It is now time to try Peace

It is now time to try Peace

XXV. It is evident that every age in which a Manifestation of God hath lived is divinely ordained, and may, in a sense, be characterized as God's appointed Day. This Day, however, is unique, and is to be distinguished from those that have preceded it. The designation "Seal of the Prophets" fully revealeth its high station. The Prophetic Cycle hath, verily, ended. The Eternal Truth is now come. He hath lifted up the Ensign of Power, and is now shedding upon the world the unclouded splendor of His Revelation.

                (Bahá'u'lláh, Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh, p. 60)

 

In the past, prophets  have foretold the coming of a great and glorious age; a day when God would rule the earth. This is the day when God's will is done on Earth as it is in Heaven as promised in the Lord's Prayer. This is the day of the fulfillment of prophesy, and therefore prophesy is no longer necessary.

Thus Mohammad, the Seal of the Prophets, was the last Manifestation of God to prophesy the coming of the Eternal Truth because Baha'u'llah, The Spirit of Truth who will lead us to all truth, has come.

Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.

                (John16:13)

There is only one God, so therefore there is only one religion of God. That religion has been called by different names during different eras, much like we designate special names for various days, although the same sun rises each day.

Just as the physical Sun sheds light on the world, the Manifestations of God are the rays of the Spiritual Sun who flood the world with Spiritual Light. We cannot approach the sun. We only know it by its rays, and the Spiritual Sun, God, is only known through the Manifestations He sends. He has made knowledge of the messenger equal to knowledge of Himself. Thus Christ stated, "he that hath seen Me hath seen the Father." ^{(John 14:9)}

When we are in a forest, all we see is trees. We need to view the forest from a distance to see a forest. We are now living in this glorious age, but is will take historians looking back on it to get a glimmer of its significance. The revelation of God is transforming the World and the evidence of that will be realized in the future.

When a mother gives birth, there is pain and turmoil, but when the baby is placed in her arms it is all forgotten.

LXI. The world is in travail, and its agitation waxeth day by day. Its face is turned towards waywardness and unbelief. Such shall be its plight, that to disclose it now would not be meet and seemly. Its perversity will long continue. And when the appointed   hour is come, there shall suddenly appear that which shall cause the limbs of mankind to quake. Then, and only then, will the Divine Standard be unfurled, and the Nightingale of Paradise warble its melody.

(Bahá'u'lláh, Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh, p. 118, 119)

 

Soon a new world will be born, but the new and old cannot coexist, so the old world order will die. We see evidence now as we watch the decay of the political system. At one time a King ruled and none dared to question his authority. Now the political leaders are questioned and doubted at every turn. The element of trust was at one time taken for granted, now trust is at its lowest level. Bahá'u'lláh teaches us that we must be obedient to those in authority. Without respect and obedience the political system will degrade to a state of anarchy.

THE one true God, exalted be His glory, hath ever regarded, and will continue to regard, the hearts of men as His own, His exclusive possession. All else, whether pertaining to land or sea, whether riches or glory, He hath bequeathed unto the kings and rulers of the earth. From the beginning that hath no beginning the ensign proclaiming the words 'He doeth whatsoever He willeth' hath been unfurled in all its splendour before His Manifestation. What mankind needeth in this day is obedience unto them that are in authority, and a faithful adherence to the cord of wisdom. The instruments which are essential to the immediate protection, the security and assurance of the human race have been entrusted to the hands, and lie in the grasp, of the governors of human society. This is the wish of God and His decree....

                (Bahá'u'lláh, The Proclamation of Bahá'u'lláh, p. 13, 14)

For 6,000 years man has tried to do things his own way, and there have been wars and rumors of war. Each person has an opinion and a belief and each is willing to kill to eliminate those who disagree. Peace by force has not worked. The war to end all wars only led to more war. It is time to try God's way.  It is time to try peace.

I would love to hear your opinion. Please leave a comment.

He that is not against us is for us

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)

I was just watching a very painful addition of a talk show on Baha’i vs. Christianity. I thought that I would leave some comments when I was finished, but there was a note that comments had been closed for this video. Apparently someone does not want the truth to get out.

