What if we accepted each others Religion?

[Trailblazer]

Your cats need you.

My cats are the only ones that need me, and they are all I have left to live for.

 

[Secret Chief]

My cats are the only ones that need me, and they are all I have left to live for.

Make sure you stay stocked up.

 

[CG Didymus]

Baha’is are former adherents of theses religions who believe He is the the return of their prophet/teacher. Their religion is not wrong but it will take time for people to accept Baha’u’llah. It took centuries with Jesus so it’s not an instant overnight mass acceptance. Anyway thanks very much for pointing that out .

Who is the Jesus that finally caught on? Jesus the God. Jesus the only Savior. Jesus the living Son of God that rose from the dead and left behind an empty tomb. The Jesus that sent the promised Comforter, the Holy Spirit, to guide his disciples. Plus, it took Constantine to make it the state religion. Then later many people "converted" because of the Inquisition. With the coming of Christians to the Americas, they forced the native people to believe.

So yes, Christianity finally became the largest religion in the world... only trouble is... most everything they teach, Baha'is believe is wrong.

But more importantly, arguing/debating isn't working. It's not building bridges. It's probably knocking some of them down. You have your beliefs, other people have theirs... How do we get along?

 

[TransmutingSoul]

Yes, that's what he said, and no Buddhist agrees with him.

That is OK, as that is the choice we all have.

The point being is that their own scriptures do warn of such ages, and that they do have that to consider.

Thus Abdul'baha was not being harsh, Abdul'baha was supporting the fact that Buddha had been renewed.

Regards Tony

 

[TransmutingSoul]

I guess I won't be playing my part then.

We all have our own challenges Trailblazer, we can live together in peace with those challenges.

Remember, my wife and I have been remote Baha'i's for nearly all our Baha'i life. So my observations come from first hand experiences.

Regards Tony

 

[Trailblazer]

Make sure you stay stocked up.

I have 8. I always make sure I have 8.

 

[Trailblazer]

We all have our own challenges Trailblazer, we can live together in peace with those challenges.

Remember, my wife and I have been remote Baha'i's for nearly all our Baha'i life. So my observations come from first hand experiences.

Regards Tony

I have never been a remote Baha'i, and I am not a remote Baha'i now, but I am remote from the Baha'is.

 

[loverofhumanity]

Who is the Jesus that finally caught on? Jesus the God. Jesus the only Savior. Jesus the living Son of God that rose from the dead and left behind an empty tomb. The Jesus that sent the promised Comforter, the Holy Spirit, to guide his disciples. Plus, it took Constantine to make it the state religion. Then later many people "converted" because of the Inquisition. With the coming of Christians to the Americas, they forced the native people to believe.

So yes, Christianity finally became the largest religion in the world... only trouble is... most everything they teach, Baha'is believe is wrong.

But more importantly, arguing/debating isn't working. It's not building bridges. It's probably knocking some of them down. You have your beliefs, other people have theirs... How do we get along?

As far as titles go Jesus had many. The majority, I believe, believed simply because they loved His teachings. Of course we believe in everything that Jesus taught. If Christians just stuck to believing in Jesus and the Bible they would be only one religion. But each sect introduced dogmas and man made doctrines which Christ never taught so it shattered their unity. The only way to build bridges is to go back to the basic message of love and unity and clear away the man made stuff. Then the bridges will connect to each religion and unite us.

 

[Vinayaka]

Abdu'l-Baha simple said that the original teachings of Buddha have been mostly neglected in the worshiop of Idols, but the original teachings were pure, the same as Christ.

Spoiler: AbdulBaha in London Pages 63-64

Buddhism

1
Some referred to the teaching of Buddha. `Abdu'l-Bahá said: The real teaching of Buddha is the same as the teaching of Jesus Christ. The teachings of all the Prophets are the same in character. Now men have changed the teaching. If you look at the present practice of the Buddhist religion, you will see that there is little of the Reality left. Many worship idols although their teaching forbids it.


2
Buddha had disciples and he wished to send them out into the world to teach, so he asked them questions to see if they were prepared as he would have them be. "When you go to the East and to the West," said the Buddha, "and the people shut their doors to you and refuse to speak to you, what will you do?"--The disciples answered and said: "We shall be very thankful that they do us no harm."--"Then if they do you harm and mock, what will you do?"--"We shall be very thankful that they do not give us worse treatment."--"If they throw you into prison?"--"We shall still be grateful that they do not kill us."--"What if they were to kill you?" the Master asked for the last time. "Still," answered the disciples, "we will be thankful, for they cause us to be martyrs. What more glorious fate is there than this, to die for the glory of God?" And the Buddha said: "Well done!"


