Tag: Bahai

The Way, the Truth, and the Life

Published August 1, 2019 by admin

This post continues our series on the Gospels and the Revelation of Baha’u’llah, this time addressing a famous passage with varying theological interpretations. Today is part 1, tomorrow we will post part 2.

When Baha’is tell their Christian friends that Baha’u’llah is the return of Christ, or even when Baha’is present the idea that all the great religions are from the same God, Christians frequently point to a specific Gospel passage that they feel contradicts such a claim. The passage is very familiar to many people- John 14:6-where Jesus says- “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life and nobody gets to the Father except through Me”. This passage has historically been referenced as the source of the belief that it is only through Christ that human beings can be “saved”, and therefore Christianity is the exclusive path to God. For many Christians, this is a foundational belief, and they won’t even take seriously another claim to divine authority in the world.

So, let’s look closely at this passage and then review how Baha’is believe that Baha’u’llah upholds the truth of this passage, but with a less exclusive interpretation, and also significantly supplements its meaning.

The passage is most frequently quoted from the Gospel of John but appears in other Gospels as well. The words were spoken by Christ in the setting of a discussion about his imminent martyrdom and crucifixion. He was comforting the disciples, telling them that He would die but would go to heaven, that his “Father’s mansion has many rooms” and that He would go “and prepare a place for them”, so that they could find Him. He tells them that they know the “way”, but they are confused and question Him saying- “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?”. Jesus then responds that He Himself is the way- “I am the way, the truth and the life and no-one comes to the Father except through Me.” Jesus goes on to explain that His relationship with the Father is such that if they know Him, they know the Father as well. The implication is also that, should they truly believe in Him, they would also find their way to Heaven just as He will when He is crucified. He further states-

Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you I do not speak on my own authority. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me

For reference- here is the entire passage.

Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going.”

Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?”

Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.”

Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.”

Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you I do not speak on my own authority. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the works themselves. Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.

It’s worth parsing out the specifics of the passage above. First, clearly Jesus is telling us that it is through His teachings and belief in His person that people can find God, that He Himself is the path to God. He further states that His relationship with God is such that it is through Him that God is manifested to the world- that He speaks with the authority of God and not on His own authority. It is also clearly true that Christ expresses that nobody can get to the Father “except through Him”. So how would Baha’is respond to these clear statements from Jesus Himself?

The first element of a response is to state that Baha’u’llah fully confirms the interpretation above, but that He is the return of Christ, and therefore carries the same authority that Christ did when He came the first time. It’s not that Baha’is believe that every path to God is the same or equally valid- that is a misinterpretation of the concept of progressive revelation. What Baha’u’llah taught is that the process of revelation has an historical dimension, that the Manifestations of God are the path to God in every age, but when they return in a new Revelation, they become the path to God for that new time in history. It is humanity’s responsibility to accept Them whenever They come, otherwise we remain deprived of the bounties of their Truth. Indeed, Baha’u’llah tells us that true recognition of God- the belief that conforms most to what God wants from us- His “good pleasure”— is to recognize the revelations whenever they come to humanity, as only then are we recognizing the Truth of God in purest form. Otherwise, we are just worshipping “forms”- the religious trappings that we have become accustomed to in our society- and not the pure Truth of God.

When Christ spoke these words, people of that time believed in all sorts of things- some were Jews and committed to the Jewish leaders and law, some were pagans and worshipped like their ancestors, some were supporters of the various cults that were coming into the Roman Empire from Greece, India and other places. Against that background, Christ is telling the world that it is through Him that people can get to God. He is the Manifestation of God for that time in history. It was an exclusive claim, but did not mean that we should remain blinded to Him when He returns. Indeed, in the next section, Christ also promises His return:

“I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. He will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you.”

Christ is stating the principle of progressive revelation- that the Manifestations of God teach us according to our capacity, and that in every age, when our capacity has grown, a new Revelation comes to teach us more. He explicitly says that there were teachings He could give but that the people did not yet have the capacity to “bear”. It wasn’t that He didn’t know them, it was that the population wasn’t ready for them. He then promises that One would come to “guide you into all the truth” and that the One after Him would “glorify Me” and that the truth He reveals will be “from Me, that he will receive what He will make known to you”.

