Chew the Fat

I haven't a clue. I think i'll just find the varient that is the most accessable. I guess I'll deal with it when I come to each situation.

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What you are planning to do sounds great.
As a Bahá'í, we strongly believe in independent investigation of truth , removal of all forms of prejudice among other things.

Your desired action reminds me of our own Writings. I think you may fit right in.

“…Consort with all the peoples, kindreds and religions of the world with the utmost truthfulness, uprightness, faithfulness, kindliness, good-will and friendliness…”

Here is a post I made on my blog just the other day from the Bahá'í writings:

"The great question appertaining to humanity is religion. The first condition is that man must intelligently investigate its foundations. The second condition is that he must admit and acknowledge the oneness of the world of humanity. By this means the attainment of true fellowship among mankind is assured, and the alienation of races and individuals is prevented."

And finally, this is how we are taught to be:

“You must manifest complete love and affection toward all mankind. Do not exalt yourselves above others, but consider all as your equals, recognizing them as the servants of one God. Know that God is compassionate toward all; therefore, love all from the depths of your hearts, prefer all religionists before yourselves , be filled with love for every race, and be kind toward the people of all nationalities.” (Bold part by me.)

Other points that would help you understand the Bahá'í Faith:
We believe in the “Oneness of God”
...that there is only one God and He has sent His Messengers from time to time to educate mankind, and thus we see Religion as one.

This means that we believe all Devine Religion has been progressively revealed by the same Source for the same purpose. The seemingly different teachings are mostly social teachings which was dictated by the requirements of the time and place as well as the societal sophistication of that era. However, the spiritual laws and teachings have never changed. (Other sources of difference have arised from what has been added by people based on their own understandings of what is thought to be important or hoｗ one should practice, culture etc, leading to sects and denominations.)

Here is the official Bahá'í site

On the bottom of the first page you can follow a link that will direct you to your local Bahá'í community.

Once again, I think what you are trying to do is great. Let me know if you have any questions or need help. Good luck!

Good question! There are several ways to look at this, and analogies always seem to work best in describing concepts.

Imagine that God is like the Sun. His rays as the Spirit of God (or Holy Ghost) and the Prophets (or Messenger of God or other ways that you may call them) as a Mirror.

This analogy explains two concepts. One is the concept of Trinity. The perfect Mirrors reflect the qualities of the Sun, not by touching the Sun but rather by reflecting its rays. What people see in the Mirror is the Sun if that is what they focus on. That is how He can be The Father, The Son, and the Holy Ghost all in one. (Also, the breakdown of the physical Mirror does not make the Sun or its Ray any less significant.)

Each Prophet are like a Mirror. Each Mirror is unique, but carries the same capacity. Through out history, there is no real physical return of the same Mirror. They all can equally reflect the same Light.

We, as regular people, cannot know God directly no matter how hard we try. It is like trying to reach the Sun.

We understand that the only way we can know God besides looking at His creation is to turn to the Messengers of God. We think that God has always guided humanity throughout the ages, and that He will continue to guide us through the Prophets in the future.

These pure Mirrors of the Devine have always been the only way for humanity to understand God's will and desire. The followers are those who follow that revealed will and desire to the best ability they can. We as humans are not as pure of a mirror, but are told to do our best with the capacities we are given, polish the mirror of our soul, so we also can reflect the Devine qualities. However, we are not the same as the Prophets it the capacity to reflect the Light. (On the other hand, our shortcomings help us recognize the difference between Light and the lack there of.)

Now, these Prophets each come with a mission and task for their time. In Their own dispensation, if the Mirror claims that He is the only way, it is true and there is no argument about that because He is speaking from the capacity of the Devine Mirror. The Prophet, the Messenger, the Manifestation of God or whatever you may call Him, He is the only way to receive God’s message for that day and age.

Here is another example. If you are told that you can access a special message on a TV program on a specific channel, at a specific time, tuning in to a radio would not help, right? But any TV would work as long as you tune in to that channel at the right time. It does not matter if you have a Sony or a JVC, but it is that "TVhood" that can claim that "I am the only way to access that message.” Likewise, it is the station of the Prophethood that makes His claim true.

