Bahai Faith; Peace -- Religious aspects -- Bahai Faith
Question: Does ‘Abdu’l-Bahá find Christianity is not lived up to and
carried out in America?
Answer: My meaning is that it should be completely carried out and lived
up to. Man needs eyes, ears, arms, a head, feet and various other members.
When he possesses all and all work together, there is symmetry and
perfection in him. So Christ said, “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your
Father which is in heaven is perfect,” meaning that perfection is the
requirement of Christianity. Be the image and likeness of God. This is not
easy. It necessitates the focalization of all heavenly virtues. It
requires that we become recipients of all the perfections of God. Then we
become His image and likeness. For in the Bible it is stated, “Let us make
man in our image, after our likeness.” The attainment of this is most
difficult.
When Christ appeared with those marvelous breaths of the Holy Spirit, the
children of Israel said, “We are quite independent of him; we can do
without him and follow Moses; we have a book and in it are found the
teachings of God; what need, therefore, have we of this man?” Christ said
to them, “The book sufficeth you not.” It is possible for a man to hold to
a book of medicine and say, “I have no need of a doctor; I will act
according to the book; in it every disease is named, all symptoms are
explained, the diagnosis of each ailment is completely written out, and a
prescription for each malady is furnished; therefore, why do I need a
doctor?” This is sheer ignorance. A physician is needed to prescribe.
Through his skill the principles of the book are correctly and effectively
applied until the patient is restored to health. Christ was a heavenly
Physician. He brought spiritual health and healing into the world.
Bahá’u’lláh is, likewise, a divine Physician. He has revealed
prescriptions for removing disease from the body politic and has remedied
human conditions by spiritual power.
Therefore, mere knowledge is not sufficient for complete human attainment.
The teachings of the Holy Books need a heavenly power and divine potency
to carry them out. A house is not built by mere acquaintance with the
plans. Money must be forthcoming; volition is necessary to construct it; a
carpenter must be employed in its erection. It is not enough to say, “The
plan and purpose of this house are very good; I will live in it.” There
are no walls of protection, there is no roof of shelter in this mere
statement; the house must be actually built before we can live in it.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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