raph
Member
Salam alaikum
Yes because christians have gone astray. The Bible is a true book, and it does not say, that Jesus is YHWH incarnate. Jesus is the image of the invisible God. That is the meaning of divinity, that I apply to Jesus (&Baha'u'llah).
Abdul Baha:
"This book is the Holy Book of God, of celestial Inspiration. It is the Bible of Salvation, the Noble Gospel. It is the mystery of the Kingdom and its light. It is the Divine Bounty, the sign of the guidance of God."
Baha'u'llah
We have also heard a number of the foolish of the earth assert that the genuine text of the heavenly Gospel doth not exist amongst the Christians, that it hath ascended unto heaven. How grievously they have erred! How oblivious of the fact that such a statement imputeth the gravest injustice and tyranny to a gracious and loving Providence! How could God, when once the Day-star of the beauty of Jesus had disappeared from the sight of His people, and ascended unto the fourth heaven, cause His holy Book, His most great testimony amongst His creatures, to disappear also? What would be left to that people to cling to from the setting of the day-star of Jesus until the rise of the sun of the Muḥammadan Dispensation? What law could be their stay and guide? How could such people be made the victims of the avenging wrath of God, 90 the omnipotent Avenger? How could they be afflicted with the scourge of chastisement by the heavenly King? Above all, how could the flow of the grace of the All-Bountiful be stayed? How could the ocean of His tender mercies be stilled? We take refuge with God, from that which His creatures have fancied about Him! Exalted is He above their comprehension!
It is your right to think that. But in my opinion the Bible tells a very different story, and you have to reject the Bible, to believe what you believe.
For example, the 11 apostels agreed, that Paul is true from God. And Paul wrote, that Jesus is like God. The Bible is very clear, that Jesus is not just a normal human, but God himself in a way. But Jesus is not God incarnate, like the christians think. Thats what the Quran rejects. Jesus and other rasouls are manifestations of God, the image of the invisible, exalted Allah.
Baha'u'llah
Know thou of a certainty that the Unseen can in no wise incarnate His Essence and reveal it unto men. He is, and hath ever been, immensely exalted beyond all that can either be recounted or perceived. From His retreat of glory His voice is ever proclaiming: "Verily, I am God; there is none other God besides Me, the All-Knowing, the All-Wise. I have manifested Myself unto men, and have sent down Him Who is the Day Spring of the signs of My Revelation. Through Him I have caused all creation to testify that there is none other God except Him, the Incomparable, the All-Informed, the All-Wise." He Who is everlastingly hidden from the eyes of men can never be known except through His Manifestation, and His Manifestation can adduce no greater proof of the truth of His Mission than the proof of His own Person
In the Bible, the apostels indeed sanctioned a different gospel for the gentiles. Peter agreed, that jew need to still be circumsized, while gentiles don't need to do it. These are verses, that you quoted to me. That's what the Bible says, and if you don't believe in the Bible, by what proof are you rejecting the idea?
Eater bunnies and Christmas trees are not in the Bible. As I said, the churches have perverted the word of God in the Bible. That's one of the reasons, why the Holy Muhammad came and criticized the christians.
Most christians believe, that Jesus is YHWH incarnate. This means, that God went into Jesus, felt what He felt, died as He died and so on. Above you can see, that Bahai's don't believe that. Bahais believe in the concept of "Manifestation" (like some christians also do).
This means, that for example Muhammad, Jesus or Baha'u'llah was a human. But all of God's attributes were manifest in Them. They were not God, but they were a clear mirror, that manifested God into this world. Their speech was from God, their walk was from God, their sleep was from God, their actions were from God. They were 100% aligned with God's will, so we can say, that we see God in them.
