Is progressive revelation believable?

[od19g6]

Some people ask why is there multiple religions in the world, which God is true the christians God or the Islamic Allah?

But what if I told you that divine revelation is progressive.

That Prophets / Messengers known as Manifestations of God has been sent in every age in human history and evolution to guide humanity in the right spiritual path, that the holy Bible and holy Qur'an was divine education that was suited for the time and age in which it was revealed in. And that we have a current Prophet / Messenger / Manifestation of God, and current divine scriptures / education for this time and age that we live in right now.

Edit: I've noticed that some people is addressing the "truth is not absolute but relative" statement that I made. So let me put it this way: some truths are not absolute and some truths are relative. It depends what truths are being talked about.

 

[Left Coast]

Some people ask why is there multiple religions in the world, which God is true the christians God or the Islamic Allah?

But what if I told you that divine revelation is progressive, that truth is not absolute but relative.

That Prophets / Messengers known as Manifestations of God has been sent in every age in human history and evolution to guide humanity in the right spiritual path, that the holy Bible and holy Qur'an was divine education that was suited for the time and age in which it was revealed in. And that we have a current Prophet / Messenger / Manifestation of God, and current divine scriptures / education for this time and age that we live in right now.

If you told me that, I would say, "Show me your evidence."

 

[dybmh]

Some people ask why is there multiple religions in the world, which God is true the christians God or the Islamic Allah?

But what if I told you that divine revelation is progressive, that truth is not absolute but relative.

That Prophets / Messengers known as Manifestations of God has been sent in every age in human history and evolution to guide humanity in the right spiritual path, that the holy Bible and holy Qur'an was divine education that was suited for the time and age in which it was revealed in. And that we have a current Prophet / Messenger / Manifestation of God, and current divine scriptures / education for this time and age that we live in right now.

I'm not Baha'i, but... seems perfectly logical to me...

 

[od19g6]

If you told me that, I would say, "Show me your evidence."

Show you the evidence of what exactly?

 

[leov]

Some people ask why is there multiple religions in the world, which God is true the christians God or the Islamic Allah?

But what if I told you that divine revelation is progressive, that truth is not absolute but relative.

That Prophets / Messengers known as Manifestations of God has been sent in every age in human history and evolution to guide humanity in the right spiritual path, that the holy Bible and holy Qur'an was divine education that was suited for the time and age in which it was revealed in. And that we have a current Prophet / Messenger / Manifestation of God, and current divine scriptures / education for this time and age that we live in right now.

it looks that way.

 

[Left Coast]

Show you the evidence of what exactly?

Your claim(s) in the OP.

 

[od19g6]

I'm not Baha'i, but... seems perfectly logical to me...

And that's one reason why I am baha'i. It's because I don't want to be bias about anything, and I want to seek truths where ever it may be.

 

[dybmh]

And that's one reason why I am baha'i. It's because I don't want to be bias about anything, and I want to seek truths where ever it may be.

Me too, but I call it syncretic. The problem with syncretism ( at least for me ) is it's sometimes confusing and makes my brain hurt. The old adage about going down the river with two feet in two different boats comes to mind. Trying to move efficiently down the river this way is a lot of work. A lot. Start adding more boats... 3 boats, 4 boats, 5 boats... It just gets harder and harder and harder to keep all those boats traveling in the same direction.

But I still can't help it; I am syncretic... sometimes to a fault.

 

[Dawnofhope]

Some people ask why is there multiple religions in the world, which God is true the christians God or the Islamic Allah?

But what if I told you that divine revelation is progressive, that truth is not absolute but relative.

That Prophets / Messengers known as Manifestations of God has been sent in every age in human history and evolution to guide humanity in the right spiritual path, that the holy Bible and holy Qur'an was divine education that was suited for the time and age in which it was revealed in. And that we have a current Prophet / Messenger / Manifestation of God, and current divine scriptures / education for this time and age that we live in right now.

Logic like beauty is in the eye of the beholder. While the model makes persect sense to me there will be objections from every worldview imaginable.

For example, some Jews will not recognise anything in the New Testament or Quran as being consisitent with Hebrew scripture.

Many Christians believe Jesus was God incarnate, the holy trinity and the resurrection. They will be quick to reject Muhammad, the Bab, Baha'u'llah, Buddha and Hinduism.

Many Muslims believe Muhammad was the last Prophet and there can be no further Prophets or Divine Revelation beyond the Quran.

Some Buddhists are atheists and reject the concept of God.

Some Hindus have a very negative view towards the Abraham Faiths and believe knowledge from God or gods can be accessed first hand. A belief in reincarnation can be a barrier towards seeing other faiths, particularly the Abrahamic Faiths, favourably.

 

[od19g6]

Your claim(s) in the OP.

If you're talking about the claims of the current Prophet / Messenger / Manifestation of God that's known as Baha'u'llah, then you will find that His life and His teachings are the proofs and evidences of what He is.

 

[sun rise]

Some people ask why is there multiple religions in the world, which God is true the christians God or the Islamic Allah?

But what if I told you that divine revelation is progressive, that truth is not absolute but relative.

