Jimmy
King Phenomenon
The world will end before that imo.
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What the New Testament says about God is true
- Thread starter Trailblazer
- Start date
Trailblazer
Veteran Member
The world is not going to end, it is going to be made new.
Jimmy
King Phenomenon
After it ends
Spice
StewardshipPeaceIntergityCommunityEquality
See? Just a different hope in the future.
Jimmy
King Phenomenon
These are two completely different ideas.
Spice
StewardshipPeaceIntergityCommunityEquality
Hopes, not guarantees, but with the same final result. World without end, Amen.
Brian2
Veteran Member
Yes there are points of agreement and points of disagreement.
Trailblazer
Veteran Member
There is no reason to think that the world is going to end. That is not supported by the Bible...
Bible translations that said "end of the world" have since been corrected and the new translations say "end of the age."
Indeed, that is what was slated to happen, the end of the age.
The old age came to and end when Christ returned and we are now living in the new age, the Age of Fulfillment, since all the biblical prophecies will be fulfilled during this age.
Jimmy
King Phenomenon
That’s another thing bahais have twisted. The Bible’s clear that the world will end.
Trailblazer
Veteran Member
Only looking at beliefs about the attributes of God and how believers should conduct themselves towards God, what do you think is different?
(Please leave Jesus and Baha'u'llah out of this, since we know that Christians and Baha'is have different beliefs.)
Trailblazer
Veteran Member
Show me the verses.
IndigoChild5559
Loving God and my neighbor as myself.
When you say "not true" what do you mean? Is this repeating your remark that they are anthropomorphic and not literal?
Trailblazer
Veteran Member
I mean that God is not a human-like character as sometimes depicted in Old Testament. e.g. the jealous God.
I also mean that the stories about God are symbolic and not literal. e.g., God walking with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.
CG Didymus
Veteran Member
Whether we call them conservative or fundamentalist or strict believers in their religion, there are those types of sects in probably every religion. Then there are the liberal, not so strict believers. No problem with them reaching out and seeing the good in the other religions.
But, although Baha'is don't have a fundamental sect of their religion, they do have more conservative, strict believing Baha'is that believe their religion is the only hope for the people of the world... that no other religion has the teachings that can bring all people together. I don't see those Baha'is really wanting to build bridges with any Christians other than to be a stepping stone to get some of them to "see the light" and convert.
Then there are the more liberal minded Baha'is. And I knew several. They participated in interfaith groups and in peace groups. They are building bridges and working with people from other religions to make things better.
One of the last times I went with Baha'i friends to any kind of meeting, was to an interfaith meeting about working together for peace. It was held at a Reformed Jewish Synagogue. Several, what I'd call liberal, Christian sects had people there. Other than them, it was Reformed Jews and Baha'is. All the speakers gave short speeches acknowledging that we must all learn to love and respect all people, no matter what their religion. That is until the Baha'i speaker went up to speak.
This was the late 80's, and the Baha'is had just put out a peace statement. It went through all the Baha'is ideas and recommendations on how to bring peace to the world. This speaker was not one of the Baha'is that was a member of this interfaith group. The Baha'is that were members told their local Baha'i leaders about the meeting, and they decided to send a special speaker... a speaker to share the Baha'i peace statement with the group. She started reading the thing. And it's a long thing. And she went on and on. And people were getting restless. Not even being near done, she said, "I could go on, but..." There was a sigh of relief. "But I think I'll stop there" An even greater sigh of relief.
That wasn't bridge building. That was preaching. Preaching as if they had this message that needed to be heard... That would show these people how deep and profound the Baha'is teachings can be. How they had the solutions and answers to the worlds problems. But it backfired. Instead of building any connections with the people there, it turned them off to the Baha'i message.
It would be like a Born Again Christian went to a Baha'i meeting and told them about how they were all sinners and needed to be saved.
I'm all for people building bridges and learning how to get along, but each side can't consider itself to have superior knowledge than the other. They have to come together as equals and come with respect and understanding of the beliefs of the other people.
I don't expect Born Again Christians to ever do that. But Baha'is? I hope they can. But it's going to have to be even more than pretending that other religions believe in the same God as they do. Even if they'd get a few liberal Christians to work with them, they've got to get people that believe in very different Gods or many Gods, or no Gods. They've got to find ways to connect with all people.
Now those Born Again Christians? I don't know if bridge building with people of other religions is something they'd ever want to do. Now to get them to leave those religions and come to believe in the saving grace of Jesus, that's probably more likely what they're thinking about needing to do.
firedragon
Veteran Member
Most religions would have some similarities. Yet the differences are huge. Christians will never believe Muhammed or Bahaullah were manifestations of God. Well, if you get into it the differences will keep piling up.
IndigoChild5559
Loving God and my neighbor as myself.
Of course. I think very few people actually take it literally. But well, what can we do? There are always some people that struggle with figurative language.
Except that these are merely the outward behaviour. It’s the inward journey that is the true spiritual path. The Baha’i faith seems to concentrate mainly upon transforming the outward world. It’s a social project. It’s about being a good person and useful member of society.
Christ and other great spiritual figures did not teach this worldly and material form of outward behaviour. They were not concerned with changing the world. They were concerned with the individual heart and soul.
The Baha’i will then take selected verses to show that Jesus was indeed a social reformer whose intention was to bring peace on earth and unity of mankind. Then they will use other verses to show that Jesus was not talking about the physical and material world, but about the spiritual.
The Baha’i faith does not hang together in a metaphysical sense. It starts with creating a new and peaceful world, and goes on predicate the cultivation of good human behaviour as the means of getting there. That’s not the way it works.
The material world will always be the fractious and ever changing place that it is. It's always 'nature red in tooth and claw'. But 'religion' is about the spiritual.
No other faith, from Taoism to Buddhism and Christianity, and even to Islam, predicates itself upon creating world peace and unity in the material world of nature as the primary object of contact with the divine.
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It backfired as no one has listened to Baha'u'llah, as they did not then in 1986, and still not even now.
If only the wisdom in that Message had taken hold, world war 3 would not be on our doorstep.
"The well-being of mankind, its peace and security, are unattainable unless and until its unity is firmly established. This unity can never be achieved so long as the counsels which the Pen of the Most High hath revealed are suffered to pass unheeded" Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh, CXXXI
Are people ready to listen yet? Actually I know the answer, no they are not.
Stay safe and happy CG, hope you are also out and about building those bridges.
If anyone has read it, that Message was about building bridges, what is needed to build peace.
""...It is out of a deep sense of spiritual and moral duty that we are impelled at this opportune moment to invite your attention to the penetrating insights first communicated to the rulers of mankind more than a century ago by Bahá’u’lláh, Founder of the Bahá’í Faith, of which we are the Trustees...."
Regards Tony
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Brian2
Veteran Member
If you are only looking at beliefs about the attributes of God and how believers should conduct themselves towards God, there may not be much.
Is it Baha'i that says that God is impassible?
There are yogis and renunciates and monastic and hermitic ways of spirituality, that are not concerned with social work and society building. Their lives are devoted to contemplation and meditation. Theravada Buddhist monks live off charity from the local people, and offer prayers for their good in return.
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