help! The three veils that keep of us from God

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dyesneancyDex
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help! The three veils that keep of us from God

Postby dyesneancyDex » Tue Jan 29, 2008 4:25 pm

i have been reading the revelation of Bahau'allah vol 1-4 (great read, i would suggest it to anyone)

In one of those books (i think vol #3) the author was desrcibing one of Baha'u'allah's tablet's that described the three veils that keep us from God. (me paraphrasing) [ two of the veils were the kingdom of names and the material world)

The topic came up in one of our clases this weekend and I wanted to bring in the text, but i have searched in oceans, and my hard copies and i can't find the quote. argh!!

if one of you know what i am reffering to and can point me to the page number or maybe even a provisional translation i would be eternaly greatful.

i would love to be able to go back this weekend with somthing more then just my hearsay.

Donald

Fadl
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Location: somewhere "in this immensity"

Re: help! The three veils that keep of us from God

Postby Fadl » Tue Jan 29, 2008 7:07 pm

Hi Donald,

Is this it?


The veils which come between the inner eye of the soul and the Manifestation of God all originate from the world of man. A great many people in the world today are as yet unable to witness the glory of Bahá'u'lláh, the Supreme Manifestation of God, for they have wrapped their hearts in many veils. One of the cruelest veils is that of tradition. Men are born into a tradition and are inclined to remain as prisoners within it for life. History shows that whenever God has manifested Himself and brought new standards and teachings for mankind, such men have followed their fathers, religious leaders and countrymen in denouncing the new Manifestation of God. The best example is the coming of Christ when only a handful of people recognized Him, while the rest, who were slaves of tradition, rejected His Cause. One of the most important teachings of Bahá'u'lláh is that man should not imitate his fellow men in matters of faith, that he should carry out an 33 unfettered search after truth and open his inner eyes to behold the glory of the new-born Faith of God in this day.

Another grievous veil which has prevented people from recognizing the Manifestation of God is that of knowledge. Men who possess knowledge often become proud, sometimes without realizing it, and close their eyes to the truth. This is one of those 'veils of glory' -- spoken of in Islam and referred to by Bahá'u'lláh in many of His Writings, including the Kitáb-i-Íqán -- whereby one of the lofty attributes of God becomes a barrier.[1] Though knowledge is a praiseworthy attribute for man to acquire and Bahá'u'lláh, like Muhammad, has enjoined His followers to gain knowledge, yet it becomes a 'veil of glory' if through it man is rendered vain and egotistical.
[1 See vol. I, pp. 43-4.]

(Adib Taherzadeh, The Revelation of Baha'u'llah v 2, p. 32)

dyesneancyDex
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Postby dyesneancyDex » Tue Jan 29, 2008 8:22 pm

unfortunatley not.

although the sentiment was the close just laid out a little different.

I fumbled around with the oceans search engine for about an hour and I could not place it. (good reason to read with a highliter).

mr taherzadah was summerizing several tablets that were revealed shorly after the blessed beauty arrived in akka.

thanks anyways

iranpour
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Re: help! The three veils that keep of us from God

Postby iranpour » Wed Mar 20, 2013 7:00 am

dyesneancyDex, I think your paragraph searching in the Revelation of Baha'u'llah is as follows:

“The first barrier is attachment to the things of this world, the second is attachment to the rewards of the next world, and the third is attachment to the Kingdom of Names”. (Adib Taherzadeh, The Covenant of Baha'u'llah, V. 1, p. 20).

MontanaDon
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Re: help! The three veils that keep of us from God

Postby MontanaDon » Wed Mar 20, 2013 8:59 am

Nels Ferre, Norwegian Lutheran theologian whose graduate class in comparative religion introduced the Hatchers to the Faith, in his little book "The Sun and the Umbrella", said the three great idols confronting Christians were the person of Jesus, the text of the Bible, and the community of the Church. He said Christians were using them like an umbrella to shade themselves from the sun, God.

Don C
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Understood properly, all man's problems are essentially spiritual in nature.

iranpour
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Re: help! The three veils that keep of us from God

Postby iranpour » Fri Mar 29, 2013 6:43 am

Montana Don wrote:
Nels Ferre, Norwegian Lutheran theologian whose graduate class in comparative religion introduced the Hatchers to the Faith, in his little book "The Sun and the Umbrella", said the three great idols confronting Christians were the person of Jesus, the text of the Bible, and the community of the Church. He said Christians were using them like an umbrella to shade themselves from the sun, God.

Hello Montana,

Mentioning “THE PERSON OF JESUS” which Nels says the Christians using as an umbrella to shade themselves from the SUN, the same as the believers of other religions resort to, called to my mind the words of ‘Abdu’l-Baha regarding the SUNS OF DIVINE MANIFESTATION, Who appear in successive dispensations, and encourage us not take hold to Their personalities and Their names, but to their essence which returns again and again:

“Light is good in whatsoever lamp it is burning. A rose is beautiful in whatsoever garden it may bloom. A STAR has the same radiance if it shines from the EAST OR THE WEST”. (Abdu'l-Baha, Divine Philosophy, p. 25).

The above idea of Nels Ferre is both wrong and right:

1). Wrong because if there were no Christ, namely Messiah, Divine Manifestation or the Sun of Truth to teach the people, Who was God, how they worship Him, and how they know that He is?

In every age the umbrella which in the Bible terminology is “CLOUD” caused to prevent the people to follow the RETURN OF THE SUN OF TRUTH, the next Manifestation of God, was of the human self and ego, prejudice, and the religious leaders of the Age who according to Jesus, “shut up the kingdom of heaven against men, neither go in themselves, neither let them that are entering, to go in”, not the Christ of the Age and His Revelation (The person of Jesus and text of the Bible) as Nels declared.

2). It is right because as Nels says, IT WAS THE PEOPLE who were “USING THEM AS AN UMBRELLA”, so according to Nelse, the cause of their depravation of knowing God through His Manifestations was the believers who were using “the person of the Manifestations and their Revelations as an umbrella to shade and let the SUN OF TRUTH to shine.


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