The Light Shineth in Darkness by -Udo Schaefer- 19 Para

This is not the place for an extensive exposition of the dubiousness of the doctrinal structure of the Protestant churches or the defectiveness of the premises from which some churchmen make their judgments. But I would like to explain as concisely as may be how the Baha'is, starting from their belief in the unity of religions, deal with the discrepancy between orthodox Church doctrine and Baha'u'llah's mission. (79:1)

The "message of Jesus" with which conservative theologians confront the Baha'is is not the teaching of Jesus but the message of Paul, "the preaching of the Cross," as he called his Gospel (I Cor 1:18;2:2). And if they say that the basic questions of our existence are only grasped in their true depth in "the preaching of the Cross," I reply with Steinheim who said: "It may be a good philosophical idea, a thoughtful myth, a comfortable emotional religion-- that I can accept. Only don't let it be called the teaching and revelation of Christ, but a decline from it-- (85:3) see

Some may object that I have picked a few results which suit my purpose from the vast amount of recent theological research and have arbitrarily played these cards against the orthodox doctrine. This objection would be a misunderstanding of the situation. The starting-point for my discussion is not a scientific thesis, however formed, but my conviction and faith: if, as Baha'u'llah teaches, all the revealed religions are of divine origin and there is therefore and essential unity between the religions, if the revelation of God is a cyclically recurring, progressive process, if the purpose of revelation has always been the same, the education of the human race, then there can be no essential contradictions between the religions on questions about the purpose of their revelations. For God does not contradict Himself. (86:1)

If religions contradict each other on questions independent of the turn of events on earth and the development of man and society, the contradictions go back to the individual centrifugal developments which all religions have been through, to the erosions of history. The criterion of judgment will always be the most recent revelation of God. For the purification of the religions is one reason, among others, why whenever it has pleased God, "the gates of mercy have been opened" "till the end which has no end." God Himself reforms, by speaking again to mankind at the end of a cycle of revelation. That is why the revelation of Baha'u'llah is at the same time a judgment on the old religions. It is, as he testifies, "the right path" whereby "truth shall be distinguished from error and the wisdom of every command shall be tested." It separates the thorns and thistles from the grain, the true and authentic from the untrue and false, the pure divine teaching from the human additions and misunderstandings: "Verily, the day of ingathering is come, and all things have been separated from each other. He hath stored away that which He chose in the vessels of justice, and cast into fire that which befitteth it." (Baha'u'llah- Tablet to Pope Pius Ix) (86:2)

Measured by the standard of Baha'u'llah's revelation, the Pauline doctrine of Justification, the doctrine of Original Sin, the doctrine of the Holy Trinity, the sacramentalization of the Christian religion, the whole Church plan of salvation-- which not only contradicts the Jewish understanding of God but was also strongly repudiated by the revelation of God which succeeded Christianity-- these are a deformation of Jesus's teaching. Some critical theological scholars have confirmed that these deformations in Christianity started very early, in fact with Paul.. (87:1)

Revelation is always reformation as well, the only true and possible reformation. All human attempts to find the origins, the true teaching, beneath the rubble of conflicting forms of Christianity and theological systems-- for instance through "demythologizing"-- always turn out to be defective, inadequate and doomed to failure. For every reformer is missing two vital things, a binding standard and a generally acknowledged authority. That is why the Reformation leaders did not achieve any unity either and immediately split into Lutherans and Zwinglians, then Lutherans and Calvinists, feuding violently with each other-- to say nothing of the many secondary Reformation offshoots and sects. The Reformation has given Christianity, which was never a solid unity, a "theological pluralism" which is shown today in the fact that there is bitter conflict on central questions of faith (like divinity of Christ and the Resurrection). Werner Harenberg describes the situation thus: (88:1)

"On the factor which should unite its members, belief, it (the Church) lets its theologians say different and contradictory things. You can believe that God exists or that he is "the origin of my safety with and committedness to my fellow-man" (Braun). Jesus may have been only a man, or both God and man. You may believe that Jesus has been from eternity and came into the world by virgin birth. But you may also believe "he is the Son of God because of his conduct... in that he fears, loves and trusts God above all things" (Zahrnt). You may believe 'in' Jesus but also believe 'like' Jesus... "Belief is based on premises and is secured by them" or "is unsecured and must dispense with security" (Knevels)... Whether it is about God or the Faith, the Holy Ghost or Eternal Life, the author of St. John's gospel or the authenticity of a saying of Jesus-- there are always at least two opposing doctrines or schools... The church is schizophrenic, pulpit and professional chair remain different worlds." (Jesus und die Kirchen) (88:2)

