Let's celebrate the beauty of all Faiths

[Riverwolf]

I guess nobody's just wanted it enough for the past 10,000 years.

This sort of thinking is making a very dangerous assumption: that every single human being, without exception, has the exact same capacity for empathy. Trust me: that's not true at all. In fact, there are people, and at times entire cultures (that, granted, don't often last very long), who despise the very notion.

 

[loverofhumanity]

I'm only speaking about the spiritual teachings. Social laws were. Given according to the needs of the age and religion which descends into politics is no religion.

Tell me what you believe are the major religions because the Baha'is only recognise about 7. A prophet who came with a Holy Book that changed the world not just any philosopher.

 

[LuisDantas]

They can all be trying to get to a similar goal, though (love, compassion, etc).

That is nice thought to have, but there are a couple of sobering, unavoidable consequences.

One is that in practice we have to accept the responsibility for telling those who are furthering that goal from those who are hindering it. Misguided religions exist and cause a lot of harm.

Another is that, to the extent that they may be using different languages and paths towards fairly compatible goals (and such is indeed the case), it is plainly obvious that their mutual understanding - and even internal acceptance within denominations - could use some work and care. Far too often a religion's sense of identity is sustained largely by its insistence that it is not to be confused with all those other misguided paths out there.

Come to think of it, one wonders why some people find it so important to follow a "true" religion, using that exact designation. One could interpret it as a longing not to be misguided, I suppose. But at some level the implication, and IMO often the purpose, is to stress that so many other people are following false religions knowingly or otherwise.

We should probably care not so much on whether "all" religions have compatible or comparable goals (which is IMO either an obvious untruth or an attempt to convince people that it is ultimately not necessary to value the obvious and important duty of discerning whether a given religion should be trusted, and to which extent) as on what we can and should do to care for their respectible healths.

But that is not a popular view, perhaps because most people seek religion hoping to care less and be cared for more.

 

[Riverwolf]

I'm only speaking about the spiritual teachings. Social laws were. Given according to the needs of the age and religion which descends into politics is no religion.

Tell me what you believe are the major religions because the Baha'is only recognise about 7. A prophet who came with a Holy Book that changed the world not just any philosopher.

Hinduism and Buddhism don't involve prophets or what we'd think of as "holy books". Despite being deified some time after he died, the Buddha was just a regular dude while alive. He certainly never claimed to speak for any God. Hinduism isn't even a single religion, but several, all some degree of hybridization of the Vedic religion, Puranic religions, and Dravidian traditions(to grossly oversimplify). The Vedas might seem like "holy books" at first, but any serious delving into the matter reveals that they're not actually "books" at all.

 

[sun rise]

Yes I understand people's scepticism and loss of hope but humanity is headed for world peace and world unity. Now humanity is experiencing the death pangs of a defective world system and the birth pains of a new understanding amongst people.

Humanity stands on the verge of a golden age never before witnessed in human history. A glorious future awaits humanity. Along the way there will be setbacks and it will be a bumpy ride.

But the world & its people's are headed towards world peace and universal brotherhood and very few are reading the signs aright.

To me the new golden age has taken birth "seconds" ago. It can be likened to the first signs of spring appearing even while winter still holds sway. All those who love truth, justice, peace, harmony and love itself are starting to get together to celebrate this birth of a glorious spring.

 

[loverofhumanity]

Buddha taught there was a God and that after the Five Disappearances which involves the true Dhamma declining, there would arise a Counterfeit Dhamma. Then a new Buddha would arise who would teach the SAME truths Buddha taught which we don't know what all of them were but the new Buddha will teach them.

The Uncreated

Ud 8:1–3

There is, O monks, an Unborn, Unoriginated, Un- formed, Uncreated. For if there were not this Unborn, Unoriginated, Unformed, Uncreated, there would be no escape possible from the born, originated, formed, created. But since, O monks, there is this Unborn, Unoriginated, Unformed, Uncreated, therefore an escape is

 

[sun rise]

 

[LuisDantas]

Buddha taught there was a God

No, he did not.