It reminded me of accounts I had read about the days of Jesus. He would bring forth proofs and arguments to the learned scholars of the day, and they would reject everything He said because it was not in agreement with their knowledge. Yet the principles of Jesus were so simple that an uneducated fisherman could immediately pick them up.

When Jesus heard it, he saith unto them, They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.

               (Mark 2:17)

Many will tell me that self righteous is what is inferred by the above passage, but if I think I am righteous, is that not being self righteous? And so it is with those who believe they are righteous. No amount of proof can make them change their view. And since they are right everyone else must be wrong.

When confronted with the fact that not all Christians were in agreement with the Christian scholar on the talk show he would brush it off with, “We don’t consider them Christians.” When you are right, you are right and if Jesus Himself comes to you with evidence to the contrary, you will not change. That is why I don’t want to be right. I prefer to learn the Truth.

I find with many devout believers in any sect or religion that it is more important for them to be right than it is for them to know the Truth. They will get angry, deny, and refute any argument that is contrary to their beliefs even to the point that they will crucify One that goes against what they believe.

So how does the ordinary person decide which way to follow? Do we accept a view were only scholars can interpret the Word of God for us? Or do we simply hear His voice and follow Him into the one unified fold?

Those who want division will try to prevent the coming together of the sheep. They will raise all kinds of arguments so that they themselves become the shepherd of a few. Many are these wolves in sheep’s clothing who try to cause division and hatred. They want all others to be destroyed. This is their belief in Unity. Death to all who disagree.

But this is not the Way of God for this day. Today we turn the other cheek. Today we are tolerant and understanding. Today we realize that we do not have all the answers and that we can learn much from entertaining the views of others.

And Jesus said unto him, “Forbid him not: for he that is not against us is for us.”

(Luke 9:50)

Just because someone doesn’t follow in the same way I do does not make them wrong. If they are doing good works and following the One True God, it is not for me to forbid them or tell them that they are wrong. The straight and narrow path leads from each of us straight to salvation. The route that path takes depends on the starting point, which is the point we are at now. When I fix my gaze on my destination and progress toward the light, I do not have time to veer off and try to guide you. I only urge you to focus on your goal and tread your strait path. I don’t know what obstacles or distractions you will encounter, because as soon as I focus on you I have lost my own focus and I veer off the strait and narrow path.

Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.

(Matthew 7:14)

Many are the distracters.  They will dispute with us and try to get us angry. They are looking for a fight and, if we give in to their devises we have already lost. I think we all know that the purpose of these talk shows is to try to get a fight going because that is considered entertainment. I am not sure of the wisdom of Baha’is going on such shows, but I have to admit that the two Baha’is on the show I saw exercised a lot of self control. I am not providing a link to it because I feel it is one sided and not conducive to unity and peace. However, if you do come across such a show, be aware that even Christ could not change the mind of the religious leaders of His day, nor was Bahá’u’lláh successful in influencing the majority of the leaders of Islam. It is not our goal to change the minds of the righteous. Let us be content to humbly show the sinners the True Path. No, we will not even lead them there. We will simply introduce them to the Shepherd and He will be their guide. When they fall we will help them get back up. Perhaps when we fall they will do the same for us. We will teach them about the Source of Knowledge and He will give them True Knowledge. We are all progressing to the same point and all have similar challenges. Perhaps together we can make it. Not one insisting his way is correct and attempting to bully everyone else into following himself. No. We all follow the same Way and help each other overcome the obstacles that get in our way.

Sowing Peace fourth event and encounter with rope walkers.

Another Successful event last night.  Five of us gathered and two more came later. The topic, “is religion the cause or cure of the World’s Ailments” was discussed and the conclusion was that it is the cure. This is not surprising because all who attended are Baha’is, but we also talked about why some may think of religion as a cause of the world’s ailments.

Rope Walkers:

When we finished I saw a couple of young men walking on what appeared to be a rope suspended between two trees. I had to go have a closer look to see how they did it. It turned out that they were using belts that are used for climbing and had a bit of a stretching component to them. They graciously told me about their efforts and that the one gentleman had just learned how to do this on that same day. Now that I had expressed interest in what they were doing, they were also curious about the meeting that was taking place in the pavilion. I explained a bit to them about the Sowing Peace Initiative and left them with cards. They said that they would definitely check out my web site and my blog.

