Contact With Baha'is and the Baha'i Faith

[RonPrice]

I read with interest the thread here at Catholic Answers Forums in relation to the Baha’i Faith. I would encourage those who want to follow-up on their interest in this new world religion to go to the official international Baha’i website at: bahai.org. It has more information than “you can shake a stick at,” as they say. I have been a Baha’i for 52 years(in 2011).-Ron Price, Tasmania:thumbsup:

 

[Catholic90]

It is not a Christian religion, since Bahais do not believe Jesus was the Son of God, which He was. Bahais believe Jesus was “just a messenger”, not God.

Therefore, it is a false religion, not teaching the fullness of truth.

My son had to attend a Bahai gathering (“service”) for his comparative religion class. He came home from that just shaking his head.

 

[cjforJesus]

It is not a Christian religion, since Bahais do not believe Jesus was the Son of God, which He was. Bahais believe Jesus was “just a messenger”, not God.

Therefore, it is a false religion, not teaching the fullness of truth.

My son had to attend a Bahai gathering (“service”) for his comparative religion class. He came home from that just shaking his head.

I agree with you 100%.They deny the divinity of Jesus Christ our Savior.This denial in Jesus’ own words is the spirit of antichrist.

 

[thirddec]

Do not be fooled ; Bahai are just the next stage of Islam; Bahai to Islam is like Christianity is to Judaism. That all you need to know in a nutshell so why bother wasting anymore time with the website.

 

[thirddec]

well the original Christians were Jews who found the Messiah and became separated by this from their Jewish brothers and sisters. The Bahai leader was a muslim who believed he was the returning Christ (messiah) and now the movement is seperated from its Islamic roots and now draws in others as well. At least I see the comparison but maybe others don’t . But I have not delved to deeply tbh

 

[rocknswords]

I read with interest the thread here at Catholic Answers Forums in relation to the Baha’i Faith. I would encourage those who want to follow-up on their interest in this new world religion to go to the official international Baha’i website at: bahai.org. It has more information than “you can shake a stick at,” as they say. I have been a Baha’i for 52 years(in 2011).-Ron Price, Tasmania:thumbsup:

Thank Ron Price,
I’m interesting of knowing your faith, just a curious but thanks for your link. I will come back after reading important questions I have been asked from others. I’m not a Baha’i but interesting to all sorts of faith. Someone had told me that you cannot talk about something unless you know of it.
Regards
Christ is risen let the light of his resurrection be our light, alleluia, alleluia.

 

[xlost6]

I’ve always wanted to know if the religions after Christ were made due to Arian view. Because I’m noticing the religions after Christ are following Arius view and it’s rather ironic…And honestly his view is still being used even in today’s society i.e. Atheism kinda lol

 

[VeritasLuxMea]

I’ve met a few of these people and they seem nice enough. I don’t know much about them really, but believe they are an Abrahamic religion with their own messiah (Judaism, Christianity, Islam).

Their messiah was here relatively recently, too, I think. I don’t know how to spell his name.

 

[AveChriste11]

Catholic90 & cjforJesus,

As an ex-Baha’i myself… I can say that their belief in regards to Jesus is different from the traditional Islamic belief. They believe that Jesus was a Manifestation of God, as were all of the prophets… eternally ONE with their Maker. Mirza Husayn Ali Nuri (otherwise known as Baha’u’llah) read the Christian scriptures and sought to reconcile Christian belief in the divinity of Jesus with the teachings of Islam.

I’ve come to understand the Baha’i Faith to be a smorgasbord of several different philosophies. One can also find their beliefs on the afterlife comparable to Zoroastrian ideas.

However as you guys noticed, they don’t believe in Jesus the way we do. They don’t adhere to the definition of the Nicene Creed, and use sweeping allegory to explain away most of the very exclusive verses we use to defend our faith from the Bible. As a product of the 19th century, and the tendency to see religious ideas as “myths”… I would say that was a product of the times.

 

[arthra]

It is not a Christian religion, since Bahais do not believe Jesus was the Son of God, which He was. Bahais believe Jesus was “just a messenger”, not God.

Therefore, it is a false religion, not teaching the fullness of truth.

My son had to attend a Bahai gathering (“service”) for his comparative religion class. He came home from that just shaking his head.