So, here is the tricky part. Most of these messengers have mentioned that there is only one God. But those who are looking at the Prophets as separate may claim they see as many Gods as there are Prophets, because they are looking at the God that is reflected in the Mirrors. (Have you heard anyone say something to the tone of “Our God is better than Your God” – perhaps comparing Christianity and Islam. But the reality is that the Spirit is one and the source is one. The confusiond does not come from the Prophets, but from the people who do not examine the reality more carefully. In fact, I would say the exclusivity argument goes the other way. If you deny one Mirror over the other, you are in fact denying all the Mirrors, as they are in reality one and the same in what they reflect.

The only difference that may come from that is the capacity of the people. Here is another example that may explain this better. Imagine that teachers are assigned to students of different grades. A first grade teacher may teach limited information on the subjects they teach to the students because of the students' capacity to understand, not because the teacher is less intelligent than the sixth grade teacher. The teacher knows he or she needs to teach the basics before the kids can learn what comes next.

Each year as the students grows and matures, and after a period where the students are left to their own, a new teacher will return to a new grade. (Oh, how many kids has been busy playing during the summer that they have forgotten much of what they have learned previously! Still, they were promised that if the return to school, a teacher would return as well to teach them something new—usually after reviewing what they should have been practicing and making useful all along.)

Now, the new grade provides a different teacher and the teacher teaches something new, but we all know the purpose is the same. They carry a mission to cover certain subjects during their alocated time, but their impact is to last a lifetime for the student. The students also need to recognize the new teacher as the same station as the teacher of the previous year. They should also know that there will be another teacher the next year. So, in this way humanity has been lead step by step progressively. Also, the children becoming more mature over time , the social rules that applied when they were younger may have changed. On one hand what was tolorated in the past is no longer tolorated, on the other hand, maturity brings new freedom and responsibilities.)

So, that also gives me an entry to your question regarding Buddha: Here is my understanding of the time that Buddha lived. Hinduism was widespread (as it is today) and the Brahmins taught the people of many gods as well as the Brahma, the supreme cosmic spirit. Though Buddha disagreed with the personalized images of god and the concept of many gods, He did not disagree with the concept of a more Universal Omnipotent Spirit, an Unknowable Essence.

In short, the way I see it is that the people of His time would be more confused by an introduction of the concept of God, as the Hindu's would just think "oh, another God to add to our list". (In reality, some Hindus have incorporated Buddha as one of the gods reflecting the Divine Spirit.) Buddha on the other hand focused on what was more important: Spiritual awakening of the individuals, mercy, and detachment and so on. This perspective of mine of course could be argued or disputed by different denominations of Buddhism and perhaps by Hindus too. The unfortunate reality is that the its teachings have been transformed as it spread to different parts of the world, each reflecting only an aspect of the original teachings and has been blended with various cultural traditions over time. This is the conclusion I came to as I grew up in Japan observing and listening to the history of many of the Buddhist sects.

So going back to your question about the possible contradiction, in short, I see no contradiction in the exclusivity. It is like saying "I am the beginning and the end." Is that a contradiction? I don't think so. Imagine a 5 inch long line. Take a point, any point of that line and say this: “ I am the beginning and the end.” Perhaps if you drew a straight line would look like a contradiction. But if that same line was drawn to make a circle, that same statement would not make it a contradiction, would it? Any point you take is a beginning and an end. I got this concept from the symbol of Unity (a circle) often used by the Native Americans. If you see the Prophets of God from the perspective of oneness, and that their station, purpose and mission to be united, the symbol of the circle signifying Their unity would help us resolve this abstract concept of one being the beginning and the end. Each one of them claiming that they are the Primal Point, or the Beginning, the End, they all would be speaking the truth. This could not be true if they were not united.


Anyhow, I am not sure if this answers your questions. A good Book you may want to get your hands on is called "The Book of Certitude." You can access it or down load it from here.

Thank you for your time and space.

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Oh, I just found a direct quotation from Baha'u'llah regarding this question. From the point "The songs which the bird of thine heart..." to "in a manner that befitted the circumstances of the age in which it hath appeared." would be the the section that covers this discussion.