Quotes from Baha'i sources:

Showing the greatest kindness and love...

Around 1911 Abdul-Baha visited London and the following was recorded:

A gentleman connected with the work of a Settlement then asked what was the best method of raising up and civilizing the very lowest and most degraded and ignorant of the people and would their education come about gradually through the enlightenment of the Spirit, or was there any special means we could adopt to further this end?

'Abdu'l-Bahá replied that the best way was to give them spiritual teachings and enlightenment. He also remarked that the way to broaden the outlook of the very narrow-hearted and prejudiced, and to make them listen to a wider teaching, was by showing towards them the greatest kindness and love. The example of our lives was of more value than words.

(Abdu'l-Baha, Abdu'l-Baha in London, p. 72)
 
Re: Showing the greatest kindness and love...

The world is but a show, vain and empty, a mere nothing, bearing the semblance of reality. Set not your affections upon it. Break not the bond that uniteth you with your Creator, and be not of those that have erred and strayed from His ways. Verily I say, the world is like the vapor in a desert, which the thirsty dreameth to be water and striveth after it with all his might, until when he cometh unto it, he findeth it to be mere 329 illusion. It may, moreover, be likened unto the lifeless image of the beloved whom the lover hath sought and found, in the end, after long search and to his utmost regret, to be such as cannot “fatten nor appease his hunger.”
O My servants! Sorrow not if, in these days and on this earthly plane, things contrary to your wishes have been ordained and manifested by God, for days of blissful joy, of heavenly delight, are assuredly in store for you. Worlds, holy and spiritually glorious, will be unveiled to your eyes. You are destined by Him, in this world and hereafter, to partake of their benefits, to share in their joys, and to obtain a portion of their sustaining grace. To each and every one of them you will, no doubt, attain.

(Baha'u'llah, Gleanings From the Writings of Baha'u'llah)

 
With every breath He layeth diown His life....

He standeth ready to obey whatsoever His Lord should please to decree as to his beginning and his end. With every breath he layeth down his life and offereth up his soul. He bareth his breast to meet the darts of the enemy and raiseth his head to greet the sword of destiny; nay rather, he kisseth the hand of his would-be murderer and surrendereth his all. He yieldeth up spirit, soul, and body in the path of his Lord, and yet he doeth so by the leave of his Beloved and not of his own whim and desire. Thou findest him chill in the fire and dry in the sea, abiding in every land and treading every path.

(Baha'u'llah, Gems of Divine Mysteries, p. 28)
 
Please help. One of you came into another forum and said that Jesus will not be returning in person, but in another person or persons. I'm not interested in arguing, however I would like to know where to find commentary on this. Is it a thoroughly developed idea that lots of Bahai's are familiar with? Do you rely upon a post-Christian prophet (like a Baha'i or Islamic prophet) for proof or is it arguable strictly from Christians and pre-Christians? Naturally that's what Christians have to work with. Ideally, can you argue it strictly from the Tanach?

Also, is there a figure in your religion called the 'Crimson General'? I heard this title somewhere, but I don't know who said it. I thought with your emphasis on crimson it might be one of yours.

Respectfully,
Dream
 
Dream said:
Please help. One of you came into another forum and said that Jesus will not be returning in person, but in another person or persons. I'm not interested in arguing, however I would like to know where to find commentary on this. Is it a thoroughly developed idea that lots of Bahai's are familiar with? Do you rely upon a post-Christian prophet (like a Baha'i or Islamic prophet) for proof or is it arguable strictly from Christians and pre-Christians? Naturally that's what Christians have to work with. Ideally, can you argue it strictly from the Tanach?

Also, is there a figure in your religion called the 'Crimson General'? I heard this title somewhere, but I don't know who said it. I thought with your emphasis on crimson it might be one of yours.

Respectfully,
Dream
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Well hello "Dream"... !

Welcome to the Baha'i Forum!

To be honest with you, I don't know if I really understand your question but let me say that we Baha'is do believe that the Bab was the Return of Christ and fulfilled the prophecies of the Bible as well as being the Promised One of the other religions...that being said we believe there are a series of Manifestations of God that have appeared to mankind and that Baha'u'llah is the latest One.

As to "Crimson General" I've not heard of that one.. there is a reference though in the Baha'i Writings to the crimson Spot:

'Advance, O people, with snow-white faces and radiant hearts, unto the blest and crimson Spot, wherein the Tree beyond which there is no passing is calling: 'Verily, there is none other God beside Me, the Omnipotent Protector, the Self-Subsisting!'

(Baha'u'llah, Epistle to the Son of the Wolf, p. 128)

About the Tenach ... We believe there are prophecies that point as I mentioned above to the Bab and Baha'u'llah.

Thanks for your questions!

