[net.religion] The purpose of God in creating man ...

flb@mhuxr.UUCP (Verbus M. Counts) (05/26/85)

From "GLEANINGS FROM THE WRITINGS OF BAHA`'u`LLAH"

XXIX. "The purpose of God in creating man hath been, and will  ever  be,
to  enable  him  to know his Creator and to attain His Presence. To this
most excellent aim, this supreme objective, all the heavenly  Books  and
the divinely-revealed and weighty Scriptures unequivocally bear witness.
Whoso hath recognized the Day Spring of Divine guidance and entered  His
holy  court  hath  drawn  nigh  unto  God  and  attained His Presence, a
Presence which is the real Paradise, and of which the loftiest  mansions
of  heaven  are  but a symbol.  Such a man attained the knowledge of the
station of Him who is "at the distance of two bows," Who standeth beyond
the  Sadratu'l-Muntaha`.   Whoso  hath failed to recognize Him will have
condemned himself to the misery of remoteness,  a  remoteness  which  is
naught  but  utter  nothingness  and the essence of the nethermost fire.
Such will be his fate, though to  outward  seeming  he  may  occupy  the
earth's loftiest seats and be established upon its most exalted throne.

 He who is the Day Spring of  Truth  is,  no  doubt,  fully  capable  of
rescuing  from such remoteness wayward souls and of causing them to draw
nigh unto His court and attain His Presence.  "If God had pleased He had
surely made all men one people."  His purpose, however, is to enable the
pure in  spirit and the detached in heart to ascend, by virtue of  their
own innate powers, unto the shores of the Most Great Ocean, that thereby
they who seek the Beauty of the All-Glorious may  be  distinguished  and
separated  from the wayward and perverse.  Thus hath it been ordained by
the all-glorious and resplendent Pen....

 That the Manifestations of Divine justice, the Day Springs of  heavenly
grace,  have when they appeared amongst men always been destitute of all
earthly dominion and shorn of the means of worldly ascendancy, should be
attributed  to  this  same principle of separation and distinction which
animateth the Divine Purpose.  Were the Eternal Essence to manifest  all
that  is  latent  within  Him, were He to shine in the plentitude of His
glory, none would be found to question His power or repudiate His truth.
Nay,  all  created  things  would be so dazzled and thunderstruck by the
evidences of His light as to be  reduced  to  utter  nothingness.   How,
then,  can the godly be differentiated under such circumstances from the
froward?

 This principle hath operated in each of the previous Dispensations  and
been  abundantly  demonstrated....  It is for this reason that, in every
age, when a new Manifestation hath appeared and a  fresh  revelation  of
God's  transcendent power was vouchsafed unto men, they that misbelieved
in Him, deluded by the appearance of the peerless and everlasting Beauty
in  the  garb  of  mortal men, have failed to recognized Him.  They have
erred from His path and eschewed His company-the company of Him  Who  is
the  Symbol  of nearness to God.  They have arisen to decimate the ranks
of the faithful and to exterminate such as believed in Him.

 Behold how in this Dispensation the worthless and foolish  have  fondly
imagined  that  by  such instruments as massacre, plunder and banishment
they can extinguish the Lamp which the Hand of Divine power hath lit, or
eclipse  the Day Star of everlasting splendor.  How utterly unaware they
seem to be of the truth that such adversity is the oil that feedeth  the
flame  of  this  Lamp!   Such  is God's transforming power.  He changeth
whatsoever He willeth; He verily hath power over all things....

 Consider at all times the sovereignty exercised by the Ideal King,  and
behold  the  evidences  of  His power and paramount influence.  Sanctify
your ears from the idle talk of them that are the symbols of denial  and
the  exponents  of  violence and anger.  The hour is approaching when ye
will witness the power of the one true God triumphing over  all  created
things  and signs of His sovereignty encompassing all creation.  On that
day ye will discover how all else besides Him will  have  forgotten  and
come to be regarded as utter nothingness.

 It should, however, be borne in mind that God  and  His  Manifestations
can,  under  no  circumstances,  be  dissociated  from the loftiness and
sublimity which They inherently posses.  Nay,  loftiness  and  sublimity
are  themselves  the  creations of His Word, if ye choose to see with My
Sight not with yours."
                              BAHA`'U`LLAH

Regards,
Verbus M. Counts   AT&T Bell Labs             The Word of God(religion) is one,
(201) 564-2510     101 JFK Parkway            though the speakers are many ...
ihnp4!hou2h!vc     Room 1l-423
May 26,1985        Short Hills, NJ 07078                  The Baha'i Faith

ellen@ucla-cs.UUCP (06/11/85)

This quote from Baha'i suggests to me that this particular god
(and most that i have heard of) claim to have created humanity
so that humanity can know/worship/appreciate god.  strikes me
as rather egotistical.  "I created all this junk (stars, planets,
plants, animals), but none of them act like they appreciate all
the hard work and all-mighty power i put into it, so now i'll
make something that will say "Thank you.""