I will take this opportunity to express my thanks to you two fine gentlemen for taking an interest in my initiative. Feel free to leave a comment. If you use anonymous you don’t have to be logged in to any system. I also applaud you in your efforts. It is good to see young people involved in physical activities instead of sitting behind a computer playing games all day. If you want to participate in any future Sowing Peace events, they will be listed on www.sowingpeace.ca when plans are made. We could also have you demonstrate your rope walking to our other participants. Email me at george@sowingpeace.ca if you are interested.

Addition vs Subtraction

One and One is Two

Addition vs Subtraction

Additions argument:

I just love addition and I do not want to see it corrupted by subtraction. We all know from the very beginning of addition that one plus one is two. Now subtraction wants to confuse the issue by saying one minus one is zero. Tell subtraction to get a life. What good is zero? What do we do when there is nothing left? With addition we will always have more. Whatever we have we can add to it and get more. There is power in addition, but subtraction wants to take that away. If you love addition you will not allow subtraction make a negative impression on you. And if subtraction does take hold, what’s next? Multiplication, division or perhaps even fractions; we don’t need these. Addition serves all our needs. It gives and never takes away. Don’t let our pure methods of addition get corrupted with these new age ideas.

Subtractions argument:

Addition is good, but it doesn’t do everything. Addition is getting, but if we keep adding and never taking away, we will become bogged down in materialism.  Subtraction is giving and sharing. If I have ten apples and give five away, I still have five. Addition can’t do that. Without subtraction there would be no room for addition. Our storage facilities would be full and we would starve to death. Subtraction is necessary for live. If we have ten apples and we eat one, we have just subtracted. Yes, with addition we can get all we need, but we can’t use it without subtraction. If the additionalist would examine the principles of addition they would see it was just a first step leading to subtraction and beyond. Yes it will progress to multiplication, division and even fractions, but this is a fulfilment of addition and not a corruption.

It is plain to see that the Divine Teachers teach us what we are capable of learning at the time, but if we reject the Divine teachings of the present because they introduce new ideas that we are not familiar with and were not taught in the past, we lose big time. The new teachings do not negate the teachings of the past, but they add to it. It is not a denial of the past but a fulfillment of it. When we close our minds to the new ideas, we become handicap and the old ideas will no longer work for us. If we don’t learn to subtract, addition will lose its power and be of no use to us.

Moses brought the revelation of God to humanity in His age. He brought social and spiritual laws to help us live. Among them was the law of the Sabbath that was designed to give us humans a break and a day of rest. By the time Jesus appeared the followers of Moses had interpreted the law in such a manner that people became slaves to the law. Moses led the people out of slavery and Jesus found them in a new kind of slavery.

When Jesus introduced new spiritual and social concepts, He was rejected by the majority of the followers of Moses. When He explained that the law was made for man and not that man was made for the law, He was accused of blasphemy and corrupting the law of God. Have the followers of Jesus suffered for accepting His teachings. No, they went on to found great governments and establish kingdoms on earth. They did not reject the teachings of Moses, but added the teachings of Jesus to them. Many more became acquainted with the teachings of Moses through the efforts of the Christians and there was no harm whatsoever done to the law of Moses.

Again humanity progressed and became in need of new ideas and teachings. The people of the Arabic area were nomadic tribes living in a constant state of war. God sent Mohammad and the tribes were united into a great nation. The Muslim universities became renown over the world and even many Christian leaders were educated in these Muslim institutions. If you doubt the advantages of these new ideas, try balancing your bank account or filing your tax return using roman numerals. Our present number system and mathematics is an outcome of Muslim educational techniques.