- Art
 
Thanks for your answer, which is sufficient.
arthra said:
we believe there are a series of Manifestations of God that have appeared to mankind and that Baha'u'llah is the latest One
Click to expand...
This raises another question, if its appropriate to ask more questions in the quote section. Are these manifestations thought of as facets of God as if God is a puzzle? Are they more like whole impressions as with bits from a hologram (in which each piece shows the whole thing). Are they more like small trees that will grow up into the full size parent? In other words how do the facets fit together to reveal God or otherwise reveal God?
 
Dream said:
Thanks for your answer, which is sufficient.
This raises another question, if its appropriate to ask more questions in the quote section. Are these manifestations thought of as facets of God as if God is a puzzle? Are they more like whole impressions as with bits from a hologram (in which each piece shows the whole thing). Are they more like small trees that will grow up into the full size parent? In other words how do the facets fit together to reveal God or otherwise reveal God?
Click to expand...

Hello Dream,

Thanks for the questions..

To Baha'is the Manifestations of God reflect His attributes perfectly and without effort.. and so reveal perfectly to man as a stainless rustless mirror reflecting the attributes of God to us at various stages of our developement and we believe this is a progressive developement over the ages and for the circumstances in which we live.

You can read an essay on the Manifestations of God at

The Eternal Quest for God: Chapter 6

- Art
 
Thanks Dream for your post! I had been away for a week or so and just noticed it!

Anyway for Baha'is Jesus was a Manifestation of God and so His role was in my view to shake things up and that would mean "rattling the cages" of the Pharisees (the Religious establishment) who as a sort of class were the "bean counters" of the religion at the time of Jesus.. Jesus didn't inspire bean counting so in my view He was not a Pharisee.

- Art:)
 
"The earth is but one country"

The earth is but one country, and mankind its citizens.[1]

"All of us belong to humankind, but our society has yet to grasp the full meaning of this spiritual truth. Without understanding this principle, it is impossible to fathom or envision what is happening to society--what one great thinker called the ``planetization'' of humankind. As a result, humankind has yet a long way to go before we can finish the transition from the old world order, organized along the lines of ``sovereign'' and ``independent'' nations, to the new nonviolent civilization that is now only in its embryonic stage. Without the principle of the oneness of humankind, it is indeed difficult even to imagine a world ordered and governed globally through interdependent institutions of planetary scope. How can the earth become a common homeland if all of us are not fully and equally accepted as part of a single humanity? Indeed, it cannot!"

by M.V. Gandhimoham "Mahatam Gandhi and the Baha'is"
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Among the great prophets...

Among the great prophets was His Holiness Abraham who being an iconoclast and a herald of the oneness of God, was banished from His native land. He founded a family upon which the blessing of God descended; and it was owing to this religious basis and ordination that the Abrahamic house progressed and advanced. Through the divine benediction, noteworthy and luminous prophets issued from the lineage of His Holiness. There appeared Isaac, Ishmael, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Aaron, David and Solomon. The Holy Land was conquered by the power of the Covenant of God with Abraham, and the glory of the Solomonic wisdom and sovereignty dawned. All this was due to the religion of God which this blessed lineage established and upheld. It is evident that throughout the history of Abraham and His posterity this was the source of their honor, advancement and civilization. Even today the descendants of His household and lineage are found throughout the world.

(Abdu'l-Baha, Baha'i World Faith - Abdu'l-Baha Section, p. 270)
 
A proof of truth...

Thus they relate that the possessions of a certain Bábí in Kashan were plundered, and his household scattered and dispersed. They stripped him naked and scourged him, defiled his beard, mounted him face backwards on an ***, and paraded him through the streets and bazaars with the utmost cruelty, to the sound of drums, trumpets, guitars, and tambourines. A certain gabr (A Zoroastrian) who knew absolutely naught of the world or its denizens chanced to be seated apart in a corner of a caravansary. When the clamor of the people rose high he hastened into the street, and, becoming cognizant of the offence and the offender, and the cause of his public disgrace and punishment in full detail, he fell to making search, and that very day entered the society of the Bábís, saying,

"This very ill-usage and public humiliation is a proof of truth and the very best of arguments. Had it not been thus it might have been that a thousand years would have passed ere one like me became informed."

(Abdu'l-Baha, A Traveller's Narrative, p. 21)
 
Yet under chains and from HIs cell He succeeded...

Yet the whole Bahá'u'lláh's life was spent in the midst of great trial and cruel tyranny. In Persia He was thrown into prison, put into chains, and lived constantly under the menace of the sword. He was scorned and scourged.
When He was about thirty years old He was exiled to Baghdad, and from Baghdad to Constantinople, and from there to Adrianople and lastly to the prison of 'Akká.
Yet under chains and from His cell He succeeded in spreading His cause, and uplifting the banner of the oneness of humanity.
Now, God be praised, we see the light of Love shining in the East and in the West; and the tent of fellowship is raised in the midst of all the peoples for the drawing together of all hearts and souls.
The call of the Kingdom has been sounded, and the annunciation of the world's need for Universal Peace has enlightened the world's conscience.