When we read the claims of Baha’u’llah, we see the exact same language. First, He claims that He represents God on earth-

“Naught is seen in my temple but the Temple of God, and in my beauty but His Beauty, and in my being but His Being, and in myself but Himself, and in my movement but His Movement, and in my acquiescence but His Acquiescence, and in my pen but His Pen, the Precious, the Extolled…There hath not been in my soul but the Truth, and in myself naught can be seen but God.”

In Baha’u’llah’s Tablet to the Christians, known as the “Most Holy Tablet”, He invites Christians to enter the new Kingdom that has been outspread by His Revelation-

Open the doors of your hearts. He Who is the Spirit (Jesus) verily standeth before them. Wherefore keep ye afar from Him Who hath purposed to draw you nigh unto a Resplendent Spot? Say: We, in truth, have opened unto you the gates of the Kingdom. Will ye bar the doors of your houses in My face? This indeed is naught but a grievous error. He, verily, hath again come down from heaven, even as He came down from it the first time. Beware lest ye dispute that which He proclaimeth, even as the people before you disputed His utterances. Thus instructeth you the True One, could ye but perceive it.

He then extols the blessings that come from His Revelation-

Blessed is the man who hath detached himself from all else but Me, hath soared in the atmosphere of My love, hath gained admittance into My Kingdom, gazed upon My realms of glory, quaffed the living waters of My bounty, hath drunk his fill from the heavenly river of My loving providence, acquainted himself with My Cause, apprehended that which I concealed within the treasury of My Words, and hath shone forth from the horizon of divine knowledge engaged in My praise and glorification. Verily, he is of Me. Upon him rest My mercy, My loving-kindness, My bounty and My glory.

These passages are proclamatory statements of Baha’u’llah’s claim, spoken with an authority and power that causes you to take notice. But one of the wonderful things about Baha’u’llah’s Revelation is that He not only makes this claim, but both He and the Bab patiently explained the nature of the Manifestations of God throughout their Writings, creating a philosophical and theological framework through which we can understand, not only Baha’u’llah’s claim, but also that of Jesus. In part two of this post, we will explore some of those significant passages in more detail.

Next post in this series- The Way, the Truth and the Life, Part 2

Photo by Lili Popper on Unsplash

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Light on a Hill

Light on a Hill

Published July 31, 2019 by admin

The Revelations of God have often used light as a symbol for our inner spirituality and the Word of God that helps us grow. In our world, physical light is the source of life and nothing could exist without it. Spiritual light causes our spirituality to grow and finding the light within us and reflecting that to others can be seen as the purpose of our lives. For the next several posts, we will draw on the Gospels, the Quran and the Revelation of Baha’u’llah to highlight passages that reflect this theme.

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The Cosmic View

The Cosmic View

Published July 30, 2019 by admin

The Revelation of Baha’u’llah is extraordinarily deep and far-reaching, touching on the most fundamental aspects of life and reality. Baha’u’llah describes His Revelation as an “ocean” rich in “gems”, and as we explore the world both philosophically and scientifically, we start to see connections with the Word of God that illuminate our understanding on a very deep level. Baha’i Blog often presents wonderful material that explores the richness of Baha’u’llah’s Faith and they recently posted an interview between Rainn Wilson- the Baha’i actor, philanthropist, and all-around good guy, and Dr Stephen Phelps. Dr Phelps has had the opportunity to study physics at the highest level and also study the Baha’i Writings in great depth, personally teaching himself both Arabic and Persian in order to do so. The conversation is worth a listen, as it serves to provide a taste of the richness of the Writings when applied to some of the modern questions of the nature of who we are and what we are doing in this thing called life. Enjoy!

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On Miracles

On Miracles

Published July 23, 2019 by admin

The following continues our series on the Gospels and the Revelation of Baha’u’llah-

Even a cursory review of the Gospels reveals a significant amount of attention paid to the miracles of Jesus, and then later even his apostles. These miracles are often described in very specific terms- like literally raising a person from the dead or giving sight to the blind. The passage below, again from the Gospel of Matthew, is just a sample-

“While he was saying this, a synagogue leader came and knelt before him and said, “My daughter has just died. But come and put your hand on her, and she will live.” Jesus got up and went with him, and so did his disciples.

Just then a woman who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak. She said to herself, “If I only touch his cloak, I will be healed.”

Jesus turned and saw her. “Take heart, daughter,” he said, “your faith has healed you.” And the woman was healed at that moment.

