One of the paradigms in our faith is that God has sent a messenger with a new message...
How do we authenticate this new message?
One of the paradigms in our faith is that God has sent a messenger with a new message...
It's a religion. There is no scientific authentication. Either you believe it's true or not. I'm not saying any of this to try to get people to convert. I'm merely explaining what my religion believes.How do we authenticate this new message?
I thought I put "other". Must have hit Christian on accident. Need to figure out how to change it. Thanks for the heads up and sorry for confusion. I'm a Baha'i.
For me, to be a Christian means to believe in and follow the revelation and promise of Christ: that God's love acting in us and through us to others, will heal us and save us from ourselves.For me, Christian means you follow Jesus only and believe the bible is the only holy book.
Thanks for the directions!I wouldn't say that you are in the wrong place but you might want to be selective about where you go around here. Some of the neighborhoods are a little rough. You might want to go to the Cosmic Cafe and take a left. Tell 'em Frank sent you.
Thanks for the directions!
I come from a religion that believes in Jesus but isn't considered Christian. Am I in the wrong place?
Thanks for the directions!
I come from a religion that believes in Jesus but isn't considered Christian. Am I in the wrong place?
I still consider myself a devout follower of Christ. My worldview is just different than yours. It's OK if you don't accept that though.
It's a religion. There is no scientific authentication. Either you believe it's true or not. I'm not saying any of this to try to get people to convert. I'm merely explaining what my religion believes.
Compared to Christianity, its core teachings are only superficial in their commonality. The differences are deep and fundamental. The Baha'i faith is ornate, and a full critique would be encyclopedic. So, only a few observations are made below. The Baha'i faith teaches that God is unknowable in His essence. Baha’is have the difficulty of explaining how they can have an elaborate theology about God yet assert that God is "unknowable." And it does not help to say that prophets and manifestations inform mankind about God because, if God is "unknowable," then humanity has no reference point whereby to tell which teacher is telling the truth. Christianity rightly teaches that God can be known, as is naturally known even by non-believers, though they may not have a relational knowledge of God... About Jesus, the Baha'i faith teaches that He was a manifestation of God but not an incarnation. The difference sounds slight but is actually enormous. Baha’is believe God is unknowable; therefore, God cannot incarnate Himself to be present among men. If Jesus is God in the most literal sense, and Jesus is knowable, then God is knowable, and that Baha'i doctrine is exploded. So, Baha’is teach that Jesus was a reflection of God. Just as a person can look at a reflection of the sun in a mirror and say, "There is the sun," so one can look at Jesus and say, "There is God," meaning "There is a reflection of God." Here again the problem of teaching that God is "unknowable" surfaces since there would be no way to distinguish between true and false manifestations or prophets. The Christian, however, can argue that Christ has set Himself apart from all other manifestations and has confirmed His self-attested divinity by physically rising from the dead (1 Corinthians 15), a point which Baha’is also deny. |
I would say that article is mostly true except for a few points. The bab wasn't the 8th manifestation. The Baha'i believe there are infinite manifestations. Also we don't believe in salvation by works, because we don't have the same concept of salvation as the Christians. There is no location of heaven or hell for us. In our religion they are metaphors for one's closeness to God in this world and the next.I posted a link earlier in the thread discussing your religion.
http://www.gotquestions.org/Bahai-faith.html
Care to discuss some of the things that you should be concerned about?
Compared to Christianity, its core teachings are only superficial in their commonality. The differences are deep and fundamental. The Baha'i faith is ornate, and a full critique would be encyclopedic. So, only a few observations are made below.
The Baha'i faith teaches that God is unknowable in His essence. Baha’is have the difficulty of explaining how they can have an elaborate theology about God yet assert that God is "unknowable." And it does not help to say that prophets and manifestations inform mankind about God because, if God is "unknowable," then humanity has no reference point whereby to tell which teacher is telling the truth. Christianity rightly teaches that God can be known, as is naturally known even by non-believers, though they may not have a relational knowledge of God...
About Jesus, the Baha'i faith teaches that He was a manifestation of God but not an incarnation. The difference sounds slight but is actually enormous. Baha’is believe God is unknowable; therefore, God cannot incarnate Himself to be present among men. If Jesus is God in the most literal sense, and Jesus is knowable, then God is knowable, and that Baha'i doctrine is exploded. So, Baha’is teach that Jesus was a reflection of God. Just as a person can look at a reflection of the sun in a mirror and say, "There is the sun," so one can look at Jesus and say, "There is God," meaning "There is a reflection of God." Here again the problem of teaching that God is "unknowable" surfaces since there would be no way to distinguish between true and false manifestations or prophets. The Christian, however, can argue that Christ has set Himself apart from all other manifestations and has confirmed His self-attested divinity by physically rising from the dead (1 Corinthians 15), a point which Baha’is also deny.
I would say that article is mostly true except for a few points...
In the Baha'i cosmology one can be divine without being God. Although I agree with you that we are probably nowhere near your definition of ChristianityLet's start off with this major difference between Christianity and your Baha'i religion:
About Jesus, the Baha'i faith teaches that He was a manifestation of God but not an incarnation.
In other words: Your religion teaches against Jesus Christ's Divinity.
In the Baha'i cosmology one can be divine without being God. Although I agree with you that we are probably nowhere near your definition of Christianity
The Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. denied the bodily resurrection, virgin birth and deity of Jesus, maybe they'll give you a national holiday as well?
http://www.theologyonline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=94974
My intuition says that they probably gave mlk his own holiday because he was an amazing civil rights leader and not because of what flavour of Christianity he subscribed to.The Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. denied the bodily resurrection, virgin birth and deity of Jesus, maybe they'll give you a national holiday as well?
http://www.theologyonline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=94974
The Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. denied the bodily resurrection, virgin birth and deity of Jesus, maybe they'll give you a national holiday as well?
http://www.theologyonline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=94974
My intuition says that they probably gave mlk his own holiday because he was an amazing civil rights leader and not because of what flavour of Christianity he subscribed to.
aCW uses white supremacist websites and faked info & photographs to disparage MLK at TOL. That's the sort of person you're dealing with.
http://www.theologyonline.com/forums/showpost.php?p=4580372&postcount=29Yes, most people at TheologyOnline are Christians... But it shouldn't take long for you see a whole lot of the Christians here are spending their time and energy pointing fingers at one another and yelling about why other Christians here aren't actually Christians.
It's very illuminating.