The Sunday Mail
Flora Teckie A Bahá’í Perspective
God is immeasurably greater than what we can imagine and His knowledge means the knowledge of His attributes and qualities perceptible to humanity. God’s essence is, however, incomprehensible to the human mind, because the finite cannot comprehend the infinite.
THE world’s great religions have assured their followers of the existence of God and have led them to love and worship Him.
The Bahá’í Writings explain that the reality of God is beyond our understanding, although we may find expressions of His attributes in every created thing.
“Every created thing in the whole universe,” Bahá’u’lláh says, “is but a door leading into His knowledge…”
God is the Creator of Earth, Heaven and everything in between. He has caused every living thing to come into being. The same way as the physical sun shines on the world, so the light of God is shed on all His Creation.
Despite the varying names we use for the Creator, there is only one God and it is the Bahá’í view that all of the world’s major religions are progressive expressions of God’s revelation for humanity.
God is immeasurably greater than what we can imagine and His knowledge means the knowledge of His attributes and qualities perceptible to humanity.
God’s essence is, however, incomprehensible to the human mind, because the finite cannot comprehend the infinite.
A table cannot understand the nature of the carpenter who made it. In the same way, we who are created by God cannot understand the essence of the Creator.
Although the essence of God is beyond our understanding, His love touches our lives continually.
The way God’s love flows to us is through His Eternal Covenant.
“A Covenant in the religious sense”, according to the Bahá’í Writings,“ is a binding agreement between God and man, whereby God requires of man certain behaviour in return for which He guarantees certain blessings, or whereby He gives man certain bounties in return for which He takes from those who accept them an undertaking to behave in a certain way.”
According to His eternal covenant, God never lives us alone and without guidance. He sends us His messengers or manifestations periodically. Manifestations of God are universal educators who teach us how to live in accordance with the will of God and how to achieve true happiness.
“The source of all learning,” Bahá’u’lláh says “is the knowledge of God, exalted be His Glory, and this cannot be attained save through the knowledge of His divine manifestation”.
The manifestations of God reveal to us the word and will of God. When we listen to them we are listening to God. God sends His manifestations to show us the path to spiritual development, so that we realise our true potential and make an effort to be closer to Him.
Religions brought by divine manifestations are progressive expressions of God’s revelation for humanity. They all have the same basic spiritual teachings, which are repeated from age to age. Teachings such as truthfulness, faithfulness, love, generosity, chastity, prayer, justice and humility are among the core teachings of all religions.
There are also significant similarities in the histories of religions, the experience of their followers and their impact on the societies around them.
The differences among religions, with respect to their social ordinances and forms of worship, exist because various religions have appeared at different times in history and among different peoples. The ability to distinguish between the eternal spiritual truths, on the one hand, and the social instruction specific to a time and place, on the other, makes it possible to appreciate both the unity of religions and their diversity.
The Bahá’í Writings state: “… that which is the cause of everlasting life, eternal honour, universal enlightenment, real salvation and prosperity is, first of all, the knowledge of God.
It is known that the knowledge of God is beyond all knowledge, and it is the greatest glory of the human world…. Second, comes the love of God, the light of which shines in the lamp of the hearts of those who know God, its brilliant rays illuminate the horizon and give to man the life of the Kingdom.”
The purpose of our lives, according to the Bahá’í Writings, is to know God and to worship Him. I
t is “to carry forward an ever advancing civilisation.”
Knowledge and worship of God lead us to the love of God, the love of God in turn leads us to obedience to His commandments and service in His path.
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