g***@hotmail.com
2008-11-16 23:58:45 UTC
The plans of many Baha’is for the Faith are not the same as God’s
Plan, and many believe that THEY will solve the problems and establish
the Cause in the world. It is important that they consider the
following quotations from Baha’u’llah and the Bab and change their
thinking accordingly.Today the test of submission to the Will of God
has appeared with greater strength because we have been given the
opportunity for greater spiritual knowledge and insight into the
meaning of such tests through the Kitab-i-Iqan and other Books of
Baha'u'llah, and repeatedly warned that we must wholly submit to the
Will of God. The following statements indicate that God can, in fact,
change those aspects of His Cause that we consider irrevocable. In the
Most Great Infallibility there is no change of plans but from the
viewpoint of the creatures it appears that God changes His plans,
whereas past and future events and possibilities are all known to
God.
For example, the end of the Guardianship seems to Baha'is to be a
change of God's plan because we have assumed it would never end, yet
if it had not ended, at least temporarily until the next
Manifestation, there would be no test of believers, all Baha'is would
accept the Manifestation, and the statement of Baha'u'llah on page 9
("I am not apprehensive for My own Self, My fears are for Him Who will
be sent down unto you after Me") would have no meaning.
"Concerning this, that God doth in Truth change His plans. God is
not worshipped by anything as he is by (the Doctrine) Al-Bida (i.e.
Bada) since this is a confession of His power to do what He pleaseth."
Persian Bayan, Vahid IV:3 "What He pleaseth will God abrogate or
confirm..." Kitab-i-Iqan, p. 147
"O thou who hast fixed thy gaze upon the Dawning-Place of the
Cause of God! Know thou for a certainty that the Will of God is not
limited by the standards of the people, and God doth not tread in
their ways..." Tablets of Baha'u'llah, p. 109 (Publ. by UHJ committee)
Baha'is, should remember that a Covenant is a two-way agreement.
When God makes a Covenant with the believers of His Manifestation, the
promises made therein require that the believers obey His Teachings
and Laws. If they fail to obey, or ignore, His Appointed Interpreters
and the Will and Testament, they ought not expect that the promises
made, which were conditional on their obedience, to be fulfilled. This
might appear to Baha'is to be a change of plans by God. If we knew how
and when God would test us, and understood completely the outcome, it
would no longer be a test. Tests from God are never quite what we
anticipate, and they separate the believers, so that the sincere are
known from those who are weak in their
faith.
"Behold how contrary are the ways of the Manifestations of God, as
ordained by the King of creation,to the ways and desires of men!"
Kitab-i-Iqan, p. 57
"'Verily Our Word is abstruse, bewilderingly abstruse.' In another
instance, it is said: 'Our Cause is sorely trying, highly perplexing,
none can bear it except a favorite of heaven, or an inspired Prophet,
or he whose faith God hath tested.'". Ibid., p. 82
"There are before you so many temptations, trials, afflictions,
calamities and difficulties because you have to be purified through
fire and sifted through the sieve in order to separate the wheat from
the tares. Verily, I say unto you; none will be saved but the
believers, and from the believers only the sincere, and even those are
in great danger, especially in such a time." Abdu'l-Baha, cited in
Baha'i Scriptures, p. 443 Using the name BAHA’I does not mean you
are a Baha;i unless you strive continually to obey the spiritual
teachings of the Faith.
Loving greetings to all
Plan, and many believe that THEY will solve the problems and establish
the Cause in the world. It is important that they consider the
following quotations from Baha’u’llah and the Bab and change their
thinking accordingly.Today the test of submission to the Will of God
has appeared with greater strength because we have been given the
opportunity for greater spiritual knowledge and insight into the
meaning of such tests through the Kitab-i-Iqan and other Books of
Baha'u'llah, and repeatedly warned that we must wholly submit to the
Will of God. The following statements indicate that God can, in fact,
change those aspects of His Cause that we consider irrevocable. In the
Most Great Infallibility there is no change of plans but from the
viewpoint of the creatures it appears that God changes His plans,
whereas past and future events and possibilities are all known to
God.
For example, the end of the Guardianship seems to Baha'is to be a
change of God's plan because we have assumed it would never end, yet
if it had not ended, at least temporarily until the next
Manifestation, there would be no test of believers, all Baha'is would
accept the Manifestation, and the statement of Baha'u'llah on page 9
("I am not apprehensive for My own Self, My fears are for Him Who will
be sent down unto you after Me") would have no meaning.
"Concerning this, that God doth in Truth change His plans. God is
not worshipped by anything as he is by (the Doctrine) Al-Bida (i.e.
Bada) since this is a confession of His power to do what He pleaseth."
Persian Bayan, Vahid IV:3 "What He pleaseth will God abrogate or
confirm..." Kitab-i-Iqan, p. 147
"O thou who hast fixed thy gaze upon the Dawning-Place of the
Cause of God! Know thou for a certainty that the Will of God is not
limited by the standards of the people, and God doth not tread in
their ways..." Tablets of Baha'u'llah, p. 109 (Publ. by UHJ committee)
Baha'is, should remember that a Covenant is a two-way agreement.
When God makes a Covenant with the believers of His Manifestation, the
promises made therein require that the believers obey His Teachings
and Laws. If they fail to obey, or ignore, His Appointed Interpreters
and the Will and Testament, they ought not expect that the promises
made, which were conditional on their obedience, to be fulfilled. This
might appear to Baha'is to be a change of plans by God. If we knew how
and when God would test us, and understood completely the outcome, it
would no longer be a test. Tests from God are never quite what we
anticipate, and they separate the believers, so that the sincere are
known from those who are weak in their
faith.
"Behold how contrary are the ways of the Manifestations of God, as
ordained by the King of creation,to the ways and desires of men!"
Kitab-i-Iqan, p. 57
"'Verily Our Word is abstruse, bewilderingly abstruse.' In another
instance, it is said: 'Our Cause is sorely trying, highly perplexing,
none can bear it except a favorite of heaven, or an inspired Prophet,
or he whose faith God hath tested.'". Ibid., p. 82
"There are before you so many temptations, trials, afflictions,
calamities and difficulties because you have to be purified through
fire and sifted through the sieve in order to separate the wheat from
the tares. Verily, I say unto you; none will be saved but the
believers, and from the believers only the sincere, and even those are
in great danger, especially in such a time." Abdu'l-Baha, cited in
Baha'i Scriptures, p. 443 Using the name BAHA’I does not mean you
are a Baha;i unless you strive continually to obey the spiritual
teachings of the Faith.
Loving greetings to all