3
The teaching of Buddha was like a young and beautiful child, and now it has become as an old and decrepit man. Like the aged man it cannot see, it cannot hear, it cannot remember anything. Why go so far back? Consider the laws of the Old Testament: the Jews do not follow Moses as their example nor keep his commands. So it is with many other religions.


4
How can we get the power to follow the right path?


5
By putting the teaching into practice power will be given. You know which path to follow: you cannot be mistaken, for there's a great distinction between God and evil, between Light and darkness, Truth and falsehood, Love and hatred, Generosity and meanness, Education and ignorance, Faith in God and superstition, good Laws and unjust laws.

Regards Tony

I’ve read this many places! I think it’s a wonderful thing that people can recognize whatever is good and joyous in each other’s religions! *sigh* If only the US was the same as diverse as we are here.

Mauritius us very similar to Trinidad in that regard. There are many national holidays for various religions.

 

[Vinayaka]

That is OK, as that is the choice we all have.

The point being is that their own scriptures do warn of such ages, and that they do have that to consider.

Thus Abdul'baha was not being harsh, Abdul'baha was supporting the fact that Buddha had been renewed.

Regards Tony

Are you suggesting that people of other faiths don't consider these things?

 

[Trailblazer]

But each sect introduced dogmas and man made doctrines which Christ never taught so it shattered their unity. The only way to build bridges is to go back to the basic message of love and unity and clear away the man made stuff. Then the bridges will connect to each religion and unite us.

Going back to the basic message of love and unity and clearing away the man made stuff is never going to happen and you know it as well as I do.
Bridges will never connect religions to each other and unite us because religions do not want to unite with other religions.

As much as I sometimes complain about the Baha'i Faith, you and @TransmutingSoul always remind me why I am a Baha'i and would never be anything else.

“All that lives, and this includes the religions, have springtime, a time of maturity, of harvest and wintertime. Then religion becomes barren, a lifeless adherence to the letter uninformed by the spirit, and man’s spiritual life declines. When we look at religious history, we see that God has spoken to men precisely at times when they have reached the nadir of their degradation and cultural decadence. Moses came to Israel when it was languishing under the Pharaoh’s yoke, Christ appeared at a time when the Jewish Faith had lost its power and culture of antiquity was in its death those. Muhammad came to a people who lived in barbaric ignorance at the lowest level of culture and into a world in which the former religions had strayed far away from their origins and nearly lost their identity. The Bab addressed Himself to a people who had irretrievably lost their former grandeur and who found themselves in a state of hopeless decadence. Baha’u’llah came to a humanity which was approaching the most critical phase of its history.

‘Abdu’l-Baha writes: ‘God leaves not His children comfortless, but, when the darkness of winter overshadows them, then again He sends His Messengers, the Prophets, with a renewal of the blessed spring. The Sun of Truth appears again on the horizon of the world shining into the eyes of those who sleep, awaking them to behold the glory of a new dawn. Then again will the tree of humanity blossom and bring forth the fruit of righteousness for the healing of the nations.’ Paris Talks, p. 32.’

Some conclusions can be drawn from this fundamental belief. First, all religions are divine in essence and consequently there are no religions which contradict or exclude each other, but only one indivisible divine religion which is renewed periodically and according to the requirements of the age, in cycles of about a thousand years: ‘Our command was but one word.’ Qur’an 54:51. It is therefore hardly surprising if many of Baha’u’llah’s teachings are to be found in former religions either expressly or in an embryonic form. As ‘Abdu’l-Baha says, the Baha’i Faith is ‘not a new path to immortality.’ quoted from: Principles of the Baha’i Faith. On account of this transcendent oneness of all religions, Baha’u’llah exhorted His people to associate with followers of all religions in a spirit of loving-kindness and to make of religion a cause of harmony and peace, not of discord and strife, of hate and division.

The second conclusion is that we cannot perceive what the essence of religion is and what it has the power to achieve if we examine the traditional great religions in their present form. They have achieved much but have reached the end of their road; they were the foundation of great cultures and for thousands of years they were the guiding-star of millions of people in their everyday life and activities. But during the course of history they have also accumulated large amounts of historical ballast. They have moved a long way from their origin and are burdened with their followers’ misdeeds and cravings for power. They are no pleasant sight today, least of all to young people, who no longer see in these religions the ‘salt of the earth’ as Jesus called his disciples, Matthew 5:13 but rather the ‘opium of the people’ (Karl Marx). And one is easily inclined to pass judgment on religion as a whole, and to see in it an anachronism of past times, long since overcome, like the belief in demons in former times. But a withered plant does not give us the faintest idea of its blossoming time. In reality, religions are the ‘light of the world’ and, according to Baha’u’llah’s teachings, the foundation of human culture. It is important to understand that they are as necessary for mankind as sunlight for the plant. Without divine revelation, there would be neither progress nor culture: ‘Were this revelation to be withdrawn, all would perish.’ Taken from (Baha’u’llah, Gleanings, XCIII).