The Church, which does not clearly take up a position itself, has turned into a "debating hall," in which "unauthoritative religious declamations are presented" (Kuenneth), theology has "become a maze in which even the experts... often lose their way" (Harenberg). Meanwhile theological dispute has brought out such a mass of contradictions that Walter Kuenneth speaks of "a high degree of confusion" and Gerhard Ebeling, who deplores the "obstinate non-understanding and misunderstanding in the discussions between theologians of the same denomination," even speaks of "chaos." Hermann Diem sees among the Protestant university theologians "hardly any longer a common basis for discussion... on which agreement could be reached." Some Protestant theologians today hold positions which make their opposing experts talk of "the end of theology" and of "total theological sell-out." (88:3)

Christ Degraded by Baha'is?
The degrading and levelling of Christ, of which Baha'is are accused because they deny the doctrine of the Trinity and incorporate Jesus into the historic series of the messengers of God, has become reality in the case of many Christian theological scholars. To many of them Jesus of Nazareth has become a man like others, for whom much was unknown and who often erred-- an impossible concept for a Baha'i! And what is left from the revealed Faith if, as Herbert Braun teaches, God is to be conceived only as "an expression for the phenomenon of being able to act with courage, conscientiousness and conviction," only as "a particular form of love for others? God would indeed have left His people on their own, if He had left it to the reformers and demy-theologisers to find the truth! (89:1)

This state of affairs, the total confusion and utter depletion of central articles of faith, is to a Baha'i, who recognizes the divinity of Jesus's revelation, a clear sign that the process of disintegration in Christianity is now taking place. It is also the sign of the Last Days-- end of the old era. (89:2)

First, Christians themselves are by no means agreed on the dogma of original sin.. (one) really should not expect someone outside Christianity to go exclusively by Luther. Why not Zwingli, for instance, who is, frankly, more to my taste? He rejected the doctrine of original sin as contrary to the Gospel, and called Luther crazy and non-Christian for his deviant doctrine of the Communion. What is one to think of arguments which continually confront someone outside Christianity with dogmatic positions which are disputed within it? Further, among those who adhere to the dogma of original sin, both Catholics and Protestants, the extent of the corruption of human nature and consequently of the doctrine of justification are controversial.. (91:2)

Man is not by nature evil and incapable of good, but "the noblest and most perfect of all created things." In him "are potentially revealed all the attributes and names of God to a degree that no other being hath excelled or surpassed." He is the mystery of God. But lack of education has "deprived him of that which he doth inherently possess." He is "a mine rich in gems of inestimable value." But "education can, alone, cause it to reveal its treasures." (Baha'u'llah). Not any sort of education: what is meant is divine education through the manifestations and according to their teachings and commandments. Just as a plant needs light to develop the perfections within it, so man needs spiritual illumination through the Sun of Truth, the Logos. Man-- as is said in the daily (Baha'i) prayer-- is created "to know and worship God." If he fails in this duty, he has missed the purpose of his existence, and the spiritual potentialities within him will not be fully developed. Without divine guidance, and relying only on his reason, man goes astray. Baha'u'llah leaves no doubt that "nothing whatsoever can exist without the revelation of the splendour of God." "Were the Hand of Divine Power to divest of high endowment all created things, the entire universe would become desolate and void." The whole development of the human race has been brought about by the revelations of God which have succeeded each other from time immemorial. (91:4)

But, one might object, the world is in a bad state, and evil is to be seen everywhere. This is recognized well enough. "And if God willed to punish men for their misdeeds, he would not leave a single living being on earth." it says in the 'Qur'an'. Baha'u'llah too complains that men "have been led astray, and are truly of the heedless," that there is no one who sincerely craves after truth and "seeketh guidance," that all are "dwellers in the land of oblivion" and "followers of the people of wickedness and rebellion," that the peoples, "have languished, stricken and sore athirst, in the vale of idle fancy and waywardness," because they have failed "to seek from the luminous and crystal Springs of divine knowledge the inner meaning of God's holy words." Baha'u'llah also warns against following "the steps of the Evil One," who "is lying in wait," who "hindereth the rise and obstructeth the spiritual progress of the children of men." Satan, however, is not an independent power opposed to God, but a metaphor for the lower nature of man tied to the world. (92:1)

'Abdul-Baha speaks of man's dual nature. The physical nature is inherited from Adam, the spiritual nature "from the Reality of the Word of God." The physical nature "is the source of all imperfection," the spiritual nature "of all perfection." The low qualities of man, the sins, are the consequence of "the power of the lusts." The body obeys the demands of Nature: "A man who has not had a spiritual education is a brute." Lofty as the station is "which man, if he but choose to fulfil his high destiny, can attain"-- he can also sink into the depths of degradation, "depths which the meanest of creatures have never reached." This (above) verse from Baha'u'llah is a sufficient explanation of all the evil on earth-- including Auschwitz and Hiroshima. The Devil was not needed; for that! But all the imperfections, all the bad qualities, "which come from the requirements of the physical life of man," can be "transformed into human perfections" by the Word of God, the cause of spiritual life, which "is a quickening spirit... Therefore Christ was a quickening spirit, and the cause of life in all mankind." (93:1)

