Archive for January 2008
The Virgin Mary
9 Sultán, 164 BE
27 January, 2007 AD
Alláh-u-abhá,
I have a good friend who recently returned from a trip, only to somewhat retire from the Bahá’í Community. She has remained in contact with our mutual “Spiritual Mother” and has explained somewhat her reasons for removing herself from the community, which have me enraged. (Though not at her) If all goes well I will see her at lunch today and we will see how she is doing, I miss her a lot.
This friend, let us call her Billie, explained in tears to my Bahá’í Mom that she felt the Bahá’í Faith was special, but could not give up the Virgin Mary. Billie has been a Catholic, and a Muslim before she found Bahá’u'lláh, but the Virgin Mary has remained spiritually important to her throughout her life. That she would have to abandon the Virgin Mary to embrace Bahá’u'lláh is ridiculous, and not a notion she would have picked up from any Bahá’í or any Bahá’í Scripture, hence my rage. I assume, knowing full well how dangerous assumptions are, that a Catholic friend of hers, or a Catholic Missionary has been “working her over” trying to save her from our evil heresy.
The Virgin Mary in the Bahá’í Scriptures
Bahá’ís are rationalists, so I know that I am not the only Bahá’í who balked and had to lean on faith very strongly when he learned this, but Bahá’í Scriptures fully embrace the Virginity and Holy Nature of the Mary Mother of Christ. A search through Bahá’í Scripture will find you many mentions of Mary, both the Virgin and Magdalene, and I have selected a few to make this point.
Why do you not believe in Christ, and in the Gospel? Why will you not accept Moses and the Prophets, for surely the Bible is the Book of God? In truth, Moses was a sublime Prophet, and Jesus was filled with the Holy Spirit. He came to the world through the Power of God, born of the Holy Spirit and of the blessed Virgin Mary. Mary, His mother, was a saint from Heaven. She passed her days in the Temple at prayer and food was sent to her from above. Her father, Zacharias, came to her and asked her from whence the food came, and Mary made answer, “From on high.” Surely God made Mary to be exalted above all other women.’
(Abdu’l-Baha, Paris Talks, p. 47)
Now, I admit, this Quotation from Paris talks is from the Qur’an, but the Qur’an is a Bahá’í Scripture too. The point is made here, that not only is the Virginity of Mary completely affirmed, but also the Sainthood. Let me demonstrate what Sainthood means in the Bahá’í Faith, as we have our own unique definition and none of the complexities of the Catholic definition.
If a man’s Divine nature dominates his human nature, we have a saint.
Man has the power both to do good and to do evil; if his power for good predominates and his inclinations to do wrong are conquered, then man in truth may be called a saint. But if, on the contrary, he rejects the things of God and allows his evil passions to conquer him, then he is no better than a mere animal.
Saints are men who have freed themselves from the 61 world of matter and who have overcome sin. They live in the world but are not of it, their thoughts being continually in the world of the spirit. Their lives are spent in holiness, and their deeds show forth love, justice and godliness. They are illumined from on high; they are as bright and shining lamps in the dark places of the earth. These are the saints of God. The apostles, who were the disciples of Jesus Christ, were just as other men are; they, like their fellows, were attracted by the things of the world, and each thought only of his own advantage. They knew little of justice, nor were the Divine perfections found in their midst. But when they followed Christ and believed in Him, their ignorance gave place to understanding, cruelty was changed to justice, falsehood to truth, darkness into light. They had been worldly, they became spiritual and divine. They had been children of darkness, they became sons of God, they became saints! Strive therefore to follow in their steps, leaving all worldly things behind, and striving to attain to the Spiritual Kingdom.
(Abdu’l-Baha, Paris Talks, p. 60)
So, we say all this of The Virgin Mary. We may or may not believe in the Immaculate Conception, that the Virgin Mary was born sinless and never once committed a sin. We do believe that in her lifetime, she transcended sin, evil, and the material desires and dwelt in the Kingdom of God in the truest sense – even while she was on earth.
Intercessory Prayers
Now, as a Catholic Billie would be used to praying to Mother Mary in times of stress and fear, using one of the most popular prayers ever: “Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee; blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.”.
But of course, Bahá’ís don’t have the concept of Sainthood Catholics have; so this would be impermissible for a Bahá’í to recite, right? Wrong.
Amatu’l-Bahá Rúḥíyyih Khánum, one of the most famous Bahá’ís, and a personal hero of mine was a deep lover of this aspect of the Bahá’í Faith – one we share with Catholicism – and so am I. Intercessory Prayer.
When a Catholic (Or a Bahá’í for that matter) recites the Hail Mary, they may call this praying, but it is fundamentally different than a prayer directed towards Christ of the Heavenly Father. In the Hail Mary the entreated is not asked to do anything of her own power, in fact she is only asked to pray on behalf of the reciter. This concept is largely misunderstood by Protestants to be Idol Worship, and is a concept shared by Bahá’ís.
