vc@hou2h.UUCP (Verbus M. Counts) (01/06/85)
The most fundamental of all Bahai' principles are these:
The Oneness of God
The Oneness of His Messengers
The Oneness of mankind
This article will focus on "God and His Messengers".
From the Baha'i writings:
God is like the sun. Just as the physical sun is the source of all
physical light, God is the source of all spiritual light. The sun does
not come down to earth to sustain life - it sends its like-giving rays.
The infinite, unknowable God does not come down to earth - He sends His
Messengers. As perfect mirrors reflect the light of the sun, so His
Messengers perfectly reflect the Word of God. Therefore, one Messenger
is not greater than another. They are equal. For this reason, Bahai's
have the same love and reverence for Christ that they have for
Baha'`u'llah - because they are one in spirit.
There is no exclusive salvation for the Bahai', the Christian or the
Jew. God is not in competition with him Himself. His revelation is
orderly and progressive, and He sends His Messengers whenever mankind
is in need of a fresh outpouring of His Word. Thus Moses may be likened
to the seed; Christ to the tree; and Baha`'u'llah the fruit. From the
fruit will come the seed of succeeding cycles in which new Messengers
of God will bring an outward or social truth which is fitted to the
needs of the age in which He appears.
DIVINE REVELATORS
RELIGION REVELATORS
SABAEAN UNKNOWN
5000 B.C.
HINDU KRISHNA
2000 B.C.
JEWISH MOSES
1330 B.C.
ZOROASTRIAN ZOROASTER
1000 B.C.
BUDDHIST GAUTAMA BUDDHA
560 B.C.
CHRISTIAN JESUS CHRIST
1 A.D.
ISLAMIC MUHAMMAD
622 A.D.
BABI' THE BAB
1844 A.D.
BAHA'I BAHA`'U'LLAH
1853 A.D.
From the writings of Baha`'u'llah:
Know thou assuredly that the essence of all the prophets of God is one
and the same. Their unity is absolute. God, the Creator, saith: There
is no distinction whatsoever among the Bearers of My Message. They all
have but one purpose their secret is the same secret. To prefer one in
honor to another, to exalt certain ones above the rest, is in no wise
to be permitted. Every true Prophet hath regarded His Message as
fundamentally the same as the Revelation of every other Prophet gone
before Him. If any man, therefore, should fail to comprehend this
truth, and should consequently indulge in vain and unseemly language,
no one whose sight is keen and whose understanding is enlightened would
ever allow such idle talk to cause him to waver in his belief.
Beware, O believers in the Unity of God, lest ye be tempted to make any
distinction between any of the Manifestations of His Cause, or to
discriminate against the signs that have accompanied and proclaimed
their Revelation. This indeed is the true meaning Divine Unity, if ye
be of them that apprehend and believe this truth. Be ye assured,
moreover, that the works and acts of each and every one of these
Manifestations of God, nay whatever pertaineth unto them, and
whatsoever they may manifest in the future, are all ordained by God,
and are a reflection of His Will and Purpose. Whoso maketh the
slightest possible difference between their persons, their words, their
messages, their acts and manners, hath indeed disbelieved in God, hath
repudiated His signs, and betrayed the Cause of His Messengers.
From the foregoing passages and allusions it hath been made indubitably
clear that in the kingdoms of earth and heaven there must needs be
manifested a Being, an Essence Who shall act as a Manifestation and
Vehicle for the transmission of the grace of the Divinity Itself, the
Sovereign Lord of all. Through the teachings of this Daystar of Truth
every man will advance and develop until he attaineth the station at
which he can manifest all the potential forces with which his inmost
true self hath been endowed. It is for the this very purpose that in
every age and dispensation the Prophets of God and His chosen Ones have
appeared amongst men, and evince such power as is born of God and such
might as only the Eternal can reveal.
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!pata!vca Room 1l-423
January 6,1985 Short Hills, NJ 07078 The Bahai Faithabeles@mhuxm.UUCP (abeles) (01/06/85)
I have sent this reply to the writer of the original article. > To: mhuxn!mhuxj!houxm!hou2h!vc > Subject: Re: God and His Manifestations - Progressive Revelation > In-reply-to: your article <698@hou2h.UUCP> > Verbus M. Counts, > I am appalled at your posting to net.religion.jewish! > In no way does your article address any Jewish issue or issue of > particular interest to Jews. It is clearly an attempt to proselytize. > I believe I am speaking for virtually all the readers of net.religion > .jewish when I tell you that this is not appreciated. Please refrain > from any future postings to this newsgroup. Consider yourself shunned. > --J. Abeles Furthermore, I urge readers of net.religion.jewish to refrain from engaging in any discussions with V. M. Counts, in order to discourage future use of this newgroup for the purposes of proselytization of Jews. The future of net.religion.jewish is at stake. The present situation may be a direct result of allowing discussions to continue after the original proselytizing submissions of Bob Brown, a. k. a., "Rev. Bob." Those who participated are hereby admonished. --J. Abeles
rjb@akgua.UUCP (R.J. Brown [Bob]) (01/07/85)
Abeles, I hereby respectfully challenge you to repost to net.religion.jewish any article (or reasonable portion thereof) that you consider prosyletizing on my part. Please note the parts of the article and why you consider them prosyletizing in nature. I can't learn if I'm not instructed and I can't defend myself if I'm being smeared with baseless phantom accusations. I will apologize to whomever is offended if it can be demonstrated that I have erred. Anyone else who has a bone to pick, let's put it up on the table. I am capable of learning...I think :-) Bob (Honored...but no Rev.) Brown