Truthseeker
Non-debating member when I can help myself
Didn't you just hear Tony call Him the Unconstained, and you liked it?
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Bahai is correct about God in my opinion
- Thread starter Starlight
- Start date
joelr
Well-Known Member
Why do you believe Yahweh is the universal God? If that God has no specific religion why did it dictate Judaism and later Christianity and claim that if you disbelieve in the specific incarnation of the demigod son then you are unworthy?
Trailblazer
Veteran Member
Sorry, I did not think of it that way, before.I respectably disagree. It doesn't matter what you call Him.
Trailblazer
Veteran Member
Yes, so I just reread that and edited my post.Didn't you just hear Tony call Him the Unconstained, and you liked it?
Thanks for pointing that out.
an anarchist
Your local loco.
I think that these two sentences might contradict each other. Correct me if I'm wrong.
If Abraham is the universal God, then God does have a specific religion. And Baha'is believe that that specific religion is Baha'is m.
I disagree. The religions which are canon in the Bahai faith contradict each other. In my opinion, syncretism requires some good mental gymnastics to make work. For example, Hinduism teaches reincarnation, Bahaism does not. Yet Bahais say the Hinduism is a revealed religion, even though it contradicts their own. It just doesn't make sense to me anymore.
Brian2
Veteran Member
There is one true God who created the universe and humans. This God is the God who revealed Himself in the Bible.
If Baha'is believe that, then they should also see that the gods of other religions cannot be the same God.
But Baha'i denies the truth of all religions except Baha'i.
Sorry, I did not think of it that way, before.
Baha'u'llah calls it the veils of Names, we are to look for the Light.
Regards Tony
Trailblazer
Veteran Member
No, Baha'is accept the truth of all religions including Baha'i.
It is the Christians who deny the truth of all religions except Christianity.
Brian2
Veteran Member
Baha'is and Christians both deny the truth of all religions because we both say that the teachings of the other religions are not consistent with the teachings of our religion therefore those religions are wrong in what they teach.
It is not hard to see the truth of what I said is it?
Trailblazer
Veteran Member
Baha'is do not say that. Baha'is say that the teachings of all the older religions have been corrupted by man over time so they are no longer the same as what was originally revealed by the Founder of those religions. We also say that the spiritual teachings of all the religions are the same, that only the social teachings and laws change over time. We also say that a new message is revealed in every age, a message that is pertinent to the that age.
PureX
Veteran Member
Brian2
Veteran Member
That is the same as saying that they are all wrong, it is just said a different way.
I know what you mean by social teachings and what you mean by a new message but not so sure what you mean by "spiritual teachings".
Aupmanyav
Be your own guru
No. I am an atheist.
In the old Hebrew Scriptures I find the God of Abraham promised a Messiah to come.
To me the promised Messiah is God's Son Christ Jesus.
Jesus as Messiah said that he is the way, the truth and the life.
* Jesus as the way or religious path to follow.
* Jesus teaches Scripture as religious truth.
* Jesus leads to everlasting life by resurrecting some to heaven, and the majority of people can live forever on earth.
idea
Question Everything
It seems like those who embrace monotheistic traditions feels safer with conformity/ heirarchies, very dependent on following this or that leader without question. Seek salvation (from what?)
In America, I used to think it rebellious to defy the king - "god is our king" - but really, they were just following church instead of state.
This Thanksgiving someone told me I was prideful and would be alone if I didn't conform - to their views. I replied that everyone follows their own opinion, and with 8 billion people, it was possible for everyone to find a like-minded community, no one is alone. Monotheism/conformity with family/local ideals is no longer needed to find security and community. An interesting, wonderful new world. This year feeling thankful I was able to stand up for my own beliefs. (Needed for lgbtqai kiddos in fam)
Haha, let my dad know - no - God doesn't think that, you think that, that is just your opinion, not God.
Repeated that a few times - not God, that is all just you, just your personal opinion, and we all have the same right to our own opinion. I'm no more prideful than you.
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Are you sure that each god isn't an aspect of the one God?
To give you an idea of how absurd I find this question, are you sure your mother isn't actually your father? And are you sure that food you're eating isn't actually a can of gasoline?
Then how is their idea of God universal then?
It's "universal" by omission and erasure. Omission and erasure of very real cultural diversity in favor of cultural genocide. I'm just going to call it what it is here and not sugar coat it.
I've heard people say this, but I personally don't get it. I suppose it depends on the way someone thinks of their version of God as being the "universal God". Sort of like that thread the other day about the smugness of Christian Universalists, assuming everyone will eventually be saved to their understanding of God. That's kind what I get from the Baha'i's idea of a universalist God, that ultimately God is their idea of God, and all other religions eventually will take them to that particular idea of God and accept their prophet.
That way of thinking does do what you say, in that it either minimzies or dismisses the differences as being mere stepping stones to their higher realization of God through their ultimate prophet of the day. That does have a certain smugness to it, indeed. It doesn't truly respect or appreciate those differences.
For me, while I do subscribe to a perennial philosophy when it comes to religions, I liken it more to the parable of the blind men and the elephant. Each religion is legitimately touching the elephant. The ear is really the ear. The ear is different from the trunk, and from the tail, and from the legs. And each is fully a different experience of the Elephant. Each says something different. Each informs the feeler of the ear, or leg, or trunk, of different types of knowledge. Each knowledge is beneficial to them, in different ways.
But those who say the Abrahamic God is the universal God, are in fact saying the trunk is the Elephant itself. They claim universalism, they claim a knowledge of the Absolute, as the Absolute, and do not realize they are as much only touching what part of the Elephant they have access to those their own partiality. The ear is not to leg.
The Abrahamic God, is a deity form too.
Of course they are different. The ear has a different energy than the leg on the Elephant. There are feminine energies, masculine energies, and so forth. There's Yin energy and Yang energy. But they are ultimately expressions of the Tao itself. Same with all the gods. But to call the Tao, "a god" in the mind of someone who thinks of the Tao that way, that is not the Tao. "The Tao than can be named, is not the eternal Tao".
I think that is the point I am trying to make. It's not really the Universal God, if you identify it as a God you believe in. You are it, rather than believe in it. But understanding aspects of that through the different energies in ourselves, through deity forms, is in fact a valid and important and necessary thing for many reasons. Yin is not Yang, and Yang is not Yin, but they are not separate either. To deny one is invalid, is to deny the Whole.
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It is for man to have Faith in God, it is man that must embrace the Messengers and that is what becomes the Religion of the age.
God gives the Messages through the many Names of God, in each age a new name, a new purpose given to us. This is God's promise, that we would not be left alone, that guidance will be given to us.
This age is the promise of all knowledge and with that knowledge, we will be able to become One under God. The prayer of many Christians is Thy Kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven, This is basically praying for the Oneness of God, that humanity will unite under that Oneness. Muslims strive for this Oneness.
How else will it happen, if it is not by us embracing the Oneness of God? With that the athiest who also pursues the virtues, will also find peace, as that is the goal of our oneness.
Regards Tony