Several years ago, I was a
member of a local SACRE group. SACRE was an acronym for the Standard Advisory
Council on Religious Education. On this council were representatives of all
the major religions taught on the national curriculum, with some invited
onlookers. At that time, the religions taught in school were Christianity,
Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, Sikhism and Buddhism. At each meeting there was a
particular gentleman, one of the invited onlookers, who said the same thing at every
opportunity: ‘Why are we not seen as one of the major religions and taught to young
people?’. This man was a representative of the Baha’i Faith. Who are the
Baha’i?
THE BAB
The Bahá’í Faith traces its origin to 1844 and the announcement by a young man, Siyyid ‘Alí-Muhammad, in Shiraz, Persia (now Iran), that He had been sent by God to prepare humanity for a new age and the imminent appearance of another Messenger even greater than Himself. Siyyid ‘Alí-Muhammad took the title of the Báb (meaning “Gate” in Arabic) and said the one whose coming He foretold would be the universal Manifestation of God sent to inaugurate an age of peace and enlightenment as promised in all the world’s religions.[1]
Like a type of ‘John the Baptist’, the Bab pointed to one who was to come. The one he spoke of was apparently Mírzá Husayn ‘Alí, known by the Baha’i as Bahá’u’lláh, the founder of their faith. They believe Bahá’u’lláh is the latest in a line of great religious teachers, or manifestations of God, others are Abraham, Buddha, Christ, Krishna, Muhammad, Moses, Zoroaster and the Bab.
BELIEFS
“He Who is your Lord, the
All-Merciful, cherisheth in His heart the desire of beholding the entire human
race as one soul and one body.”[2] Bahá’u’lláh
The Bahá’í Faith seeks to destroy every division amongst the different
religions. It claims all beliefs are valid and have truth. Throughout time, God has sent a succession of divine messengers, to
teach and direct humanity. Within this syncretistic belief system, they hold that all
truth is relative and not absolute.
The Bahá’i believe that the world’s major religions represent evolving stages
in God’s teachings for humankind, and that the writings of Bahá’u’lláh
represent God’s direction for this time. His main teaching was that humanity should
be united under one God. As we might imagine, their teachings would be extremely
attractive to many in our world today.
GOD
The Baha’i consider themselves part of the Abrahamic tradition so are
monotheistic. They describe God as an ‘unknowable essence’ who has revealed
himself in a progressive way through the various messengers he has sent.
This is at odds with the Christian view of God which claims that God is
personable and knowable, through His one and only Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.
UNITY
The central message of the Baha'i is unity. They claim all religions are equally
valid, and all are paths to God. This is in spite of the fact that all
religions teach vastly different ‘truths’ about the character of God, the
person of Jesus and the nature of salvation.
Jesus said: “Truly, truly, I say to
you, I am the door of the sheep. All who
came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the door. If anyone enters by
me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. (John 10:7-9)
Elsewhere he taught: “I
am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the
Father except through me.” (John 14:6)
Biblical Christianity teaches there
is only one way.
JESUS
The Baha’i teach that Jesus is only one of many divine messengers, all who were manifestations of God. To them, Jesus was only for the people of his time, just as Moses was for the Jews of his day and Muhammad was for the people of his day. Each ‘manifestation of God’ spoke to their time. The Bahá’u’lláh, as the last manifestation, is for our time. But the Bible teaches that Jesus is far more than one of numerous manifestations of God. He was God in the flesh, the one for all time and all people.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was
with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not
any thing made that was made. (John 1:1-3)
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among
us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son
from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:14)
It is also worth noting that they
tend not to use the name Jesus, but rather refer to him as ‘Christ’. That may
also be telling as the Bible says:
Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed
on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should
bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ
is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:9-11)
Jesus is not one among
many – He is the One.
“I told you that you would die in your sins, for unless you believe that I am he you will die in your sins.” (John
8:24)
They also deny that
Jesus is uniquely our Saviour.
The Baha’i deny the
doctrine of original sin, teaching that humans are ‘noble creations’, who just
make bad choices. They do believe that Jesus died for our sins but so did all
the messengers of God, though some suffered more than others.
For example, they would claim
that Baha’u’llah suffered far more than Jesus. Jesus only suffered briefly
but Baha’u’llah suffered for many years:
“So Baha’u’llah – the founder of the
world’s newest and second-most widespread global religion – lived a
considerable portion of the last half of his life as a homeless prophet.
Jailed, tortured, poisoned, exiled and impoverished, he consciously and
altruistically lived that incredibly hard life solely for the benefit of
humankind.”[3]
SALVATION
In the Baha’i faith salvation is a
process. It involves the belief in one God, good works, living a righteous
life, inner transformation, and faithfulness to Baha’i unity.[4]
Salvation is therefore a partnership
between God and man, not the free gift of God.
“For by grace you have been saved through faith.
And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of
works, so that no one may boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9)
CONCLUSION
This article would agree with the
late Dr Walter Martin who said:
“There is very little indeed that a true Christian can have
in common with the faith of the Baha’i. There is simply no common ground on
which to meet or to talk once the affirmations have been made on both sides of
Jesus Christ, as opposed to Baha’u’llah.”[5]
The
Jesus of the Baha’i faith is not the Jesus of Scripture. They have a Jesus that
cannot save.
[1] https://news.bahai.org/media-information/brief-history/
[2] https://reference.bahai.org/en/t/b/GWB/gwb-107.html
[3] https://bahaiteachings.org/bahaullah-homeless-prophet/
[4] https://bahaiteachings.org/salvation-for-one-and-all/
[5] Walter
Martin – The Kingdom of the Cults (October 2003 edition) p.331
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