The Baha’i Faith-Part 6
| By: Dr. John Ankerberg, Dr. John Weldon; ©2002 |
| Despite Baha’is claim to accept the Christian faith, the authors quote Baha’i leaders to show that they believe Christians have an antiquated religion, deformed teachings, do not understand the words of Jesus and are spiritually destitute. |
The Baha’i Faith—Part Six
THEOLOGY—Part 2
Christianity, continued
Despite the claim to accept the Christian faith, the following sentiments represent a more accurate portrayal of the Baha’i view of Christianity. First, according to Baha’iism Christians have an antiquated religion, deformed teachings, do not understand the words of Jesus and are spiritually destitute:
- Mason Bemey: The Baha’i Faith is not a renewal of Christianity. It is an entirely New Religion that is going to supersede Christianity.[1]
- Udo Schaefer (Chairman National Spiritual Assembly of Baha’is of Germany): Measured by the standard of Baha’u’llah’s revelation, the Pauline doctrine of Justification, the doctrine of Original Sin, the doctrine of the Holy Trinity… the whole Church plan of salvation … these are a deformation of Jesus’s teaching.[2]
- Baha’u’llah: As the adherents of Jesus have never understood the hidden meaning of these words… they therefore refused to acknowledge, even until now, the truth of those Manifestations of Holiness that have since the days of Jesus been made manifest. They have thus deprived themselves of the outpourings of God’s holy grace, and of the wonders of His divine utterance. Such is their low estate in this, the Day of Resurrection![3]
- ‘Abdu’l-Baha: The clergy have neither understood the meaning of the Gospels nor comprehended the symbols.[4]
Baha’is tell Christian clergy that they do not understand their own Scriptures. Baha’is believe Christians are false prophets and apostates. George Townshend tells us that “unenlightened” Christians have actually committed the crime of rejecting Christ (Baha’u’llah), who brought “a new, different, and more advanced Revelation.”[5]
Second, Sabet, in another effervescent display of Baha’i religious tolerance, describes those who believe Baha’u’llah to be a false prophet as:
- The real false prophets—narrow-minded and intolerant clergy and theologians who have perverted Christ’s real teachings.[6]
- Today, Christians make the same mistake the Jews made 2,000 years ago. They are so concerned with their own ideas of what Christ is that they cannot see the spirit of Christ in Baha’u’llah.[7]
- Christ was a perfect Man…. Baha’u’llah… is the Christ for this day…. If you turn away from Baha’u’llah, you turn away from Christ.[8]
But Jesus Himself warned us about “false Christs” and He gave very specific signs of his personal return (Matthew 24); none, repeat none, of which were fulfilled by Baha’u’llah. The only “ideas” Christians have about Jesus Christ are those He spoke Himself, which were accurately recorded by His disciples. Those disciples have never been shown to have been untrustworthy or dishonest So, is it true that the “spirit of Christ” is also in Baha’u’llah? (See chart below.)
| • Orthodox Jew
• Trusted in a holy, knowable personal Father • Exclusivist • Atoning Savior |
• Muslim mystic
• Praised an unknowable, unreachable Deity • Syncretist • Allegedly exemplary way shower |
Third, Baha’i claims to being Christian and religiously tolerant tend to suffer even more when one views their overall attitude towards Christianity seen throughout their literature. By implication or statement Christian leaders “verily, are of the fallen,” and “by one stroke of His exalted Pen” Baha’u’llah stripped them of their power and abolished their church.[9] They have rejected Christ and God and failed. “Ye, and all ye possess, shall pass away,” including Christians’ “corrupt desires,” which they love to rove in.[10] They are “inwardly wolves” and “inwardly foul.”[11] Christians have blurred vision, causing ignorance of the facts.[12] Christian leaders writing against Baha’is are considered “foolish divines.”[13] Orthodox Christians engage in “folly” and “are seized by the frenzy of their vain fancies.”[14] Those who believe Christ was the final revelation utter “vain and absurd sayings” and are said to be afflicted with a “spiritual disease.”[15] Christians are likened to blasphemers who have made an idol out of Jesus.[16]
Christianity “is now obsolete. It was valid only for a particular tribe, a particular period in history.”[17] Biblical miracles are “mythology,” and “superstitions.” Baha’is have no attraction to these, nor to a “morbid devotion to the letter of the Scriptures.”[18] Christians who refuse to repent of their spiritual errors, according to Baha’is, have been warned. As Townshend asserts, Baha’u’llah “directed numerous and repeated exhortations and warnings to the entire Christian world. These without exception were ignored by Christendom when they were made, and they have now been set aside and disregarded for some eighty years.”[19] For example, Baha’u’llah spoke of his God, who “hath solemnly warned them that have repudiated the verses of God, and hath disowned them that have denied His holy words. Consider how far the people have strayed… and how grievous hath been the faithlessness and arrogance of the spiritually destitute.”[20]
Here is how the Macmillian Dictionary for Students defines “tolerance”: “ability or willingness to accept or respect the behavior, customs, opinions or beliefs of others.” Baha’is may claim tolerance for other religions, but the truth lies elsewhere. What they do for Christianity they do for all faiths. The chart below summarizes just a few of the contrasts between Baha’i doctrine and Christianity.