The transformation of man-- his inner deliverance and turning to God-- is a precondition of his ability to partake of spiritual life. "Repent!" cried John the Baptist of old, to those who prepared for the coming of Christ. ..(The theologian) did not recognize that the transformation of man is more than "education, piety and brotherly love, etc.", more than the naive call, "be kind to each other and obedient to God." The transformation of man, the "return" demanded in the Jewish religion, is the complete turning of man to God, with whom he becomes united through the accomplishment of the law: transformation is the spiritual resurrection which Jesus demanded. Nothing can bring about this transformation except the living Word of God. (93:2)

God "loveth the one that turneth towards Him." But the belief alone has no power to bring salvation. That demands responsive action, for the greater the effort, the more faithfully will man "reflect the glory of the names and attributes of God." The relationship between God and man is expressed in the verse: "Love Me, that I may love thee." The idea of the Covenant got lost in Christianity owing to Paul's misunderstanding, and is not a subject dealt with in either Catholic or Protestant theology; but, as in Islam and Judaism, it is one of the essential factors in the Baha'i Faith, the latest Covenant. (The extent to which the term "Grace" is given a theological point is sufficiently shown by the fact that in his epistles the word Grace comes 110 times, while it is completely absent in Mark and Matthew.) God's intention of the salvation of mankind is complemented by the duty of man to obey God's will as manifested in the Law. "The essence of religion is to testify unto that which the Lord hath revealed, and follow that which He hath ordained in His mighty Book." The Baha'i Faith is a religion of the Law. The recognition of God, a knowledge which is "the source of all learning," must be followed by realization of the divine will which confronts man in the Law. For "the essence of faith is fewness of words and abundance of deeds." From the Law man discovers what he owes God. And only in striving to fulfil the Law does he come into the right relationship with God. The Baha'i Faith is, therefore, a religion of action. Divine grace is obtained through faith 'and' works. (93:3)

Some theologians hold that man no longer needs to make himself other than he is, that he does not have to take on any form pleasing to God but has a part in the Kingdom of Heaven "just as he is," because Jesus by his sacrificial death has brought the lost world home. This thesis, like the concept of man's inability to change, is an expression of Christianity's antinomian peculiarity, Martin Luther's 'sola fide' doctrine, whereby "man without any action of his own or any merit is justified for Christ's sake by the Faith." But the prophet from Nazareth placed the accent elsewhere, as we can see from many passages in the Gospels, e.g. Matthew 7:19-23; 19:16-21; 23:2-3. These texts do not speak of "Faith Alone" and "Grace Alone," but of obedience to the Law and to the intention of the Law. (94:1) see

On this subject Hans-Joachim Schoeps, speaking from a Jewish standpoint, has expressed basic truths so well that I cannot do better than quote at length his defense of the Law, to which as a Baha'i I can give full agreement-- thus justifying the length of this quotation: (95:1)

"What is there really in the Pauline interpretation, in the Christian understanding of the Law? Judged from within Judaism, a misunderstanding of immense proportions, for all Christianity, especially the neo-Protestant polemic against the Law, misunderstands the Jewish Law as a means of obtaining justice before God (the so-called Justification by Works). Where Protestant theologians today do their best to speak in Luther's language and to take over his very often simplistic views, they confuse the claims of God's Law-- which should surely in reality be the foundation of the Covenant-- with the Justification by Works of the mediaeval Catholic Church in its decline. And all this because Paul, after his experience at Damascus, could no longer understand... what as a Pharisee he must certainly have known before, that the law of the Torah was not given to make the Jews just and pleasing to their Father in Heaven. The Rabbinic glorifications of the law are to be understood only in the sense of carrying out the divine will, never in any ethic of "merit" of whatever kind. But if Paul says (in Romans 3:20) that "by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified" in God's sight, then it is all very well for this great teacher of 'Midrashim' to inveigh against the error made by some of his contemporary fellow-Pharisees. For Scripture, of course, does not teach 'that' as the "purpose" of the Law, any more than the reason Paul adduces, "for by the law is the knowledge of sin," is its 'purpose'. The Jews of his century knew as well as the Jews of all other centuries have known that man falls into sin because he does not live up to the revealed Law of God; only they have not let the living experience discoverable in daily life be petrified to an 'a priori' statement which resignedly invalidates the Law because it is known from the start to be impossible of fulfilment... (95:2)

End of Quote

  The Light Shineth in Darkness
  Citation Source List
: see