Aupmanyav
Be your own guru.
Why did not Bahaollah think rationally about rights of women and LGBTQ? He was just as irrational as the other so-called messengers.Baha'i teachings introduce the concept of relational logic, ..
Why did not Bahaollah think rationally about rights of women and LGBTQ? He was just as irrational as the other so-called messengers.Baha'i teachings introduce the concept of relational logic, ..
What exactly did he say about the rights of women and LGBTQ? And what exactly do you find irrational?Why did not Bahaollah think rationally about rights of women and LGBTQ? He was just as irrational as the other so-called messengers.
But Jesus did heal the boy -- at least according to the gospel account? With great respect to those who have to live with epilepsy in their family. Whatever Jesus did, on the supernatural level, it worked?Baha'i teachings introduce the concept of relational logic, which suggests our understanding of spiritual truths deepens over time. Just like scientific understanding evolves, our concepts of the divine may also.
To provide a brief example, the ancient world often relied on supernatural explanations for what they observed in nature. This results in contradictory descriptions of similar phenomena between ancient Christians and modern Christians. For example, ancient Christians believed the idea of a spirit indwelling someone could explain mental health issues. Mental health issues weren't well understood at the time. Epilepsy was often believed to be caused by possession of a god or a demon in ancient times. The way Mark describes epilepsy shows the writer understood it through a supernatural lens (Mark 9.14-29). It was caused by spirit possession. Thankfully, modern medicine offers a different framework for understanding such conditions. And, thankfully, most modern Christians I know choose a modern way of describing the same phenomena.
But, as I have argued elsewhere, the doctrine lacks coherence, as it assumes to human what belongs to the divine:This is one of the Major aspects of Faith that is very important to understand, it is the "Twofold Station of The Messengers"
Reads like the biography of Muhammad (pbuh)."...God beareth Me witness, I was not a man of learning, for I was trained as a merchant...
Not at all. Jesus was a Virgin Birth.So this reflects Jesus.
You need to better understand the idea of 'anointed' – High Priests are anointed, Kings are anointed... what the term means is contextual.All Annointed of God, the chosen ones.
But I rather think they'll be as contradictory and incoherent as the rest ...There are many ways this question can be answered.
The Bible is pretty much proof against that – we have so many versions that we can contrast and compare – scholars have done so and although finding numerous differences, none that might infer some inherent contradiction. Even the Dead Sea Scrolls, which were meant to rewrite the history of Christianity, only endorsed the current texts.Thomas I am of the opinion we can rely 100% on the Word of God.
The quandary is what was actually said by the Messengers in contrast to what men have added to it.
If you did the research, rather than believe just because you're told, you'd realise this argument carries no weight.I hope you can see why Baha'u'llah has offered that past doctrine built on addition to the recorded word, does become erroneous.
No, if you go into the text is confuses the reflection with the reflector, as it were; it defines the nature of the messenger according to divine properties.I don't think it means that they become God, but reflect God.
I think the distinction of avatar as a divine manifestation means the Hindu theist metaphysics observes the necessary and crucial distinctions?I think perhaps in Hinduism the different gods are more like department managers in a cosmos where all comes from Brahma and all returns to Brahma – the One?
Indeed ... but that doesn't require a new revelation as such.Baha'i teachings introduce the concept of relational logic, which suggests our understanding of spiritual truths deepens over time.
Agreed. It deepens, but does not substantially alter. The evolution of Christian doctrine over time, such as developments in Christology over the first few centuries, could be said to include further revelation – the Nicene-Constantinople Creed (325-381), for example, or the declaration of Christ understood as one person in two natures at Chalcedon (451). never contradicts what was understood before, just shows it in a new and more profound light ...Just like scientific understanding evolves, our concepts of the divine may also.
What .. in Bahai literature you mean?No, if you go into the text is confuses the reflection with the reflector, as it were; it defines the nature of the messenger according to divine properties.
Yes. As God is the Creator, that's axiomatic at the highest level ... then it's a case of 'turtles all the way down'To provide a brief example, the ancient world often relied on supernatural explanations for what they observed in nature.
