Second Coming

[Feedmysheep]

So did Jesus die, but he is alive in Christ to Billions of followers today.

Yes Jesus died. But the eleven apostles and thousands of Jerusalem Jews said He rose from the dead.
Now you can disbelieve that. But 2,000 plus years of Christians saying it is true cannot be dismissed.

Now in your next post explain something to us. The seventh day Sabbath was considered by Jews for centuries to
be the most sacred and holy day of the week. Then suddenly within a month plus thousands of Jerusalem Jews changed.
They began to regard the day following the Sabbath day, the first day of the new week, as the most important day. They gathered on what they called "the Lord's day" to celebrate the rising of thier Savior Jesus from the dead.

What is your alternative explanation to such a drastic change in tradition in Jerusalem within such a short span of time?
My belief is that Jesus did perform the miracle of His resurrection.

Now I have learned to be careful on this Forum because it seems that to be persuasive as a Christian might be considered "preaching" which participants are now allowed to do. Let's put it this way. What is a problem to you is not a problem to me about the claim of Christ being
alive and wonderfully available to know albeit in a mysterious way.

Baha'u'llah is of the same One Holy Spirit and is just as alive today, as Jesus the Christ is.

Well, you said, that Jesus Christ is alive today. That's my confession. But close examination shows what you are saying is not what the New Testament is saying. The NT says "the last Adam became a life giving Spirit" (1 Cor. 15:45b). That is in Christ's physical resurrection He additionally BECAME in a form in which He could be dispensed into men to GIVE them Himself as divine life - a life giving Spirit.

The Bible recognizes TWO heads of two humanities.
1.) The first man Adam.
2.) The second man Jesus Christ (aka the last Adam) .

It does not recognize a THIRD Head of humanity, ie the man Baha'ullah. Nor does it say any OTHER man concludes the first order of humanity as a "last Adam" a concluding member. And it doesn't recognize besides Jesus Christ a "second man".

The first man is out of the earth, earthy; the second man is out of heaven.(1 Cor. 15:47)

So also it is written, “The first man, Adam, became a living soul”; the last Adam became a life-giving Spirit. (1 Cor. 15:45)

The "second man" as a second head of all humanity that is regenerated by receiving the [ZOE] divine life of God is Christ, the resurrected one.
There is no room for a third great head of human beings. There is Adam and Christ.

And "the Lord" of which Second Corinthians speaks of is Jesus Christ as Lord.
For we do not preach ourselves but Christ Jesus as Lord, (2 Cor. 4:5a)

And the Lord is the Spirit - the Holy Spirit.
And the Lord is the Spirit; (2 Cor. 3:17a)

Do you have a answer besides wholesale dismissal of the Apostle Paul's thirteen some letters from being included in New Testament teaching?
If you don't then I understand why it is paramount for you to not want to include his epistles in the New Testament.
Actually, what Paul is testifying here is just an extension of what Jesus SAID in John's Gospel chapter 14,16.

This is the meaning of the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End, the Alpha and Omega.

Regards Tony

Excuse me but Jesus said
Do not fear; I am the First and the Last And the living One; and I became dead, and behold, I am living forever and ever; and I have the keys of death and of Hades. (See Rev. 1:17,18)

He did not say "Someone ELSE after Me will be that First and the Last." That is what you are teaching.
He did not say "Someone ELSE after Me will be the living One who became dead, and behold he will be alive and have the keys of death and of Hades."

I wrote a Scripture song to these verses. Some reading may want to hear it.

 

[Feedmysheep]

Baha'u'llah did not teach me anything. I taught myself by reading what He wrote.

Then you learned of the man. And he taught you. It is the same difference

Yes, you are right. Jesus was a Comforter because He brought the Holy Spirit from God, which comforts us...

John was careful to write that it was that resurrected Jesus who came comforting the frightened disciples.
And then He breath Himself into them telling them to "Receive the Holy Spirit".
The act demonstrating that He was imparting Himself as the Holy Spirit into them.

