• Welcome to Religious Forums, a friendly forum to discuss all religions in a friendly surrounding.

    Your voice is missing! You will need to register to get access to the following site features:
    • Reply to discussions and create your own threads.
    • Our modern chat room. No add-ons or extensions required, just login and start chatting!
    • Access to private conversations with other members.

    We hope to see you as a part of our community soon!

Disbelievers in Christianity Answer Please!

If you are faced with the miracle described below

  • I will certainly believe without any condition

    Votes: 9 24.3%
  • I will believe only if, He says Muhammad was a false Prophet, otherwise No!

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • I will believe, if He says, Muhammad is a true prophet, otherwise No!

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • No, i will not believe, because.......(please explain)

    Votes: 28 75.7%

  • Total voters
    37

CG Didymus

Veteran Member
We both say that Jesus promised another Comforter, the Spirit of Truth,
Have you heard a Baha'i give an explanation of what happened at Pentecost? Since that was the Holy Spirit coming into the disciples, why don't they believe that was the fulfillment of the verses in John?
 

Trailblazer

Veteran Member
Have you heard a Baha'i give an explanation of what happened at Pentecost? Since that was the Holy Spirit coming into the disciples, why don't they believe that was the fulfillment of the verses in John?
The Holy Spirit that was sent at Pentecost and it came to the disciples.

Acts 2 King James Version (KJV)
And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.
2 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.
3 And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.
4 And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.


And then the Holy Spirit was sent again in the last days that we are now living in. In that same chapter in which we find the Pentecost account, we have (Acts 2:17-21) showing that God would once again pour out His Spirit upon all flesh:

Acts 2:17-21 was spoken by the prophet Joel, and it was a prophecy that referred to the last days, the days when Christ would return.

Acts 2:16 But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel;

Acts 2:17-21And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams: And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy: And I will shew wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke: The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and notable day of the Lord come: And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.


Acts 2:17-21 is a prophecy and it has been fulfilled by the coming of Baha’u’llah.

The verses in John that refer to the Comforter and the Spirit of Truth are not referring to the Day of Pentecost. They are referring to the return of Christ.
 

Brian2

Veteran Member
Well, I see we are making some progress. :)
You have been insisting that the Comforter is the Holy Spirit but you are now conceding to the fact that Jesus was a Comforter, which means that the Comforter is not the Holy Spirit. You cannot look at one or two verses, you need to look at all the verses in John Chapters 14, 15, and 16 as a whole and in the context of the chapter in order to get the whole picture. If you do that you will realize that they all fit together and make sense.

I have always said that Jesus was a comforter and that the Holy Spirit is the other comforter that Jesus promised to His disciples (of 2000 years ago) and that the Holy Spirit is also the Spirit of Truth. All these things are plainly stated by Jesus.

If Jesus was a Comforter who brought the Holy Spirit then another Comforter would also be a man who brought the Holy Spirit.

Jesus was a Comforter who sent another Comforter to be with His disciples of 2000 years ago, the Holy Spirit.

John 14:17 Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.

I already explained the last part of that verse: "but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you."
The reason that the disciples know the Spirit of truth (even though the world has not seen or known Him) is because the Spirit of truth (the Holy Spirit) was in Jesus, so the disciples already received the Spirit of Truth. AGAIN, the Spirit of truth is only a title of the man who brings the Holy Spirit.

So you say that the Spirit of Truth is the Holy Spirit and not Baha'u'llah, then go on to say that Baha'u'llah is the Spirit of Truth,,,,,,,,,,, Baha'u'llah is called the Spirit of Truth.
It does not make sense really. I think you are trying to make 2 sets of contradictory scriptures agree when they don't agree. The writings of Baha'u'llah disagree with what Jesus said.

How do you explain this part of the verse?
"Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him:"

If the Spirit of truth is the Holy Spirit that would make this part of the verse false, because the world had seen and known the Holy Spirit before this verse was written about 6th century. As I understand it, the Holy Spirit first came to the disciples on the Day of Pentecost, but the Holy Spirit was 'in the world' long before that. I actually looked that up.

