Baha's often asked what our beliefs are in regards to Jesus.
We revere Jesus as a Manifestation of God (more on this in another thread), as the suffering Messiah promised to the Jews, and anyone who becomes a Baha'i is required to accept the redemptive power of Jesus's sacrifice on the cross.
Here is what Baha'u'llah has to say on Jesus's suffering:
We do not, however, believe that Jesus was the only, or even the last, Manifestation of God. We also revere Abraham, Krishna, Moses, the Buddha, Muhammad, the Bab, and Baha'u'llah, as well as a couple others. This often creates a problem for Christians, who believe that Jesus is the only pathway to God. How can we believe in Jesus as well as all these other Inidividuals, they ask.
Well, we believe that when Jesus referred to Himself as the Way, Truth, and the Life, He wasn't referring to His person, but instead to His station as the Manifestation of God. In this way, each and every Manifestation is the one Way, Truth, and Life.
We also believe that His promise to one day return has been fulfilled in the coming of Baha'u'llah. I may discuss this subject more at a later time.
We revere Jesus as a Manifestation of God (more on this in another thread), as the suffering Messiah promised to the Jews, and anyone who becomes a Baha'i is required to accept the redemptive power of Jesus's sacrifice on the cross.
Here is what Baha'u'llah has to say on Jesus's suffering:
Baha'u'llah wrote:“Know thou that when the Son of Man yielded up His breath to God, the whole creation wept with a great weeping. By sacrificing Himself, however, a fresh capacity was infused into all created things. Its evidences, as witnessed in all the peoples of the earth, are now manifest before thee. The deepest wisdom which the sages have uttered, the profoundest learning which any mind hath unfolded, the arts which the ablest hands have produced, the influence exerted by the most potent of rulers, are but manifestations of the quickening power released by His transcendent, His all-pervasive, and resplendent Spirit.‘
‘We testify that when He came into the world, He shed the splendor of His glory upon all created things. Through Him the leper recovered from the leprosy of perversity and ignorance. Through Him, the unchaste and wayward were healed. Through His power, born of Almighty God, the eyes of the blind were opened, and the soul of the sinner sanctified… We bear witness that through the power of the Word of God every leper was cleansed, every sickness was healed, every human infirmity was banished. He it is Who purified the world. Blessed is the man who, with a face beaming with light, hath turned towards Him.“
We do not, however, believe that Jesus was the only, or even the last, Manifestation of God. We also revere Abraham, Krishna, Moses, the Buddha, Muhammad, the Bab, and Baha'u'llah, as well as a couple others. This often creates a problem for Christians, who believe that Jesus is the only pathway to God. How can we believe in Jesus as well as all these other Inidividuals, they ask.
Well, we believe that when Jesus referred to Himself as the Way, Truth, and the Life, He wasn't referring to His person, but instead to His station as the Manifestation of God. In this way, each and every Manifestation is the one Way, Truth, and Life.
We also believe that His promise to one day return has been fulfilled in the coming of Baha'u'llah. I may discuss this subject more at a later time.