 

[Riverwolf]

Buddha taught there was a God

No, he did not.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/God_in_Buddhism

 

[LuisDantas]

That is actually what brought me away from a brief period of interest in the Bahai Faith.

It is simply not equipped to deal with non-Abrahamic faiths, despite very explicitly taking such a duty to itself.

 

[loverofhumanity]

They can't all be right though.

They all are right. Spiritually their truths are eternal such as virtues and morals. Things like do good etc. the social laws were revealed according to the development of man at that time and his capacity, but only one religions laws were right for a particular age. You couldn't apply them in this age as some of them would be more a poison than a balm. So religions are one at heart and not contradictory. We can accept all the spiritual teachings of all religions such as prayer, fasting meditation etc. the social laws - we need to choose the religion that has laws for our age. Very good question.

 

[Riverwolf]

To me the new golden age has taken birth "seconds" ago. It can be likened to the first signs of spring appearing even while winter still holds sway. All those who love truth, justice, peace, harmony and love itself are starting to get together to celebrate this birth of a glorious spring.

That metaphoric spring started decades ago, and is currently ongoing.

At least it's been a spring out here. Some parts of the world have been in a metaphoric winter for much of this time.

 

[loverofhumanity]

To me the new golden age has taken birth "seconds" ago. It can be likened to the first signs of spring appearing even while winter still holds sway. All those who love truth, justice, peace, harmony and love itself are starting to get together to celebrate this birth of a glorious spring.

So beautifully put. Like the early glimmerings of dawn at the blackest time of night.

 

[loverofhumanity]

Yet not a single one is perfect. Oppression exists everywhere, it's just that it's far more present in some than others. Furthermore, there's systems of societal oppression woven into our very culture that we don't even recognize most of the time, until the oppressed come forth. The idea of binary gender comes to mind.

We're growing out of it as we nature as a race.

Before women were considered inferior without rights. Now there's women presidents and leaders arising everywhere and woman is attaining her true birthright. You will witness much more in the days to come as society throws of its shackles of outworn shibboleths and embraces equality and oneness. There are so many wonderful things happening alongside the dying out of our old traditional ways which are useless to us now. The old, corrupt order is collapsing and a beautiful new humanity is being born. There are two processes watch them play out before your very eyes and you can witness a glorious future ahead.

 

[loverofhumanity]

Not only. Baha'u'llah couldn't have possibly known about what would happen in the next century.

Far more relevant to everyday life is that the two World Wars, and the Cold War, helped give rise to the Computer and Internet Revolutions. THAT brought us closer together than the various councils ever could or will. The Cold War also helped further astronomy, so we now know that we're all Stardust.

You must then get a copy of the book called 'The Prisoner and the Kings' where Baha'u'llah predicted the downfall of all their dynasties as a result of their wickedness. Here's one example..

Napoleon III was the Emperor of the French from 1852 to 1870. In 1869 Bahá'u'lláh wrote to him:

"For what thou hast done, thy kingdom shall be thrown into confusion, and thine empire shall pass from thine hands, as a punishment for that which thou hast wrought. Then wilt thou know how thou hast plainly erred. Commotions shall seize all the people in that land, unless thou arisest to help this Cause, and followest Him Who is the Spirit of God in this, the Straight Path. Hath thy pomp made thee proud? By My Life! It shall not endure; nay, it shall soon pass away, unless thou holdest fast to this firm Cord. We see abasement hastening after thee, whilst thou art of the heedless. "
(Bahá'u'lláh, Súriy-i-Haykal, 1869)

Within the year, in battle against Prussia in July 1870, the Emperor was captured at the Battle of Sedan (September 2) and was deposed by the forces of the Third Republic in Paris two days later; he was sent into exile to England where he died.

 

[Riverwolf]

We're growing out of it as we nature as a race.

