The Bahá'í Faith is the youngest of the world's independent religions. Its founder,Bahá'u'lláh (1817-1892), is claimed to be the most recent Messenger of God. According to it's religion, other Messangers of The One True God included Abraham, Moses, Buddha, Krishna, Zoroaster, Christ and Muhammad. To actively be a Baha'i, one must admit that Bahaullah was a Messenger from our loving Creator, however, all the other religion's prophets are also Manifestations of that exact same God and no one Messenger is higher or more important than the other.
Bahá'u'lláh's taught that humanity is one single race and we are living in one single society called Earth. He told his followers that the world has arrived at a time in it's history where we as people should unite in one global society and accept the fact that oneness is our reality. He says that we as men and women of God are to fulfill our mission of assisting in the process of unification of the entire human race any way we can.
The Bahá'í Faith is essential to the unification process as its main purpose is to help make this world wide peace possible. The Bahá'ís, pride themselves on their cultural, racial, and sexual diversity because that diversity alone serves as a symbolic representation of the possibility of a world where we can whole-heartedly love our neighbors without any prejudice and apply the Golden Rule.
Bahá'u'lláh's message to the world was that under this one God, we have now finally come to a place in history where we are ready to embrace this unification because of our spiritual awakening and moral maturity. This spiritual and moral maturity is continually ripening. It is this ripening that makes possible the unification of the human family and the building of a peaceful, global society. Among the principles which the Bahá'í Faith promotes as vital to the achievement of this goal are
- the abandonment of all forms of prejudice
- assurance to women of full equality of opportunity with men
- recognition of the unity and relativity of religious truth
- the elimination of extremes of poverty and wealth
- the realization of universal education
- the responsibility of each person to independently search for truth
- the establishment of a global commonwealth of nations
- recognition that true religion is in harmony with reason and the pursuit of scientific knowledge
Bahá'u'lláh's claims effect people both spiritually as well as socially. His teachings redefine the very concept of religion and its separateness nature. His vision of the oneness of humankind involves not just solidarity, the safeguarding of human rights, or the establishment of an enduring peace, but rather "an organic change in the structure of present-day society, a change such as the world has not yet experienced."
As seen many times in Bahá'u'lláh's writings, the primary purpose of God has been to reveal His will through His wordly Manifestations so we may be more like Him.
...is not the object of every Revelation to effect a transformation in the whole character of mankind, a transformation that shall manifest itself both outwardly and inwardly, that shall affect both its inner life and external conditions? For if the character of mankind be not changed, the futility of God's universal Manifestations would be apparent.
Much like Abraham, Buddha, Christ, Muhammad and the other Divine Messengers before Him, Bahá'u'lláh, urges us to exemplify the spirit to God within ourselves by having an inner desire to be of sincere service to others. He states: "the purpose for which mortal men have...stepped into the realm of being, is that they may work for the betterment of the world and live together in concord and harmony." "Let each morn," He urges, "be better than its eve and each morrow richer than its yesterday. Man's merit lieth in service and virtue and not in the pageantry of wealth and riches ... Guard against idleness and sloth, and cling unto that which profiteth mankind, whether young or old, whether high or low." When instructing us how to act, Bahá'u'lláh commands ""Do not busy yourselves in your own concerns; let your thoughts be fixed upon that which will rehabilitate the fortunes of mankind and sanctify the hearts and souls of men."
The Bahai faith believes that through the acceptance of the creative power of the historical Prophets and other Manifestations of God during history, an individual's can realize it's true potentiality. Without this Divine power, we remain a prisoner of cultural limitations based on our learned prejudices. When Bahaullah was giving this wisdom to His followers about why God needed to send Divine Manifestations. he used the following analogy which Bahai's still use when educating people about His holy message today. He explains, God is as the Sun, and the Manifestations are as Mirrors that reflect that Divine light -- but they are in no way to be considered as identical to that Sun. One can not look directly at the Sun because it is so great, the same way one can not know God because It is so righteous we can not ever know the unknowable beauty. But one can look at a mirror and see a glimpse of the Sun and it's glory through it.
Bahai's attest that Bahá'u'lláh had to come to the Earth because He was empowered by God to generate spiritual forces that will bring into being a peaceful and integrated global society which is the ultimate goal of God's plan for humanity. By bringing together the world's great religious systems and revealing how each is a Divine expression of the One, God has progressively revealed His divine plan.
www.bahai.org
The Hidden Words, authored by Bahá'u'lláh himself.
God, His Manifestations, and Man - authored by Bahá'u'lláh himself.