And when He had said this, He showed them His hands and His side. The disciples therefore rejoiced at seeing the Lord.
Then Jesus said to them again, Peace be to you; as the Father has sent Me, I also send you.
And when He had said this, He breathed into them and said to them, Receive the Holy Spirit. (John 20:20-22)

This Holy Spirit as "another Comforter" is to be with those who receive Him for eternity. (John 14:16)

This imparting of the Holy Spirit into man was the fulfillment of many promises Jesus made throughout the Gospel of John.
It is a climax of sorts that He would not leave them orphans but would come to them in His pneumatic form.

Even the Spirit of reality, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not behold Him or know Him; but you know Him, because He abides with you and shall be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I am coming to you. (John 14;17,18)

Jesus was another Comforter because He brought the Holy Spirit from God, which comforts us...

He IS the Holy Spirit. "And the Lord is the Spirit" (2 Cor. 3:17)
It is no comfort for you to come along and announce that this is now to be disbelieved in favor of loving Baha'h'llah.
Rather than a comfort it amounts to saying the New Testament is a pack of lies.

You may spin it another way as if it is some deeper insight. But in actuality you are saying Christ lies and his apostles lied.

The Comforter is the Holy Spirit but the Comforter is a 'title' for the man who brought the Holy Spirit from God.
The Holy Spirit will be with the disciples forever.

God has many titles. Christ the Son of God has also a number of titles.
"Well its a title. Its not Him Himself" will not work.

The Comforter and the Spirit of truth are titles that refer to the same person who brought the Holy Spirit from God.
I believe that person was Baha'u'llah.

I don't believe that Jesus was teaching that some OTHER man after Him would be the Holy Spirit.

 

[TransmutingSoul]

Yes Jesus died. But the eleven apostles and thousands of Jerusalem Jews said He rose from the dead.
Now you can disbelieve that. But 2,000 plus years of Christians saying it is true cannot be dismissed.

Jesus as the Christ did rise. The flesh body of Jesus did not, but the spiritual soul of Jesus, born of the Holy Spirit did.

2000 years of hope that the flesh will rise does not make it a fact that flesh will rise. In fact, science will negate such superstitions. The thousands that experienced this, would have acknowledged that the flesh amounts to nothing, it is the Spirit that is Life.

Regards Tony

 

[TransmutingSoul]

Now in your next post explain something to us. The seventh day Sabbath was considered by Jews for centuries to
be the most sacred and holy day of the week. Then suddenly within a month plus thousands of Jerusalem Jews changed.
They began to regard the day following the Sabbath day, the first day of the new week, as the most important day. They gathered on what they called "the Lord's day" to celebrate the rising of thier Savior Jesus from the dead.

What is your alternative explanation to such a drastic change in tradition in Jerusalem within such a short span of time?
My belief is that Jesus did perform the miracle of His resurrection

You could consider why so many changed these practices with the Messages of Muhammad, the Bab and Baha'u'llah.

The explanation is that they embraced the New Messenger from God, and partook of the New Heaven and tye New Earth.

Regards Tony

 

[TransmutingSoul]

Excuse me but Jesus said
Do not fear; I am the First and the Last And the living One; and I became dead, and behold, I am living forever and ever; and I have the keys of death and of Hades. (See Rev. 1:17,18)

He did not say "Someone ELSE after Me will be that First and the Last." That is what you are teaching.
He did not say "Someone ELSE after Me will be the living One who became dead, and behold he will be alive and have the keys of death and of Hades."

This is the Spirit of Christ, the Holy Spirit speaking as the voice of God. This is not the flesh Jesus.

This is all the Names of God speaking from the beginning until the end, tye first voice of God and the Last voice of God, the Alpha and Omega.

Regards Tony

 

[Trailblazer]

2000 years of hope that the flesh will rise does not make it a fact that flesh will rise. In fact, science will negate such superstitions. The thousands that experienced this, would have acknowledged that the flesh amounts to nothing, it is the Spirit that is Life.

Jesus makes it very clear that the physical body is not important, that only spiritual life is important.

