BAHAI

Are the beliefs of the Bahá'ís compatible with the teachings of the Bible as understood by evangelical Christianity. Do they lead to the God of the Scriptures or to some other supernatural power. Let us investigate.

Beliefs

God. The attributes of God are revealed to mankind but the very essence of God will always be unknowable.

"To every discerning and illuminated heart it is evident that God, the Unknowable Essence, the Divine Being, is immensely exalted beyond every human attribute, such as corporeal existence, ascent and descent, egress and regress." - Gleanings From the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh, p.113.

Everything is Relative. This also means that everything is changing. The revealed truth for this millennium may not apply to the next. This means that there can be a change in the social teachings of the past should it become necessary.

Many Prophets. These are accepted by the Bahá'ís including Abraham, Moses, Krishna, Zoroaster, Buddha, Christ and Mohammed. These Messengers are one in spirit, but Bahá'u'lláh is regarded as being the Manifestation of God for this day.

The Christ. Bahá'ís believe that the spiritual truth of Christ was built on by Mohammed and, in turn, by Bahá'u'lláh. As Saint Paul gave new meaning to many passages in the Old Testament, so the Bahá'ís believe that Bahá'u'lláh brought a new interpretation to the words of Christ recorded in the Gospels.

As many other groups, they will happily believe the opposite if it suits them, and it does when they want to show that Christ actually foretold the coming of Bahá'u'lláh.

The fact that they believe that Christ was not God in the flesh can be seen from the clear statement:

"God cannot incarnate Himself." - Gleanings From the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh, p.113.

Faith or Works? It is clear from the following quotation that, to them, salvation is a matter of works as well as grace:

The first duty prescribed by God for His servants is the recognition of Him Who is the Dayspring of His Revelation and the Fountain of His laws, Who representeth the Godhead in both the Kingdom of His Cause and the world of creation. Whoso achieveth this duty hath attained unto all good; and whoso is deprived thereof hath gone astray, though he be the author of every righteous deed. It behoveth everyone who reacheth this most sublime station, this summit of transcendent glory, to observe every ordinance of Him Who is the Desire of the world. These twin duties are inseparable. Neither is acceptable without the other. - Bahá'u'lláh: The Kitab-i-Aqdas, p.19

Scriptures

We use the Writings of the Báb, Bahá'u'lláh, 'Abdu'l-Bahá and Shoghi Effendi (the Guardian of the Faith), though the latter are not regarded as "Scripture." There are over 100 volumes of Bahá'u'lláh's Writings of which the Kitáb-I-Aqdas (the Most Holy Book) is regarded as the "mother book" of our religion. - Letter from the Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of Skye and Lochalsh

From the above it is clear that this belief system is not compatible with evangelical Christianity and it must be leading to a different supernatural power.

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