Over the last few hundred years we have seen the world increasingly being ravaged by war. Each nation wanting to protect its way of life would rise up against anyone perceived to be a threat to its ideals.  Politics, religion and materialism all contributed to the greed of expanding territories and defeating the enemy. Christ’s injunction to “love your enemies” was forgotten as even one Christian ideology would rise up in war against another. At such a time, God’s twin Messengers, the Báb and Bahá’u’lláh came with a message of love and unity.  Bahá’u’lláh annulled the rule of the sword and replaced it with the power of utterance. He says;

Know thou that We have annulled the rule of the sword, as an aid to Our Cause, and substituted for it the power born of the utterance of men. Thus have We irrevocably decreed, by virtue of Our grace. Say: O people! Sow not the seeds of discord among men, and refrain from contending with your neighbor, for your Lord hath committed the world and the cities thereof to the care of the kings of the earth, and made them the emblems of His own power, by virtue of the sovereignty He hath chosen to bestow upon them. He hath refused to reserve for Himself any share whatever of this world's dominion. To this He Who is Himself the Eternal Truth will testify. The things He hath reserved for Himself are the cities of men's hearts, that He may cleanse them from all earthly defilements, and enable them to draw nigh unto the hallowed Spot which the hands of the infidel can never profane. Open, O people, the city of the human heart with the key of your utterance. Thus have We, according to a pre-ordained measure, prescribed unto you your duty.

   (Baha'u'llah, Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah, p. 303, 304)

We see in the past how, despite insurmountable odds and extreme opposition, the law of God was established and human society was advanced. We also see that, without these new ideas, human society was doomed and its destruction would have resulted. Now, more than ever we see the destruction of the human race looming on one side while the revelation of God is rushing in on the other to save it. The world is waiting for the life giving Message that has been entrusted to those faithful followers who have recognized it. The veils must be rent asunder, the clouds dispersed and the hearts unlocked so the revelation of Glory may shine with its life giving rays on all of humanity.

Yes; many problems can be solved with addition, but we need subtraction, multiplication, division and many other aspects to solve all the problems. Even so, the past revelation of God was good and sufficient to solve the problems of the Day in which it was revealed, to solve the problems of today we need the current revelation of God and we must learn the rules and conditions of the future world order which is currently being established.

Read and Study the Words of Christ:

Read and Study the Words of Christ:

Here is a challenge for those who follow Christ. Read and study His Words. There are some, maybe many, who are afraid to look at the Words of Jesus. They will study the letters of the apostles. They will have classes based on books written on Christian subjects. But they will not have any course of Study that focuses on the Words of Jesus. They may, from time to time, refer to a verse from the words of Jesus to back up something that they were studying from another point of view, but I don’t see the focus being on the divinely revealed Words of Jesus. Perhaps I am totally wrong and I would love for someone to disprove me.

I don’t go to church often, but today I decided to sit in on the study session for a while. Apparently the last 6 weeks they had been studying a passage from a book that dealt with how to worship. While others were discussing what they had learned, I was asked to read a portion from the start of the first chapter they had studied to an elderly lady who had also missed the earlier sessions. The author began the chapter by stating that it was apparent from the bible that the first duty of a Christian was to minister unto God. Okay, I now would like to know what Biblical passages she felt would infer such an emphatic statement, but she only continued to emphasise the importance, without reference to any book, of ministering unto God. Eventually she referred to Genesis 1:1 to explain how God had conferred with Holy Spirit before creating the World. Genesis 1:1 states; “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” This made the whole subject about as clear as mud to me, and the elderly lady I was reading to told me how she couldn’t understand anything that had recently been preached in the church, even going back to the previous minister’s messages. So I put down the pages I had been handed and turned to the Gospel of Matthew where I read; “Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.” ^{(Matthew 5: 3, 4)} “That,” my elderly friend said, “I can understand.”

In defence of Paul

I often get accused of Paul bashing because I don’t believe that the words of Paul are equal in authority to the Words of Christ. Paul was a very wise man and the letters he wrote to the early believers was an invaluable resource that is still used today. We need not ignore what Paul said, but it needs to be put into perspective. Those who rely almost exclusively on the words of Paul for guidance will point me to the following passage from a Prayer of Christ revealed shortly before His Crucifixion. He was praying for the apostles who would be carrying on His work after He had left this earthly existence.

“Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word;” ^{(John 17:20)}

This, they feel, shows that Christ conveyed the full authority of His Word on the Apostles and therefore their words are equal in authority to His own. To me I simply see that He was inferring that the apostles would carry on His work and bring His Word to others. Thus, through the words of the apostles many would be led to believe in the Words of Christ.

Another passage I often have referred to me to is from the writings of Paul.

“All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:” ^{(Timothy 3:16)}

This alarms me more than anything else in that they take this, and all of Paul’s writings, as Scripture. This is where I must stand up in Paul’s defense as I would hope someone in the future would stand up for me if ever, God Forbid, something I had written was taken as scripture. Okay; analyse this. Do you think for one moment that when Paul wrote this letter to his friend and colleague that he believed he was writing scripture? I think that if Paul even had an inkling of how his words would be used in the future he would never had written a thing. We can be glad that he did write because his advice and wisdom was and is often very valuable. Paul’s love and reverence for the Lord Jesus Christ would never allow him to assert himself over his beloved and Paul never considered his authority equal to his Lord’s.

Back To the Challenge:

Can you handle the Truth? What Jesus revealed was Truth. It was stated in the simplest terms so even the uneducated could understand it. It is clear. It is not debateable. It is Truth. To some this pure unadulterated form of Truth is too alarming to accept. Of course that’s not you or I, but we likely know someone who can’t handle the Truth.

So if this is the Truth, why is there such a reluctance to focus on it? Why do we feel the need to study the way Jane, Dick or Harry interpreted the Truth when we already have the Truth set before us? Why do we feel we need to complicate the simple Truth with the words of philosophers and wise men who mix their own ideas in with the simple Truth? This is beyond me.

Beyond Christianity:

I take this challenge beyond Christianity to all religions. I challenge everyone to turn to the writings and sayings of the prophet that each one believes in. There is only one God and only one religion which God has revealed to us through various prophets. The purpose of God’s Religion is to unite His people in love and harmony. Thus Jesus tells us; “A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.” ^{(John 13:34, 35)} If we find someone claiming to be a disciple of Christ and they are filled with hate, we can remind them of this verse.

God spoke through Moses in the following way: “Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the LORD.” ^{(Leviticus 19:18)} If we find someone of the Jewish persuasion that is bent on hatred and killing, we can remind him of this verse.

In the Qur'an it is revealed: “It is not righteousness that ye turn your faces to the East and the West; but righteous is he who believeth in Allah and the Last Day and the angels and the Scripture and the prophets; and giveth wealth, for love of Him, to kinsfolk and to orphans and the needy and the wayfarer and to those who ask, and to set slaves free; and observeth proper worship and payeth the poor-due. And those who keep their treaty when they make one, and the patient in tribulation and adversity and time of stress. Such are they who are sincere. Such are the God-fearing.” ^{(The Qur'an (Pickthall tr), Sura   2 - The Cow vs 177)} In other words Love one another. Be Kind. Be generous. Love.

Now for the Baha’is the challenge is even greater. Being in the early days of the Faith, there is much persecution in various parts of the world, and it will come here when religionist begin to perceive us as a threat. Yet we are commanded to love even our enemies.

In this wondrous age, however, praised be God, the commandments of God are not delimited, not restricted to any one group of people, rather have all the friends been commanded to show forth fellowship and love, consideration and generosity and loving-kindness to every community on earth. Now must the lovers of God arise to carry out these instructions of His: let them be kindly fathers to the children of the human race, and compassionate brothers to the youth, and self-denying offspring to those bent with years. The meaning of this is that ye must show forth tenderness and love to every human being, even to your enemies, and welcome them all with unalloyed friendship, good cheer, and loving-kindness. When ye meet with cruelty and persecution at another's hands, keep faith with him; when malevolence is directed your way, respond with a friendly heart. To the spears and arrows rained upon you, expose your breasts for a target mirror-bright; and in return for curses, taunts and wounding words, show forth abounding love. Thus will all peoples witness the power of the Most Great Name, and every nation acknowledge the might of the Ancient Beauty, and see how He hath toppled down the walls of discord, and how surely He hath guided all the peoples of the earth to oneness; how He hath lit man's world, and made this earth of dust to send forth streams of light. ^{(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Selections from the Writings of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, p. 20)}

Alas: If any of us have even the least trace of hatred in our hearts, we must be reminded of the command to love.