Then this god (Judeo-Christian-Moslem-Baha'i) keeps sending down
messangers saying "The big fella up-stairs thinks that you don't
appreciate him enough."  this god may decide to punish the
unappreciative humans by sending disasters (floods, plagues, wars,
famines, droughts, etc.) or by sending teachers appointed to show
the wayward humans just in what manner this god wants to be
appreciated.  Of course, rotten humanity never seems to catch on.
oh, what naughty children!  this nice god (parent) gave us life,
and we just aren't nice enough to it (look at all i've done for
you, and this is the thanks i get!), so it punishes us (cosmic
spankings) or tries to teach us (be a nice human, and say "Thank you").

Baha'i seems to have put it a bit more directly than some of the
other of its cousins, but this applies to them all.  sure,
there are useful lessons to learn from the various holy books
which humanity (mostly men) has written, but i think that this
is only one possible answer for why we're here.  it's a rather
anthropocentric view of the universe - and patterned after 
human family life.  it's all backwards - why should you honor your
parents? because god said so!  and god will do in a big way
what mom or dad does in a small way, if you aren't good enough.
what a guilt trip!  oh, i'm so unworthy!  i'm such a bad human,
but if i listen to god/parents then maybe i'll be better.
oh, i'm feel so bad, i made god/parents unhappy.  what can
i do to make it/them feel better?  then some humans write down
the rules according to whoever, who claims to have gotten them
straight from the big fella's mouth (divine inspiration).

it's just another form of self-deprication, and also a nifty
excuse to wipe out other clusters of humanity, because they
aren't playing by the set of rules that the wipers-out use,
and of course we all know where they got their rules.....

i'm not into self-flaggelation.  sure, i do things on occasion
that i regret.  and yes, some of my actions may have repercussions
throughout a larger community than just myself.
i am responsible for my own actions (shaped as they are by my own
unique personality and by culture and the fact that i am human).
but don't forget that the manner in which we humans chose
to cast that spark of divinity is shaped by human perceptions. 

all being-ness in the universe is interconnected (we see light and
get cosmic fall-out, as it were, from stars millions of lightyears away,
so there must be some kind of link).  that seems to me to be the primary
precept to work from.  divinity isn't something "out there" and separate
from us (or from the animals or the plants or the rocks, for that
matter), we just perceive it a particular way.  a voice doesn't
come resounding out of a void - that's anthropocentric, again.
whatever this divinity is (yes, i know, i'm not defining it),
resides even in the tiniest sub-atomic particle.  no, i don't worship
science; it's another human-created perceptual tool, and i don't deny
its usefulness.

probably humans cast god or whatever in a human-like form because
that's what we relate to the best.  even that hoary old Judeo-
Christian-Moslem-Baha'i god, no matter how any of its followers
argue, is shaped by our human perceptions and expectations.
the truly divine is not going to "bless" humans more than its
other creations.  this happens only with an anthropocentric system.
god making humans to worship god, since the other cosmic flotsam and
jetsom doesn't is human ego-centricity.  a rock sings its song and
dances its dance far longer than a human.  it is as alive as a human,
with its whirling little atoms, etc., but our human perceptions don't
quite touch it (except with dynamite and bulldozers:-).

i am no longer a Buddhist, because there are some aspects to it which
i can't relate to (because of my naughty bits:-), but i still think
that the idea of the Buddha mind gets closer to the truth than
the more recent J-C-M-B religion/s - gods exist in a plane above
humans, but lower than the ultimate, because they are perceiving
themselves separately from the whole, or have such inflated egos that
they believe that they created the whole.  Buddha was another of those
"divinely inspired" humans, but he didn't say that he was anymore
"god's" child than any other being (not just human).  he was human,
not divine, though there are Buddhist who revert to the same old
perception of a godly and thus not-quite-human Buddha.  where i part
ways with Buddhism is when it teaches that my body does naughty things.

