and Krishna are manifestations of God? And which show that the Buddha taught about the Abrahamic God?

 

[CG Didymus]

We have a lot of good friends with many religions and they like us and accept us.

Do you talk with them about religion? Do you talk to them about what Baha'is believe about the other religions? And, let's say, a Buddhist friend talks to you about rebirth... What do you say? Or if a Hindu friend talks to you about reincarnation? And do you tell them that your prophet, Baha'u'llah, is the one they've been waiting for?

 

[CG Didymus]

He will lead a Saṅgha of many thousand mendicants, just as I lead a Saṅgha of many hundreds today.

When did Baha'u'llah do this? No doubt... it's symbolic.

 

[CG Didymus]

All we don’t follow is the man made interpretations.

Hmmm? Okay... Here's the resurrection story from Luke 24. How should it have been interpreted?

On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. 2 They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, 3 but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. 4 While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. 5 In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? 6 He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: 7 ‘The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’ ” 8 Then they remembered his words.​

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9 When they came back from the tomb, they told all these things to the Eleven and to all the others. 10 It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the others with them who told this to the apostles. 11 But they did not believe the women, because their words seemed to them like nonsense. 12 Peter, however, got up and ran to the tomb. Bending over, he saw the strips of linen lying by themselves, and he went away, wondering to himself what had happened...​

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36 While they were still talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.”​

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37 They were startled and frightened, thinking they saw a ghost. 38 He said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds? 39 Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have.”​

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40 When he had said this, he showed them his hands and feet. 41 And while they still did not believe it because of joy and amazement, he asked them, “Do you have anything here to eat?” 42 They gave him a piece of broiled fish, 43 and he took it and ate it in their presence.​

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44 He said to them, “This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.”​

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45 Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. 46 He told them, “This is what is written: The Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, 47 and repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. 48 You are witnesses of these things. 49 I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.”​

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Acts 1:3 After his suffering, he presented himself to them and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive.​

 

[CG Didymus]

Thus Abdul'baha was not being harsh, Abdul'baha was supporting the fact that Buddha had been renewed.

Can you explain how you see that the Baha'i Faith has "renewed" Buddhism?

I'm afraid it's going to be similar to how you believe that the Baha'i Faith has "renewed" all the other religions... those old beliefs and teachings, even when new, were for the people in that time and place. But those "original" teachings got corrupted.

For me, because Baha'is believe those "original" teachings have been lost, it more like the Baha'i Faith has replaced the teachings of the older religions, more than "renewing" them.

 

[Trailblazer]

Can you explain how you see that the Baha'i Faith has "renewed" Buddhism?

I'm afraid it's going to be similar to how you believe that the Baha'i Faith has "renewed" all the other religions... those old beliefs and teachings, even when new, were for the people in that time and place. But those "original" teachings got corrupted.

For me, because Baha'is believe those "original" teachings have been lost, it more like the Baha'i Faith has replaced the teachings of the older religions, more than "renewing" them.

The Baha'i Faith has renewed the spiritual teachings of the older religions.
Baha'u'llah revealed new social teachings and new laws and a new message that is pertinent to the age we live in.

“All that lives, and this includes the religions, have springtime, a time of maturity, of harvest and wintertime. Then religion becomes barren, a lifeless adherence to the letter uninformed by the spirit, and man’s spiritual life declines. When we look at religious history, we see that God has spoken to men precisely at times when they have reached the nadir of their degradation and cultural decadence. Moses came to Israel when it was languishing under the Pharaoh’s yoke, Christ appeared at a time when the Jewish Faith had lost its power and culture of antiquity was in its death those. Muhammad came to a people who lived in barbaric ignorance at the lowest level of culture and into a world in which the former religions had strayed far away from their origins and nearly lost their identity. The Bab addressed Himself to a people who had irretrievably lost their former grandeur and who found themselves in a state of hopeless decadence. Baha’u’llah came to a humanity which was approaching the most critical phase of its history.

‘Abdu’l-Baha writes: ‘God leaves not His children comfortless, but, when the darkness of winter overshadows them, then again He sends His Messengers, the Prophets, with a renewal of the blessed spring. The Sun of Truth appears again on the horizon of the world shining into the eyes of those who sleep, awaking them to behold the glory of a new dawn. Then again will the tree of humanity blossom and bring forth the fruit of righteousness for the healing of the nations.’ Paris Talks, p. 32.’ ”

(Udo Schaefer, The Light Shineth in Darkness, pp. 24-25)

 

[Vinayaka]

Can you explain how you see that the Baha'i Faith has "renewed" Buddhism?

