Monday, November 19, 2012

Wake up World

I am a sinner attempting to lead other sinners to salvation. I am not and do not wish to be righteous. Christ came for sinners and as a sinner I am led by Him. He is the Way I will point out to other sinners.
I do not wish to be righteous because righteousness brings evil. It is righteousness that causes war and hatred. The righteous want to convert or destroy. They feel that, since they are right, everyone should agree with them. If they meet someone who doesn’t agree with their fundamental beliefs, they must convert them or destroy them.
It was the righteous who abused aboriginal children at the residential school in Brantford. These people where so sure of their moral values that they felt they must take the children of the original inhabitants of this continent and change their value system by force. They beat the Indian ways out of them and attempted to enforce White Christian morals on them. I have known some of these unfortunate souls who went to their death without recovering from this abuse.
On September 11, 2001, it was the righteous who destroyed the twin towers. These ones were so sure of their righteous ways that they sacrificed their very lives to try and injure their enemy and enforce their righteous views on a foreign nation.
The righteousness of Hitler tried to rid the world of a race he saw as unrighteous and defective.
We can go on and on. Many righteous nations have risen against other righteous nations causing much destruction and loss of life. That is why I never want to be considered as righteous. Everyone has a different point of view on what it means to be righteous and the righteous refuse to open their minds to other points of view. Therefore, with righteous indignation, they attempt to convert or destroy anyone who disagrees with them.
It was the righteous who crucified Jesus. The righteous made war with Islam. The Báb was martyred by the righteous. It was the righteous who imprisoned Bahá’u’lláh. I do not want to be righteous.
Moses led sinners out of slavery. Christ led sinners to salvation, Mohammad gathered sinners into a great nation. The Báb prepared sinners for the coming of the Promised One. Bahá’u’lláh, the Promised One, is now gathering sinners into unity and love between all of mankind.
Bahá’u’lláh is Moses returned to free us from all kinds of slavery. He is freeing us from the slavery of greed, materialism, technology and selfish desires.
Bahá’u’lláh is Christ returned. He is the Good Shepherd gathering all His sheep into one fold.
Bahá’u’lláh is Mohammad returned to gather the whole world into one common nation were all will turn to God for guidance.
This is the Christ, the Messiah, and the Glory of God that I follow. This is the Way, The Truth and the Life I will point out to others. This is the unity of mankind as one family under One God. This is the ultimate denial of polytheism and the final proclamation of the Oneness of God, the All Powerful, the All Knowing, the All Wise, the Omnipotent, the Almighty God.
This is the God who is Good and shines upon us with the light of goodness. Evil is darkness, but the Light of God dispels the darkness of evil. If we are in a room filled with light, we cannot turn on a dark and overpower the light, but a dark room can be illumined by turning on a light. It is obvious that darkness is the absence of light. Therefore we don’t destroy darkness but we turn on light.
So it is with evil. When there is no goodness, we have evil. When goodness appears, evil vanishes. Since evil is only the absence of good, we cannot destroy evil. Any attempt to destroy evil only leads to more evil. However, when we bring in goodness, evil is dispelled.
When we are confronted with the darkness of evil we cannot clearly see our way. We must turn to God Who is our Source of Light. Indeed He is the Light that illumines the world. When our spiritual eyes cannot see the Way, He is the Way and He is the Light.
Perhaps we can see the righteous as flashlights. In the dark of the night they can help us, but the light is weak and the way is difficult to see. But now a New Day has dawned. The Glory of God shines brightly in the Celestial Heavens. We need but wake from our slumber and pull back our curtains to let the light shine into our rooms. Then we can rush outside and bask in the full splendor of this wondrous day.
I am not the righteous. I am not the light. I am but a sinner who has wakened to a New Dawn. Wake up world and see. A glorious new day is here.
I will conclude with a poem I wrote a few years ago.
DAWN

When I observe the failing light at the end of the day, I have complete confidence that the sun will regain her ground the following morn.

And so it is when the Spiritual Truths become difficult to see,
Or even in the darkest hour, when they are just a memory,
Still we turn to Our Heavenly Father and pray,
For we know He will be Manifest in the brand knew day.

Now it seems that our trust was not in vain
For night has past and twilight appears again.
Though the world sleeps and does not see the glimmering knew light
A few have risen early and take in this wondrous sight.

Wake up world!  Can’t you see?  The Glory of God is here.
Open your eyes.  The darkness is gone.  There’s no need to live in fear.
Then so slowly, so slowly it seems, comes the awakening of humanity,
And the realisation that all are from one family.

And now we see the world in love with each other.
Each woman’s our sister, each man our brother.
Love is all around us.  This love we laud.
For the love we share with each other is God!


When I wake up early and see a beautiful sunrise, I know it is going to be a wonderful day.

And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd.
John 10: 16

2 comments:

  1. George,
    Interesting blog. However, I suspect that you have missed out on what it means to be ‘righteous’. Righteousness refers to doing “that which is right” in the sight of God. As I read your blog I come to the opinion that you are confusing being “religious” with being ‘righteous’. At the end of the day a righteous person will never even contemplate, much less carry out, an evil act. Somewhere in the Bible, I am too lazy to look it up, the prophet writes; “I have never seen a righteous man nor his seed begging bread”.

    Here follow a few quotes from Bahá’u’lláh and the Master:

    1. Be pure, O people of God, be pure; be righteous, be righteous
    Baha'u'llah : Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah

    2. Let God be your fear, O people, and be ye of them that tread the path of righteousness.
    Say: Should your conduct, O people, contradict your professions, how think ye, then, to be able to distinguish yourselves from them who, though professing their faith in the Lord their God, have, as soon as He came unto them in the cloud of holiness,
    Page 276
    Baha'u'llah : Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah

    3. The second pathway is that of religion, the road of the divine Kingdom. It involves the acquisition of praiseworthy attributes, heavenly illumination and righteous actions in the world of humanity. This pathway is conducive to the progress and uplift of the world. It is the source of human

    Abdu'l-Bahá : Bahá'í World Faith

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Most agree that it is good to be righteous but bad to be self righteous. The problem is that if I think I am righteous is that not being self righteous.

      9:11 And when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto his disciples, Why eateth your Master with publicans and sinners?
      9:12 But when Jesus heard that, he said unto them, They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick.
      9:13 But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.
      (New Testament, 01 - Matthew)

      Yes I strive to be righteous and that will likely be the subject of another post on my blog. But I do not wish to be considered righteous or want to think that I am righteous. Too much evil has been done by those who considered themselves righteous.

      There is much in all scripture regarding righteousness and it is something that we all should strive for. We were created to Know God, and how do we know the unknowable. Yet knowing God is a process we are involved in, not an absolute station where we can say we know all there is to be known about God and there is nothing else to know.

      Likewise I see righteousness as a path we follow. No matter how righteous we believe we are we can always become more righteous. When we think we have it we become dangerous. That is why those who believed themselves to be absolutely righteous crucified Jesus.

      Admittedly the wording of my post was for shock value. It was designed to catch interest and get dialog started. The comments in your email would have been great to put as a comment on the post. I appreciate your thoughts and comments.

      Delete

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