Before women were considered inferior without rights. Now there's women presidents and leaders arising everywhere and woman is attaining her true birthright. You will witness much more in the days to come as society throws of its shackles of outworn shibboleths and embraces equality and oneness. There are so many wonderful things happening alongside the dying out of our old traditional ways which are useless to us now. The old, corrupt order is collapsing and a beautiful new humanity is being born. There are two processes watch them play out before your very eyes and you can witness a glorious future ahead.

In terms of womens' rights, it's actually a return to the way things were before (if still better). Sure, in Greece and Rome, women were typically regarded as just baby-making objects, but in the North, women had a fair amount of power and prestige. It still wasn't perfect, but they were regarded as full-fledged people.

Hail Iceni Queen Boudica!
Hail All-Lover Freya!

Christianity tried to put a stop to that, but I don't really think it ever fully succeeded.

You must then get a copy of the book called 'The Prisoner and the Kings' where Baha'u'llah predicted the downfall of all their dynasties as a result of their wickedness. Here's one example..

Napoleon III was the Emperor of the French from 1852 to 1870. In 1869 Bahá'u'lláh wrote to him:

"For what thou hast done, thy kingdom shall be thrown into confusion, and thine empire shall pass from thine hands, as a punishment for that which thou hast wrought. Then wilt thou know how thou hast plainly erred. Commotions shall seize all the people in that land, unless thou arisest to help this Cause, and followest Him Who is the Spirit of God in this, the Straight Path. Hath thy pomp made thee proud? By My Life! It shall not endure; nay, it shall soon pass away, unless thou holdest fast to this firm Cord. We see abasement hastening after thee, whilst thou art of the heedless. "
(Bahá'u'lláh, Súriy-i-Haykal, 1869)

Within the year, in battle against Prussia in July 1870, the Emperor was captured at the Battle of Sedan (September 2) and was deposed by the forces of the Third Republic in Paris two days later; he was sent into exile to England where he died.

Not impressed. That late in the game, it was probably quite obvious what was going to happen.

I don't think you understood what I was getting at. All dynasties fall sooner or later, and frankly I don't care to get a copy of this book because prophecies don't interest me, and never have.

I'm saying that computers, and the internet, are doing far more to bring us together, which he couldn't have predicted. I also understand that he thought homosexuality was a mental illness. It's not.

 

[Rick O'Shez]

Hinduism and Buddhism don't involve prophets or what we'd think of as "holy books".

These traditions have a huge body of religious texts. They are not regarded as "holy" in the sense of being revelations, but they are treated with reverence by many followers.

 

[loverofhumanity]

In terms of womens' rights, it's actually a return to the way things were before (if still better). Sure, in Greece and Rome, women were typically regarded as just baby-making objects, but in the North, women had a fair amount of power and prestige. It still wasn't perfect, but they were regarded as full-fledged people.

Hail Iceni Queen Boudica!
Hail All-Lover Freya!

Christianity tried to put a stop to that, but I don't really think it ever fully succeeded.



Not impressed. That late in the game, it was probably quite obvious what was going to happen.

I don't think you understood what I was getting at. All dynasties fall sooner or later, and frankly I don't care to get a copy of this book because prophecies don't interest me, and never have.

I'm saying that computers, and the internet, are doing far more to bring us together, which he couldn't have predicted. I also understand that he thought homosexuality was a mental illness. It's not.

I understand. But something written in the 1950's predicting t he Internet?

"A mechanism of world inter-communication will be devised, embracing the whole planet, freed from national hindrances and restrictions, and functioning with marvellous swiftness and perfect regularity." (Shoghi Effendi)

 

[LuisDantas]

Well, what is surprising about such prediction?

 

[sun rise]

That metaphoric spring started decades ago, and is currently ongoing.

At least it's been a spring out here. Some parts of the world have been in a metaphoric winter for much of this time.

If there's one region of the world that would cause God to be sad, it's the Middle-East. We've seen pictures of the lion laying down with the lamb, but that is a sad region of the world.