I'm afraid it's going to be similar to how you believe that the Baha'i Faith has "renewed" all the other religions... those old beliefs and teachings, even when new, were for the people in that time and place. But those "original" teachings got corrupted.

For me, because Baha'is believe those "original" teachings have been lost, it more like the Baha'i Faith has replaced the teachings of the older religions, more than "renewing" them.

Hinduism is evolving all the time, renewing itself, on its own. Caste based discrimination is diminishing quickly, immigration is spreading it fast, adapting to different laws of western countries, accepting converts, adapting to new technology, continued acceptance of gender diversity, and much more. The last thing we would need would be influence from a medieval out of touch sect. That's not renewal at all, it's going backwards. Thanks, but no thanks.

 

[TransmutingSoul]

Can you explain how you see that the Baha'i Faith has "renewed" Buddhism?

@Trailblazer replied.

God renews the Faiths. Every Holy book talks of the decay of religion and its renewal.

I am amazed that people find it so hard a concept to accept, it indicates how entrenched doctrine can become. The Baha'i Faith is yet to have days of summer, but it will also have its winter, when it also will be renewed.

Regards Tony

 

[TransmutingSoul]

Hinduism is evolving all the time, renewing itself, on its own. Caste based discrimination is diminishing quickly, immigration is spreading it fast, adapting to different laws of western countries, accepting converts, adapting to new technology, continued acceptance of gender diversity, and much more. The last thing we would need would be influence from a medieval out of touch sect. That's not renewal at all, it's going backwards. Thanks, but no thanks.

I see this renewal is pursuing the good and putting aside the evil men have devised. I also see this is and old concept, taught since time began. Hold fast to that which is good.

Romans 12:9 Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good.

So we can consider that caste based discrimination were teachings of self serving men, not of God and the oneness of humanity has brought this discrimination to light.

Regards Tony

 

[Trailblazer]

I am amazed that people find it so hard a concept to accept,

I am not really amazed given the fact that most people are attached to their religions, so why would they like another religion coming along and renewing their religion?

 

[TransmutingSoul]

I am not really amazed given the fact that most people are attached to their religions, so why would they like another religion coming along and renewing their religion?

To answer that would stir a hornets nest.

So silence is the way. Regards Tony

 

[Trailblazer]

To answer that would stir a hornets nest.

So silence is the way. Regards Tony

I know exactly what you mean...
Live and learn.

 

[Secret Chief]

I have 8. I always make sure I have 8.

7 would be stingy.

 

[Link]

We are not about validation. You cannot paint everyone with the same brush not in this well documented case.

https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2022/08/iran-un-experts-alarmed-escalating-religious-persecution

More recent

USCIRF Condemns Iran’s Religious Persecution of Baha’is

www.uscirf.gov

Bahai faith that Muslims are being punished by God (blaming their political situation on God) and their taking side of Israel and the oppressive West, makes, this issue more complicated then simply an issue of religion.

And the way Bahais worked with the Shah against the Shiite Muslims further complicates it.

 

[Trailblazer]

7 would be stingy.

I was okay with 7 for a while, but then someone brought me Simon, the cat in my Avatar, and now I have 8.
Now I could not live without my Simon. Just look at his face. He is an angel.

 

[Link]

I am not really amazed given the fact that most people are attached to their religions, so why would they like another religion coming along and renewing their religion?

The Mahdi (a) will renew Islam, but he is yet to come. Jesus (a) won't die till everyone from people of the book believe in him per Quran.

The Mahdi (a) will bring people back to the views of the Quran, and he will bring the Quran of Ali (a) (which contains commentary from God, Gabriel, Mohammad (s) and Ali (a)).

He will not channel a new revelation but rather be a Messenger that brings the Quran to new heights we can hardly imagine now.

 

[Link]

To answer that would stir a hornets nest.

So silence is the way. Regards Tony

I think the interpretation of Bahai Faith is the most dishonest interpretation that exists about the Quran. Maybe only thing on par or more is an old sect that held Imams (a) as incarnations of God. It's impossible to interpret Quran your way but the denial is for real.

I think you guys talking about religion will further people away from God because people hate when someone calls for something but does the opposite. You ask people to be honest, but are very dishonest yourselves.