Yes, Baha'is don't believe the Bible is the infallible, inerrant Word of God. "Not necessarily historically accurate"? "The Bible is a reliable source of Divine guidance and salvation"? It is? If by Bible, Baha'is include the NT, then no. It is not reliable, because the Baha'is don't believe in the plan of salvation given in the NT. And again, neither do I. But again, I don't claim it is a reliable source for salvation. Here's a typical born-again
Christian view of salvation...
I think that Abdu'l-Baha said that the Bible is a source of spiritual guidance but he said nothing about it being a source of salvation.
No, Baha'is do not believe in the 'plan of salvation' given in the NT, which states that all we have to do is believe in Jesus and that Jesus died for our sins and we will be saved. In this age salvation comes through Baha'u'llah because the sign of God in this age is Baha'u'llah, not Jesus.
“Blessed is the man that hath acknowledged his belief in God and in His signs, and recognized that “He shall not be asked of His doings.” Such a recognition hath been made by God the ornament of every belief, and its very foundation. Upon it must depend the acceptance of every goodly deed. Fasten your eyes upon it, that haply the whisperings of the rebellious may not cause you to slip ......
Whoso hath not recognized this sublime and fundamental verity, and hath failed to attain this most exalted station, the winds of doubt will agitate him, and the sayings of the infidels will distract his soul. He that hath acknowledged this principle will be endowed with the most perfect constancy. All honor to this all-glorious station, the remembrance of which adorneth every exalted Tablet. Such is the teaching which God bestoweth on you, a teaching that will deliver you from all manner of doubt and perplexity, and enable you to attain unto salvation in both this world and in the next. He, verily, is the Ever-Forgiving, the Most Bountiful.”
Please note that
A Baháí View of the Bible is not from the authoritative Baha'i Writings, it is just a scholarly 'opinion.'
The following letter from the Guardian Shoghi Effendi represents the 'official' Baha'i view of the Bible.
In studying the Bible Bahá'ís must bear two principles in mind. The first is that many passages in Sacred Scriptures are intended to be taken metaphorically, not literally, and some of the paradoxes and apparent contradictions which appear are intended to indicate this. The second is the fact that the text of the early Scriptures, such as the Bible, is not wholly authentic.
(28 May 1984 to an individual believer)
The Bahá'ís believe what is in the Bible to be true in substance. This does not mean that every word recorded in that Book is to be taken literally and treated as the authentic saying of a Prophet....
The Bahá'ís believe that God's Revelation is under His care and protection and that the essence, or essential elements, of what His Manifestations intended to convey has been recorded and preserved in Their Holy Books. However, as the sayings of the ancient Prophets were written down some time later, we cannot categorically state, as we do in the case of the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh, that the words and phrases attributed to Them are Their exact words
(9 August 1984 to an individual believer)
When
Adam and
Eve rebelled, humans were
separated from God through sin. God's
holiness required
punishment and payment (
atonement) for sin, which was (and still is) eternal death. Our own death is not sufficient to cover the payment for sin. Only a perfect,
spotless sacrifice, offered in just the right way, can pay for our sin. Jesus Christ, the perfect God-man,
came to die on the cross, to offer the pure, complete and everlasting sacrifice to remove, atone, and make eternal payment for sin.
Why? Because God loves us and desires an
intimate friendship with us. God's plan of salvation has one goal, to connect God with his redeemed ones in the closest of relationships. The Lord of heaven and earth wants to walk with us, talk with us, comfort us and be with us through every experience of life.
Those Christians got that from reading the NT. Do Baha'is believe their interpretations are correct? No.
No, Baha'is do not believe that the Christian interpretations are correct. Below is what Baha'is believe is the significance of the cross sacrifice.
Question.—In verse 22 of chapter 15 of 1 Corinthians it is written: “For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.” What is the meaning of these words?
Answer.—Know that there are two natures in man: the physical nature and the spiritual nature. The physical nature is inherited from Adam, and the spiritual nature is inherited from the Reality of the Word of God, which is the spirituality of Christ. The physical nature is born of Adam, but the spiritual nature is born from the bounty of the Holy Spirit. The first is the source of all imperfection; the second is the source of all perfection.
The Christ sacrificed Himself so that men might be freed from the imperfections of the physical nature and might become possessed of the virtues of the spiritual nature. This spiritual nature, which came into existence through the bounty of the Divine Reality, is the union of all perfections and appears through the breath of the Holy Spirit. It is the divine perfections; it is light, spirituality, guidance, exaltation, high aspiration, justice, love, grace, kindness to all, philanthropy, the essence of life. It is the reflection of the splendor of the Sun of Reality.