Baha'u'llah
Were any of the all-embracing Manifestations of God to declare: "I am God," He, verily, speaketh the truth, and no doubt attacheth thereto. For it hath been repeatedly demonstrated that through their Revelation, their attributes and names, the Revelation of God, His names and His attributes, are made manifest in the world. Thus, He hath revealed: "Those shafts were God's, not Thine." And also He saith: "In truth, they who plighted fealty unto Thee, really plighted that fealty unto God." And were any of them to voice the utterance, "I am the Messenger of God," He, also, speaketh the truth, the indubitable truth. Even as He saith: "Muhammad is not the father of any man among you, but He is the Messenger of God." Viewed in this light, they are all but Messengers of that ideal King, that unchangeable Essence. And were they all to proclaim, "I am the Seal of the Prophets," they, verily, utter but the truth, beyond the faintest shadow of doubt. For they are all but one person, one soul, one spirit, one being, one revelation. They are all the manifestation of the "Beginning" and the "End," the "First" and the "Last," the "Seen" and "Hidden" -- all of which pertain to Him Who is the Innermost Spirit of Spirits and Eternal Essence of Essences. And were they to say, "We are the Servants of God," this also is a manifest and indisputable fact. For they have been made manifest in the uttermost state of servitude, a servitude the like of which no man can possibly attain. Thus in moments in which these Essences of Being were deep immersed beneath the oceans of ancient and everlasting holiness, or when they soared to the loftiest summits of Divine mysteries, they claimed their utterances to be the Voice of Divinity, the Call of God Himself.
The apostles were Jews and regarded themselves as Jews. To me, it is inconceivable they would have attributed divinity to Jesus in the sense that the Greeks did although Greek mythological influences did penetrate some Jewish traditions. The first commandment in the Torah states that Thee shall worship thy God alone Yahweh and none other. Christians today, as did the Greeks and Romans, worship Christ.
Yes because christians have gone astray. The Bible is a true book, and it does not say, that Jesus is YHWH incarnate. Jesus is the image of the invisible God. That is the meaning of divinity, that I apply to Jesus (&Baha'u'llah).
Abdul Baha:
"This book is the Holy Book of God, of celestial Inspiration. It is the Bible of Salvation, the Noble Gospel. It is the mystery of the Kingdom and its light. It is the Divine Bounty, the sign of the guidance of God."
Baha'u'llah
We have also heard a number of the foolish of the earth assert that the genuine text of the heavenly Gospel doth not exist amongst the Christians, that it hath ascended unto heaven. How grievously they have erred! How oblivious of the fact that such a statement imputeth the gravest injustice and tyranny to a gracious and loving Providence! How could God, when once the Day-star of the beauty of Jesus had disappeared from the sight of His people, and ascended unto the fourth heaven, cause His holy Book, His most great testimony amongst His creatures, to disappear also? What would be left to that people to cling to from the setting of the day-star of Jesus until the rise of the sun of the Muḥammadan Dispensation? What law could be their stay and guide? How could such people be made the victims of the avenging wrath of God, 90 the omnipotent Avenger? How could they be afflicted with the scourge of chastisement by the heavenly King? Above all, how could the flow of the grace of the All-Bountiful be stayed? How could the ocean of His tender mercies be stilled? We take refuge with God, from that which His creatures have fancied about Him! Exalted is He above their comprehension!
In that sense, Moses, Jesus, Mohammad and Baha'u'llah are also God.Jesus is referring to the 82 Psalms verse 6: "I have said ye are gods, all of ye are the children of the most high".
Worship of God through messengers has been a tradition, since Jesus came. People are worshipping him in the Gospels. Of course you can deny the authenticity. Dont Muslims believe, that God will come to earth in the day of resurrection? This happened with Baha'u'llah in this day, which is the day of resurrection.Worshiping prophets has never been the case in the Abrahamic tradition and such interpretations are anathema in Judaism and Islam. Quranic text clearly condemns the popular Christian notion on the divinity of Jesus.
I believe the apostles never applied divinity to Christ in the sense Christians do today. The early Christian historian Hegesippus has written that the Jewish authorities in Jerusalem had asked St. James to use his influence in stopping the preaching that Jesus was the Messiah. The text reads, "we entreat you, restrain the people, for they have gone astray in regards to Jesus, as if he were the Christ (Messiah)". Now if the apostles believed in the divinity of Jesus and preached it, then this text would have said to stop them from preaching that Jesus is God, which is far greater violation for jews than calling him Messiah.
It is your right to think that. But in my opinion the Bible tells a very different story, and you have to reject the Bible, to believe what you believe.
For example, the 11 apostels agreed, that Paul is true from God. And Paul wrote, that Jesus is like God. The Bible is very clear, that Jesus is not just a normal human, but God himself in a way. But Jesus is not God incarnate, like the christians think. Thats what the Quran rejects. Jesus and other rasouls are manifestations of God, the image of the invisible, exalted Allah.