Yes God's Spirit (the Holy Spirit) was there when the world was made. (See Gen 1:1)
The Holy Spirit also, as the presence of God, has done many things in OT times. But that does not mean that the world can see Him or knows Him. (I'm sorry but I don't know how we can know an "it")

It also makes sense that the Spirit of truth is a man, because only a man could do what it says in these verses, and Baha'u'llah did everything they say.

John 16:12-14 I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come. He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you.

Well the Holy Spirit not only did those things and more in OT times but has also done those things in the Church.
The Holy Spirit is not an "it" it is a person who lives in Christians. This is what John 14:17 tells us the Spirit of Truth will do, dwell with and in Jesus disciples of 2000 years ago. Baha'u'llah as the Spirit of Truth cannot do that.
John 14:15 “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, 17 even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.

But of course you seem uncertain as to whether the Spirit of Truth is the Holy Spirit or Baha'u'llah. That is the sort of thing that happens when you are trying to reconcile scriptures that are basically completely different.

It sure is a tangled web and I don't know how to untangle it, so I am trying to take it one step at a time because if I say too much I only make matters worse.

The Holy Spirit is the Bounty of God.

The Comforter is a title given to the man who would bring the Holy Spirit.
Jesus brought the Holy Spirit so He was called a Comforter.
Baha'u'llah brought the Holy Spirit AGAIN, so He was another Comforter.

The Spirit of truth is a title given to the man who would bring the Holy Spirit.
Jesus was not called the Spirit of truth because He held back some of the truth that he knew since people of His day were not ready to hear all truth.
Baha'u'llah was called the Spirit of truth because He brought the 'many things' that Jesus held back, and did everything else in these verses.

John 16:12-14 I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come. He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you.

You can kid yourself that Baha'u'llah did those things but he certainly did not do what John 14:26 says that he would do.
John 14:26 But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have told you.

As I said above:
The Comforter is a the title of the man who brought the Holy Spirit.
The Spirit of truth is the title of the man who brought the Holy Spirit.

John 14:26 But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.

This refers to 'another Comforter' so Jesus was not making a promise to the disciples here. We know that because none of that happened back in the days of Jesus.

For a start the verse says that the Comforter IS the Holy Spirit.
Secondly the promise was made to Jesus disciples of 2000 years ago and could only happen to them because they are the only ones who heard Jesus and could be reminded of what Jesus had said to them.
Third Baha'u'llah did not remind anyone of ALL the things that Jesus had said to them.
Fourth the Holy Spirit did teach the OT prophets, teachers, etc what God wanted them to know and so could do that in New Testament times when ALL Christians had the Holy Spirit dwelling in them.
 

Brian2

Veteran Member
Have you heard a Baha'i give an explanation of what happened at Pentecost? Since that was the Holy Spirit coming into the disciples, why don't they believe that was the fulfillment of the verses in John?

It looks like @Trailblazer has just answered that for you.
Acts 2:14 But Peter, standing with the eleven, lifted up his voice and addressed them: “Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and give ear to my words. 15 For these people are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day. 16 But this is what was uttered through the prophet Joel:
17 “‘And in the last days it shall be, God declares,
that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh,
and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
and your young men shall see visions,
and your old men shall dream dreams;

Peter was saying that what was happening was not a bunch of drunks raving on but was a fulfilment of what the prophet Joel had said.
@Trailblazer wants what Joel said to have nothing to do with the gift of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, she wants it to be just a prophecy that Peter was shoving in for no apparent reason and that it was about Baha'u'llah's coming and bringing the Holy Spirit about 2000 years later.
She says this even though Peter is clearly explaining what was happening at Pentecost by referencing the prophecy of Joel.
 

Audie

Veteran Member
Oh content... Well, that's different. They tell me it's in there somewhere.

Actually, I have found some content. But I disagree with some of it. Maybe the flowery stuff is supposed to hide some of the things he's saying.

I was told to read one of his books, and right at the beginning he starts talking about Noah. It was nothing like the Bible story. No flood, no ark. Where did he get his version? Did he just make it up? Or I guess it's supposedly the real story and the Bible story is the one that's fake.

Here it is if you want to take a quick glance. But if you don't want to, I'll understand...

