Interesting belief

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Has anyone ever explored this. It is called the Bahá’í Faith. They believe that every religious prophet (i.e. Jesus, Mohammed, etc.) is just God’s way of showing His presence to the world.

Please research and discuss.
Thanks!
 
coolcatholicguy said:
Has anyone ever explored this. It is called the Bahá’í Faith. They believe that every religious prophet (i.e. Jesus, Mohammed, etc.) is just God’s way of showing His presence to the world.

Please research and discuss.
Thanks!
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One must take care of wolves in sheep clothing and so called, and falsely so, ‘angels of light’, IMO.
 
Remember C.S. Lewis: Jesus was either a liar, a lunatic, or the Lord.

Jesus claimed to be God, so he was either a lying, crazy, or correct.
 
frindro said:
Remember C.S. Lewis: Jesus was either a liar, a lunatic, or the Lord.

Jesus claimed to be God, so he was either a lying, crazy, or correct.
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To be precise - the evangelists, John in particular, claimed Jesus to be “God”, so they were lying, crazy, uncorrectly quoting, speaking in mystical riddles, greatly exaggerating, …

You should forget C.S.Lewis, he has not only written very bad fantasy but also very bad theology, lacking any sound logic.
 
Either “no man comes to the Father but by me” or not. It is impossible for the Christian religion to be true in every respect and others to also be equally true in every respect. You can not synthesize multiple religions without scrapping parts. Nothing to see here…
 
Many Eastern religions attempt some form of this “absorb and engulf” approach to other cultures and beliefs that they encounter.

But if Buddha (forgive my ignorance here) speaks of reincarnation and Jesus speaks of resurrection and then judgement, then both CAN’T be right. People often have a hard time simply dismissing Jesus when they meet him. He has that effect on people. The “just another prophet” approach is merely a strategy for avoiding the tricky issue of confronting who Jesus really IS.

(just like waving away all his troublesome claims with attacks on the integrity of his apostles…:p)
 
AnAtheist said:
To be precise - the evangelists, John in particular, claimed Jesus to be “God”, so they were lying, crazy, uncorrectly quoting, speaking in mystical riddles, greatly exaggerating, …

You should forget C.S.Lewis, he has not only written very bad fantasy but also very bad theology, lacking any sound logic.
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That’s a pretty serious allegation. What evidence do you have that the evangelists, John in particular as you note, were making stuff up?
 
AnAtheist said:
To be precise - the evangelists, John in particular, claimed Jesus to be “God”, so they were lying, crazy, uncorrectly quoting, speaking in mystical riddles, greatly exaggerating, …

You should forget C.S.Lewis, he has not only written very bad fantasy but also very bad theology, lacking any sound logic.
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I wouldn’t say that he lacked sound logic :hypno:
 
the Baha’i Faith originated within Shia Islam, and claims that its founder, Baha’u’llah, is the lastest “manifestation of God” to appear on earth, along with previous manifestations who have included Krishna, Zoroaster, Moses, the Buddha, Christ Jesus, and Mohammad.

they propegate values such as peace, tolerance, unity, and education, and are very evangelistic in their outreach.

obviously, only Christ is God in flesh. not simply one “manifestation” among many, and certainly not on par with the Buddha, or Mohammad. He is God in flesh, Saviour, and Lord.

He is the only way to the Father, and He was crucified as is risen from the dead.

the Baha’is affirm His crucifixion but deny His bodily resurrection, claiming instead that the resurrection was of a “spiritual” and not a corpereal nature. they also affirm that God truly did send Mohammad, which is not something attested to in Christian faith. Mohammad may have been sincere and pious, but he was certainly not guided by the same God whom Christians call “Father”.

the Baha’i Faith also denies the trinity, denies the second coming of Christ (except in the context of Baha’u’llah being the second coming of Christ), and seeks to unite all mankind within its parameters. in a way it is both universalist and triumphalist, and does have many redeeming and admirable points. but it is not a faith inspired by God, or capable of leading a person to Him.
 
Nine_Two said:
That’s a pretty serious allegation. What evidence do you have that the evangelists, John in particular as you note, were making stuff up?
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Because the storyline follows the usual pattern of a myth. (And I wouldn’t say that a myth is the same as “making stuff up”.) See for example Lord Raglan; The Hero, A Study in Tradition, Myth and Drama; London 1936.

