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Table of contents

It is not so easy to see what they mean, where they are taking us or how we can respond constructively. Millions of people, sensing the importance of such questions, are earnestly seeking answers. I believe those answers will elude us until we come to grips with an issue the world has evaded for more than a century: Who was Baha'u'llah? A 'Who's Who'-style biographical sketch would tell us little - merely that He founded the Baha'i Faith and spent forty years in prison and exile for proclaiming a message of peace and love.

First, however, some historical observations may make it easier to see the modern relevance of this question. It is an intriguing fact that each major world religion - Hinduism, Judaism, Zoroastrianism, Buddhism, Christianity and Islam - has given birth to a great civilization. These historic civilizations all have certain things in common. Each, in its turn, became the highest and most advanced culture the world had known until that time. Each later declined and decayed, to become more a source of conflict than of cooperation.

This cyclic rise and fall of civilizations - deriving their initial impulse from religion - has largely shaped the modern world. For example, the Hebrew culture derived from Judaism fertilized the philosophy of ancient Greece and left a code of law that became the basis for every modern legal system. Moreover, it was Islam that introduced nationalism in the modern sense - a concept that, whatever its limitations, has spurred social and economic development throughout the world. These spiritual guides are easily the most influential figures in history, for it is they who shaped and inspired the civilizations that followed them.

Their lives and teachings display uncanny similarities. Each claimed to derive His influence and authority directly from God. Each was known for saintly character and vast intuitive knowledge.

Prophets And Prophecy

Each was bitterly opposed by me civil and religious authorities of His time. Each taught the same spiritual basic concepts regarding belief in God, life after death, prayer, self-discipline, ethical principles such as die Golden Rule, and the like.


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Each, however, modified the previous religion's social laws and regulations according to the needs of the changed time. Each reaffirmed the divine origin of previous religions, and each promised that God would send future messengers with new and fuller revelations. The most remarkable parallel among these religions is found in their prophecies concerning the 'last days'. Cataclysmic changes will produce the 'Kingdom of God on earth' 3 in which the nations 'shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.

The central hope of every world faith revolves around the coming of such a spiritual leader, often identified as the 'return' of the founder of the religion embodying the prophecy. How can this seemingly arbitrary pattern repeat itself, age after age, in movements so widely separated by time, geography and culture? Baha'is believe that such is indeed the case. Behold how, notwithstanding such an announcement, mankind hath strayed from its path and shut out itself from its glory.

In deciding whether Baha'u'llah's claim merits investigation, we must bear in mind two points.

The first is that He does not ask anyone to accept a literal interpretation of ancient prophecy. For example, He teaches that the 'end of the world' - a recurring theme of scripture -means not the physical destruction of the planet, but rather the end of civilization as we know it through its transformation into a higher, global civilization 'with a fullness of life such as the world has never seen nor can as yet conceive'. For instance, Baha''u'lla'h interprets the 'return of Christ' or Buddha, Krishna or any other Divine Messenger not as the return of the physical individual but as the mystic return of the Voice of God that spoke through Him.

It is, He teaches, the return of the light rather than the lamp, the reappearance in a new human temple of the perfections, power and authority vested in Christ and the other Divine Educators. The second, and more important, point is that Baha''u'lla'h does not ask anyone to accept His claim without supporting evidence. Real faith is defined in His teachings to mean conscious knowledge expressed in action. It behoveth you to ascertain whether or not such a light hath appeared. The details of Baha'u'llah's life, the history of His Faith, and the specifics of His teachings will be examined primarily for the light they shed on the central issue: Who was Baha'u'llah?

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In other words, was He - as He claimed - the promised World Redeemer foretold in the sacred books of past ages and is His message a genuine revelation from God? If the correct answer is 'Yes', then clearly it is vital that we know it. The second chapter of this book will provide a brief summary of Baha'i history and of Baha''u'lla'h's major teachings; the third will suggest a few of the many ways an inquirer can test His claim.

The remaining chapters will present the actual evidence which supports my own belief as a Baha 'i. Whether my personal reasons seem convincing to others is less important to me than whether they stimulate independent investigation. That, of course, will be for the reader to decide. I will refrain, both in this chapter and the next, from offering any arguments or evidence to support that claim; these will come later.

1. Interpretation of Isaiah

For the moment, my purpose is simply to familiarize the reader with the events and concepts to which any such discussion must refer. Having passed through infancy and adolescence, humanity is now coming of age. The product of this metamorphosis must and will be the world's first truly global society.

