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Here is another sentence on the same level: "The message of the Cross reveals and answers basic problems of human existence that are not even noticed, let alone answered, by the Baha'i prophets. So all those who do not share the Church's doctrine of redemption, all non-Christian religions and philosophies of humanity are not only wrong from the start and in their outcome, but also superficial and without depth. They do not reach the basic questions of human existence; the dimension of depth is only to be found among the Christians. It is hard to find any objectivity in such thinking. (77:1) (A theologian).. wrote "Throughout the Old Testament we hear of man suffering through God's justice and his own sin, and of his ending in helplessness and despair. This is why the Bible speaks of "Fallen Man," who has not the power to heal himself. It speaks of the failure of the experiments with commandments and laws." In his book he referred to the Bible's answer to the basic problems of human existence-- the account of Man's enslavement of guilt and hostility to God, his bondage to sin, and his inability to redeem himself-- and to the testimony of Christ's crucifixion, through which Satan's power was broken. He asked "So what point would there be in a new revelation, while man has not abandoned his age-old state?-- and said that faced by this message of the Cross, all reformers end in helpless and embarrassed silence: that Baha'u'llah breaks off where Jesus is only beginning. (77:2) Whenever Christian theologians wish to prove the uniqueness, peerlessness and absolute superiority of Christianity over other religions, they all retreat to this doctrine. It is the kernel of the Church's faith, which distinguishes itself from all other religions by having at its centre not just a revealed doctrine and God-fearing obedience towards the will of the Eternal, but belief in a divine figure, the Word made Flesh. Anyone who holds that the quintessence of the Christian revelation is this doctrine of the incarnate Son of God who, through his various sufferings, has reconciled God to the world, is bound to reject belief in a cyclically recurring progressive revelation of God and in the unity of all religions. To that extent I quite understand.. (his) viewpoint. But this plan of redemption proclaimed by the Church for almost nineteen centuries, the orthodox Church doctrine which.. (he) took as his standard of judgment-- is this the real message of Jesus?
(77:3)
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