Luke 9:60 Jesus said unto him, Let the dead bury their dead: but go thou and preach the kingdom of God.

John 3:6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

John 6:63 It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.

1 John 2:16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.

As such it is very odd that Christians place so much importance on the resurrection of the physical body of Jesus.

 

[Trailblazer]

This is the Spirit of Christ, the Holy Spirit speaking as the voice of God. This is not the flesh Jesus.

Rev. 1:17,18 is not anyone speaking as the voice of God. It is the author of Revelation speaking.

AI Overview
Learn more…

The Book of Revelation was written by John the Apostle, also known as John of Patmos, John the Revelator, John the Divine, or John the Theologian:

Identity
The author of Revelation identifies himself as John four times in the book. The book was written around 96 CE in Asia Minor.

 

[Feedmysheep]

This is the Spirit of Christ, the Holy Spirit speaking as the voice of God. This is not the flesh Jesus.

The New Testament locates Jesus Christ in two places.
1.) At the right hand of God as the God-man interceding for His believers.
Who is he who condemns? It is Christ Jesus who died and, rather, who was raised, who is also at the right hand of God,
who also intercedes for us. (Romans 8:34)
2.) As the indwelling One who is Christ Himself - a title enterchangeable with "the Spirit of God" / "the Spirit of Christ" / "Christ" / "the Spirit of the one who raised Jesus from the dead"

. . . if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Yet if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not of Him.

But if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, the spirit is life because of righteousness.

And if the Spirit of the One who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who indwells you. (Rom. 8:9b-11)

The one at the right hand of God interceding for the saints is MAN. That is not half a man or almost a man. But He is "the MAN Christ Jesus."
For there is one God and one Mediator of God and men, the man Christ Jesus, (1 Tim. 2:5)

Your teaching is that He is LESS than a man.
Your teaching is that He is not QUITE a full man.

The NT teaching is that He is a man who will never for eternity put off His full humanity.
As for His body it says it is "the body of His glory" - a glorified body. And in His full salvation He will not strip the saved of their bodies
but transfigure their bodies to be like His glorious body.

we eagerly await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, Who will transfigure the body of our humiliation to be conformed to the body of His glory, according to His operation by which He is able even to subject all things to Himself. (Phil. 3:20b,21)

Your concept of salvation is incomplete as is your teaching of an incomplete Son of God / Son of Man - Jesus.
Your concept of the stripping away of the physical body is not the New Testament's teaching of "the redemption of our body" through tranfiguration and glorification. The body of our humiliation is to be transfigured into an eternal body like His in glorification.

And not only so, but we ourselves also, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan in ourselves, eagerly awaiting sonship, the redemption of our body. (Rom. 8:23)

 

[Feedmysheep]

As such it is very odd that Christians place so much importance on the resurrection of the physical body of Jesus.

It is not odd to include in our belief of full salvation the resurrection of the body.

It is odd to you because the resurrection of Christ is odd to your unbelief which you learned from Baha'u'llah's teaching.
This oddity is to be expected and typical. Your Savior is incomplete so your concept of salvation is also incomplete.

You spin this incompleteness to make it appear as more profound.

 

[Trailblazer]

It is not odd to include in our belief of full salvation the resurrection of the body.

It is odd for the very reason I already stated.

Jesus makes it very clear that the physical body is not important, that only spiritual life is important.
As such it is very odd that Christians place so much importance on the resurrection of the physical body of Jesus.

Luke 9:60 Jesus said unto him, Let the dead bury their dead: but go thou and preach the kingdom of God.

John 3:6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

John 6:63 It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.

1 John 2:16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.

It is also odd because all physical bodies will die eventually, so placing so much importance on a physical body makes no logical sense.
It is also odd because resurrection of a physical body has nothing to do with salvation. It is the soul that is saved, not the body.

It is odd to you because the resurrection of Christ is odd to your unbelief which you learned from Baha'u'llah's teaching.
This oddity is to be expected and typical. Your Savior is incomplete so your concept of salvation is also incomplete.