When Jesus entered the synagogue leader’s house and saw the noisy crowd and people playing pipes,he said, “Go away. The girl is not dead but asleep.” But they laughed at him. After the crowd had been put outside, he went in and took the girl by the hand, and she got up. News of this spread through all that region.

As Jesus went on from there, two blind men followed him, calling out, “Have mercy on us, Son of David!” When he had gone indoors, the blind men came to him, and he asked them, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?”

“Yes, Lord,” they replied.

Then he touched their eyes and said, “According to your faith let it be done to you”; and their sight was restored. Jesus warned them sternly, “See that no one knows about this.” But they went out and spread the news about him all over that region.

While they were going out, a man who was demon-possessed and could not talk was brought to Jesus. And when the demon was driven out, the man who had been mute spoke. The crowd was amazed and said, “Nothing like this has ever been seen in Israel.”

But the Pharisees said, “It is by the prince of demons that he drives out demons.”

For the people in the time of Jesus, these stories would have likely been a major reason that they would have believed in Him. In modern times, people are much more skeptical, and the miracles stories probably do more to hurt the cause of belief in Jesus than help it. Thomas Jefferson, who was a Christian, famously created a Bible known as the “Jefferson Bible” in which he took out all the stories of Jesus performing miracles and only highlighted his spiritual and ethical teaching. Jefferson thought that the miracle stories clouded the picture of the true greatness of Jesus.

Baha’u’llah’s teaching on the miracles of the Manifestations is nuanced. Baha’u’llah discouraged His followers from focusing on miracles and asked them to believe in His Revelation based on the effects of His words on their heart. The Bab had even stated that, in the past, the proof of the revelation of God came through “physical” proofs, but in our time, it needed to be through the heart, as humanity had advanced in its spirituality and needed to base its belief on a more sublime understanding of spiritual truth.

In a Tablet to an Orthodox priest, Baha’u’llah describes the greatness of Christ-

“Know thou that when the Son of Man (Jesus) yielded up His breath to God, the whole creation wept with a great weeping. By sacrificing Himself, however, a fresh capacity was infused into all created things. Its evidences, as witnessed in all the peoples of the earth, are now manifest before thee. The deepest wisdom which the sages have uttered, the profoundest learning which any mind hath unfolded, the arts which the ablest hands have produced, the influence exerted by the most potent of rulers, are but manifestations of the quickening power released by His transcendent, His all-pervasive, and resplendent Spirit.

We testify that when He came into the world, He shed the splendor of His glory upon all created things. Through Him the leper recovered from the leprosy of perversity and ignorance. Through Him, the unchaste and wayward were healed. Through His power, born of Almighty God, the eyes of the blind were opened, and the soul of the sinner sanctified.

Leprosy may be interpreted as any veil that interveneth between man and the recognition of the Lord, his God. Whoso alloweth himself to be shut out from Him is indeed a leper, who shall not be remembered in the Kingdom of God, the Mighty, the All-Praised. We bear witness that through the power of the Word of God every leper was cleansed, every sickness was healed, every human infirmity was banished. He it is Who purified the world. Blessed is the man who, with a face beaming with light, hath turned towards Him.”

As one can see, He urges us to interpret the miracles of Jesus in a spiritual way. Whether or not the leper was healed of their physical leprosy was inconsequential. It was the recovery from their “perversity and ignorance” that was the most important thing. The Manifestations of God come to heal spiritual illnesses, not physical ones (and indeed Baha’u’llah explicitly left that job to science!)

Baha’u’llah is clear however, that the Manifestations of God can do miracles, if need be. In fact, when a group of clergy in the time of Baha’u’llah sent an emissary to question him, Baha’u’llah told the emissary to gather the clergy and settle on a miracle for Him to perform and He would do it. However, the stipulation was that if He did it, they then had to accept His Revelation. The clergy did not accept the challenge as they couldn’t agree on a miracle. In another passage, Baha’u’llah further said that something is a miracle only if one doesn’t understand it, that “human reason is not the balance” as it is based on our experience, and human experience is limited. We wouldn’t believe a description of the sun in the sky if we didn’t see it every day. That the Manifestations of God can do a miracle is just because of the reality of who they are. It is not a miracle as it proceeds from their role as representatives of God.

So did Jesus perform real miracles or were these just stories that reflect healing from spiritual sicknesses and not physical ones? Or did the Gospel authors, who wrote 100 years after Jesus, transmit these stories in order to convince people of His truth, irrespective of whether He actually did miracles? We will probably never know.