Baha'u'llah
Know thou of a certainty that the Unseen can in no wise incarnate His Essence and reveal it unto men. He is, and hath ever been, immensely exalted beyond all that can either be recounted or perceived. From His retreat of glory His voice is ever proclaiming: "Verily, I am God; there is none other God besides Me, the All-Knowing, the All-Wise. I have manifested Myself unto men, and have sent down Him Who is the Day Spring of the signs of My Revelation. Through Him I have caused all creation to testify that there is none other God except Him, the Incomparable, the All-Informed, the All-Wise." He Who is everlastingly hidden from the eyes of men can never be known except through His Manifestation, and His Manifestation can adduce no greater proof of the truth of His Mission than the proof of His own Person
Jesus was Messiah only to the Israelites, I believe nor he nor the apostles ever sanctioned a different teaching for the gentiles. The Hellenized and Romanized version of the Gospels and Christianity you see today is also found by pagan traditions such as "Easter" based on the germanic goddess 'Ostara' for spring-time freshness and fertility symbolized by the eggs and rabbits fused in with the doctrine of resurrection.
In the Bible, the apostels indeed sanctioned a different gospel for the gentiles. Peter agreed, that jew need to still be circumsized, while gentiles don't need to do it. These are verses, that you quoted to me. That's what the Bible says, and if you don't believe in the Bible, by what proof are you rejecting the idea?
Eater bunnies and Christmas trees are not in the Bible. As I said, the churches have perverted the word of God in the Bible. That's one of the reasons, why the Holy Muhammad came and criticized the christians.
So, given your defense of Paul and contemporary Christianity, I have a question-- I have come across statements about Bahais relating to Bahaullah as God in a similar sense to how Christians consider Christ as God. But I would like to ask a Bahai how true is this, and if you would like to present your point of view.
Most christians believe, that Jesus is YHWH incarnate. This means, that God went into Jesus, felt what He felt, died as He died and so on. Above you can see, that Bahai's don't believe that. Bahais believe in the concept of "Manifestation" (like some christians also do).
This means, that for example Muhammad, Jesus or Baha'u'llah was a human. But all of God's attributes were manifest in Them. They were not God, but they were a clear mirror, that manifested God into this world. Their speech was from God, their walk was from God, their sleep was from God, their actions were from God. They were 100% aligned with God's will, so we can say, that we see God in them.
Baha'u'llah
Were any of the all-embracing Manifestations of God to declare: "I am God," He, verily, speaketh the truth, and no doubt attacheth thereto. For it hath been repeatedly demonstrated that through their Revelation, their attributes and names, the Revelation of God, His names and His attributes, are made manifest in the world. Thus, He hath revealed: "Those shafts were God's, not Thine." And also He saith: "In truth, they who plighted fealty unto Thee, really plighted that fealty unto God." And were any of them to voice the utterance, "I am the Messenger of God," He, also, speaketh the truth, the indubitable truth. Even as He saith: "Muhammad is not the father of any man among you, but He is the Messenger of God." Viewed in this light, they are all but Messengers of that ideal King, that unchangeable Essence. And were they all to proclaim, "I am the Seal of the Prophets," they, verily, utter but the truth, beyond the faintest shadow of doubt. For they are all but one person, one soul, one spirit, one being, one revelation. They are all the manifestation of the "Beginning" and the "End," the "First" and the "Last," the "Seen" and "Hidden" -- all of which pertain to Him Who is the Innermost Spirit of Spirits and Eternal Essence of Essences. And were they to say, "We are the Servants of God," this also is a manifest and indisputable fact. For they have been made manifest in the uttermost state of servitude, a servitude the like of which no man can possibly attain. Thus in moments in which these Essences of Being were deep immersed beneath the oceans of ancient and everlasting holiness, or when they soared to the loftiest summits of Divine mysteries, they claimed their utterances to be the Voice of Divinity, the Call of God Himself.
Yes, our Qibla is Baha'u'llahs shrine. Just as Allah has changed the Qibla in Muhammad day, He has changed the Qibla again in Baha'u'llahs day. Also He changed the place of pilgrimage from Mekka to Haifa. (I doubt, that muslims would let us visit Mekkah, so it is kinda logical)Also, related, is it true that Bahais pray and prostrate in the direction of Bahaullah's grave?
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