Among the Prophets was Noah. For nine hundred and fifty years He prayerfully exhorted His people and summoned them to the haven of security and peace. None, however, heeded His call. Each day they inflicted on His blessed person such pain and suffering that no one believed He could survive. How frequently they denied Him, how malevolently they hinted their suspicion against Him! Thus it hath been revealed: “And as often as a company of His people passed by Him, they derided Him. To them He said: ‘Though ye scoff at us now, we will scoff at you hereafter even as ye scoff at us. In the end ye shall know.’”3 Long afterward, He several times promised victory to His companions and fixed the hour thereof. But when the hour struck, the divine promise was not fulfilled. This caused a few among the small number of His followers to turn away from Him, and to this testify the records of the best-known books. These you must certainly have perused; if not, undoubtedly you will. Finally, as stated in books and traditions, there remained with Him only forty or seventy-two of His followers. At last from the depth of His being He cried aloud: “Lord! Leave not upon the land a single dweller from among the unbelievers.”4
It's like trying to drive a barge through a cornfield.

Mine eyes cannot be pushed through more than a line or two.
 

CG Didymus

Veteran Member
It looks like @Trailblazer has just answered that for you.
Acts 2:14 But Peter, standing with the eleven, lifted up his voice and addressed them: “Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and give ear to my words. 15 For these people are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day. 16 But this is what was uttered through the prophet Joel:
17 “‘And in the last days it shall be, God declares,
that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh,
and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
and your young men shall see visions,
and your old men shall dream dreams;

Peter was saying that what was happening was not a bunch of drunks raving on but was a fulfilment of what the prophet Joel had said.
@Trailblazer wants what Joel said to have nothing to do with the gift of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, she wants it to be just a prophecy that Peter was shoving in for no apparent reason and that it was about Baha'u'llah's coming and bringing the Holy Spirit about 2000 years later.
She says this even though Peter is clearly explaining what was happening at Pentecost by referencing the prophecy of Joel.
Yes, so she is separating out the "Comforter" and "Spirit of Truth" from anything to do with the "Holy Spirit".

Here's a Baha'i article that talks about this and also the "prince of this world'...

In John 14:26, just four verses earlier, Jesus foretells the coming of “the Comforter.” Of course, the text defines the Comforter as the “Holy Spirit.” However, this is the only occurrence of the term “Holy Spirit” in the Farewell Discourse. In every other occurrence of the “Comforter,” the “Spirit of Truth” is closely associated. It may well be that the original text, before the final editing of this passage by the author of the Gospel of John, was the “Spirit of Truth” as well.​
Thou didst ask as to chapter 14, verse 30 of the Gospel of John, where the Lord Christ saith, ’Hereafter I will not talk much with you: for the Prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in Me.’ The Prince of this world is the Blessed Beauty [Baha’u’llah]; and ’hath nothing in Me’ signifieth: after Me all will draw grace from Me, but He is independent of Me, and will draw no grace from Me. That is, He is rich beyond any grace of Mine. – Abdu’l-Baha, Selections From the Writings of Abdu’l-Baha, p. 171.
It's so strange the ways things can get flipped around to mean whatever the person wants them to mean. Your Christian interpretation becomes only one of many interpretations that are no better or no worse or any truer than anybody else's. Sort of...

After trashing your version of the Christian interpretation, it becomes a very wrong interpretation. And the Baha'i interpretation becomes the only correct one. That's what is important. Your Christian interpretation includes so many things that can't be true if the Baha'i Faith is true.

The whole Christian salvation story has to go. With it goes any "original" or inherited sin or sin nature from Adam. Without that, who need Jesus to sacrifice himself to pay the penalty for those sins? Nobody. Everyone pays for their own sins. The better person you are... the closer to God you will be after you die.

Hell and Satan? Gone. Foolish Christians! How could those early Christians misinterpret those verses as being literal? Baha'is make them only symbolic. Not much to fear. Whew, what a relief.

So, that's why I keep asking Baha'is... What was ever true about Christianity? They say the new messenger brings new social laws and restates the spiritual laws that will last until the next messenger comes. What laws did Jesus bring? Nothing like the Laws of Moses or the Laws of the Quran or the Laws of the Baha'i Faith.

By the time the Baha'is are done with Christianity, it becomes the most useless religion of all. I don't know if Baha'is believe any of the Christian doctrines were ever true. Especially when Christians made Jesus God.