(Abdu'l-Baha, Abdu'l-Baha in London, p. 37)
 
Education of children obligatory...

Partaking of knowledge and education is one of the requisites of religion. The education of each child is obligatory.

If there are no parents, the community must look after the child. It is suggested that the childless educate a child.

It is incumbent on every one to engage in some occupation, such as arts, trades, and the like. We have made this -- your occupation -- identical with the worship of God, the true one.

Reflect, O people, upon the mercy of God and upon his favors, then thank him in mornings and evenings.

(Abdu'l-Baha, Divine Philosophy, p. 26)
 
"Truly, the killing of animals and the eating of their meat is somewhat contrary to pity and compassion, and if one can content oneself with cereals, fruit, oil and nuts, such as pistachios, almonds and so on, it would undoubtedly be better and more pleasing."

- From a Tablet by Abdul-Baha
(Compilations, Lights of Guidance, p. 295)
 
Lord!

Pitiful are we, grant us Thy favor;

poor, bestow upon us a share from the ocean of Thy wealth;

needy, do Thou satisfy us;

abased, give us Thy glory.

The fowls of the air and the beasts of the field receive their meat each day from Thee, and all beings partake of Thy care and loving-kindness.

Deprive not this feeble one of Thy wondrous grace and vouchsafe by Thy might unto this helpless soul Thy bounty.

Give us our daily bread, and grant Thine increase in the necessities of life, that we may be dependent on none other but Thee, may commune wholly with Thee, may walk in Thy ways and declare Thy mysteries.

Thou art the almighty and the Loving and the Provider of all mankind.
-- `Abdu'l-Bahá
​
 
Treading the mystical way with practical feet...

"The doors will be open to all sects -- no differentiation; and by God's help this temple will prove to be to the body of human society what the soul is to the body of man. For when these colleges for the study of higher sciences, the hospital, the orphanage and the hospice are built,its doors will be opened to all nations, races and religions, with no line of demarkation and its charities will be dispensed without regard to race or color. Its gates will be flung wide to mankind; prejudice toward none, love for all. The central building will be dedicated to prayer and worship and thus for the first time religion will become harmonized with science and science will be the handmaid of religion -- both showering their spiritual gifts on all humanity. In this way the people will be lifted out of the quagmires of slothfulness and bigotry."

All of which would seem to verify the prediction of the great world thinkers of our time, one of whom says:

"Abdul Baha will surely unite the East and West, for he treads the mystic way with practical feet."

(Abdu'l-Baha, Divine Philosophy, p. 13)
 
After Abdul-Baha's death, the New York Evening Telegram recalled his visit of some years before:
"Churches of all denominations in New York city and Chicago were thrown open to him for, unlike the leaders of many cults, he preached not the errors of present religions but their sameness."

​
 
The time has come when those who preach the dogmas of materialism, whether of the east or the west, whether of capitalism or socialism, must give account of the moral stewardship they have presumed to exercise. Where is the "new world" promised by these ideologies? Where is the international peace to whose ideals they proclaim their devotion? Where are the breakthroughs into new realms of cultural achievement produced by the aggrandizement of this race, of that nation or of a particular class? Why is the vast majority of the world's peoples sinking ever deeper into hunger and wretchedness when wealth on a scale undreamed of by the Pharaohs, the Caesars, or even the imperialist powers of the nineteenth century is at the disposal of the present arbiters of human affairs?

(The Universal House of Justice, 1985 Oct, The Promise of World Peace)
 
Surely the infinite is greater than the finite...

O thou youth of God!

Thank God that thou hast found thy way to the Radiant Kingdom, torn asunder the veil of superstition and learned the reality of the mysteries.

All the people have formed a god in the world of thought, and that form of their own imagination they worship; when the fact is that the imagined form is finite and the human mind is infinite.[1]

Surely the infinite is greater than the finite, for imagination is accidental (or non-essential) while the mind is essential; surely the essential is greater than the accidental.

[1] Infinite in regard to imagination, for without the mind there would be no imagination.

Another translation of this paragraph is as follows:

"All the people have formed a god in the world of thought and they worship that form of their own imagination, while the fact is that the imagined concept is comprehended by the mind which is comprehensive. Surely that which comprehends is greater than the comprehended for imagination is accidental (non-essential), while the mind is essential. Surely the essential is greater than the accidental."

(Abdu'l-Baha, Tablets of Abdu'l-Baha v3, p. 561)
 
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