(Udo Schaefer, The Light Shineth in Darkness, pp. 24-26)

 

[ppp]

Baha’is have accepted their scriptures by accepting their own Promised One. By rejecting their Promised One, other religions are rejecting their own scriptures.

.a large multitude of people will arise against you, showing oppression, expressing contumely and derision, shunning your society, and heaping upon you ridicule. (Abdul-Baha)

The truth has always been opposed. Nothing new here.

Religions make that claim all the time. Cults and political extremists, too. Y'all court and foster a sense of persecution so as to give yourselves validation.

 

[Vinayaka]

Religions make that claim all the time. Cults and political extremists, too. Y'all court and foster a sense of persecution so as to give yourselves validation.

There is no large multitude of people rising up against the Baha'i. They're far too insignificant for that. But this too fosters a 'them and us' mentality, which is the opposite of unity.

 

[ppp]

There is no large multitude of people rising up against the Baha'i. They're far too insignificant for that. But this too fosters a 'them and us' mentality, which is the opposite of unity.

I know. It's melodrama.

 

[loverofhumanity]

Religions make that claim all the time. Cults and political extremists, too. Y'all court and foster a sense of persecution so as to give yourselves validation.

We are not about validation. You cannot paint everyone with the same brush not in this well documented case.

https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2022/08/iran-un-experts-alarmed-escalating-religious-persecution

More recent

USCIRF Condemns Iran’s Religious Persecution of Baha’is

www.uscirf.gov

 

[ppp]

We are not about validation. You cannot paint everyone with the same brush not in this well documented case.

https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2022/08/iran-un-experts-alarmed-escalating-religious-persecution

More recent

USCIRF Condemns Iran’s Religious Persecution of Baha’is

www.uscirf.gov

The phrase "paint everyone with the same brush" means that the person cites one case as a representative of the whole. That is what you are literally doing. Taking one case and applying to the hold.

The article includes atheists on the same list as the Baha'i:
The UN experts said the acts were not isolated but formed part of a broader policy to target any dissenting belief or religious practice, including Christian converts, Gonabadi dervishes and atheists.

By your reasoning I, an atheist, have the truth. And that truth is being opposed.

 

[loverofhumanity]

The phrase "paint everyone with the same brush" means that the person cites one case as a representative of the whole. That is what you are literally doing. Taking one case and applying to the hold.

The article includes atheists on the same list as the Baha'i:
The UN experts said the acts were not isolated but formed part of a broader policy to target any dissenting belief or religious practice, including Christian converts, Gonabadi dervishes and atheists.

By your reasoning I, an atheist, have the truth. And that truth is being opposed.

No one is opposing you. You are an equal human being no matter belief or no belief. There are many groups being mistreated in Iran and we are calling for justice for all.

 

[ppp]

No one is opposing you.

LOL. You make a lot of pronouncements that you are not equipped to know. First about what think is not in the Bible. Now you think you know the particulars of my life. Moreover, according to you, when Baha'i are persecuted (as per your article) they are "opposed". but when atheists are persecuted (as per your article) there is no opposition. How very Jim Crow of you.

 

[loverofhumanity]

Nonsense. At least half the Baha'is were born in Iran as Baha'is. Others came from no religion. Name me a practicing Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu, or Christian who thinks Baha'u'llah is the new guy.

When I lived in Thailand and Myanmar for many years there were many Baha’is from Muslim and Buddhist background. An entire village of Muslims accepted Baha’u’llah. I also met Many Baha’is from Hindu background when I was in India for a few months. And as for Christians, many of the Baha’is I know accept that Christ has returned and they are from different denominations . Also aethists and sufis etc.

 

[loverofhumanity]

LOL. You make a lot of pronouncements that you are not equipped to know. First about what think is not in the Bible. Now you think you know the particulars of my life. Moreover, according to you, when Baha'i are persecuted (as per your article) they are "opposed". but when atheists are persecuted (as per your article) there is no opposition. How very Jim Crow of you.

I don’t really understand what you’re meaning. I don’t know you at all just that you’re a fellow human . Opposed, persecuted both are applicable I think. Anyway no offense was intended. Back to unity between religions, I think the first step is to discuss it. Then come together once in a while. Many groups already do meet. The goal is to share what we have in common.