My main complaint against the Baha'is is why they say they believe that Christianity is a true religion. What do they believe is true about it? But the opposite is true also... If those Christian beliefs are true, then the Baha'i Faith is nothing but a false religion that follows a false Messiah. There's a lot at stake here on who's right and who's wrong.
 

Trailblazer

Veteran Member
I have always said that Jesus was a comforter and that the Holy Spirit is the other comforter that Jesus promised to His disciples (of 2000 years ago) and that the Holy Spirit is also the Spirit of Truth.
That's news to me. I don't remember you saying that.
All these things are plainly stated by Jesus.
No, these are not stated by Jesus. These are Christian interpretations of what Jesus said in the NT.
Jesus was a Comforter who sent another Comforter to be with His disciples of 2000 years ago, the Holy Spirit.
Believe as you wish and I will believe as I already explained.
So you say that the Spirit of Truth is the Holy Spirit and not Baha'u'llah, then go on to say that Baha'u'llah is the Spirit of Truth,,,,,,,,,,, Baha'u'llah is called the Spirit of Truth.
It does not make sense really. I think you are trying to make 2 sets of contradictory scriptures agree when they don't agree. The writings of Baha'u'llah disagree with what Jesus said.
The Writings of Baha'u'llah did not interpret the Bible and assign a meaning to Bible verses, I did that.
Jesus did not interpret the Bible and assign a meaning to Bible verses, you did that.

Baha'ullah claimed to be the Spirit of truth, so that is how I know that the Spirit of truth is Baha'u'llah.
Jesus never said that the Spirit of truth is the Holy Spirit, that is simply a Christian interpretation of the Bible.

Below are the verses that refer to the Spirit of truth.
Nowhere in the Bible does it say that the Spirit of truth is the Holy Spirit.

John 14:17 Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.

John 16:12-14 I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come. -He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you.

Yes God's Spirit (the Holy Spirit) was there when the world was made. (See Gen 1:1)
The Holy Spirit also, as the presence of God, has done many things in OT times. But that does not mean that the world can see Him or knows Him. (I'm sorry but I don't know how we can know an "it")
That's true. God's Holy Spirit has always been in the world.
Well the Holy Spirit not only did those things and more in OT times but has also done those things in the Church.
The Holy Spirit is not an "it" it is a person who lives in Christians.
That the Holy Spirit is a person is nothing more than a Trinitarian Christian doctrine that was created by the Church.
Baha'is believe that the Holy Spirit is the Bounty of God that guides and inspires them them but we do not believe that it literally lives inside our bodies.
This is what John 14:17 tells us the Spirit of Truth will do, dwell with and in Jesus disciples of 2000 years ago. Baha'u'llah as the Spirit of Truth cannot do that.
John 14:17 Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.

That verse above is a not a reference to the Holy Spirit because the Spirit of Truth is not the Holy Spirit.

John 16:12-14 I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come. He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you.

The verses above are also not a reference to the Holy Spirit because the Spirit of truth is not the Holy Spirit. The Spirit of truth is the man who brought the Holy Spirit. Only a man could do what it says in those verses, the Holy Spirit cannot do any of those things -- guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come. -He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you. The verses say "he" because they are referring to a man.
John 14:15 “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, 17 even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.

But of course you seem uncertain as to whether the Spirit of Truth is the Holy Spirit or Baha'u'llah. That is the sort of thing that happens when you are trying to reconcile scriptures that are basically completely different.
I am certain that the Spirit of Truth is Baha'u'llah (see above).
You can kid yourself that Baha'u'llah did those things but he certainly did not do what John 14:26 says that he would do.
John 14:26 But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have told you.
Baha'u'llah did everything that John 14:26 says that He would do. He taught all things and reminded us of what Jesus told us.Strong's Greek: 4771. σύ (su) -- you (early mod. Eng. thou)
For a start the verse says that the Comforter IS the Holy Spirit.
The Comforter is the Holy Spirit that was sent by the Father. It was sent to Baha'u'llah and that is why Baha'u'llah was called the Comforter.
The Comforter is the Holy Spirit that was sent by the Father. It was sent to Jesus and that is why Jesus was called the Comforter.
Secondly the promise was made to Jesus disciples of 2000 years ago and could only happen to them because they are the only ones who heard Jesus and could be reminded of what Jesus had said to them.
John 14:26 was not a promise to the disciples. One reason we know it was not a promise to the disciples is because the Advocate/Comforter, who you believe is the Holy Spirit, did not teach the disciples all things or remind them of everything that Jesus told them. It is simple logic.
Third Baha'u'llah did not remind anyone of ALL the things that Jesus had said to them.
Baha'u'llah certainly did do that! It is all throughout His Writings. I can give you plenty of examples.
Fourth the Holy Spirit did teach the OT prophets, teachers, etc what God wanted them to know and so could do that in New Testament times when ALL Christians had the Holy Spirit dwelling in them.
You can say it dwelt in them if you want to. I will say it associated with their soul and guided them, which means essentially the same thing.

