Transcript:William Sears/Bahá’í Deepening Class
| Transcript of "Bahá’í Deepening Class" on the Kitáb-i-Íqán by |
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This book setting forth and outlined the grand redemptive scheme of God occupies a position unequaled by any work in the entire range of the high literature excepting the catawba act as the hawala is most holy book well those are the words of the beloved Guardian about this remarkable book he says revealed on the eve of the declaration of Bahamas mission it this book proffered to mankind the choice seal wine and broke the seals of the book referred to by Daniel and disclosed the meaning of the words destined to remain closed up till the time of the end well that that gives us a brief glimpse into the wonder and greatness of this book which were told to study with great care that it will help us answer the questions were asked by those who are seeking to know more about the Baha'i faith in this book you will find an explanation of all those things which have puzzled and troubled and sometimes even divided Christianity and to which they want to know the answers the Trinity resurrection baptism the Eucharist confession the end of the world the story of Adam and Eve reincarnation subject after subject is explained in this wonderful book by the hawala the national spiritual assembly of the Hawaiian Islands and their television series made a brief demonstration the one you're about to see so that you'll know more and more about the majesty and the greatness of this remarkable book it will help you explain one of the fundamental teachings of the Baha'i faith as given in the book itself by Baha'u'llah on the oneness of God and his messengers well of course of course what you're about to see is in the form of a chart a drawing and it's only a feeble explanation of the great truth that is trying so inadequately to convey but on the other hand it may inspire you to make a far better and more exciting visual age for your own use and we can't repeat too often that the truth explained here and in the demonstration refers to all the prophets and messengers of God all without exception without preference Oh Krishna Moses Buddha Zoroaster Christ Muhammad the Bob Mahabali we've merely limited them to four in this demonstration for simplicity sake but it's true of all of them as you know remember though this book is the source and there's no better place in all the world to start your deepening studies than right here in the Kitab Egon a notion of truth in the water of life found in this mighty sea and what you'll see now is only one of the little pearls in this mighty ocean I would like to demonstrate for you visually our song but before doing that just so that you'll always know when you hear the word bhai who and what of a high years let me show you Christ was the founder of Christianity but how Allah was the founder of the Baha'i faith Baha was one of his titles Baha glory Baha Allah glory of God no a Christian is a follower of Christ a Baha'i is a follower of bahá'u'lláh of Christ of bahá'u'lláh those are prepositions so whenever you hear the word bhai you know that's a follower of bahá'u'lláh and now about the oneness of God and religion Baha'u'llah very often likens God to the Sun because the Sun is the physical light giver of the world right without the Sun there'd be only darkness we'd perish and we'd die away the same is true of God without the light of God without the love of the messengers of God Christ baha'u'llah and the others our spiritual life would die away be more like animals in our nature than like spiritual beings now we need an earth here's a nice green earth and you'll have a few inhabitants of the earth this is not Adam and Eve by the way this is just people like you and me okay it's maybe not just like us I'm not in very good shape with them the world's not in very good shape so they'll do for our demonstration now the Sun doesn't come down to the earth desert it sends its rays the same is true of the messengers of God God doesn't come down to the earth he sends his messengers and these messengers are mirrors as you see in each one of these blue mirrors there is a reflection of that sunlight of God they all reflect that same attributes of Almighty God you see he sends his message to the earth now let's say we'll call this one Moses Buddha Christ and baha'u'llah now if you call these messengers by their name Moses Buddha Christ Baha Allah they're different but if you go by the light of God that shines in each one of these mirrors they're one in the same they only appeared at a different time in history but as you can see they all shed that same sunlight of God upon the earth each one of them bringing that same truth at a different time in history uncovering the face of wisdom to mankind according to the needs of the age in which they appear and that's a very beautiful thing so they're not separate really they're one in the same for example supposing you now hear this again at the sunlight this is America you're sitting there at home and there's the sun shining and you see the Sun in the mirror supposing I could hold up four mirrors for you one after the other Moses Buddha Christ Baha'u'llah the Sun would be shining in all four and you would see suns in each one which would you say was the best well I'm sure that you would agree that they're all equal one is not greater than the other and God in the heavens like the Sun remains unknowable indefinable beyond our definition and description and that is the way it is with religion it's a progressive thing or in yet another way suppose we describe them as the days of the week because when it's dark a new Sun comes up that's what happens with religion a new sunlight comes up with Moses a new sunlight with Buddha a new sunlight came up with Christ and a new sunlight comes up with mahalo so that's when you would say but how long was the return of Christ II to me return to this light as Christ would be the return of of Buddha and Moses and so on you see that's the meaning of it if you go by Friday Saturday Sunday Monday they're different if you say Moses Buddha Christ Baha will know they're different but if you remember there is one God and the like they bring to mankind progressively on a Friday Saturday Sunday and Monday continually leading man closer to the truth than we understand the oneness of God because you see God is not in competition with himself there's no exclusive salvation for the Jew or for the Buddhist or the Christian or the Baha'i or for the Muslim they are all one and the same because region religion is a living and a growing thing not something lifeless and unchanging in the teaching of Moses we see the bud the seed in the teaching of wood of the tree in the teaching of Christ the flower and in the teaching of bahá'u'lláh the fruit all part of one great redemptive scheme of God for mankind Baha'u'llah says the tragedy is that mankind forgets the message and remembers the messenger the oneness of God the oneness of religion so you see that song that was sung for us was more beautiful than we thought because God is one and man is one and all the religions do agree and when we the people of the world understand this oneness of God in his messengers in the wonders of the hearts of men when we believe in these three oneness 'as we will indeed have world unity shoghi effendi tells us that this book ranks among the priceless treasures cast forth from the billowing ocean of bahamas revelation those are his words it was revealed he said within the space of two days and two nights and was written in fulfillment of a prophecy of the bob who said that the promised one baha'u'llah would complete his own unfinished book the persian Biot it was also written and answered two questions asked of baha'u'llah by the bob's maternal uncle who was not a believer until the wonder of the words of this marvelous book captured his act the beloved guardian makes this promise about the kitabi gun he says well these are his words well may it be claimed that of all the books revealed by the author of the Baha'i revelation this book alone by sweeping away the age-long barriers that have so insurmountably separated the great religions of the world has laid down a broad and unassailable foundation for the complete and permanent reconciliation of their followers imagine that the complete and permanent reconciliation of all religions and we have the key right here in this book the katha begun well I'm sure I need say no more than than that about this marvelous book what days those must have been for the believers following Baha Allah's revelation in this book now bill the historian says so intoxicated were those who had quaffed from the cup of bahamas presents that in their eyes the palaces of kings appeared more ephemeral than a spider's web many a night now bill says no less than ten persons subsisted on no more than a Penny's worth of dates and no one knew to whom actually belong the shoes the cloaks the roads that were to be found in their houses their own names they'd forgotten their hearts were emptied of everything except adoration for their beloved mahalo all for the joy of the and for the gladness and the wonder of those hours well beloved friends I'm sure that in this book you will find some of that joy and Wonder and sweetness when you study them you will feel the presence of the world center and above all you will feel the presence of the Bob and of bahá'u'llah the glory of God the supreme Redeemer of men well that's that's the end of our visit together we hope this deepening class may help in some small way to make this the most exciting and profitable year of your life and teaching triumph and in spiritual projects both in your personal life and in your administrative life and above all in your life together in your own wonderful life community and you might say a few prayers that I can make some progress