Baha'u'llah is not my Savior. Jesus was the Savior. The resurrection is completely unnecessary to make Jesus the Savior. All that was needed was the cross sacrifice. The resurrection stories were written decades after Jesus died because people could not accept the fact that Jesus died on the cross.

AI Overview
Learn more…

The Gospels of the Bible, which contain the resurrection stories of Jesus, were written decades after Jesus's resurrection:

• Mark: Written around 70 AD, about 40 years after Jesus's time
• Matthew and Luke: Written around 80 AD, about 50 years after Jesus's time
• John: Written around 95 AD, about 65 years after Jesus's time
• Scholars believe: The Gospels were not written by eyewitnesses to the resurrection

 

[Trailblazer]

He IS the Holy Spirit. "And the Lord is the Spirit" (2 Cor. 3:17)
It is no comfort for you to come along and announce that this is now to be disbelieved in favor of loving Baha'h'llah.
Rather than a comfort it amounts to saying the New Testament is a pack of lies.

You may spin it another way as if it is some deeper insight. But in actuality you are saying Christ lies and his apostles lied.

The Lord is God, but the Holy Spirit is not God. The Holy Spirit is the Bounty of God. God is like the Sun and the Holy Spirit is like the rays of the Sun that emanated from God. God sent the Holy Spirit to Jesus and to Baha'u'llah. After that Jesus and Baha'u'llah brought the Holy Spirit to humanity.

I just noticed that I made a typo in my post but I just went back and corrected it. I should have said:

Yes, you are right. Jesus was a Comforter because He brought the Holy Spirit from God, which comforts us...
Baha'u'llah was another Comforter because He brought the Holy Spirit from God, which comforts us...

God has many titles. Christ the Son of God has also a number of titles.
"Well its a title. Its not Him Himself" will not work.

The Comforter and the Spirit of truth are titles for Baha'u'llah but they are also the Holy Spirit.

I don't believe that Jesus was teaching that some OTHER man after Him would be the Holy Spirit.

I never claimed that Baha'u'llah was the Holy Spirit. I said that He brought the Holy Spirit.

 

[Feedmysheep]

The Lord is God, but the Holy Spirit is not God.

The Holy Spirit is God. The book of Acts says that when Ananias tried to lie to the Holy Spirit he lied to God.

But Peter said, Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to deceive the Holy Spirit and to put aside for yourself some of the proceeds of the land?

While it remained, was it not your own? And when it was sold, was it not under your authority? Why is it that you have contrived this thing in your heart? You have not lied to men but to God. (Acts 5:3,4)

Yes, you are right. Jesus was a Comforter because He brought the Holy Spirit from God, which comforts us...
Baha'u'llah was another Comforter because He brought the Holy Spirit from God, which comforts us...

Your correction is noted. But the "another Comforter" is the previous Comforter in another form.
He was with the disciples but after Christ's resurrection would be IN the disciples. It is He Himself coming to them to live within them.

Even the Spirit of reality, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not behold Him or know Him; but you know Him, because He abides with you and shall be in you.

I will not leave you as orphans; I am coming to you. (John 14:17,18)

Men can actually receive Christ. And the NT affirms that Christians should realize that Christ is indeed in them.

Test yourselves whether you are in the faith; prove yourselves. Or do you not realize about yourselves that Jesus Christ is in you, unless you are disapproved? (2 Cor. 13:5)

 

[Frank Buffalo]

The psychology of believing in a recently dead man coming back to life nowadays would be met with suspicion.

 

[TransmutingSoul]

The Holy Spirit is God. The book of Acts says that when Ananias tried to lie to the Holy Spirit he lied to God.

God gave creation as a reflection of God's Will. The observation of creation can bring great knowledge of the Spirit.

Using metephor we can see that the Holy Spirit is Not God.

God in Metephor is the Sun. Thus the Ray's from the Sun are the Holy Spirit, the light giving life to creation. Thus we can see that the Holy Spirit in an emanation from God, not God in essence, but a gift of life from the unknown God.