Souls which have passed on the the next world, in Bahá’í Theology, shed the physical garment and take residence in a spiritual realm of Malakut. In this spiritual realm, souls are sorted according to their deeds. Those who have opened themselves up to the love of God take up residence in spiritual nearness to God and those who have not allowed God into their hearts continue to dwell far from Him. Now, these souls remain living beings and have some sort of ability to watch over their loved ones in the material realm of Nasut. Thus, when a believer is stressed or in fear, he may call upon those who have passed into Malakut to pray on his behalf. The prayers of those dwelling near to God have more power, as their faith is deeper and they have opened wholly to God.
The Virgin Mary is described as a Saint, and as far as I can tell there is no Human Being nearer to God than her, thus intercessory prayer to the Virgin Mary must be unspeakably powerful. So, given all I have said, why would Billie need to abandon the Blessed Mother of Christ in favor of Bahá’u'lláh, the Return of her Son?
Now, I do not mean this article to be critical of Catholics, in fact I think it has shown a few of the similarities between our faiths. What I do wish to strongly suggest, is the evil that comes from the members of one religion misrepresenting the beliefs of another. These Catholics talking to Billie in essence claimed to know more about the Faith of Fifteen Million people than any one of those Fifteen Million people, and denied a fundamental belief of each and every one of those Fifteen Million people, and that is unacceptable. I hope that the next time they have to save someone from an evil non-Catholic teaching, they learn more about it rather than using lies and assumptions to bring someone into tears.
God Bless,
RuhiWarrior19
Deitrich Bonheoffer
This post may seem completely out of place in this blog, but a journal of religious exploration can have not higher purpose than to define faith. I have my own definition of faith, and I am sure each of you do as well. I heard this quotation recited recently, literally minutes ago, and I was flabbergasted at the incredible depth of such a simple observation and the inexplicable parallel it runs to my own beliefs. Deitrich Bonhoeffer was a prisoner of Hitler’s hell, and enriched for it. This comes from a letter he wrote while in prison. He was later executed for his part in a failed attempt on the Fuhrer’s life. I think Deitrich Bonheoffer acts as the perfect definition of a modern martyr and an example of the place and shape of faith in modern life. So until this blog is enriched with more original content, I leave you this.
I discovered later, and I’m still discovering right up to this moment, that is it only by living completely in this world that one learns to have faith. One must completely abandon any attempt to make something of oneself, whether it be a saint, or a converted sinner, or a churchman (a so-called priestly type!), a righteous man or an unrighteous one, a sick man or a healthy one. By this-worldliness I mean living unreservedly in life’s duties, problems, successes and failures, experiences and perplexities. In so doing we throw ourselves completely into the arms of God, taking seriously, not our own sufferings, but those of God in the world — watching with Christ in Gethsemane. That, I think, is faith; that is metanoia; and that is how one becomes a man and a Christian (cf. Jer. 45!). How can success make us arrogant, or failure lead us astray, when we share in God’s sufferings through a life of this kind?
Wikipedia describes metanoia thus: “Metanoia in the context of theological discussion, where it is used often, is usually interpreted to mean repentance. However, some people argue that the word should be interpreted more literally to denote changing one’s mind, in the sense of embracing thoughts beyond its present limitations or thought patterns (an interpretation which is compatible with the denotative meaning of repentance but replaces its negative connotation with a positive one, focusing on the superior state being approached rather than the inferior prior state being departed from.)” Interpret that as you will, perhaps with the help of the passage in Jeremiah that Bonheoffer references. This reference is as always, taken fromt he New International Version translation of the Bible produced by the International Bible Society.
45:1 The word that Jeremiah the prophet spake unto Baruch the son of Neriah, when he had written these words in a book at the mouth of Jeremiah, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, saying,
45:2 Thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel, unto thee, O Baruch:
45:3 Thou didst say, Woe is me now! for the LORD hath added grief to my sorrow; I fainted in my sighing, and I find no rest.
45:4 Thus shalt thou say unto him, The LORD saith thus; Behold, that which I have built will I break down, and that which I have planted I will pluck up, even this whole land.
45:5 And seekest thou great things for thyself? seek them not: for, behold, I will bring evil upon all flesh, saith the LORD: but thy life will I give unto thee for a prey in all places whither thou goest.
As Always, God Bless.
Update
I just wanted to let everyone know that this blog is not dead on arrival, I am working on a few posts and I have quite a few planned. School has taken its toll, but some exciting posts should be coming soon. Here are the posts I have planned, the ones in bold are already partly written.
- Women and the Universal House of Justice
- Common Misconceptions about the Bahá’í Faith
- Theism: Is There Room in the Bahá’í Faith for Multiple Conceptions of the Divine?
- What Defines a Religion, and is the Bahá’í Faith one?
- Homosexuality: Nuance and the Broken Bahá’í Approach to Homosexuality.
- Exploring the Dichotomy between Pluralism and Marginalization.
- “The New Atheism”: How Can “The New Atheism” Avoid Being Marginalized?
