Dear Susan and David,
I recently was presented with this topic while on a
boyscout campout a fellow parent inquired "what church
I went to". His interest in the Bahai Faith soon waned
when it became clear that I was not interested in
leaving my church to join his where "we worship a
risen Christ".
I live in a small town with a church on every corner
and I expressed not only our belief in the unity of
religions but stated that our Writings state its
purpose is to bring together, and that if it did not
serve that purpose it was better to be without it. I
expressed my bewilderment at so many churches all
claiming to be Christian. This risen Christ issue was
very big to him, I suppose in contrast to images of
Catholic crucufixes.
I could not help but think of Mary, who as I recall,
was the catalyst to calming the diciples afterward, in
that she recognized He indeed lived on in the faith
imbued in them. It has always been my thought that the
visions of Him were not physical events but spiritual
insights.
I shared with this parent that miracles in themselves
were not proof of divinity, which he readily agreed
to. The real proof of the Reality of Christ was that
his followers were able to receive his message of
"love one another".
As one who has had the "born again experience" and
grew from there to recognize the Faith, I was able to
be compassionate to his myopic view and yet firm and
unwavering in a real sense that I was not offending
the Holy Spirit as it manifested, but rather honoring
that Spirit in the recognition of Baha'u'llah. Our
Writings, as I remember/comprehend, say that to
distinguish one above another is error.
No one has the corner on the God market.
The beauty of this conversation, which I never would
have initiated on my own, was that a fellow boyscout
asked me about the main beliefs of the Baha'i
Faith...which I led into with the personal
responsiblity to investigate the truth.
warmly,
karen
--- [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
> Dear David,
>
> Although Abdu'l-Baha does not say so explicitly, my
> reading of the
> early Christian sources, combined with Abdu'l-Baha's
> interpretation
> lead me to think that there were 'ressurrection'
> appearances of Jesus
> after the crucifixtion. They just weren't physical.
>
> warmest, Susan
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