Regards Tony

 

[Trailblazer]

He was with the disciples but after Christ's resurrection would be IN the disciples. It is He Himself coming to them to live within them.

Men can actually receive Christ. And the NT affirms that Christians should realize that Christ is indeed in them.

I do not believe that the Holy Spirit or Christ actually live inside of any human body.
That it is in them means that the Holy Spirit and the Reality of Christ have a direct connection to their soul.

Question.—What is the Holy Spirit?

Answer.—The Holy Spirit is the Bounty of God and the luminous rays which emanate from the Manifestations; for the focus of the rays of the Sun of Reality was Christ, and from this glorious focus, which is the Reality of Christ, the Bounty of God reflected upon the other mirrors which were the reality of the Apostles. The descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles signifies that the glorious divine bounties reflected and appeared in their reality. Moreover, entrance and exit, descent and ascent, are characteristics of bodies and not of spirits—that is to say, sensible realities enter and come forth, but intellectual subtleties and mental realities, such as intelligence, love, knowledge, imagination and thought, do not enter, nor come forth, nor descend, but rather they have direct connection.

Bahá'í Reference Library - Some Answered Questions, Pages 108-109

 

[Feedmysheep]

God gave creation as a reflection of God's Will. The observation of creation can bring great knowledge of the Spirit.

Using metephor we can see that the Holy Spirit is Not God.

God in Metephor is the Sun. Thus the Ray's from the Sun are the Holy Spirit, the light giving life to creation. Thus we can see that the Holy Spirit in an emanation from God, not God in essence, but a gift of life from the unknown God.

Regards Tony

Thanks for your comment.

It is difficult to find any metaphor to really adaquately describe the Triune God.
I have metaphors I like and employ at times. None of them are perfect.

This is like "Explain God. Give three examples."
God is the uncreated and eternal Person (for lack of a better human language word).
God is uniqueness by its very definition.

Anyway, we who go by the utterance of the divine revelation of the Bible have to accept that
The Father is God.
The Son is God.
The Holy Spirit is God.

And there is one God.
Personally I think this revelation in the Bible is a kind of divine filter or sieve.
All human pride is strained out. We must come to Him as a little child.

And He called a little child to Him and stood him in their midst
And said, Truly I say to you, Unless you turn and become like little children, you shall by no means enter into the kingdom of the heavens. He therefore who will humble himself like this little child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of the heavens. (Matt. 18:2-4)

And now I better cut this post here. I may get a reminder about Rule #8.

 

[Feedmysheep]

I do not believe that the Holy Spirit or Christ actually live inside of any human body.

To receive Christ as Lord causes Him to be imparted into the kernel of a man's being.
That is the human spirit - deeper than the human soul and deeper than the human body.

Man is in three parts - spirit and soul and body. (1 Thess. 5:23)

The body allows man to interact and substantiate the physical world.
The soul of man allows him to interact the psychological world and the realm of other souls.
The spirit of man is the organ allowing us to contact the spiritual reality where we can substantiate God.

The spirit of man is like the antenna of a radio. It is the organ to touch the "radio waves" of God which is
permeating the universe. A radio without a functioning antenna picks up no radio waves.
And a radio with a damaged antenna picks up noise because it is not functioning properly.

When a man has his comatose and deadened spirit enlivened through the new birth
immediately there is no problem to him tasting, touching, sunstantiating the reality of Jesus Christ.

That is only the beginning. That is not the end of spirituality but its commencement.

That it is in them means that the Holy Spirit and the Reality of Christ have a direct connection to their soul.

Question.—What is the Holy Spirit?

I am tempted to help you touch the Holy Spirit. But in this medium the rules of the Forum frown upon this.
It is considered a breach of Rule #8.

But the best way to know what the Holy Spirit is and WHO is not theological discussion.
But to receive Him. "Receive the Holy Spirit" said the Lord Jesus. He did not say "Analyze the Holy Spirit".

