Sunday, October 14, 2007

On the Misinterpretation of Divine Commands: Men have waged religious wars

"Trees of Good and Evil," Uploaded on July 24, 2006 by rakkar on flickr
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This is one of the texts that was shared by Carla Jo at the Baha'i fireside last night at Chris and Shadi's. -gw
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From the beginning the followers of all religions have believed in two seas, --one salt and one fresh; in two trees -- the tree of good and the tree of evil. For this men have called one another heretics. Misinterpreting the divine commands, men have acquired prejudices and on these prejudices they have waged religious wars and caused bloodshed. Behold what is happening today! Men are killing their brothers, believing this to be the cause of salvation, believing that such work is approved by God, believing that those whom they kill will be sent to hell.

Abdu'l-Baha, Divine Philosophy, p. 101

{Photo licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 2.0 Generic}

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