| God | God is unknowable except through conflicting manifestations. God cannot incarnate Himself. | God is knowable personally through Jesus Christ (John 17:3), and through a self revelation which is not contradictory (the Bible). God did incarnate Himself in the person of Jesus (Philippians 2). |
| Jesus Christ | One of many manifestations of the divine; Jesus Christ returned as Baha’u’llah. | The unique incarnation of God (Philippians 2:1-9; John 1:1, 14; 6:46); the Second Person of the Holy Trinity; Jesus Christ will return as Himself in the glorified Person of Jesus of Nazareth (Matthew 24). |
| Nature of Revelation | Written revelation is incomplete and continuing; religious truth is ultimately relative.
In their true essence and teaching all religions are true or reflect facets of the truth. |
Written revelation is complete and has ended; religious truth is absolute.
The revelation of the one true God alone is true; what conflicts with truth is error (John 17:17; 1 John 2:21). |
| Method of
Biblical Interpretation |
Biased; employs Baha’i assumptions; non-literal (for example, cf. Beckwith Baha’i 1985, pp. 23-25 and chapter 4). | Objective; employs universally accepted principles; literal. |
Notes
- ↑ William McLwee Miller, The Baha’i Faith: It’s History and Teachings (South Pasadena, CA: William Carey Library, 1974), p. 321; cf. p. 62 for a statement by the Bab.
- ↑ Udo Schaefer, The Light Shineth in Darkness (Oxford, England: Geo. Ronald, 1973), p. 87.
- ↑ Baha’u’llah, The Kitab-I-Iqan: The Book of Certitude (Wilmette, IL: Baha’i Publishing Trust, 1974), p. 80.
- ↑ ‘Abdu’l-Baha, Christ’s Promise Fulfilled (Wilmette, IL: Baha’i Pub. Trust, 1978), p. 33.
- ↑ George Townshend, The Heart of the Gospel (London, England: George Ronald, 1960), p. 147; cf. pp. 149, 117, 77, 75.
- ↑ Huschmand Sabet, The Heavens Are Cleft Asunder (Oxford, England: George Ronald Publishing, 1975), pp. 123-124.
- ↑ Peter Simple, Kolstoe, Baha’i Teachings, Light for all Regions (Wilmette, IL: Baha’i Publishing Trust, 1970), p. 6.
- ↑ Ibid., pp. 7, 11.
- ↑ Adib Taherzadeh, The Revelation of Baha’u’llah Adrianople 1863-68 (Oxford: George Ronald), pp. 271-272.
- ↑ Ibid., p. 312.
- ↑ Ibid., p. 350.
- ↑ Schaefer, p. 61.
- ↑ Baha’u’llah, The Kitab-I-Iqan, p. 27.
- ↑ Ibid., p. 135.
- ↑ Ibid., p. 213, cf. p. 27.
- ↑ World Order, Fall 1978, p. 15.
- ↑ Ibid., Fall 1977, p. 11.
- ↑ Ibid., p. 15.
- ↑ ‘Abdu’l-Baha, Christ’s Promise Fulfilled, p. 75.
- ↑ The Kitab-I-Iqan, p. 215.