Answer.—The Holy Spirit is the Bounty of God

I agree. Paul wrote of "the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ" (Phil. 1:19)
For I know that for me this will turn out to salvation through your petition and the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ,

and the luminous rays which emanate from the Manifestations;

Okay. Christ is said to be "the effulgence of His glory". (Heb. 1:3)
Who, being the effulgence of His glory and the impress of His substance . . .
Nothing new there.

for the focus of the rays of the Sun of Reality was Christ,

But subtlely your belief has its aim to ROB Christ of that status.
Your job as a Baha'i is to take away that status from the Son of God and assign it to Baha'u'llah.

This is like the kiss of Judas. I do not mean to be offensive. But I mean to be frank.
This is flattery with an agenda to usurp the Son of God of His status.

and from this glorious focus, which is the Reality of Christ, the Bounty of God reflected upon the other mirrors which were the reality of the Apostles. The descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles signifies that the glorious divine bounties reflected and appeared in their reality. Moreover, entrance and exit, descent and ascent, are characteristics of bodies and not of spirits—that is to say, sensible realities enter and come forth, but intellectual subtleties and mental realities, such as intelligence, love, knowledge, imagination and thought, do not enter, nor come forth, nor descend, but rather they have direct connection.

Like the first century Gnostic, you do well to SOUND like you are speaking highly of God and of Christ.
The Docetist did not argue that Jesus never lived. They argued that He was too good to have been truly a normal man including material flesh and blood.

Behind all your superlative adjectives hides a denial of the New Testament teaching.
In a future post I'll present a biblical metaphor of the nature of the all-inclusive Spirit of Christ which God imparts into
the ones who "Receive . . . the Holy Spirit."

 

[Trailblazer]

Man is in three parts - spirit and soul and body. (1 Thess. 5:23)

The body allows man to interact and substantiate the physical world.
The soul of man allows him to interact the psychological world and the realm of other souls.
The spirit of man is the organ allowing us to contact the spiritual reality where we can substantiate God.

The spirit of man is like the antenna of a radio. It is the organ to touch the "radio waves" of God which is
permeating the universe. A radio without a functioning antenna picks up no radio waves.
And a radio with a damaged antenna picks up noise because it is not functioning properly.

The Baha'i teaching does not distinguish between the soul of man and the spirit of man since we believe they refer to the same entity.
What you are calling the spirit of man we would refer to as the human spirit (soul) which is assisted by the spirit of faith.

"The human spirit which distinguishes man from the animal is the rational soul, and these two names—the human spirit and the rational soul—designate one thing. This spirit, which in the terminology of the philosophers is the rational soul, embraces all beings, and as far as human ability permits discovers the realities of things and becomes cognizant of their peculiarities and effects, and of the qualities and properties of beings. But the human spirit, unless assisted by the spirit of faith, does not become acquainted with the divine secrets and the heavenly realities. It is like a mirror which, although clear, polished and brilliant, is still in need of light. Until a ray of the sun reflects upon it, it cannot discover the heavenly secrets.

But the mind is the power of the human spirit. Spirit is the lamp; mind is the light which shines from the lamp. Spirit is the tree, and the mind is the fruit. Mind is the perfection of the spirit and is its essential quality, as the sun’s rays are the essential necessity of the sun.”

Bahá'í Reference Library - Some Answered Questions, Pages 208-209

But subtlely your belief has its aim to ROB Christ of that status.
Your job as a Baha'i is to take away that status from the Son of God and assign it to Baha'u'llah.

This is like the kiss of Judas. I do not mean to be offensive. But I mean to be frank.
This is flattery with an agenda to usurp the Son of God of His status.

Baha'i is do not take away the status from the Son of God and assign it to Baha'u'llah because we do not claim that Baha'u'llah was the Son of God.
Baha'i is do not usurp the Son of God of His status as the Son of God. In fact, we are required to believe that Jesus is the Son of God.

