Qns 1) Having to believe in unity of all religions, does a Baha'i have to learn all the revealed religions? So would the belief include Afterlife, the Day of Judgement, Angels, Life is based on ordained laws set by God?
Ah I see. Do you have the same concept as Islam whereby the Day of Judgement is the end of all existence and Man will be judged by God to live in the Afterlife whether in Heaven or Hell?
I believe the Day of Judgement is not the end of all existence and Man will be judged by God to live in the Afterlife whether in Heaven or Hell, it is an interpretation by some or many Christians and Muslims, but not all.
No, the Baha'is do not believe there will be judgement Day where there will be the end of all existence and Man will be judged by God to live in the Afterlife whether in Heaven or Hell. When a new manifestation Judgement Day will be in the hearts of humanity whether they will accept or reject the new Revelation from God
And every time a new Revelation occurs, does it come along with a new Prophet?
Yes, but there is also Revelation through the minds of humanity.
Qns 2) Holy Books/Scriptures are revealed to man. Do you consider all the Holy Books as words of God or just writings from human perspective of a belief system?
Help me further understand. Based on Islamic concept, the Holy Books are words of God. Therefore, God does not need any human view about Himself and instead only Him, the Creator, has the right to talk about Himself to His creations.
So having Scriptures that are a product of man or having human views of God, how do Baha'i faith determine that they are no doubts of false information or errors or contradictions with any other Scriptures? Or how do Baha'i faith comprehend and accept these human element of scriptures.
In reality you cannot get around the human influence on scripture, because ultimately the Revelation comes through the human mind in one way or another, and the subject of human interpretations. There would not be so many different interpretations and divisions in Christianity, Islam and other religions if the scripture was clearly and concisely Revealed in the hand of God. It is well documented that the Pentateuch is compiled edited and redacted over time as a process without specific authors. It naive to think Exodus was written by Moses. or the other books have a known author. Most of Genesis and the other books of the Pentateuch evolved from older non-Hebrew texts, including Ugarit, Canaanite, and pre-Babylonian cuneiform texts.
Qns 3) What do you mean by progressive Revelation? Does it involves on-going Revelation till today or it has stopped after the time of Baha'u'llah?
Am I right say that spiritual knowledge will never be completed and continuously evolve?
Yes, because God's knowledge is infinite and absolute, while human knowledge is obviously fallible, finite, and limited therefore humans physically and spiritually evolved in the image of God. The fact that religion progressively evolved and changed from the beginning in the Old Testament, to the New Testament, and the Koran, indicating Religion is progressive and changes. It is not logical if Revelation is progressive from the OT to the Koran that it suddenly stops, considering the the fractured divisions, conflicts, religious wars. The violent unresolved division in Islam are classic examples of the need of a new Revelation.
Therefore, it is possible that rituals and rites can evolve with time? (For example fasting 19 days in spring would increase to 20 days if new a Revelation state as such)
It's possible, but a calendar of 20 days does not fit well, also the Islamic lunar calendar does fit well with the world use of calendars. This is a trivial consideration. The important changes are in the spiritual laws, and restoring the valid teachings of past religions and preaching the renewed message of unity among the religions, and the end of schisms based on human interpretations of scripture and tradition.
Qns 4) With all the Scriptures being fundamental doctrines, how does contradictions in one Scripture to another being viewed.
Do you think there is a need for spiritual evolution even though it involves human intervention? What are your views about the Qur'an which does not allow for any intervention or modified versions?
The spiritual evolution does not involve specifically human intervention. Change with new Revelation takes place despite human intervention. Most human intervention takes place to prevent change, and violently oppose those that believe differently.
The belief of religions not allowing intervention nor modified version over time is universal with all ancient religions. It is the claim of Judaism against Christianity and Islam and Baha'i. It is the claim of Christianity against Islam and Baha'i. and of course the claim Islam against the Baha'i Faith and anything that comes after Islam. Claims of heresy are universal with all religions, against other religions and the result is often violence. Nonetheless interpretation, commentary and editions occur in all religions adding, interpreting, intervening, and modifying religions, and also creating many sects and divisions that do not agree on the modifications and interventions. Many of these attempts at modifications and interventions are an attempt to address a changing world that the religion awkwardly no longer fits.
Qns 6) Will there be any more Prophets in the future after Baha'u'llah?
How would the followers know of the coming Prophets? Will their religion change into a new religion based on the Prophet's name?
When the Judgement Days come down, some accept and others deny the new message. This has always been true of Revelations from God throughout history.
