Maybe people have intertwined their perceptions into what we have offered, and not looking at the topic in the light Baha'u'llah asked us to. Without being immersed into what Baha'u'llah offered, I see it would be easy to taint it with incorrect assumptions.
Like many other theists, you are saying that one has read scripture with a noncritical eye for it to be acceptable, for critical thought is laden with incorrect assumptions. Of course humanists evaluate words through the filter of reason. Your words translate to me that I'm going to need to deactivate my method for preventing myself from believing untrue things to believe these words. I agree. That's a bad idea.
I see it would not matter how I put it, so I can relax now.
You haven't convinced anybody posting here of anything - several bright, active, curious, minds. I understand that things like that don't mean anything to you more than that they are all blind to your illuminating message. They all say the same thing to you, which is authentic illumination, but it is you who is unprepared and unable to see the value in their words. Nothing written to you from them has had any impact on your thinking about anything.
You are correct that there is no way for you word your beliefs to people evaluating them to make them appealing. If you can't convince critical thinkers, it's because you can't present a compelling argument. And the effect the religion has on its adherents hasn't been too appealing, either. Do you think you present an appealing example? Do you think that they want to be in a place someday where they are quoting platitudes that they presently find meaningless, unaware that their words merely comfort while answering no questions yet still believing they are profound? That kind of behavior is a cautionary tale for such people - what can happen when one is untethered to empiricism, to evidence. There is no way to reach you anymore, because what could one use to do that? There is nothing that I can show you, because you're, "looking at the topic in the light Baha'u'llah asked us to."
we are offering the light from all the Messengers.
You don't have light to offer, just nonspecific, feel-good exhortations. I haven't read a single original word of value in any of these citations, not one sentence with a nugget of information worth adding to my belief set.
we do not possess the light, no man does.
Do you just write whatever occurs to you? Do you not notice how incoherent these comments are taken together?
I have already agreed that you possess no light, but not that no man does. You're fond of citing what you consider wisdom, so let me share what I consider light, illumination, and wisdom. This was written by a man named Richard Banford, and asks if you know his god. I recommend "not looking at the topic in the light Baha'u'llah asked us to." You will likely reject it out of hand without consideration if you do, but this represents the transition in my life that was actually illuminating. Christianity was not, so I left it. Fortunately, I never surrendered my ability to evaluate evidence, although I did agree to suspend disbelief for a time to see if the religion began to make sense, which is as close to "looking at the topic in the light Baha'u'llah asked us to" as was possible for me then or now (I had already been to university for 1.5 years, but dropped out to enlist in the Army, where I found Jesus). This kind of thinking below reopened my eyes and informed by path going forward. Unlike what I see from the Baha'i, these words are substantial. They refer to reality. They offer advice that can positively impact lives if one takes the time to critically consider these two traditions side-by-side:
"Do you know his name? Sure you do. He talks to you every day. You could not live a normal life without him. You believe in him, whether you like it or not. Unless you abandon him completely, you cannot deny he exists.
"My god is a more personal god than yours can ever be, for if you have enough sense to understand these words, my god lives within you. He lives within us all, to some degree. A heartbreaking few cannot understand him, but this is not their fault. The real tragedy is the multitudes who ignore much of his counsel, particularly when he questions your god too deeply.
"My god has been around longer than your god. He was here before the many other gods that preceded your god. Though you will likely scoff at the notion, my god was the father of your god, as he was to all gods. But that was long ago when he was young and not yet sure of himself. Though many of your god's followers try to hold him down, my god grows stronger and more independent each day.
"When your god expelled us from paradise for eating an apple, my god taught us to grow our own fruit.
"When your god forbade knowledge, demanding we live in ignorance, my god created books.
"When your god smote cities like a tantrum-prone child, my god helped to rebuild them.
"When your god insisted the world was flat, my god showed his followers it was round, to their peril at the hands of your god's followers.
"While your god watched in silence as children sickened and died, my god created medicines to make them well.
"When your god winked and nodded at slavery, my god argued passionately against it.
"While your god represses half the human race, my god considers woman to be the equal of man.
"When your god only helps those who help themselves, my god rolls up his sleeves and actually does help until your god decides to join in, and then steals all the credit.
"When your god inspired great buildings and great art, my god made them possible.
"While your god says we are all born sinners, tainted before we even draw breath, my god says we are all born innocent; a clean slate with limitless potential.
"While your god offers dubious allusions of an afterlife, my god provides for us here in this life.
"While your god makes amazing promises, but offers not a shred of proof, my god performs amazing deeds, and the proof is there to be seen by all.
"While your god demands blind faith and obsequious obedience, my god encourages questions, even about himself.
"When your god says "Thou shalt not," my god says "You can do anything."
"My god is reason. He does more in a day than your god will ever do."