But that is not the point. Lewis is making the same error as Pascal with his stupid wager, both are constructing a false dilemma because they omit quite obvious alternatives in their argument.
 
Good thing the world has guys like you that are so much smarter than “stupid” guys like Lewis and Paschal.
😛

Any more atheist stereotypes you’d like to step into?
 
manualman said:
Good thing the world has guys like you that are so much smarter than “stupid” guys like Lewis and Paschal.
😛
Any more atheist stereotypes you’d like to step into?
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🤷 I didn’t say Pascal was stupid, his wager is stupid. Funny that the first critique against it came from the church. That interesting fact seems to have been forgotten somewhere.
 
AnAtheist said:
Because the storyline follows the usual pattern of a myth. (And I wouldn’t say that a myth is the same as “making stuff up”.) See for example Lord Raglan; The Hero, A Study in Tradition, Myth and Drama; London 1936.

But that is not the point. Lewis is making the same error as Pascal with his stupid wager, both are constructing a false dilemma because they omit quite obvious alternatives in their argument.
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Really? The myths and folklore I’m familiar with doesn’t ever seem to follow a single narrative form, nor does the NT narrative seem to follow what I expect from mythology. Don’t get me wrong, large sections of the OT do, however either way that doesn’t show anything. I can think of works which come off as mythical yet are likely true.
 
There is a gaping chasm between critiquing an argument (or a person) and calling it ‘stupid.’

As for the Liar, Lunatic, Lord argument, it does indeed leave options undiscussed. But what options and are THOSE any more plausible? You can modify and spin as you have and claim that the apostles invented all the boldest claims of Jesus, thus making THEM the liars (or lunatics) instead of Jesus. But what would be their motivation? Unlike leaders such a Muhammed, none of the apostles got rich off the gig or became warlords. 11 of 12 of them wound up dead for their troubles and ALL of them fully expected that to be the case. Why maintain the lie? Once it became clear that death instead of power lay at the end of this christian path, why not drop out of sight, change names and move to a new town?

I suppose you could argue (and some do) that the entire new testament is fictional and was concocted in the time of Constantine. It’s basically the same logic that says that Bush ordered the CIA to commit the 9/11 bombings, but some go for that too…

Did you have any other plausible alternatives to suggest or is ‘stupid’ the best you got?
 
wow this thread derailed really quickly…
:rolleyes:

I agree it is an interesting belief, but I think that Christ would have to be excluded from this faith because He claimed to be God. If a person claims to be God and claims to be the only way, then they cannot be a part of this philosophy. Including Christ in it would nullify and cancel out everyone else.

That is the great thing about Christ. He cancels out everything else, leaving you to accept or reject Him. He does not leave middle ground or grey area.
 
The Bahai religion reminds me of Espiranto turned into a religion 🤷 What’s with L Ron Hubbard, Joseph Smith and these guys cooking up their own religions?

I should make a religion where the San Francisco Giants, Star Trek, listening to “Yes” and “Rush” and eating Thai food are all sacraments. Meism. Peanut Butter Cups are also salvific in my religion as well as traveling and driving in Dodge Challengers.
 
gurneyhalleck1 said:
The Bahai religion reminds me of Espiranto turned into a religion 🤷 What’s with L Ron Hubbard, Joseph Smith and these guys cooking up their own religions?

I should make a religion where the San Francisco Giants, Star Trek, listening to “Yes” and “Rush” and eating Thai food are all sacraments. Meism. Peanut Butter Cups are also salvific in my religion as well as traveling and driving in Dodge Challengers.
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Now THAT is an interesting belief system!

Add Festivus and the adjectives “monothestic” and “Abrahamic” and you’ll be completely valid and licit! 😃
 
I’ll add monotheism, the devotion to Shatner. And some sacramentals include phasers, devotion to the Lords of Gondor, and dagget worship
blazerdave said:
Now THAT is an interesting belief system!

Add Festivus and the adjectives “monothestic” and “Abrahamic” and you’ll be completely valid and licit! 😃
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blazerdave said:
Now THAT is an interesting belief system!

Add Festivus and the adjectives “monothestic” and “Abrahamic” and you’ll be completely valid and licit! 😃
Click to expand...
No, because if you do that, the Roman Catechism in 80 years will have an entry that says “whom are the San Fran Trekkians; these profess to hold the faith of Abraham, and together with us they adore the one, merciful God, mankind’s judge on the last day.”
 
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