Sorry for the belated reply. I have been having many difficulties with my husband’s health condition but I never forget my favorite atheists, you and
@HonestJoe.
Rather, I save your posts for when I have time to write a thoughtful response.
To me this is to do things backwards.
If a person came to you claiming to have superpowers and refuse to demonstrate it. Then it is not up to you to determine whether this person actually have set powers or not. You wouldn't start a massive investigation and research trying to figure out whether this person is telling the truth or not.
It is exactly the same with Baha'u'llah.
That would only be true if (a) Baha’u’llah claimed to have superpowers, and (b) if Baha’u’llah wanted to demonstrate those. (a) is not the case and (b) is not usually the case, but in one instance Baha'u'llah offered to perform a miracle of their choosing for some Muslims if they would recognize His station as a Messenger of God, but as noted below the Muslims backed out of the deal.
Bahá’u’lláh forbade His followers to attribute miracles to Him because this would have amounted to the degradation of His exalted station. Nevertheless, there are many accounts left to posterity by His disciples, describing the circumstances in which He either healed incurables or raised the dead.
None of these supernatural acts were considered by His followers to be a proof of the truth of His Cause, since they are only convincing to a limited number of people and they are not decisive proofs even for those who see them.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
One time, the religious leaders in Persia asked Baha’u’llah to perform a miracle to prove the reality of His mission. Here’s what happened:
The ‘ulama recognize without hesitation and confess the knowledge and virtue of Bahá’u’lláh, and they are unanimously convinced that in all learning he has no peer or equal; and it is also evident that he has never studied or acquired this learning; but still the ‘ulama say, ‘We are not contented with this; we do not acknowledge the reality of his mission by virtue of his wisdom and righteousness. Therefore, we ask him to show us a miracle in order to satisfy and tranquilize our hearts.’
Bahá’u’lláh replied, “Although you have no right to ask this, for God should test His creatures, and they should not test God, still I allow and accept this request. But the Cause of God is not a theatrical display that is presented every hour, of which some new diversion may be asked for every day. If it were thus, the Cause of God would become mere child’s play.
The ulamas must, therefore, assemble, and, with one accord, choose one miracle, and write that, after the performance of this miracle they will no longer entertain doubts about Me, and that all will acknowledge and confess the truth of My Cause. Let them seal this paper, and bring it to Me. This must be the accepted criterion: if the miracle is performed, no doubt will remain for them; and if not, We shall be convicted of imposture.” The learned man, Hasan ‘Amu, rose and replied, “There is no more to be said”; he then kissed the knee of the Blessed One although he was not a believer, and went. He gathered the ‘ulama and gave them the sacred message. They consulted together and said, “This man is an enchanter; perhaps he will perform an enchantment, and then we shall have nothing more to say.” Acting on this belief, they did not dare to push the matter further. [The penetrating judgment of Bahá’u’lláh upon this occasion overcame the malignity of His enemies, who, it was certain, would never agree in choosing what miracle to ask for.] (Abdu’l-Baha, Some Answered Questions, p. 29-30)
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
Bahá’u’lláh seldom responded positively to those who demanded miracles from Him. But He often revealed a measure of His glory and power to those who had recognized Him in order to strengthen their Faith:
It is not right for man to test God. Bahá’u’lláh seldom responded positively to those who demanded miracles from Him. But He often revealed a measure of His glory and power to those who had recognized Him in order to strengthen their Faith. (Adib Taherzadeh, The Revelation of Baha’u’llah v 4, p. 54-55)
Famous Miracles in the Baha’i Faith
Again because you are doing this backwards, you don't expect him to provide any demonstration of this claim. And your default position is that he is telling the truth.
But I don't know how you would recognize a messiah in the first place? Again, what or who are you validating this against?
I know that you have listed those things, like that we can know him by his character, life etc. Which doesn't work, unless you have a very specific definition of what a messiah is capable of, which from what I can see you don't have.
I can agree that we cannot know if He was the messiah by His character and his life, but one way we can know if He was the messiah is by looking at the Bible prophecies that state what the messiah would do. From looking at those we can see that Baha’u’llah fulfilled those prophecies for the coming of the messiah, what would happen when He appeared. These are the same prophecies we have in the Bible for the return of Christ, since the messiah was also the return of Christ, the second coming.
These prophecies and how they were fulfilled are delineated in the book entitled
Thief in the Night by William Sears.