richard wrote:Our One & Only God of all of us is our Perfect Authority on all Truth, Love, and Goodness; but, He is not an authoritarian dictator. He will not use coercion, or violate our free wills, in the short run, even if we go against His Will because of our ignorance or our selfishness.
Many people seem to have the notion that if God gives us Laws and Commandments, that automatically makes Him "an authoritarian dictator." Notice, however, that there is a distinction between "authoritarian" and "authoritative," and an authoritative style is loving and warm, yet firm (Commandments and Ordinances). Yet some people do not want to follow God's laws, because they don't want to make any real sacrifices in God's path.
Richard, many days have passed since the "love thy neighbor" era. This is the Day of
action—not plain "Jesus/God loves you" talk. We are held to higher standards. Unification of the human race (God's Will for Today) won't come about by talking about God's goodness, forgiveness, benevolence, and just sitting on our behinds and thinking happy thoughts. Sure, we are to love and worship God, but
how do we worship Him? By ignoring His Will for us, but still holding on to our fantasy, custom made perception of God?
richard wrote:So then, we need to understand that when He tells us to love one another we know that must be good, indeed His Will! or He would not tell us to love each other. In line with that He also tells us to do good on to others and commends us to be faithful, patient, peaceful, kind, and self-controlled in our relationships with each other, again a very clear, even explicit clue to His Will.
Richard, since when is our saying "God tells us to love one another" changing anything? Are the billions of humans going to open their Bibles or go on this forum and see the words "God wants you to love others" going to change anything? Is that going to strike a chord? I think not, we see the world disintegrating day by day. Man now needs more guidance. He needs new teachings. During Jesus' time, we weren't this interconnected, we didn't have wireless internet or televisions. This is a new Day that needs new Guidance if it is to survive, and it is our job to firmly adhere to God's Will, announce His glad tidings, and carry out His ordainment.
richard wrote:Indeed, in many ways i suspect you are already doing His Will as described above, and perhaps do not realize it.
I'm a Baha'i and I know what His Will is (via Baha'u'llah). I cannot say I am doing anything other than falling short of His expectations, but the goal is to follow His will to the most humanly possible degree.
richard wrote:You seem to be looking for some dogmatic, theological marching orders so you can go in to a battle of "doing God's will," when if fact the many manifestations of God's Truth, Love, Goodness, and Will make it clear that doing His Will in a labor of truth, love, and goodness in our lives and relationships with others, not a war with others... Surely if we are spiritually sincere & honest we will see, and eventually follow, these principles of His Truths in doing His Will in our relationships with all others, as He does with all of us.
Don't be fooled by my screen name, which includes "Warrior." The Baha'is are not a militant group—in fact the only world religion who has not fought others in its defence is the Baha'i Faith.
A "warrior," for example, could be a spiritual metaphor for someone who "fights" the forces of evil (the dying old world order) by working to establish Baha'u'llah's (God's) new world order, where human beings for the first time will live in harmony.
richard wrote:If your mind is holding you back with "intellectual" details, look to into your heart and soul for His Spiritual Truths, Love, and Goodness to guide you in doing His Will in your relationships with all others.
I need not look into my heart to see what God's will is. His Will is not to be found in any viscus, or any imperfect thoughts that man possesses. If God were to leave us to our own thoughts and conceptions of Him and His Will, that would be very tyrannical indeed—"authoritarian." Good thing He has presented His Will to us, and we can accept or reject it. States Baha'u'llah:
"Whosoever desireth, let him turn aside from this counsel and whosoever desireth let him choose the path to his Lord." He continues,
"O people, if ye deny these verses, by what proof have ye believed in God? Produce it, O assemblage of false ones."richard wrote:Finally, if you can open up spiritually and embrace these manifested spiritual truths, rather than resist and reject them, you will be able to deal with the questions and doubts you expressed in your above post.
I expressed no doubts, it was a redundant question. Well, Richard, either I am rejecting God's spiritual truths, as you firmly assert—or you are. I know you look at my age and probably are thinking "this young fool is lost," but my ideas only are derived from an infallible source—the Baha'i Writings—though I certainly do not relay them infallibly.
richard wrote:As always, BW, God bless you and your loved ones, today and forever... richard
You too Richard.