Never speak disparagingly of others, but praise without distinction. Pollute not your tongues by speaking evil of another. Recognize your enemies as friends, and consider those who wish you evil as the wishers of good. You must not see evil as evil and then compromise with your opinion, for to treat in a smooth, kindly way one whom you consider evil or an enemy is hypocrisy, and this is not worthy or allowable. You must consider your enemies as your friends, look upon your evil-wishers as your well-wishers and treat them accordingly. Act in such a way that your heart may be free from hatred. Let not your heart be offended with anyone. If some one commits an error and wrong toward you, you must instantly forgive him. Do not complain of others. Refrain from reprimanding them, and if you wish to give admonition or advice, let it be offered in such a way that it will not burden the bearer. Turn all your thoughts toward bringing joy to hearts. Beware! Beware! lest ye offend any heart. Assist the world of humanity as much as possible. Be the source of consolation to every sad one, assist every weak one, be helpful to every indigent one, care for every sick one, be the cause of glorification to every lowly one, and shelter those who are overshadowed by fear. ^{(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, The Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 453)}

So the Ancient Faith of God has been renewed once more. When you are familiar with the voice of Christ, Moses or Muhammad, you will recognize that voice once more in the following.

CX. The Great Being saith: O ye children of men! The fundamental purpose animating the Faith of God and His Religion is to safeguard the interests and promote the unity of the human race, and to foster the spirit of love and fellowship amongst men. Suffer it not to become a source of dissension and discord, of hate and enmity. This is the straight Path, the fixed and immovable foundation. Whatsoever is raised on this foundation, the changes and chances of the world can never impair its strength, nor will the revolution of countless centuries undermine its structure. Our hope is that the world's religious leaders and the rulers thereof will unitedly arise for the reformation of this age and the rehabilitation of its fortunes. Let them, after meditating on its needs, take counsel together and, through anxious and full deliberation, administer to a diseased and sorely-afflicted world the remedy it requireth.... It is incumbent upon them who are in authority to exercise moderation in all things. Whatsoever passeth beyond the limits of moderation will cease to exert a beneficial influence. Consider for instance such things as liberty, civilization and the like. However much men of understanding may favorably regard them, they will, if carried to excess, exercise a pernicious influence upon men.... Please God, the peoples of the world may be led, as the result of the high endeavors exerted by their rulers and the wise and learned amongst men, to recognize their best interests. How long will humanity persist in its waywardness? How long will injustice continue? How long is chaos and confusion to reign amongst men? How long will discord agitate the face of society?... The winds of despair are, alas, blowing from every direction, and the strife that divideth and afflicteth the human race is daily increasing. The signs of impending convulsions and chaos can now be discerned, inasmuch as the prevailing order appeareth to be lamentably defective. I beseech God, exalted be His glory, that He may graciously awaken the peoples of the earth, may grant that the end of their conduct may be profitable unto them, and aid them to accomplish that which beseemeth their station. ^{(Bahá’u’lláh, Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh, p. 215 - 217)}

God has always commanded us to love. He has always desired unity and well being for His people. Yet we have warred, hated and killed one another. Let us try peace and see if we like it. If it is not acceptable, we can always go back to the old way of war.

During the last six thousand years nations have hated one another, it is now time to stop. War must cease. Let us be united and love one another and await the result. We know the effects of war are bad. So let us try, as an experiment, peace, and if the results of peace are bad, then we can choose if it would be better to go back to the old state of war! Let us in any case make the experiment. If we see that unity brings Light we shall continue it. For six thousand years we have been walking on the left-hand path; let us walk on the right-hand path now. We have passed many centuries in darkness, let us advance towards the light. ^{(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in London, p. 61, 62)}