“As to the position of Christianity, let it be stated without any hesitation or equivocation that its divine origin is unconditionally acknowledged, that the Sonship and Divinity of Jesus Christ are fearlessly asserted, that the divine inspiration of the Gospel is fully recognized, that the reality of the mystery of the Immaculacy of the Virgin Mary is confessed, and the primacy of Peter, the Prince of the Apostles, is upheld and defended. The Founder of the Christian Faith is designated by Bahá’u’lláh as the “Spirit of God,” is proclaimed as the One Who “appeared out of the breath of the Holy Ghost,” and is even extolled as the “Essence of the Spirit.” His mother is described as “that veiled and immortal, that most beauteous, countenance,” and the station of her Son eulogized as a “station which hath been exalted above the imaginings of all that dwell on earth,” whilst Peter is recognized as one whom God has caused “the mysteries of wisdom and of utterance to flow out of his mouth.”

Bahá'í Reference Library - The Promised Day Is Come, Pages 108-113

So you have that completely backwards. Baha'is don't have to take anything away from Jesus in order to believe in Baha'u'llah.
It is Christians who have to reject Baha'u'llah in order to maintain that Jesus is the Only Way to God for all of eternity.

Frankly, this is very offensive but such is the arrogance of Christianity. Not only do you reject Baha'u'llah, you reject every other messenger of God who ever came to earth

When you elevate Jesus to the status of God that means nobody can ever be greater than Jesus, but the irony is that Jesus never claimed to be God. Jesus is God is only a Christian doctrine, which is completely unsupported by the Bible.

Nothing in the Scriptures supports Jesus being God. The verses below explain why Jesus is not God, and why Jesus CANNOT be God.

Jesus claimed to reveal God, Whom He called Father, but Jesus differentiated Himself from God:

John 5:26 For as the Father hath life in himself, even so gave he to the Son also to have life in himself:

John 8:40 But now ye seek to slay me, a man that have spoken to you [the] truth, that I heard of God; Abraham did not this thing.

John 14:1 Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.

John 16:23 And in that day ye shall ask me nothing. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you.

Jesus said that God was greater than He was:

Mark 10:18 And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God.

Matthew 4:10 Jesus said to him, 'Away from me, Satan! For it is written: "Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only."

John 14:28 Ye have heard how I said unto you, I go away, and come again unto you. If ye loved me, ye would rejoice, because I said, I go unto the Father: for my Father is greater than I.

John 5:19 Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise.

How could Jesus pray to and go to the Father if Jesus WAS the God the Father?

John 20:17 Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God.

John 16:16 A little while, and ye shall not see me: and again, a little while, and ye shall see me, because I go to the Father.

John 14:16 And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;

Moreover, Jesus said that no man has ever seen God:

John 1:18 No man hath seen God at any time, the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.

1 John 4:12 No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us.

Jesus said He was from God and that God sent Him, again differentiating Himself from God:

John 17:3 And eternal life means to know you, the only true God, and to know Jesus Christ, whom you sent.

John 7:28 Then cried Jesus in the temple as he taught, saying, Ye both know me, and ye know whence I am: and I am not come of myself, but he that sent me is true, whom ye know not. 29 But I know him: for I am from him, and he hath sent me.

Jesus even stated specifically that the Father had knowledge which was not possessed by the Son.

Matthew 24:36 No one knows about that day or hour, not even the Son, but the Father only.

Mark 13:32 But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father.

Jesus referred to Himself as a Prophet, and was so regarded. Jesus never referred to Himself as God.

Matthew 13:57 And they were offended in him. But Jesus said unto them, A prophet is not without honour, save in his own country, and in his own house.

Luke 13:33 Nevertheless I must walk to day, and to morrow, and the day following: for it cannot be that a prophet perish out of Jerusalem.

Matthew 21:11 And the multitude said, This is Jesus the prophet of Nazareth of Galilee.

Luke 7:16 And there came a fear on all: and they glorified God, saying, That a great prophet is risen up among us; and, That God hath visited his people.

Jesus IS NOT God Bible Quotes... Continued:

2 Corinthians 1:3 Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort;

1 Corinthians 8:6 But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him.

2 Corinthians 11:31 The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which is blessed for evermore, knoweth that I lie not.

Acts 2:22 Ye men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know:

Acts 17:31 Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.