But Baha’u’llah’s Revelation does teach us something really important. Whether or not actual miracles did occur, the most important thing about Jesus was the effect His teachings had on human hearts. The fact that we are still talking about Him, now 2000 years after His life, and He still profoundly impacts people on a daily basis, is the true testament to His greatness.

Next post in this series- The Way, the Truth, and the Life.

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Prayer

Prayer

Published July 22, 2019 by admin

The following continues our discussion of Gospel passages and how they are related to the Revelation of Baha’u’llah. The passage below is from the Gospel of Matthew-

“Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.

“So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing,so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

“And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

This passage from the Gospel of Matthew is Jesus’ main instruction to His community on how to pray. It is followed by a short prayer, known as the “Lord’s Prayer”, that starts “Our father, who art in heaven…” and is well known to anyone who has attended a church service, because it is often spoken together by the congregation.

Prayer can be a controversial topic in today’s society because many people perceive that the reason one prays is to ask for stuff, and that is its main purpose. Many people no longer believe that God cares for us in that way, and therefore prayer is essentially useless for what is perceived to be its main purpose.

But if you read the “Lord’s Prayer” or the dozens of prayers that Baha’u’llah and Abdu’l-Baha revealed that are translated into English, it becomes evident that the Manifestations of God had a different idea of prayer than the common one. First off, it is never about asking for stuff- at least not material stuff- that is. There is virtually no prayer that can be found that is about asking for material things, or even that events will turn out your way. They are virtually all about developing spiritual qualities.

For instance- take this well known and beautiful prayer by Baha’u’llah-

Create in me a pure heart, O my God, and renew a tranquil conscience within me, O my Hope! Through the spirit of power confirm Thou me in Thy Cause, O my Best-Beloved, and by the light of Thy glory reveal unto me Thy path, O Thou the Goal of my desire! Through the power of Thy transcendent might lift me up unto the heaven of Thy holiness, O Source of my being, and by the breezes of Thine eternity gladden me, O Thou Who art my God! Let Thine everlasting melodies breathe tranquillity on me, O my Companion, and let the riches of Thine ancient countenance deliver me from all except Thee, O my Master, and let the tidings of the revelation of Thine incorruptible Essence bring me joy, O Thou Who art the most manifest of the manifest and the most hidden of the hidden!

In a remarkable prayer, Baha’u’llah says that the purpose of prayer is to bring us closer to our own true selves-

Whatever duty Thou hast prescribed unto Thy servants of extolling to the utmost Thy majesty and glory is but a token of Thy grace unto them, that they may be enabled to ascend unto the station conferred upon their own inmost being, the station of the knowledge of their own selves.

‘Abdu’l-Baha’ further clarifies that the purpose of prayer is to stimulate our own inner spirituality-

When one supplicates to his Lord, turns to Him and seeks bounty from His Ocean, this supplication brings light to his heart, illumination to his sight, life to his soul and exaltation to his being. During thy supplications to God and thy reciting, “Thy Name is my healing,” consider how thine heart is cheered, thy soul delighted by the spirit of the love of God, and thy mind attracted to the Kingdom of God! By these attractions one’s ability and capacity increase. When the vessel is enlarged the water increases, and when the thirst grows the bounty of the cloud becomes agreeable to the taste of man. This is the mystery of supplication and the wisdom of stating one’s wants.

As our love of God grows, and it becomes more a part of our lives, we pray as an expression of love-

In the highest prayer, men pray only for the love of God, not because they fear Him or hell, or hope for bounty or heaven…. When a man falls in love with a human being, it is impossible for him to keep from mentioning the name of his beloved. How much more difficult is it to keep from mentioning the Name of God when one has come to love Him…. The spiritual man finds no delight in anything save in commemoration of God.

Just as Jesus taught that our prayers should be in private, Baha’u’llah taught us that our prayers should similarly be in private and away from others, unless it is part of a devotional gathering dedicated to the purpose of communal connection. Baha’i’s host devotional gatherings for their communities all over the world, but these are intended to stimulate spiritual discussion and friendship.

To none is it permitted to mutter sacred verses before the public gaze as he walketh in the street or marketplace; nay rather, if he wish to magnify the Lord, it behooveth him to do so in such places as have been erected for this purpose, or in his own home. This is more in keeping with sincerity and godliness. Thus hath the sun of Our commandment shone forth above the horizon of Our utterance. Blessed, then, be those who do Our bidding.