As formulated by Baha'u'llah in the latter half of the nineteenth century, this principle is much more than a vague platitude. It incorporates a bold and detailed plan for world reconstruction, involving an 'organic change' in the very nature of society. All of Baha'u'llah's other teachings revolve around the oneness of mankind, as spokes revolve around the hub of a wheel. In order to support and implement this overriding goal, He calls for widespread application of the following principles: Independent investigation of truth: Each human being is born with the right and obligation to investigate reality - especially the reality of religion - without undue influence from others.

Baha'u'llah states that despite these outward differences compounded by many centuries of human misunderstanding and prejudice : 'Every true Prophet hath regarded His Message as fundamentally the same as the Revelation of every other Prophet gone before Him. Equal rights and opportunities for men and women: The two sexes are likened in the Baha'i teachings to two wings which must be balanced before the bird of humanity can soar aloft. In particular, Baha'u'llah identifies equal participation by women in government decision-making as a vital key to world peace.

Reconciliation of science and religion: Both disciplines, according to Baha'u'llah, are different paths to a single truth. Rightly understood, science and religion are therefore in complete harmony, for truth can never contradict itself. Adoption of a universal auxiliary language: He calls upon the nations to choose, by mutual consent, a single language to be taught in schools throughout the globe in addition to each country's mother tongue. Universal compulsory education: This principle is one which Baha'u'llah forcefully enunciated long before it became routine policy in most of today's developed nations.

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The intent of this principle is to preserve degrees of wealth, which are necessary, while abolishing extremes, which are not. Recognition of love and unity as the central purpose of religion: Baha'u'llah categorically forbids not only religious violence but all forms of religious conflict and contention as alien to the true spirit of faith. He states that God's purpose in sending His Messengers has always been to unite human hearts; if religion has the opposite effect, we would be better off without it.

While these themes accurately reflect the spirit of the Baha'i Faith, they in no way exhaust its teachings. Baha'u'llah touches on literally thousands of vital issues, ancient and modern, disclosing in the process a comprehensive blueprint for a unified world society. No summary can capture so vast a panorama of ideas; it can only hint at their scope and direction. Baha'u'llah's teachings emphasize, moreover, that 'ideas and principles are helpless without a divine power to put them into effect'.

Introduction

The primary function of divine revelation, He explains, is not to introduce new teachings important though these are , but to provide such a power. Here is part of what He says about this all-important topic. The Messengers of God, according to Baha'u'llah, are far more than simply great teachers or reformers. They are Spiritual Suns through whom God floods the world with divine energy.

Prophetic Gifts of the Spirit

This intangible yet dynamic influence - traditionally called the Holy Spirit - is the power by which God stirs the Divine Messenger and, through Him, all humanity. As the mystical impulse generated by the new Messenger gradually penetrates society, it attracts ever-increasing numbers to rally around Him and recognize His divine authority. Sooner or later it culminates in the birth of a new social order based on the newly revealed laws and teachings.

Baha'u'llah indicates, however, that while this divinely ordained process is both irresistible and inevitable, it is not automatic. How easily humanity navigates the transition is determined primarily by the readiness of individuals to investigate and accept the new Messenger's divine mandate. Our response also determines the extent to which we as individuals benefit spiritually from the new revelation. Something many people still question, however, is whether such goals can ever be translated into practice.

It should be clear that if the Baha'i programme is truly a divine revelation, its aims are attainable because 'the power of the Kingdom of God will aid and assist in their realization'. The answer is a resounding 'Yes'. Baha'u'llah's broad social principles are, of course, no longer new in the sense of being unfamiliar to the general public although they were radically new and unfamiliar when He first propounded them in the nineteenth century.

They certainly are new, however, in the sense that they are not explicit in the sacred books of any previous religion. When we move beyond broad principles to detailed specifics, we can easily identify many elements of the Faith that are new both in the sense of being still unknown to the public and in that of being unparalleled in previous religions. His followers believe that this astonishing system of laws, institutions and doctrines, being of divine rather than human origin, is destined to uplift and regenerate society.

Be that as it may, one can hardly deny either the novelty or the originality of the overall structure. The admitted importance of these two questions -'Is the Baha'i programme really practical?


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For the reasons stated above, I believe the answer, in each case, hinges on a deeper, logically more fundamental issue: Who was Baha'u'llah? If He was the bearer of a genuine revelation from God, then that revelation must contain much that is both new and practical.