Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/17/84; site mhuxr.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxr!flb From: flb@mhuxr.UUCP (Verbus M. Counts) Newsgroups: net.religion Subject: The Purpose of God in creating man ...... Message-ID: <330@mhuxr.UUCP> Date: Sun, 26-May-85 15:37:12 EDT Article-I.D.: mhuxr.330 Posted: Sun May 26 15:37:12 1985 Date-Received: Mon, 27-May-85 00:34:11 EDT Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories, Murray Hill Lines: 79 From "GLEANINGS FROM THE WRITINGS OF BAHA`'u`LLAH" XXIX. "The purpose of God in creating man hath been, and will ever be, to enable him to know his Creator and to attain His Presence. To this most excellent aim, this supreme objective, all the heavenly Books and the divinely-revealed and weighty Scriptures unequivocally bear witness. Whoso hath recognized the Day Spring of Divine guidance and entered His holy court hath drawn nigh unto God and attained His Presence, a Presence which is the real Paradise, and of which the loftiest mansions of heaven are but a symbol. Such a man attained the knowledge of the station of Him who is "at the distance of two bows," Who standeth beyond the Sadratu'l-Muntaha`. Whoso hath failed to recognize Him will have condemned himself to the misery of remoteness, a remoteness which is naught but utter nothingness and the essence of the nethermost fire. Such will be his fate, though to outward seeming he may occupy the earth's loftiest seats and be established upon its most exalted throne. He who is the Day Spring of Truth is, no doubt, fully capable of rescuing from such remoteness wayward souls and of causing them to draw nigh unto His court and attain His Presence. "If God had pleased He had surely made all men one people." His purpose, however, is to enable the pure in spirit and the detached in heart to ascend, by virtue of their own innate powers, unto the shores of the Most Great Ocean, that thereby they who seek the Beauty of the All-Glorious may be distinguished and separated from the wayward and perverse. Thus hath it been ordained by the all-glorious and resplendent Pen.... That the Manifestations of Divine justice, the Day Springs of heavenly grace, have when they appeared amongst men always been destitute of all earthly dominion and shorn of the means of worldly ascendancy, should be attributed to this same principle of separation and distinction which animateth the Divine Purpose. Were the Eternal Essence to manifest all that is latent within Him, were He to shine in the plentitude of His glory, none would be found to question His power or repudiate His truth. Nay, all created things would be so dazzled and thunderstruck by the evidences of His light as to be reduced to utter nothingness. How, then, can the godly be differentiated under such circumstances from the froward? This principle hath operated in each of the previous Dispensations and been abundantly demonstrated.... It is for this reason that, in every age, when a new Manifestation hath appeared and a fresh revelation of God's transcendent power was vouchsafed unto men, they that misbelieved in Him, deluded by the appearance of the peerless and everlasting Beauty in the garb of mortal men, have failed to recognized Him. They have erred from His path and eschewed His company-the company of Him Who is the Symbol of nearness to God. They have arisen to decimate the ranks of the faithful and to exterminate such as believed in Him. Behold how in this Dispensation the worthless and foolish have fondly imagined that by such instruments as massacre, plunder and banishment they can extinguish the Lamp which the Hand of Divine power hath lit, or eclipse the Day Star of everlasting splendor. How utterly unaware they seem to be of the truth that such adversity is the oil that feedeth the flame of this Lamp! Such is God's transforming power. He changeth whatsoever He willeth; He verily hath power over all things.... Consider at all times the sovereignty exercised by the Ideal King, and behold the evidences of His power and paramount influence. Sanctify your ears from the idle talk of them that are the symbols of denial and the exponents of violence and anger. The hour is approaching when ye will witness the power of the one true God triumphing over all created things and signs of His sovereignty encompassing all creation. On that day ye will discover how all else besides Him will have forgotten and come to be regarded as utter nothingness. It should, however, be borne in mind that God and His Manifestations can, under no circumstances, be dissociated from the loftiness and sublimity which They inherently posses. Nay, loftiness and sublimity are themselves the creations of His Word, if ye choose to see with My Sight not with yours." BAHA`'U`LLAH 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!hou2h!vc Room 1l-423 May 26,1985 Short Hills, NJ 07078 The Baha'i Faith