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View submission: Religion teacher trying to understand the Baha'i Faith.
I appreciate your inquiry. It is thoughtful and honestly, perfectly understandable why you would have those questions.
I am a Baha'i but also consider myself a Christian. Personally I have felt my belief in Jesus led me to Baha'u'llah. Now I believe they are one and the same. In the Book of Matthew, Jesus says "My words will never pass away." Combine this with the teachings the churches provided me about the resurrection and what it meant to be the Son, I felt somewhat of an inner conflict. I felt there was this expectation for Jesus to come back, but the expectations taught for His 2nd coming could never be met, especially if we compare the actual life and teachings of Jesus with the expectations of His physical life in this world. It felt impossible. Either He would come and no one would no it, or He would be so obviously magnificent not a single human would deny belief in Him. This bothered me for quite sometime to where I took a break from visiting churches and wanted to explore the answers I sought elsewhere.
Eventually I had a rather strong dream, followed by a couple days of clarity. During this period I felt I was taught things I had never read before in any book, sacred or secular. The most important thing I was taught was Jesus was not God in His complete form, just a glimpse, and that the purpose of mankind's evolution was to eventually be as connected to God as He was. As the Book of John says, we are all capable of being sons.
After this couple day period, my clarity gave way to my normal condition, and I sought to learn if anyone else taught this knowledge. After a few years I came across the Hidden Words by Baha'u'llah. I felt immediately this came directly from God. My soul lit up completely. Within a week I found a local Baha'i community whereupon a friend recommended I read the Kitab-i-Iqan (The Book of Certitude). It was there where I found many of the principles I felt I learned before in my days of clarity, but when I would revisit the Gospels, I felt I could understand the teachings of Jesus Christ.
Today, I believe Baha'u'llah, while not having the station of Son, is also a son of God. I actually believe Baha'u'llah to have the station of Father, although He is not God Himself. I also believe Baha'u'llah is what Jesus promised when He taught His disciples He would come back. Sure, there is a new name but the Revelations in spirit are the same. You can feel the same Holy Spirit working through both the Gospels and Baha'u'llah's Writings.
We mustn't get caught up in the uniqueness of names to understand the Spirit never dies, God is everywhere in spirit and energy, and because of this, operates in time and space much more differently than we can observe or even imagine. It is because of this I believe God is unknowable although He is gracious enough to allow me to witness portions of Him through Jesus, Baha'u'llah, the Bab, and the others I have come to know. It may have been the body of Jesus which was crucified, but it was the Spirit of all the Manifestations which felt those stakes and the blind hate within the hearts of the Romans and Jews of those days. Muhammad felt it. Buddha felt it. Moses felt it. Baha'u'llah felt it.
"Thinkest thou that We fear thy cruelty? Know thou and be well assured that from the first day whereon the voice of the Most Sublime Pen was raised betwixt earth and heaven We offered up Our souls, and Our bodies, and Our sons, and Our possessions in the path of God, the Exalted, the Great, and We glory therein amongst all created things and the Concourse on high. Unto this testify the things which have befallen Us in this straight Path. By God! Our hearts were consumed, and Our bodies were crucified, and Our blood was spilt, while Our eyes were fixed on the horizon of the loving-kindness of their Lord, the Witness, the All-Seeing." (Lawh-i-Burhan, (Tablet of the Proof) - Baha'u'llah)
There's nothing here!