Well modern medicine is based entirely on material and the physical, although it does acknowledge, in the UK at least, that there are aspects outside of its purview and understanding. How do we expand the apparent efficacy of a placebo, for example?This results in contradictory descriptions of similar phenomena between ancient Christians and modern Christians ... Thankfully, modern medicine offers a different framework for understanding such conditions. And, thankfully, most modern Christians I know choose a modern way of describing the same phenomena.
That about sums it up, yes.The people of Antiquity – of the Hebrew Scripture, the New Testament and the Quran, did not dismiss the spiritual world purely becauase they embraced the material, they do not see one as necessarily excluding or disproving the other. rather they see pure materialism as somewhat blinkered..
Yes.What .. in Bahai literature you mean?
That is confirmed by Baha'u'llah. The key is attachments and moderation. @ThomasThat about sums it up, yes.
This worldy life is a 'gateway' to the life hereafter.
It is a patristic notion (developed with extraordinary profundity by Maximus the Confessor) that humanity was created as the methorios (Gk:This worldy life is a 'gateway' to the life hereafter.
Yes. As God is the Creator, that's axiomatic at the highest level ... then it's a case of 'turtles all the way down'![]()
Well modern medicine is based entirely on material and the physical, although it does acknowledge, in the UK at least, that there are aspects outside of its purview and understanding. How do we expand the apparent efficacy of a placebo, for example?
Hopefully, a more holistic approach to health might have some benefits.
Meditation has proved beneficial, and has prayer, in terms of subjective experience. (And prayer not of the 'fairy godmother' order). Such things will always escape empirical analysis, of course.
In the Orthodox ascetical tradition, these thoughts are called logismoi: 'assaultive or tempting thoughts'. There was a correlation, in the ancient world, between logismoi and [daemon[/i]. Evagrius Ponticus, the fourth century monk, famously classified the negative logismoi under eight principal patterns – gluttony, fornication, avarice, anger, despondency, acedia, vainglory and pride.
We are trapped in this world of noise. Whether we will or not, it invades our consciousness. We experience them as originating outside ourselves. Even when we are sleeping, the barrage of logismoi continues. Through these logismoi one's psychic-spiritual world becomes contaminated and affected on a deep, fundamental level. Sometimes the intensity of a single logismos is so great that human beings under its spell may feel totally helpless.
Carl Jung was later to note that certain psychological conditions in which the illness seems to take on a life of its own, a predator upon its helpless host and victim.
To break the power of logismoi, one must cultivate 'interior silence'. Silence is God’s first language,” writes Fr Thomas Keating. “Everything else is a poor translation. In order to understand this language, we must learn to be silent and to rest in God” (Invitation to Love, p. 90).
Of course, we moderns no longer believe in the spiritual or the spirits. At best, we allow God, and perhaps offer some credence to the idea of angels ... but it rarely goes further than that.
True. But a belief in God would surely allow for spiritual as will as physical hierarchies?Belief in God as the creator doesn't mean we must use supernatural explanations for every single phenomenon.
Indeed we can. We can also explore with an open mind in regard to spiritual hierarchies and non-material entities.We can explore the complexities of God's creation without resorting to spirits or demons nowadays.
I'm not so sure about that ... As I have said before, scholars marvel at the language, insight and subtlety of the Ancient World, I do not share your opinion of it.Early Christian explanations attribute these phenomena to the supernatural, but that doesn't mean they are not part of the natural world; it just tells me they lacked the capacity to describe in subtle language the natural world accurately.![]()
Not suggesting anything by 'the back door' – acupuncture, meditation, other holistic forms were once frowned on or dismissed as pseudoscience. On the other hand, 'mindfulness meditation' is not a magic bullet, and there have been instances of negative psychotic states resulting usually from poor instruction within an unregulated field.... but shifting explanations into a more holistic direction will not lead us to introducing demonic possession through the backdoor of mental health practices.
I can't speak from experience, but I do know the Catholic Church undertakes exhaustive examination in the face of a request for exorcism, and assumes almost as a given that the cause will be a mental health issue.No Christian today in modern medicine will evoke demons to explain mental health issues, even in a more holistic environment where psychedelics are encouraged.
Well modern medicine is purely materialist.The focus in modern medicine (including even more holistic approaches) is on developing effective treatments that will help people get better.
Oh, I was still editing and adding more to my post. Please check it again. I will take the time to read your reply later when I have more time.True.