heck, i am human.  i partake of the divine, but there's no reason that
i see to say that ANY of my normal human functions (physical, mental,
emotional, or spiritual) is less good than any of the others.  (that's
why i lean toward Tibetan Tantrism, these days, of all the Buddhist
flavors.)  don't get me wrong, i am not a Buddhist (i've got my feet
on another path which i find more satisfactory - and even within
Buddhism is the admission of the existence of other viable paths).
and don't get me wrong, i don't automatically say that everything
that other religions have to teach is wrong.  even my current path
tends to cast things in a rather anthropocentric light.  as i said,
heck i am human, so that forms my basic perceptual filter.

what riles me is other religions claiming that the anthropocentric
vision is the right and only one, especially when they try to
FORCE their perceptions on others...i'm not naming names, there would
be far too many...it's seems to be the human way, an excuse for
mistrust, abuse, and murder.  just remember, when you wrap yourself
up in YOUR GOD, that it is only yours because you made it so, and
you are human - what kind of divinity do you thing exists in the
perceptions of a dolphin, or a plant?  how are these beings any
LESS than a human being (i don't think they are)?  try to dent
your anthropocentric filters by imagining yourself to be an ENTIRELY
DIFFERENT being, then honestly see if you could come up with a 
punishing-father, enveloping-mother or androgynous "angel" for a deity.
what is god to a rock, a tree, a star?

mpatent@mhuxh.UUCP (Verbus M. Counts) (07/09/85)

 From the writings of the Bab.


 " In the Name of God, the Most Exalted, the Most High.

 Verily I am God, no God is there but me, and aught except Me is but  My
creation. Say, worship Me then, O ye, My creatures.
  I have called Thee into being, have  nurtured  Thee,  protected  Thee,
loved  Thee,  raised  Thee  up and have graciously chosen Thee to be the
manifestation of Mine Own Self, that thou mayest  recite  My  verses  as
ordained  by  Me,  and  may  summon  whomsoever  I  have created unto My
Religion which is none other than this glorious and exalted Path.
  I have fashioned all created things for  Thy  sake,  and  I  have,  by
virtiue  of  my  Will,  set  Thee  sovereign  Ruler  over  all  mankind.
Moreover, I have decreed that whoso embraceth My religion shall  believe
in My unity, and I have linked this belief with remembrance of Thee, and
after Thee the remembrance of such as Thou hast, by My leave, caused  to
be  the 'Letters of the Living', and of whatever hath been revealed from
My religion in the Bayan.  This, indeed, is what will enable the sincere
among My servants to gain admitteance into the  celestial Paradise.
 Verily, The sun is but a token  from  My  presence  so  that  the  true
believers  among  My  servants  may discern in its rising the dawning of
every Dispensation.
 In truth I have created Thee through Thyself, then  at My Own behest  I
have fasioned all things through the creative power of thy Word.  We are
All-Powerfull.  I have appointed The to be the Beginning  and  the  End,
the Seen and the Hidden.  Verly We are the All-Knowing.
 No one hath  been or will ever be invested with prophethood other  than
Thee,  nor  hath  any  sacred Book been or will be revealed unto any one
except Thee.  Such is the  decree  ordained  by  Him  Who  is  the  All-
Encompassing, the Best Beloved.
 The Bayan is in truth our conclusive proof for all created things,  and
all  the peoples of the world are powerless before the revelation of its
verses.  It enshrineth the sum total of all the scriptures,  whether  of
the  past  or  of the future, even as Thou art the Repository of all Our
proofs in this Day.  We cause whomsoever We desire to be  admitted  into
the  gardens  of  our  most holy, most sublime Paradise.  Thus is divine
revelation inaugurated in each Dispensation at Our behest.  We are truly
the  supreme  Ruler.  Indeed no religion shall We ever inaugurate unless
it be renewed in the days to come.  This is a promise We  solemnly  have
made.  Verly We are supreme over all things..."

(Selections from the Writings of the Bab, pp 158-159)


 From the writing of Baha'u'llah


"Having created the world and all that liveth and  moveth  therein,  He,
through  the  direct  operation of His unconstrained and sovereign Will,
chose to confer upon man the unique distinction and capacity to know Him
and to love Him-a capacity that must needs be regarded as the generating
impulse and the primary purpose underlying the whole of creation."

(Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah, p. 65)



"The purpose of God in creating man hath been,  and  will  ever  be,  to
enable him to know his Creator and to attain His Presence."

(Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah, p. 70)




Regards,
Verbus M. Counts   AT&T Bell Labs             The Word of God(religion) is one,
(201) 564-2510     101 JFK Parkway            though the speakers are many ...
ihnp4!hou2h!vc     Room 1L-423
July 8,1985        Short Hills, NJ 07078                  The Baha'i Faith