The Fundamental Principles of Religion

In thine esteemed letter thou hadst inquired which of the Prophets of God should be regarded as superior to others. Know thou assuredly that the essence of all the Prophets of God is one and the same. Their unity is absolute. God, the Creator, saith: There is no distinction whatsoever among the Bearers of My Message. They all have but one purpose; their secret is the same secret. To prefer one in honor to another, to exalt certain ones above the rest, is in no wise to be permitted. Every true Prophet hath regarded His Message as fundamentally the same as the Revelation of every other Prophet gone before Him. If any man, therefore, should fail to comprehend this truth, and should consequently indulge in vain and unseemly language, no one whose sight is keen and whose understanding is enlightened would ever allow such idle talk to cause him to waver in his belief. (Baha'u'llah, Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah, p. 78, 79)

A few days ago I heard a pastor on the radio talk about the nature of religion. He said there was a belief that all religions were fundamentally the same but superficially different. He disagreed. In his estimation, all religions are superficially the same but fundamentally different. He went on to explain that there were some who did not accept the physical crucifixion of Jesus. This he held to be a fundamental principle. At this point I stopped listening but went on analysing and it struck me that this was the reason for war.

You see that although all religions teach love for God and love for one another, according to this pastor that is only a superficial belief and can be ignored, but the physical nature of Jesus must be believed one hundred percent because that was a fundamental principal of his religion. So if he were to meet someone that accepted every teaching of Christ, believed that Christ was the Manifestation of God and that we must adhere to every principal that Christ proclaimed, but that person did not agree with him as to the smallest detail of the physical nature of Jesus, this person should be regarded as an enemy and an infidel and therefore we should hate him, war with him and even kill him. This even though Christ said; “Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.” (Matthew 5:43-45)

My belief is that religion is fundamentally spiritual and in the spiritual aspects all true religion is the same. I believe that God, who is All Powerful, has sent Messengers to us throughout history. These messengers were Manifestations of Himself in much the same way as the sun becomes manifest in the mirror that is directed towards it. These pure and sanctified Mirrors revealed God to us to the extent that we were capable of understanding. As our understanding grows, He sends New Messengers that reveal more to us. The only problem with my belief is that it leaves no excuse for war, so no war mongering hateful person could accept what I believe.

Jesus taught Love. He said; “A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.” (John 13:34-35) You judge if this is a fundamental principle of Christ or if it should be treated as superficial.

John questions Jesus; “Master, we saw one casting out devils in thy name; and we forbad him, because he followeth not with us.” (Luke 9:49)

Jesus answered; “Forbid him not: for he that is not against us is for us.” (Luke 9: 50)

Does this sound like we should hate everyone who doesn’t follow what we believe. Throughout the New Testament the boastful self righteous are rebuked while the humble sinner is forgiven and praised.

Here is an account of a parable told by Jesus:

And he spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others: Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess. And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner. I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted. (Luke 18: 9-14)

It is extremely important that we seek truth for ourselves. Many will twist the truth so they can persuade you toward their own believe. Some well meaning souls may not even be aware they are doing it, but even the Devil quoted scripture when he tried to temp Jesus.

O SON OF BEING!

Bring thyself to account each day ere thou art summoned to a reckoning; for death, unheralded, shall come upon thee and thou shalt be called to give account for thy deeds. (Baha'u'llah, The Arabic Hidden Words #31)

Yes we must always be on guard that we do not fall victim to our own lusts and desires. What are our motivations for what we do? I must internalize this even more and say, “I must always be on guard,” for if I point a finger at you I find I have three pointed back at me and anything I urge you to do I must put three times the effort into urging myself. We live in a wonderfully glorious new day and although it is such an honour to be chosen to live in this day, it is also very humbling. We see the magnificence of God’s power, His grace and His forgiveness. We seem so small and insignificant, yet we are called upon to do a great work. How can we accomplish this? Surely not by our own efforts, but only by allowing ourselves to be selfless channels through which God’s power can flow.

This is where I get stuck. How do I do this? How do I get my ego out of the way so God can work through me? I must bounce my ideas off of others. I must study with them and discover with them the ways of God. In this way we can help others as we help ourselves grow ever closer to God.

Naturally your comments are welcome. I have only presented my own personal view, as imperfect as it is, and I welcome your thoughts and ideas which will make it more complete.