Khazeh Fananapazir <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
This servant will continue if any one shows interest…
POINT 6 reaffirms the abovein
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(`Abdu'l-Baha: Promulgation of Universal Peace*, Page: 168)**
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 th! e 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.
and that is difficult for some
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 spo! il 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 ag! ainst 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 trystThis 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)i beg you, i beseech you all to pause to ponder on all these before responding fast because it would then appear that we are not listening to each otherwith great love and true peacekhazeh