I usually only post here on this Forum when questions or issues are raised about Baha’i Faith … I’m not here to convert anyone to my religion but only when there is say a matter of accuracy when discussing Baha’i Faith…

So in response to the quote above I reply as follows:

It’s true Baha’is don’t claim to be Christians… but I would say we accept that the station of Jesus was “Son of God” as a spiritual station rather than say a literal one. And yes … Baha’is do not believe Jesus was God but perfectly reflected the attributes of God. We would not say that Jesus was “just” a Messenger of God but rather a Manifestation of God…this means He had innate knowledge and needed no schooling in theology or other learning to be what He was…

It’s also true as AveChristie11 wrote that Baha’is do not recite the Nicene Creed as we are not Christians.

AveChristie11 wrote:

“They believe that Jesus was a Manifestation of God, as were all of the prophets… eternally ONE with their Maker. Mirza Husayn Ali Nuri (otherwise known as Baha’u’llah) read the Christian scriptures and sought to reconcile Christian belief in the divinity of Jesus with the teachings of Islam.”

Baha’is accept that there are really two types of Prophets or Messengers … The Independent and the Dependent:

*Universally, the Prophets are of two kinds. One are the independent Prophets Who are followed; the other kind are not independent and are themselves followers.

The independent Prophets are the lawgivers and the founders of a new cycle. Through Their appearance the world puts on a new garment, the foundations of religion are established, and a new book is revealed. Without an intermediary They receive bounty from the Reality of the Divinity, and Their illumination is an essential illumination. They are like the sun which is luminous in itself: the light is its essential necessity; it does not receive light from any other star. These Dawning-places of the morn of Unity are the sources of bounty and the mirrors of the Essence of Reality.

The other Prophets are followers and promoters, for they are branches and not independent; they receive the bounty of the independent Prophets, and they profit by the light of the Guidance of the universal Prophets. They are like the moon, which is not luminous and radiant in itself, but receives its light from the sun.

The Manifestations of universal Prophethood Who appeared independently are, for example, Abraham, Moses, Christ, Muhammad, the Báb and Bahá’u’lláh. But the others who are followers and promoters are like Solomon, David, Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel. For the independent Prophets are founders; They establish a new religion and make new creatures of men; They change the general morals, promote new customs and rules, renew the cycle and the Law. Their appearance is like the season of spring, which arrays all earthly beings in a new garment, and gives them a new life.

With regard to the second sort of Prophets who are followers, these also promote the Law of God, make known the Religion of God, and proclaim His word. Of themselves they have no power and might, except what they receive from the independent Prophets.*

~ Abdu’l-Baha, Some Answered Questions, p. 164

 

[Sam_777]

I would encourage those who want to follow-up on their interest in this new world religion to go to the official international Baha’i website at: bahai.org.

There are so many men made religions on this earth but only one true Heavenly path to GOD.

We should believe the one who came from Heaven and still there versus the ones who are earthy and dead.

 

[RonPrice]

I read with interest the posts here in the last 7 weeks since my original post in this thread. The issues in many ways can not be sorted out in little boxes on a thread. A thread is just that—a thread—to discuss issues and subjects which have and will fill volumes.

For all of us, including myself, we need to know our religions more than we do. We all need to deal with what you might call “our absolutes”–our convictions–without invoking the wrath of the gods on those who do not share them and will never share them no matter how much writing and talking we do. Enlightened dialogue is essential in our war-torn world.-Ron Price, Australia

 

[sojo]

Hi Ron! I for one appreciate these kinds of posts. Though I am a devout Catholic (converted as an adult from non-practicing Jew married to a then atheist), I have had a lifelong interest in comparative religion and religious art. I believe that is a result of the Holy Spirit calling me and calling me and calling me… and my hardheadedness about religion, especially Christianity (too many icky, forceful run-ins with born-again types along with the Jewish monotheism thing vs. the Trinity), just translated this call as interest in all things religious.

Anyhow, I will take a look at the website. I read some books or chapters in books on Baha’i, but it always seemed very disjointed to me - seemed to change from book to book. One minute it seemed like an Eastern, sort of Islam-light religion, and then other times it seemed very new-age and kind of a layering of many religions. I just could never really wrap my mind around what it was all about.

 

[sojo]

And by the way… I LOVE Tasmania. Been there twice. We stayed in Hobart, but on days off we traveled to that big National Park (forget the name), but it had a giant dam and just the most breathtaking scenery. Stunning part of the world, and some of the nicest people.