Baha’u’llah also suggested we should “intone” our prayers- a word that suggests chanting or singing-

Intone, O My servant, the verses of God that have been received by thee, as intoned by them who have drawn nigh unto Him, that the sweetness of thy melody may kindle thine own soul, and attract the hearts of all men. Whoso reciteth, in the privacy of his chamber, the verses revealed by God, the scattering angels of the Almighty shall scatter abroad the fragrance of the words uttered by his mouth, and shall cause the heart of every righteous man to throb. Though he may, at first, remain unaware of its effect, yet the virtue of the grace vouchsafed unto him must needs sooner or later exercise its influence upon his soul. Thus have the mysteries of the Revelation of God been decreed by virtue of the Will of Him Who is the Source of power and wisdom.

As the Baha’i community has grown, more and more of the sacred Writings have been put to music, and those melodies are shared among the Baha’i communities- a terrific way to start connecting with the Word of God.

We’ll conclude with a beautiful passage from the Bab, on the nature of prayer and how we should think about it.

Worship thou God in such wise that if thy worship lead thee to the fire, no alteration in thine adoration would be produced, and so likewise if thy recompense should be paradise. Thus and thus alone should be the worship which befitteth the one True God. Shouldst thou worship Him because of fear, this would be unseemly in the sanctified Court of His presence, and could not be regarded as an act by thee dedicated to the Oneness of His Being. Or if thy gaze should be on paradise, and thou shouldst worship Him while cherishing such a hope, thou wouldst make God’s creation a partner with Him, notwithstanding the fact that paradise is desired by men. Fire and paradise both bow down and prostrate themselves before God. That which is worthy of His Essence is to worship Him for His sake, without fear of fire, or hope of paradise. Although when true worship is offered, the worshipper is delivered from the fire, and entereth the paradise of God’s good-pleasure, yet such should not be the motive of his act. However, God’s favour and grace ever flow in accordance with the exigencies of His inscrutable wisdom. The most acceptable prayer is the one offered with the utmost spirituality and radiance; its prolongation hath not been and is not beloved by God. The more detached and the purer the prayer, the more acceptable is it in the presence of God.

Next post in series- On Miracles

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The Wonder of Creation

The Wonder of Creation

Published July 20, 2019 by admin

One of the beautiful truths expressed in Baha’u’llah’s Revelation is the majesty of creation, and how we are only a small part of its nearly infinite range. Despite being that small part, our lives have meaning through our relationship to the ultimate Source of that creation.

“A drop of the billowing ocean of His endless mercy hath adorned all creation with the ornament of existence, and a breath wafted from His peerless Paradise hath invested all beings with the robe of His sanctity and glory. A sprinkling from the unfathomed deep of His sovereign and all-pervasive Will hath, out of utter nothingness, called into being a creation which is infinite in its range and deathless in its duration. The wonders of His bounty can never cease, and the stream of His merciful grace can never be arrested. The process of His creation hath had no beginning, and can have no end.” -Baha’u’llah

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Beautify Your Tongues

Beautify Your Tongues

Published July 18, 2019 by admin

A quote from Baha’u’llah-

“Beautify your tongues, O people, with truthfulness, and adorn your souls with the ornament of honesty. Beware, O people, that ye deal not treacherously with anyone. Be ye the trustees of God amongst His creatures, and the emblems of His generosity amidst His people….Strive, O people, that your eyes may be directed towards the mercy of God, that your hearts may be attuned to His wondrous remembrance, that your souls may rest confidently upon His grace and bounty, that your feet may tread the path of His good-pleasure.”

Photo by Kevin Lanceplaine on Unsplash

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Love of Your Neighbor

Love of Your Neighbor

Published July 14, 2019 by admin

This post continues our series in which we are marching through the Gospels and making connections to the Revelation of Baha’u’llah. The passage below is from the Sermon on the Mount, from the Gospel of Matthew-

“You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth. But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also. And if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well. If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles. Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.”

“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

These words, spoken as part of the Sermon on the Mount, where Jesus Christ delivered the “Beatitudes” noted in the previous post, are extraordinarily important and significant for the spiritual and moral evolution of humanity on this planet. They represent a marked departure from the traditional morality taught in cultures all over the world before Christ, both within and outside of the Jewish tradition. The interactions between people, and social law generally, was marked by the ethic of “an eye for an eye”, meaning, if someone did someone to you, you had the right to do it back to them. Jesus Christ- with these passages- brought a new standard- and it changed everything.

