On "I Am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life": What Does It Mean to Baha'is?
A coptic Christian image of Christ Here is a question from dear Annie, referring to one of my answers to "Max's Good Questions" : You said...that the "core of God's religion never changes." The core and foundation of true Chrisianity though is that Jesus is the only way to God. Jesus says this Himself many times in the Bible. I was just wondering why Bahai's include Christianity in their religion when Christ teaches that He is the ONLY way to God?
Here is the commentary of Robert Stockman on this subject.
Modern Christians sometimes use passages from the New Testament as titles or descriptions of Jesus. Perhaps the best example would be John 14:6, '1 am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but by me'. Bahá'í would not reject this passage from the Gospel of John, but they would interpret it differently than most Christians. Two possible approaches come to mind. One would be to examine the word 'I'; to whom is Jesus referring? To Himself, certainly, but could He not be referring to all Manifestations in general, since, as Bahá'u'lláh explains, one of the stations of the Manifestations is 'pure abstraction and essential unity' (Gleanings 51)? Thus, Jesus's statement would never have been meant to exclude the other Manifestations, especially not Himself when He returned – that is, in the person of Bahá'u'lláh. A Christian theologian, John Cobb, has also recognised the ambiguity of 'I' and has suggested that the 'I' refers not to the historical Jesus, but to the eternal logos manifested in Jesus.In Bahá'í terms, Cobb is suggesting that the 'I' refers to the Holy Spirit common to all the Manifestations, or to their station of unity.
One could also examine the word 'am'. The verb to be has many uses – the Oxford English Dictionary lists twenty four – some of which are normally distinguished from each other only by context. One grammatical usage is the universal present, which is used to make statements that are always true, such as 'triangles are three-sided'. Another usage applies to the present, but may not apply to the future as well, such as 'I am young' or 'I am alive'. Christians usually understand the statement 'I am the way, and the truth, and the life', as a universal present, but could it not be meant to apply only to some period of time in the past? Could not Abraham have been the way, truth, and life for the peoples of the Middle East from 2000 BCE to respect in the English language that is applied the time of Moses; then Moses was the way, truth, and life until the time of Jesus; then Jesus was the way, truth, and life until the time of Muhammad; and so on? Similarly, Bahá'u'lláh is the way, truth, and life until He will be superseded by another Manifestation, which He assures us will occur after a thousand years (Gleanings 346).
Robert Stockman, "Jesus Christ in the Baha'i Writings"
3 comments:
Thanks George for addressing my question. Let me understand where you are coming from. You believe that at the time Jesus made the statement in John 14:6, He really was the only way to God. Then Muhammad came and Muhammad became the way to God. Then lastly came Baha'u'llah and now he is the way to God. So you believe that the Bible was the truth up until a new "manifestation" came. But you also believe that even though the Bible is not the "current" scriptures by which we must live it still has a place in teaching the world how to live lives that are pleasing to God. Right?
We don't view the Bible through the same eyes. I believe that the Bible is God's only Word by which we must live. There are lots of verses to back this up. But since you do not view the Bible the same as I do the verses I would use would mean different things to each of us. But even then I would like to quote some of the very last verses in the Bible that I think are very important.
Revelation 22:18&19
"For I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds to these things, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book; and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of prophecy, God shall take away his part from the Book of Life, from the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book."
I really do enjoy chatting with you like this George!! "Iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another."
Compare your quote from Revelation to this one from Deuteronomy:
4:2 Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you.
(King James Bible, Deuteronomy)
Isn't the whole New Testament adding unto the word of Moses?
The Jews think the Old Testament is God's only Word, while you and the Baha'is believe the New Testament is a further revelation from God. The fact is that revelation did not cease for eternity either time, because God's revelation is the source of life to humanity. "Adding to the Scriptures" refers to what the clergy often do when they formulate new doctrines of their own imagining and claim that they have equal authority to God's Word. God Himself sending a new revelation to mankind is something completely different.
I was also wondering what Bahai's believe about Jesus' resurrection from the dead? He was crucified, buried and rose again after 3 days just like He said He would.
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