 

[RonPrice]

Yes, Tasmania is a beautiful place and it looks like I’ll be laying my bones here one day after living in some 2 dozen towns over nearly 70 years. As far as Baha’i is concerned, the official international Baha’i site at ***baha’i.org ***goes a long way to putting readers and seekers in the picture. Not wanting to reinvent the wheel, so to speak, I leave readers here with that site.-Ron

 

[Vouthon]

Perhaps it will be helpful if people remember how Holy Mother Church expects (nay obliges) us to treat brothers and sisters of other religions when we are speaking to them:

From Vatican II document “Nostra Aetate”:

"…Religions found everywhere try to counter the restlessness of the human heart, each in its own manner, by proposing “ways,” comprising teachings, rules of life, and sacred rites. The Catholic Church rejects nothing that is true and holy in these religions. She regards with sincere reverence those ways of conduct and of life, those precepts and teachings which, though differing in many aspects from the ones she holds and sets forth, nonetheless often reflect a ray of that Truth which enlightens all men…

The Church, therefore, exhorts her sons, that through dialogue and collaboration with the followers of other religions, carried out with prudence and love and in witness to the Christian faith and life, they recognize, preserve and promote the good things, spiritual and moral, as well as the socio-cultural values found among these men…" (Nostra Aetate)

I have seen some Catholics on this thread refer to the Baha’i Faith as a “false religion”, and say other offensive things. Please remember that we are to dialogue with Baha’is and all others in a spirit of love, searching for the GOOD, divinely inspired aspects of the Faith which God through the power of the Holy Spirit and the Mystery of Christ has so determined to place in this religion for the salvation and edification of its followers.

As Blessed John Henry Newman said, “There is something true and divinely revealed in every religion”. Yes - EVERY RELIGION, including the Baha’i Faith.

And Blessed Mother Theresa. In India, an admirer mentioned to her, at one point, that she was a Baha’i. Mother Teresa responded, “I, too, am a Baha’i. And I’m a Muslim, and a Buddhist and a Hindu.”

And no, Blessed Mother Theresa was not being “syncretistic”. She was of course, a Catholic and a better one than half of us could ever hope of being in a billion years, but she was hitting at something much more fundamental.

Now, it might be helpful to know how the Baha’i view US:

“The Guardian agrees with you that the Bahá’ís should be very careful not to criticize or rather attack the [Catholic] Church. As we believe the Church of Rome to be the inheritor, so to speak, of Christ’s teachings, the direct line…it certainly does not befit us to show antagonism towards it…Tact is required!”

(From a letter written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to an individual believer, March 22, 1950)

“A Catholic background is an excellent introduction to the Faith, and one that Mrs. … should feel gratified for having had…the foundation [that] they [the Catholic teachings] lay of spiritual discipline, and their emphasis on spiritual values and adherence to moral laws, is very important and very close to our own beliefs.” (From a letter written on behalf of the Guardian to two believers, August 17, 1941; Compilations, Lights of Guidance, p. 491)

Directives from the Guardian: 107 JESUS (Virgin Birth of)

“With regard to your question concerning the Virgin Birth of Jesus; on this point, as on several others, the Baha’i teachings are in full agreement with the doctrines of the Catholic Church.”

 

[Vouthon]

Read this story, regarding one of the most important Baha’i figures - Abdu’l-Baha the son of Baha’u’llah - about how he proved people wrong who were “anti-catholic”:

"Before my departure, many souls warned me not to travel to Montreal, saying, the majority of the inhabitants are Catholics, and are in the utmost fanaticism, that they are submerged in the sea of imitations, that they have not the capability to hearken to the call of the Kingdom of God, that the veil of bigotry has so covered the eyes that they have deprived themselves from beholding the signs of the most great guidance, and that the dogmas have taken possession of the hearts entirely, leaving no trace of reality. They asserted that should the Sun of Reality shine with perfect splendor throughout that Dominion, the dark, impenetrable clouds of superstitions have 525 so enveloped the horizon that it would be utterly impossible for any one to behold its rays.

“But these stories did not have any effect on the resolution of Abdul Baha. He, trusting in God, turned his face toward Montreal. When he entered that city he observed all the doors open, he found the hearts in the utmost receptivity and the ideal power of the Kingdom of God removing every obstacle and obstruction. In the churches and meetings of that Dominion he called men to the Kingdom of God with the utmost joy, and scattered such seeds which will be irrigated with the hand of Divine Power. Undoubtedly those seeds will grow, becoming green and verdant, and many rich harvests will be gathered. In the promotion of the divine principles he found no antagonist and no adversary. The believers he met in that city were in the utmost spirituality, and attracted with the fragrances of God. He found that through the effort of the maid-servant of God, Mrs. Maxwell, a number of the sons and daughter of the Kingdom in that Dominion were gathered together and associated with each other, increasing this joyous exhilaration day by day. The time of sojourn was limited to a number of days, but the results in the future are inexhaustible. When a farmer comes into the possession of a virgin soil, in a short time he will bring under cultivation a large field. Therefore I hope that in the future Montreal may become so stirred, that the melody of the Kingdom may travel to all parts of the world from that Dominion and the breaths of the Holy Spirit may spread from that center to the East and the West of America.” (Baha’i Scriptures, p. 524)

