Baha'i Perspectives

nava January 31st, 2009

A quick perusal of the headlines of any of the world’s major news sources would offer you ample opportunity to characterize God as “wrathful”.  Assuming, of course, that your perception of God is as one who interacts with and is responsible for many of the things that occur in our world.  Or even a vision of a God who intervenes, or is at least able to intervene, would also allow for this characterization.

After all, would a kind God allow innocent children to be sold into sexual slavery?  Would a merciful God allow genocides to wipe out entire segments of the population in often vicious and painful ways?

These are just a few questions you could ask if you started to really think about God and His role in our world — especially in today’s world.

On the other hand, you could think of Him as less wrathful but more vengeful — maybe this is the punishment meted out to a heedless society who has ignored His call all throughout the ages.

I certainly have no quick and easy answers.  The very fact that one of the fundamental beliefs in the Bahá’í Faith is that God is unknowable in His essence makes it impossible for me to really know what any of His attributes are.  Wrathful or vengeful?  Merciful and All-Loving?  I really couldn’t say.

However, in the Bible, it says,

“Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”

This clearly signifies that we can only know God through His Messengers, so inasfar as we as a species are concerned, Jesus is God.  Baha’u'llah is God.  Or as close as we’ll ever get.  (I realize this is a heavy statement and could be a topic in and of itself, but, maybe in a latter post we can address God as unknowable, yet still personal, and known through His Prophets and Messengers.)

So, when I think of Jesus, I don’t think wrathful, I certainly don’t think vengeful; but I absolutely think, “merciful” and “loving”.  When I think of the life of Baha’u'llah, I think of His infinite kindness, His abounding generosity, His ceaseless forgiveness.  These attributes don’t seem to square with a God of wrath or vengeance.

So maybe it’s our concept of wrath that is askew.  Maybe what we perceive to be wrath is actually mercy.

Baha’u'llah says,

“My calamity is My Providence.  Outwardly it is fire and vengeance, but inwardly, it is mercy and light.”  (emphasis mine)

Then how does one reconcile a God who allows the current calamities and crises to engulf a planet seemingly drowning — albeit it in the flames of its own depravity — with a God who is merciful, and kind, loving and forgiving?

We’ll have to wait until Part II to address these themes…

Tags: God

• General Interest , News & Current Affairs
• Comments(1)