“Christian charity”, the concern for others, treating even your enemies with respect- all of these things had untold effects on the societies that embraced Christianity- effects that are still felt today. Unfortunately, too often these societies also forgot this standard and fell back to the “pagan” standards of antiquity- an “eye for an eye”. How often have we seen a movie where something bad is done to the hero, and then the rest of the movie is about his effort to exact revenge on the perpetrators, who are cast as evil uncaring villains? This is not a Christian standard but a pre-Christian one that humanity was supposed to have outgrown by now.

Baha’u’llah’s Revelation builds upon the standard of Jesus, as expressed in numerous passages. Baha’u’llah teaches that are vision should now be “world embracing” and that we should expand “love of our neighbor” beyond just our actual neighbor, but everyone in the whole world. “Ye are the fruits of one tree and the leaves of one branch. Deal ye one with another with the utmost love and harmony, with friendliness and fellowship”.

He encourages us, as in the following passage, to follow the teachings of God and “taste its sweetness”-

Beseech ye the one true God to grant that ye may taste the savor of such deeds as are performed in His path, and partake of the sweetness of such humility and submissiveness as are shown for His sake. Forget your own selves, and turn your eyes towards your neighbor. Bend your energies to whatever may foster the education of men. Nothing is, or can ever be, hidden from God. If ye follow in His way, His incalculable and imperishable blessings will be showered upon you. This is the luminous Tablet, whose verses have streamed from the moving Pen of Him Who is the Lord of all worlds. Ponder it in your hearts, and be ye of them that observe its precepts.

Abdu’l-Baha’ continued the teaching of these principles, how faith in God gives us the power to act in a way that is different from our society, how we can use our love of God to overlook the shortcomings of others, and see all people as part of our one human family.

O army of God! Praise be to God, Bahá’u’lláh hath lifted the chains from off the necks of humankind, and hath set man free from all that trammeled him, and told him: Ye are the fruits of one tree and the leaves of one branch; be ye compassionate and kind to all the human race. Deal ye with strangers the same as with friends, cherish ye others just as ye would your own. See foes as friends; see demons as angels; give to the tyrant the same great love ye show the loyal and true, and even as gazelles from the scented cities of Khatá and Khutan¹ offer up sweet musk to the ravening wolf. Be ye a refuge to the fearful; bring ye rest and peace to the disturbed; make ye a provision for the destitute; be a treasury of riches for the poor; be a healing medicine for those who suffer pain; be ye doctor and nurse to the ailing; promote ye friendship, and honor, and conciliation, and devotion to God, in this world of nonexistence.

O army of God! Beware lest ye harm any soul, or make any heart to sorrow; lest ye wound any man with your words, be he known to you or a stranger, be he friend or foe. Pray ye for all; ask ye that all be blessed, all be forgiven. Beware, beware, lest any of you seek vengeance, even against one who is thirsting for your blood. Beware, beware, lest ye offend the feelings of another, even though he be an evildoer, and he wish you ill. Look ye not upon the creatures, turn ye to their Creator. See ye not the never-yielding people, see but the Lord of Hosts. Gaze ye not down upon the dust, gaze upward at the shining sun, which hath caused every patch of darksome earth to glow with light.

Next post in series- Prayer

Photo by Trevor Cole on Unsplash.

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A Rich Tapestry

A Rich Tapestry

Published July 13, 2019 by admin

The National Spiritual Assembly of the United States, the elected body that leads the US Baha’i community, has put together several videos on the life of the Baha’i community in the US, entitled “A Rich Tapestry”. If you are exploring the Baha’i Faith and want to see a little more about the spirit of its activities, please take a few minutes to watch the attached video. We will be posting these and similar series in the future. Enjoy!

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The Voice of God

The Voice of God

Published July 12, 2019 by admin

If you ask a Baha’i why they have come to accept Baha’u’llah’s Revelation, you may get many answers. But if you drill down on all of them, at the root is a spiritual response to a “Voice” that is transcendent and sublime. It was that same Voice, spoken through Christ, that stirred Christians to their depths, and later was spoken by Muhammad and raised the civilization of Islam. That Voice has spoken again, and it stirs you to your bones.

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