Abdu’l-Baha taught his disciples a crucial lesson from a Catholic Cathedral:

“The day after His arrival in Montreal 'Abdu’l-Bahá went for a drive, and sighting the magnificent Roman Catholic Church of Notre Dame, He went in. When He came out, standing in the porch, He turned to those who were in His company and told them to take a lesson from that very church. It was the total self-abnegation of the apostles of Christ which had raised that splendorous edifice in a land far, far from the scene of their labours. Those disciples, said 'Abdu’l-Bahá, made a pact to go out into the wide world, preach the Gospel, and accept every tribulation for the sake of their Master. They stood by their pledge, and not a single one of them ever returned. And there beside them, He told that company, stood the concrete evidence of the selfless efforts of the disciples of Christ. Some years before, when perils surrounded Him on all sides, 'Abdu’l-Bahá had written in His Will and Testament:”

(H.M. Balyuzi, Abdu’l-Baha - The Centre of the Covenant, p. 259)

 

[Mirza19]

Anyhow, I will take a look at the website. I read some books or chapters in books on Baha’i, but it always seemed very disjointed to me - seemed to change from book to book. One minute it seemed like an Eastern, sort of Islam-light religion, and then other times it seemed very new-age and kind of a layering of many religions. I just could never really wrap my mind around what it was all about.

I’m a religious studies major academically, and I share your perplexities. Non-Bahá’ís don’t understand the Faith all that well, for various reasons. Most people open to learning about other faiths only want a brief synopsis, not an in-depth analysis. Sadly it’s hard to express our central theology (the Manifestation and Progressive Revelation) without sounding like we’re New Age wackos that believe everyone is equally right. We don’t. It’s kind of like a Protestant curious about Catholicism attending one service and deciding it’s all a bunch of man-made, extra-Biblical rules that seek salvation through the Pope (and I have quite a few Protestant friends that sadly believe that).

I think a good introduction to those of a Christian background is In the Glory of the Father by Brian D. Lepard. As a convert to the Faith from Evangelical Christianity, I definitly think it’s the best introduction.

Anyway, just to clear up a few misconceptions I’ve seen here and elsewhere, the Bahá’ís are not relativists. We believe religion evolves just as language, culture, and man evolves. We believe the Bahá’í Faith holds the most complete expression of Truth at this time, but that select former religions also hold some degree of Truth, such as Islam and Christianity. “Salvation,” in a sense, comes through a genuine conversion of the heart to Faith in God’s Manifesation and His life, attested to by gaining spiritual maturity, a desire to live as God wants us to, and acting with love.

We don’t believe Jesus is God’s essence incarnate, but Jesus is God’s Will incarnate. We don’t believe the “logos” has an essence, but is an embodiment of all of God’s attributes and Will. We believe Jesus has both a Human will and a Divine will. We believe he lived a sinless life, and we believe his death on the Cross held redemptive purpose. We believe he was the Promised Messiah to Judaism. However, we don’t believe the New Testament is literally inerrent; we believe that, as a whole, it is profitable for spiritual growth and teaching, but that the message is spiritual, not historical.

And while we worship God as One in totality, we accept that the Bible reveals some sort of “disctinction” in this oneness. We would never say that we worship a single God divided into three parts, but we don’t believe the Trinity is completely wrong. We think it is an attempt to understand the division presented in the Bible. As Bahá’ís we believe in God and the Holy Spirit. The metaphor Abdu’l-Bahá used was like a sun and a mirror. God is the sun; its rays are the Holy Spirit; and the Mirror is the Manifestation. The Holy Spirit flows from God to the Manifestation, empowering Him and allowing Him to represent God on Earth. We Worship God through the Manifestation. And we, too, are mirrors, although imperfect.

(sources: Some Answered Questions under the section “Christian subjects”, *Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh *34, 36, and the Kitab-I-Iqán, part I)

–

 

[Kathryn_Ann]

It is not a Christian religion, since Bahais do not believe Jesus was the Son of God, which He was. Bahais believe Jesus was “just a messenger”, not God.

Therefore, it is a false religion, not teaching the fullness of truth.

My son had to attend a Bahai gathering (“service”) for his comparative religion class. He came home from that just shaking his head.

Amen. Just one of many false religions.

 

[arabic_catholic]

I respect every one choice

and since Bahai comes out from another False religion (Islam ) that’s explain a lot to me

God Bless