The Holy Spirit is not a person so it cannot teach anyone anything unless it is working through a person. It taught the OT prophets because they were people. It taught Jesus since He was a person. Christians received the Holy Spirit from Jesus when Jesus released the Holy Spirit into the world. In fact, as Baha'u'llah said in the following passage, the quickening power released by His transcendent, His all-pervasive, and resplendent Spirit affected all the peoples of the earth.

“Know thou that when the Son of Man 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.” Gleanings From the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh, pp. 85-86
 

Audie

Veteran Member
Yes, so she is separating out the "Comforter" and "Spirit of Truth" from anything to do with the "Holy Spirit".

Here's a Baha'i article that talks about this and also the "prince of this world'...

In John 14:26, just four verses earlier, Jesus foretells the coming of “the Comforter.” Of course, the text defines the Comforter as the “Holy Spirit.” However, this is the only occurrence of the term “Holy Spirit” in the Farewell Discourse. In every other occurrence of the “Comforter,” the “Spirit of Truth” is closely associated. It may well be that the original text, before the final editing of this passage by the author of the Gospel of John, was the “Spirit of Truth” as well.​
Thou didst ask as to chapter 14, verse 30 of the Gospel of John, where the Lord Christ saith, ’Hereafter I will not talk much with you: for the Prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in Me.’ The Prince of this world is the Blessed Beauty [Baha’u’llah]; and ’hath nothing in Me’ signifieth: after Me all will draw grace from Me, but He is independent of Me, and will draw no grace from Me. That is, He is rich beyond any grace of Mine. – Abdu’l-Baha, Selections From the Writings of Abdu’l-Baha, p. 171.
It's so strange the ways things can get flipped around to mean whatever the person wants them to mean. Your Christian interpretation becomes only one of many interpretations that are no better or no worse or any truer than anybody else's. Sort of...

After trashing your version of the Christian interpretation, it becomes a very wrong interpretation. And the Baha'i interpretation becomes the only correct one. That's what is important. Your Christian interpretation includes so many things that can't be true if the Baha'i Faith is true.

The whole Christian salvation story has to go. With it goes any "original" or inherited sin or sin nature from Adam. Without that, who need Jesus to sacrifice himself to pay the penalty for those sins? Nobody. Everyone pays for their own sins. The better person you are... the closer to God you will be after you die.

Hell and Satan? Gone. Foolish Christians! How could those early Christians misinterpret those verses as being literal? Baha'is make them only symbolic. Not much to fear. Whew, what a relief.

So, that's why I keep asking Baha'is... What was ever true about Christianity? They say the new messenger brings new social laws and restates the spiritual laws that will last until the next messenger comes. What laws did Jesus bring? Nothing like the Laws of Moses or the Laws of the Quran or the Laws of the Baha'i Faith.

By the time the Baha'is are done with Christianity, it becomes the most useless religion of all. I don't know if Baha'is believe any of the Christian doctrines were ever true. Especially when Christians made Jesus God.

My main complaint against the Baha'is is why they say they believe that Christianity is a true religion. What do they believe is true about it? But the opposite is true also... If those Christian beliefs are true, then the Baha'i Faith is nothing but a false religion that follows a false Messiah. There's a lot at stake here on who's right and who's wrong.
As sith most binary choices in religion, there's
actually far more possibilities and shades of grey
than this either / or.
 

Kfox

Well-Known Member
Suppose, He comes down from Sky, and declairs He is Christ!

To prove it, He will take you, to some of your loved ones grave, and resurrects them. Those are grandparents or some close relatives and friends, and you know they had passed away and were in that graves.

