This servant will continue if any one shows
interest…
POINT 6 reaffirms the above
in
http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/msg05969.html
** The religions of God have the same
foundation, but the dogmas appearing later have differed. Each of the
divine religions has two aspects. The first is essential. It
concerns morality and development of the virtues of the human world. This
aspect is common to all. It is fundamental; it is one; there is no
difference, no variation in it. As regards the inculcation of morality and
the development of human virtues, there is no difference whatsoever between the
teachings of Zoroaster, Jesus and Baha'u'llah. In this they agree; they
are one. The second aspect of the divine religions is
nonessential. It concerns human needs and undergoes change in every cycle
according to the exigency of the time
POINT 7
We need the Divine Teachings RENEWED because humanity has lost sight of the essentials and vested interests emphasize often the non-essentials
Whatsoever hath led the children of men to shun one another, and hath caused dissensions and divisions amongst them, hath, through the revelation of these words, been nullified and abolished. From the heaven of God's Will, and for the purpose of ennobling the world of being and of elevating the minds and souls of men, hath been sent down that which is the most effective instrument for the education of the whole human race. The highest essence and most perfect _expression_ of whatsoever the peoples of old have either said or written hath, through this most potent Revelation, been sent down from the heaven of the Will of the All-Possessing, the Ever-Abiding God.
(Baha'u'llah: Gleanings, Page: 95)
notice that "this most potent Revelation has been sent down from the heaven of the Will of God"
God forbid it is not from man ...It is from God.
POINT 8
In all the Holy Books of the past there are injunctions and
teachings which are to be contextualized in time in history in the human
environment.
The Law of God changes with respect to every age. Movements such as Salafiyya in Islam and Fundamentalism in
Christianity often miss this salient point
http://uk.encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_781536072/Islamic_Fundamentalism.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fundamentalist_Christianity
POINT
9
Such utterances in the past Books need to be contextualized and cannot be
the Will of God in a non-abrogatable form
NEW TESTAMENT
LUKE 14:26 If any man come to
me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children,and brethren,
and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my
disciple.
LUKE
LUKE 12:51 Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on
earth? I tell you, Nay; but rather division:
12:52 For from henceforth
there shall be five in one house divided, three against two, and two against
three.
12:53 The father shall be divided against the son, and the son
against the father; the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against
the mother; the mother in law against her daughter in law, and the daughter in
law against her mother in
law
OLD TESTAMENT
DEUTERONOMY
20:13 And when the
LORD thy God hath delivered it into thine hands, thou shalt smite every male
thereof with the edge of the sword:
20:14 But the women, and the little ones,
and the cattle, and all that is in the city, even all the spoil thereof, shalt
thou take unto thyself; and thou shalt eat the spoil of thine enemies, which the
LORD thy God hath given thee.
20:15 Thus shalt thou do unto all the cities
which are very far off from thee, which are not of the cities of these nations.
20:16 But of the cities of these people, which the LORD thy God
doth give thee for an inheritance, thou shalt save alive nothing that
breatheth:
JOSHUA
6:20 So
the people shouted when the priests blew with the trumpets: and it came to pass,
when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, and the people shouted with a
great shout, that the wall fell down flat, so that the people went up into the
city, every man straight before him, and they took the city.
6:21 And they utterly destroyed all that was in the
city, both man and woman, young and old, and ox, and sheep, and ass, with the
edge of the sword.
In the
Qur’anic Dispensation again the times the conditions the Asbaab e nuzuul
[circumstances of revelation] the naasikh and the mansuukh [the abrogating verse
and the verse that has to be abrogated all these facets are relevant. Many pages
are devoted to these but there is no universal agreement [sadly].
THE HOLY QUR’AN
2:216 Warfare is
ordained for you, though it is hateful unto you; but it may happen that ye hate
a thing which is good for you, and it may happen that ye love a thing which is
bad for you. God knoweth, ye know not
4:11 God chargeth you
concerning (the provision for) your children: to the male the equivalent of the
portion of two females
4:51 Hast thou not seen those unto whom a portion of
the Scripture hath been given, how they believe in idols and false deities, and
how they say of those (idolaters) who disbelieve: "These are more rightly guided
than those who believe" ?
4:89 They long that ye should disbelieve even
as they disbelieve, that ye may be upon a level (with them). So choose not
friends from them till they forsake their homes in the way of God ; if they turn
back (to enmity) then take them and kill them wherever ye find them, and choose
no friend nor helper from among them
9:123 O ye who believe! Fight those of
the disbelievers who are near to you, and let them find harshness in you,, and
know that God is with those who keep their duty (unto Him).
9:73 O Prophet! Strive
against the disbelievers and the hypocrites! Be harsh with them. Their ultimate
abode is hell, a hapless journey's end.
And so
on.
Thus these passages from the Gospel
Mat 10:34 Think not that I
am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.
Mat
10:35 For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the
daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in
law.
... lead us to realize their context, their history.
POINT
10]
In all the Holy Books there are
references to a Day of Unity
Isa 2:2 And it shall come to pass in the
last days, that the mountain of the LORD'S house shall be established in the top
of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall
flow unto it.
Isa 2:3 And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and
let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and
he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion
shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.
Isa
2:4 And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people:
and they shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into
pruning hooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they
learn war any more.
Isa 2:5 O house of Jacob, come ye, and let us walk
in the light of the LORD.
John 17:20 Neither pray I for these
alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word;
John
17:21 THAT THEY ALL MAY BE ONE; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee,
that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent
me.
John 17:22 And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them;
THAT THEY MAY BE ONE, even as we are one:
Holy
Qur’an
3:8 Our Lord! Cause not our hearts to stray after Thou hast guided us,
and bestow upon us mercy from Thy Presence. Lo! Thou, only Thou, art the
Bestower.
3:9 Our Lord! LO! IT IS THOU WHO
GATHEREST MANKIND TOGETHER TO A DAY OF WHICH THERE IS NO DOUBT. Lo! God
faileth not to keep the tryst
This is the Day which the Pen of the Most High hath
glorified in all the holy Scriptures. There is no verse in them that
doth not declare the glory of His holy Name, and no Book that doth not testify
unto the loftiness of this most exalted theme. Were We to make mention
of all that hath been revealed in these heavenly Books and holy Scriptures
concerning this Revelation, this Tablet would assume impossible
dimensions
(Baha'u'llah: Gleanings, Page: 13)
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