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From: vc@hou2h.UUCP (Verbus M. Counts)
Newsgroups: net.religion
Subject: God and His Manifestations - Progressive Revelation
Message-ID: <828@hou2h.UUCP>
Date: Sun, 17-Feb-85 14:46:52 EST
Article-I.D.: hou2h.828
Posted: Sun Feb 17 14:46:52 1985
Date-Received: Tue, 19-Feb-85 08:36:54 EST
Organization: AT&T Bell Labs, Holmdel NJ
Lines: 87


 The most fundamental of all Bahai' principles are these:

                  The Oneness of God

                  The Oneness of His Messengers

                  The Oneness of mankind


 This article will focus on "God and His Messengers".

 From the Baha'i writings:

 God is like the sun.  Just as the physical sun is  the  source  of  all
 physical light, God is the source of all spiritual light.  The sun does
 not come down to earth to sustain life - it sends its like-giving rays.

 The infinite, unknowable God does not come down to earth - He sends His
 Messengers.   As  perfect  mirrors reflect the light of the sun, so His
 Messengers perfectly reflect the Word of God.  Therefore, one Messenger
 is not greater than another.  They are equal.  For this reason, Bahai's
 have the same  love  and  reverence  for  Christ  that  they  have  for
 Baha'`u'llah - because they are one in spirit.

 There is no exclusive salvation for the Bahai', the  Christian  or  the
 Jew.   God  is  not in  competition with him Himself. His revelation is
 orderly and progressive, and He sends His Messengers  whenever  mankind
 is in need of a fresh outpouring of His Word. Thus Moses may be likened
 to the seed; Christ to the tree; and Baha`'u'llah the fruit.  From  the
 fruit  will  come the seed of succeeding cycles in which new Messengers
 of God will bring an outward or social truth which  is  fitted  to  the
 needs of the age in which He appears.

               DIVINE REVELATORS

 RELIGION                  REVELATORS

 SABAEAN                   UNKNOWN
                           5000 B.C.

 HINDU                     KRISHNA
                           2000 B.C.

 JEWISH                    MOSES
                           1330 B.C.


 ZOROASTRIAN               ZOROASTER
                           1000 B.C.

 BUDDHIST                  GAUTAMA BUDDHA
                           560 B.C.

 CHRISTIAN                 JESUS CHRIST
                           1 A.D.

 ISLAMIC                   MUHAMMAD
                           622 A.D.

 BABI'                     THE BAB
                           1844 A.D.

 BAHA'I                    BAHA`'U'LLAH
                           1853 A.D.

 From the writings of Baha`'u'llah:

 Know thou assuredly that the essence of all the prophets of God is  one
 and  the same.  Their unity is absolute. God, the Creator, saith: There
 is no distinction whatsoever among the Bearers of My Message.  They all
 have but one purpose their secret is the same secret.  To prefer one in
 honor to another, to exalt certain ones above the rest, is in  no  wise
 to  be  permitted.   Every  true  Prophet hath  regarded His Message as
 fundamentally the same as the Revelation of every  other  Prophet  gone
 before   Him.   If  any  man, therefore, should fail to comprehend this
 truth, and should consequently indulge in vain and  unseemly  language,
 no one whose sight is keen and whose understanding is enlightened would
 ever allow such idle talk to cause him to waver in his belief.


Regards,
Verbus M. Counts   AT&T Bell Labs             The Word of God(religion) is one,
(201) 564-2510     101 JFK Parkway            though the speakers are many ...
ihnp4!pata!vca     Room 1l-423
February 17,1985   Short Hills, NJ 07078                    The Bahai Faith