This is actually a large topic, probably controversial in many orthodox faiths, but to me it seems so obviously correct. My disclaimer though is that these are my interpretations of the Baha'i perspective on this topic. While they are probably shared with someone else, no one else should be cursed or otherwise for this post. It's mine, and I take full responsibility. Blah blah blah (pause) blahblah blah blah, as Charlie Brown's teacher would have said.
Anyway though…. I guess to set the stage let's think about school. No even better, I'll start with my 4 year old son, Alex. He is and has been learning to count and recognize numbers for a little while now. The reasons for this are obvious, but to spell them out, so he can function in society, do math like addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, and taxes of course. But there is no way that Alex will learn any of this unless he first learns about numbers.
Once he learns about numbers in general, he can then advance
himself and learn addition and
subtraction… Then he can progressively advance into multiplication and division, and then progress further and learn about algebra, calculus, fractals, etc… You get the idea.
You learn "a" to get to "b."
(above: simple addition; below; insane fractal math)
So, in religious contexts, I will use the example of Abraham. (This
will be simplistic as I don't want to get bogged down in semantics) Abraham is credited with the birth of monotheism (belief in one God). This is evidenced in Genesis (Old Testament) and also (from memory, I should have referenced this, if you want it, ask and I will work to produce) the teachings of Christ who heaped praise upon Abraham and also in Islamic teachings. So, before Abraham, you have belief in many "Gods," after Abraham, one God. This has been the foundation to all subsequent Abrahamic religions, from Jewish, Christianity, Islam, and Báhá'í. Each subsequent religion has this as its central theme which was required to be layed down and understood prior to other the acceptance of other spiritual teachings.
While there are other examples I'm not going to go in detail over them… If you are Christian, I'm sure you recognize some on your own in your reading of the Old and New Testament, and if you're Islam, I'm sure you're well versed on how Islam has been built up from the teachings of Abraham by Mohammad.
Anyway though, I believe that God acts in a similar manner that the education system works (simplistically put). God starts by teaching us about "a" and then when we're ready teaches us about "b." How would it have been taken if Abraham taught that men and women were equal? This is a relatively new concept in terms of religious enlightenment that has only really taken off over the last few years. We weren't ready for this, and couldn't handle it at the time of Abraham. So what I'm slowly getting at is that God has sent us prophets (or Manifestations) at various time points throughout mankind's spiritual growth, and will continue to do so, with each successive Manifestation both confirming the previous prophet, and building upon Their predecessor's teachings.
I stated earlier that this topic is a bit controversial...and this comes in because as a requisite for progressive revelation, is that God has sent, and will continue to send Manifestations to mankind to build upon the teachings of the previous Prophet. Controversial bit: Each Manifestation has told of Their return, or the coming of Another. The Hebrews awaited Moses, the Jews are waiting, Christians are waiting, Islam is waiting, and Báhá'í's are waiting. The definition of what they are waiting for though is the subject of controversy. I am only really familiar with Christian prophesy, so I will have to rely on that though. Sorry. Christians are awaiting "Judgement Day" when Christ will come out of the clouds and judge all mankind. So some Christians are awaiting this as a literal occurance. Some have read in the Bible that He "will come like a thief in the night," and have taken the "clouds" eg above to be more figurative in nature, possibly when the path to God has become "clouded." And Islam refers to Mohammad as the "Seal of the Prophets" to mean that He was the last Prophet of God, when it might mean something entirely different… like maybe He was the last Prophet to be sent to a specific people, and the following Manifestation will be sent all the people of the world. Anyway though. This is where the controversy arises. Christians believe that Christ is the fulfillment of the prophesies of the Old Testament whereas the Jewish people are still awaiting His arrival. And Christians are awaiting the return of Jesus, and Islam is awaiting the arrival of the Qa'im whereas I believe the Voice of Jesus (ie God) has already returned in the voice of Baha'u'llah, and the Qa'im has also appeared in Baha'u'llah, as they both are awaiting the arrival of the next Godly Manifestation and are looking for various signs; signs which are open to various interpretations. The Words of God have innumerable meanings, and it's entirely possible that currently accepted literal meanings may actually require non-literal interpretations, possibly of a spiritual nature.
As a Báhá'í, it's obvious that I believe that Baha'u'llah is the Manifestation and has brought forth the Word of God for this time in mankind's development. And I openly challenge anyone employing logic, openness to alternate possibilities, while avoiding superstition, tradition, and hear-say, to prove this wrong. (Investigate with a clear slate).
As an interesting side note, as Báhá'ís, we are told that there will not be another Manifestation appear for 1000 years, and even with this seemingly clear time point, the next Manifestation will be persecuted very heavily, just as all previous Abrahamic Manifestations have been….
I should probably finish this now… But I hope you've enjoyed the read.
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