Now, please answer the Poll, based on this event. Assume it happend
I would believe under specific conditions; none of which you've listed
 

InvestigateTruth

Veteran Member
Long story short, I would have a conversation with him; asking questions of who he is. If he answers my questions in a way that sounds realistic and truthful, I would believe he is whoever he says he is.
Do you mind to share some of the questions you would ask him?
 

Kfox

Well-Known Member
Do you mind to share some of the questions you would ask him?
Some questions might include;
Who are you. If he says God,
Who/what is God? If he says creator of the Universe with unlimited power and knowledge
I would ask if he knows everything about me; if he says yes
I would ask are you good according to my standard of good? If he says yes; I would be prepared to embrace him; if he says no, I would be prepared to fear him
I guess a lot of the questions I would ask would have a lot to do with how he responds to them.
 

Kelly of the Phoenix

Well-Known Member
No that is not what it says. But in a couple of places they did not recognise Him. It says that the disciples on the road to Emmaus were prevented from recognising Him.
That tells me that the person was likely an imposter. It’s not like they compared fingerprints or anything. Precrucified Jesus would have looked like ground meat before getting on the cross. Postcrucifixion Jesus has just a few easily created wounds. I’m too much of a former nurse to let that go.
 

Brian2

Veteran Member
That tells me that the person was likely an imposter. It’s not like they compared fingerprints or anything. Precrucified Jesus would have looked like ground meat before getting on the cross. Postcrucifixion Jesus has just a few easily created wounds. I’m too much of a former nurse to let that go.

Surely you are kidding.
The story is here. Luke 24:13-35
 

Brian2

Veteran Member
That is reportable, but I am going to report it.
Carry on. It's your soul that hangs in the balance, not mine.

One of us is completely wrong.
I believe it is you.
I believe satan exists and you do not, despite what the Bible says on the subject.
2Cor 11:13 For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, masquerading as apostles of Christ. 14 And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. 15 It is not surprising, then, if his servants masquerade as servants of righteousness.

Sounds like it could have been Satan who appeared to Baha'u'llah according to that. But if it was Satan then he has, apart from all those other things that deny the Bible, also said that he does not exist. So Satan cannot have deceived Baha'u'llah I guess.
 

Eddi

Christianity
Premium Member
Suppose, He comes down from Sky, and declairs He is Christ!

To prove it, He will take you, to some of your loved ones grave, and resurrects them. Those are grandparents or some close relatives and friends, and you know they had passed away and were in that graves.

Now, please answer the Poll, based on this event. Assume it happend
If I thought it was true then I would of course believe it

But I don't think it's true, so I don't believe it

It's as simple as that
 

blü 2

Veteran Member
Premium Member
Suppose, He comes down from Sky, and declairs He is Christ!

To prove it, He will take you, to some of your loved ones grave, and resurrects them. Those are grandparents or some close relatives and friends, and you know they had passed away and were in that graves.

Now, please answer the Poll, based on this event. Assume it happend
Definitely that last option.

What the demonstration would show is that enough information remains in whatever's left of the deceased person to reconstruct not only the body implied by their genetics, but the stored memories and functions of the brain. That first part is hard enough. The restoration of the brain complete with its contents, now that's BIG.

So now we know it can indeed be done, the question is, HOW?

And in case it's relevant ─

Magic is the alteration of reality independently of the rules of reality, and a miracle is magic performed by a deity. If the answer is that magic is required to restore the subjects to life as above ─ I'm assuming that we can establish that the result is authentic and complete, not illusory or imperfect in any way ─ then the question for us humans is, how is magic performed? What are its rules and procedures, by what specific means do they alter reality, how can we do the same?

And we set out to explore, describe and seek to explain this new field, its nature and its rules.
 

Brian2

Veteran Member
So, that's why I keep asking Baha'is... What was ever true about Christianity? They say the new messenger brings new social laws and restates the spiritual laws that will last until the next messenger comes. What laws did Jesus bring? Nothing like the Laws of Moses or the Laws of the Quran or the Laws of the Baha'i Faith.

By the time the Baha'is are done with Christianity, it becomes the most useless religion of all. I don't know if Baha'is believe any of the Christian doctrines were ever true. Especially when Christians made Jesus God.

And he was supposed to remind people of all that Jesus had said to them.
 
Top