Isaiah 53:3-12 "He was despised and forsaken of men, A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; And like one from whom men hide their face He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.
Surely our griefs He Himself bore, And our sorrows He carried; Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, Smitten of God, and afflicted.
But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, And by His scourging we are healed."
But from my understanding of the Holy scriptures they gave their lives for all of us
I'm sure all of us know the evangelical Christian interpretation of the Bible and NT. It's all about Jesus. Not anybody else. He bore the sins of the world. But he, and no one else, was qualified and able to do that. He was the spotless, sacrifice lamb. And one person, who very well could be mythical, but whom Baha'is claim to be a manifestation, Adam, is blamed for being the reason sin entered the world.
Now Jesus supposedly sweated blood. Then gets betrayed and goes through the crucifixion. A nail going through his hands and feet? That's brutal. But, as the NT claims, he did it for us. The Christian claim is that without that sacrifice of Jesus, and paying our sin debt, we would be guilty and subject to the punishment and wrath of God. And we all know what the punishment is for rejecting Jesus, being cast into hell.
But the claims about Jesus in the NT don't stop there. There is a happy ending. He comes back to life. He conquers Satan and death. That's part of it. But Baha'is make the resurrection symbolic? And now Baha'is are trying to make the sacrifice of Jesus not unique to him, but that all the people that Baha'is claim to be manifestations equal. They all suffered and gave their lives to free all of us of what? Our sins? To teach us a better way?
Yes, I think that is it. The Baha'i claim is that Baha'u'llah came to teach us all a better way. And that "better" way is to not believe what we've been taught in the other religions. Some of the things the other religions teach aren't accurate. And the rest of it, even though true, is outdated. Part of what isn't accurate includes... Satan and hell are literal. The resurrection isn't literal. That inheriting a sin debt or, as some Christians believe, inheriting an "original" sin from Adam, isn't true. Baha'is change everything and reinterpret everything.
Which most all of us probably would expect from a religion that claims it has a new message from God. But the problem with these threads is that to agree with you means to acknowledge what you claim is true. Can we say that? Then what do Baha'is expect those people here that have a religion that they believe in to do? They can't agree with Baha'is. That would be denying what they believe is true about their religion. Baha'is know that atheists demand tangible proof and evidence, but Baha'is can only offer a "belief". What do Baha'is expect? Except to be challenged and questioned and doubted and ultimately by most, rejected?
Baha'is have some beliefs that are pretty good, but they also have some that lots of us here don't agree with. It doesn't matter if he suffered a lot or wrote a lot. When are his teachings and claims? Over and over again people here tell you the problems of why they don't accept the Baha'i Faith. Yet another Baha'i thread appears. Are we debating here? Are Baha'is trying to convince people to believe? Or what? Which kind of means Baha'is are trying to make converts.
Threads like this are successful. But not for uniting people and getting them to accept the Baha'i teachings, but by pushing people away. Whether Baha'is realize it or not, you're leaving people with only one correct option... that the Baha'i Faith is the truth. And that option is going to get rejected more often than not.