Ephesians 1:17 That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him:

Romans 15:6 That ye may with one mind and one mouth glorify God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Colossians 1:15 Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature.

1 Timothy 2:5 For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,

Hosea 11:9 I will not execute the fierceness of mine anger, I will not return to destroy Ephraim: for I am God, and not man; the Holy One in the midst of thee: and I will not enter into the city.

Numbers 23:19 God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?

 

[Feedmysheep]

The Baha'i teaching does not distinguish between the soul of man and the spirit of man since we believe they refer to the same entity.
What you are calling the spirit of man we would refer to as the human spirit (soul) which is assisted by the spirit of faith.

For tonight that is a little too much for me to read and study. I didn't make it all the way down.

However, understand that New Testament draws a distinction between the human spirit and the human soul.
The two can be divided from one another by the living word of God.

For the word of God is living and operative and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing even to the dividing of soul and spirit and of joints and marrow, and able to discern the thoughts and intentions of the heart. (Heb. 4:12)

It is a tremendous thing though, to move from a mere doctrinal understanding or even agreement AND learning that one
can experience this and say "That is MY spirit!" What an adventure! What a discovery that becomes to actually exercise your spirit.

Paul, was a pioneer helping Christian in this regard. He said he served God with his [Paul's] regenerated spirit.
For God is my witness, whom I serve in my spirit in the gospel of His Son, how unceasingly I make mention of you always in my prayers, (Rom. 1:9)

The beginning of salvation is to be born of God in the human spirit. In the sentence below the small s [spirit] is the human spirit and the capital S [Spirit] denotes God the Spirit.

That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. (John 3:6)

The Spirit Himself witnesses with our spirit that we are children of God. (Rom. 8:16)

 

[Dave Watchman]

Yes, that is how it works. Make a prediction, and when it does not happen, as it is always the case, then you go though the books and find a computation error. And you have being doing that for the last 2000 years. I mean, when the room for interpretations is so vast, you cold do that for the next million years.

No it can't be a million years, holy exaggeration Batman. There's a bunch of reasons why it can't be 1000 years from now, or even in 2060. Newton said 2060 to throw everyone off the real season he was suspecting it to be with his convoluted three kings1260 year recipe. Newton knew when it was really going to be because of something which happened in the middle ages, just a couple hundred years before his time. He was keeping it Top Secret. The reason why we are here should be about finished by now anyways. Something only the Father actually can know about.

I could use the same method and use my Italian Cooking Book as a sacred book able to make prediction of catastrophic events. That would be pretty easy. Let me see: I am planning to prepare some spaghetti for my family. I had a vision that I should do spaghetti all'amatriciana. Spaghetti all'Amatriciana requires some pork meat. We know that pork is where demons are usually casted to, for some reason. That is a clear sign that not only my family, but the entire womankind family will be possessed by demons, and that therefore the Messiah (in this instance the Messiah is a monster able to fly, and has clearly inspired my holy book), will soon land on earth to pick us all up, before demons take over the world.

That is not difficult. And if that does not happen, well maybe that is because I was intended to make lasagne, instead, and my visions were caused by bad digestion.

I like the cooking analogy. Now I'm starving for lasagna. Something about the word itself which can provoke a salivary reflex in the reader. Like just hearing the word pizza, a poor man's lasagna. Lets order a Pizza. I'm sure the pork demons are baked in the cake as well. May they be cast into hell. Your cooking recipe note works excellent as a pressure cooker air release weight. I'm saying something fairly stressful like it's happening now, but a weighted jiggler valve can come along to release the pressure, like an innocent child's bed time story.

Easy peasy.

Lemon squeezy. But what if it does happen? Make lemonade? I'm not sure what will happen, or if we can, only the when of it. It happened in the years people would look to the colored maps of the Holy Land, and honeymooned by the Dead Sea. And the sabils of the Old City of Jerusalem. It happened when the Netherlands sang Oh Happy Day. When Jesus washed my sins away. Oh Happy Day.

Peaceful Sabbath.