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About symbolic religious language and literal interpretation
2/1/2008 7:17:23 PM
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Good evening everybody
Welcome to my Forum. I hope it will be interesting for you to know that the Founder of the Bahai Faith does not require you to believe in supranatural events or miracles. You should use your brain, your intellect and if you are a seeker or wanderer in Gods Path, be filled with the illumination of the spirit, whose place of revelation is the heart.
The Bahai Holy Books have a language that is clear and means what it says. It uses parables, that are clearly symbolic and wordings like the Sun of truth, the Ark of salvation, the stars of understanding, the leprosy of ignorance, the Ocean of My Revelation .We understand all this. It is simply poetic.
We are asked to understand religious truth by independent investigation and according to our own reasoning and to rely on wellbalanced arguments in conversations, when we seek to understand, as in all things. We must not go blindfolded into faith ever, and a Bahai cannot be born into a Faith . We must not just rely on somebody else's judgement. So we have no priests, and this not only because they behaved the way they did i Iran. It goes deeper.We must understand concealed meanings where symbolic speech is used, so we must not take anything literally when it comes to parables and symbolic poetic language.This mostly concerns older religious texts. So , for exemple: the three "WOES" in the Rev. is to be understood as Muhammads, the Babs and Bahaullahs coming. As a time of test, Quite different,and for me making sense.
Bahaullah performed miracles, but we seldom speak about them.He woke up people who actually were dead for exemple.
All this is fully in accordance with the Bible which says: You should love your God with all your heart, soul and understanding. My translation).
Doesn't it say then indirectly that you do not have to believe in things in the Bible, that is contrary to your understanding?
After all we have received the intellect, the greatest of gifts, solely offered to man. Animals do not have a capacity like this.
Jesus Himself was not fond of miracles and urged the disciples to keep quiete about the ones He performed.. Of course He did, He wanted people to believe in spirit, to be lifted up in spirit. Because anybody can perform miraculous things. It can have , maybe, a relevance to the spectators who were present when it occurred, but not all through the thousands of years, right up to our age. This is the Bahai standpoint
Still we see, in these otherwise modern times, that people adhere to these kind of supposedly spiritual happenings.. all sorts of teachings florish nowadays, some sects of old religions are even trying to force unnatural things to take place, right at the spot.. Why do they do that? What for? I have seen this on TV.
What caused the persecution of the Babis and now the Bahais are these adherings to or enchantments of miraculous things. That is why Tahirih was reproached, feared and in the end slain. They feared the truth. A literal interpretation of the Qouran cost her her life, and about 20 000 other Babis.Only Bahaullah and His family survived and a very small group of people around Him. Actually.
Aliteral interpretation is the source of hatred. This is the worst I know.
Both the Bible and the Qouran is laying out dramatic sceneries of miraculous and supranatural character. Like "mountains crumpling like sheeps wool",or "stars being scattered about "or "falling", "graves are dug up", "the sky itself will be torn away", and "people even coming out of their graves" how ghastly I'd say.The language of the Bible is similar to the Qouran, in regard to what is supposed to happen when Gods Day of Wrath will occur. By the way, it is going on just now, however this is the Day of Grace for us Bahais. We have come out of the grave of negligence of God, or with an older term been "resurrected". And you do not have to die to come to heaven or be taken up in the air". Upon receiving belief, you are in the air of the spirit inside of you, "heaven" in heart. So it is for me as a Bahai.
I'd say, the fire of the nethermost hell burned in the hearts of those bigoted priests and nowhere else, when they were instigating and even taking part of the slaughtering of innocent , purehearted Babis. This is the meaning of hell being opened and Satan coming loose. Satan or the devil is our negligence of God, or all that prevent us from approaching God, not a special self- supported spirit,The "shaking earth" is the shaking of the hearts and souls of cruel malevolent people, who fear the truth. Because the earth is supposed to be still and calm, like the heart and the soil of the souls. (... where God plants His seeds of the Spirit, letting your friendship grow into an invisible tree bearing the fruits of the spirit, goodness, righteousness, love, compassion....)
I think, the most wellknown verse in the world using a symbolic language is the one which tells about Jesus coming on the clouds. He was supposed to arrive like that in 1844, according to the International Bible Societie's calculations. He simply didn't. Of course. But the Spirit of Elijah, we believe, became visible in Bab arising in the East instead.
Those clouds are misconceptions and bigotry and fear and hatred and all sorts of things that the literalists all over the world hold dear, shutting them out from the Sun of truth. Those clouds exist everywhere. Alas for that.
About those ayatollahs and their disciples one can say the following:
"Hearing you will and shall not understand.And seeing you will see and not perceive"; (Matt. 13:13-16)
then comes the explanation why you do not hear or see: For the heart of this people has grown dull, and this , I believe thisis a warning to literalists, if they care.
True religion is planted in the heart, regardless of miracles happening or not. The heart is Gods place of Revelation. Therefore Bahaullah reveals to us:
O SON OF BEING!
Thy heart is My home, sanctify it for My descent. Thy spirit is My place of Revelation; cleanse it for My manifestation.
Also: One language, the outward language, is devoid of allusions, is unconcealed and unveiled; that it may be a guiding lamp and a beaconing light whereby wayfarers may attain the heights of holiness, and seekers may advance into the realm of eternal reunion...The other language is veiled and concealed, so that whatever lieth hidden in the heart of the malevolent be made manifest and their innermost being ne disclosed. Bahaullah
Isn't it wonderful that there is a religion now in the world where we do not have to cling to things and events, that are contrary to natural laws, reason and scientific investigation? Yes it is!!!. People who reject the Holy Books because they are contrary to reason and scientific invetigation will again , afresh find consolation, peace and illumination through Gods Word and will no longer ridicule the books of God and the believers.
Personally I believe that honey exists in this world, just because there should be a sign of Gods love on the material plane, no matter what the bee children prefer.
The most great mystery still remains, after all, and that is the unfathomable but quite real -love of God, which you can feel clearly,( as if coming right out of "the air"), His love for us and our love for Him, that gives us the force to love each other carefully and create peace and reconciliation among the wolf (some sect) and the lambs (some other sect), and the lion ( the cruel ones) will learn to love and do a good work like a faithful ox.
Queen Mary of Roumania , who was a Bahai uttered this in the Toronto Daily Star in the 1930ies: (translated from Swedish, conveying the meaning)
"If you ever come across names of Bahaullah or Abdu'l -Baha, do not set them aside. The words of the Father are similar to the words of the Bible although moderated to suit our age, They have not put it forward aggressively, knowing that the germ of truth lying at its core cannot but take root and spread.Seek out their books and letters, they are like a fountain in the desert for the wandering thirsty souls and let their peace-bringing, love-creating Words and lessons sink deep into your heart as they have into mine"
Take care of your honey- heart
Bye and good Night to you all
Laila
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