That Prophets / Messengers known as Manifestations of God has been sent in every age in human history and evolution to guide humanity in the right spiritual path, that the holy Bible and holy Qur'an was divine education that was suited for the time and age in which it was revealed in. And that we have a current Prophet / Messenger / Manifestation of God, and current divine scriptures / education for this time and age that we live in right now.

I agree but to me the Avatar of this age is Meher Baba.

 

[od19g6]

Me too, but I call it syncretic. The problem with syncretism ( at least for me ) is it's sometimes confusing and makes my brain hurt. The old adage about going down the river with two feet in two different boats comes to mind. Trying to move efficiently down the river this way is a lot of work. A lot. Start adding more boats... 3 boats, 4 boats, 5 boats... It just gets harder and harder and harder to keep all those boats traveling in the same direction.

But I still can't help it; I am syncretic... sometimes to a fault.

That's why Baha'u'llah explained why the religions seemed different, that all the major world scriptures are part of one book of God with different chapters of each time and age.

 

[od19g6]

I agree but to me the Avatar of this age is Meher Baba.

What did Meher Baba teach humanity in this time and age?

 

[Terry Sampson]

But what if I told you that divine revelation is progressive, that truth is not absolute but relative.

I'd say that you're probably a Baha'i. If you think that there's no difference between the Jesus Christ in the Qur'an and the Jesus Christ I believe in, you're going to be confused when I say there is a fundamental difference.

 

[od19g6]

Logic like beauty is in the eye of the beholder. While the model makes persect sense to me there will be objections from every worldview imaginable.

For example, some Jews will not recognise anything in the New Testament or Quran as being consisitent with Hebrew scripture.

Many Christians believe Jesus was God incarnate, the holy trinity and the resurrection. They will be quick to reject Muhammad, the Bab, Baha'u'llah, Buddha and Hinduism.

Many Muslims believe Muhammad was the last Prophet and there can be no further Prophets or Divine Revelation beyond the Quran.

Some Buddhists are atheists and reject the concept of God.

Some Hindus have a very negative view towards the Abraham Faiths and believe knowledge from God or gods can be accessed first hand. A belief in reincarnation can be a barrier towards seeing other faiths, particularly te Abrahamic Faiths, favourably.

I believe that one of the main reasons why some people of different faiths can't recognize progressive revelation is because of tribalism. It's about home team with people weather that be team christian or team islam. What people have to realize is that this is not about which team or tribe that you want to stick with, this is about what's true and trying to find the truths where ever we can. Plus we have to recognize this is the age of unity, that the whole human species is one family and the earth is our home.

 

[Left Coast]

If you're talking about the claims of the current Prophet / Messenger / Manifestation of God that's known as Baha'u'llah, then you will find that His life and His teachings are the proofs and evidences of what He is.

His teachings are evidence for his teachings? That makes no sense.

As for his life, how does his life demonstrate that he is a Messenger/Prophet of your deity?

 

[Terry Sampson]

I don't want to be bias about anything

But you are biased; you say so yourself, to wit:

But what if I told you that divine revelation is progressive, that truth is not absolute but relative.

• Divine revelation continued up to and including the Baha'u'llah, and no new stuff for 1,000 years.
• No absolute truth; all truth is relative.

If those aren't biases, I don't know what you think "biases" are.

 

[wandering peacefully]

we have a current Prophet / Messenger / Manifestation of God, and current divine scriptures / education for this time and age that we live in right now.

This should not really read "we" as this specific belief pertains only to Bahai. You should probably state something like 'Bahai have a new prophet and Bahai have new religious laws we follow".

When you phrase it the way you did it makes it seem like all other religions agree with your version of their religions but they don't agree.

So what are two or three "new laws" that you personally obey which are exclusive to your particular belief system? What are several which are not followed by say, humanists or atheist or those of other religious persuasion?

 

[Dawnofhope]

I believe that one of the main reasons why some people of different faiths can't recognize progressive revelation is because of tribalism. It's about home team with people weather that be team christian or team islam. What people have to realize is that this is not about which team or tribe that you want to stick with, this is about what's true and trying to find the truths where ever we can. Plus we have to recognize this is the age of unity, that the whole human species is one family and the earth is our home.

There is a verse in the Gospels known as the Olivet discourse or the final Sermon of Jesus recorded before He was crucified.

And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
Matthew 24:30

Baha'u'llah discussed the verse in considerable detail in the Kitab-i-Iqan. It speaks to me about the traditions we have all come from that are like clouds or obscuring veils. These inherited traditions or clouds make it extremely difficult for us to see a new Messenger of God or indeed anything that departs from what we are accustomed to.

 

[od19g6]

His teachings are evidence for his teachings? That makes no sense.

As for his life, how does his life demonstrate that he is a Messenger/Prophet of your deity?

It's because of both of the life and teachings of the Prophet / Messenger / Manifestation of God that you get the total prospective of proofs and evidences of their mission. They walk the walk as well as talk the talk.

This is where independent investigation of truths comes into play. Baha'u'llah says that in this time and age every individual is responsible to use his / her own mind.

Investigate Baha'u'llah's life and teachings.