Would you have known Jesus?

Would You Have Known Jesus? takes each of us on a journey back through time, posing the following question: If we had been alive in Christ's time, given the information and cultural outlook available to most individuals, would we have had the spiritual discernment to recognize our Lord?

The reader, in meditating upon this question, is challenged to apply the insights thus gained in evaluating the claims of Bahá’u’lláh.

Secret of the Second Coming: Christ’s Glorious Return

Two thousand years ago, for instance, the Children of Israel expected a Messiah who would come from heaven with unmistakable power and glory, seen by “all flesh”. Despite outward appearances to the contrary, Jesus Christ claimed that His appearance fulfilled these divine conditions; and He promised to return with a “new name”, under substantially identical conditions.

On the basis of these undeniable parallels, the Christian reader is invited to investigate Bahá’u’lláh’s awesome announcement: “Followers of the Gospel! Behold the gates of heaven are flung open. He that had ascended unto it is now come.”

The Glory of Christ: A Bahá’í Testimony

The answer – fully documented here from Christian scripture – is that Christ is infinitely more than the historical human personality known as Jesus of Nazareth. The Christ of the Bible is the pre-existent Presence of God, that “life-giving spirit” of Divinity (I Cor. 15:45) which became manifest in the historical Jesus. It is this eternal Christ-spirit of which John writes, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1), and of which Paul says, “He is the firstborn of every creature: For by Him were all things created . . . He is before all things, and by Him all things consist” (Col. 1:15-17). It is, Bahá’ís believe, this same Divine Spirit “whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting” (Micah 5:2), and who has in our day reappeared in the person of Bahá’u’lláh.

From this perspective, there is only one Christ – infinitely glorious, absolutely unique and utterly indispensable as the only path to God. This pamphlet demonstrates the truly Christ-centered nature of the Bahá’í Faith and the harmony of the Bible with Bahá’í teachings.

Christianity and the Bahá’í Faith

*Do Bahá’ís believe in the Bible?
* What do Bahá’ís believe about Jesus Christ?
* Do Bahá’ís believe Christ was the Son of God?
* Doesn't the Bible also say Jesus Himself was God?
* What about the Trinity?
* Do Bahá’ís believe Christ rose from the dead?
* Do Bahá’ís believe in an afterlife?
* What are Heaven and Hell?
* Do Bahá’ís believe in Satan?
* What is the relationship between Christ and Bahá’u’lláh?

Amply illustrated with quotations from the Bible, the answers affirm the eternal truths of Christianity as expressed in the Old and New Testaments, and show how Bahá’í sacred literature provides a wealth of new insight into traditional theology.

Bahá’ís and the Bible

Practically the first question to be asked by any Christian is: “What do Bahá’ís believe about the Bible?” This brochure pulls together a broad compendium of Bahá’í texts which address this question, weaving them together into a coherent pattern which seeks to convey both the letter and spirit of the Bahá’í attitude. Questions considered include: What is the nature of the Bible's inspiration? How authentic and reliable are its modern texts? What is the position of Saint Paul and his writings in the Bahá’í Faith? Do Bahá’ís take the Bible literally, and if so, in what sense?

Finally, evidence is offered that the Bible itself, far from claiming to be God's “last and only” revelation, promises a new and greater outpouring of Divine Revelation in the Day of Christ's return. The reader is invited to investigate Bahá’u’lláh’s claim that we are living in that very day, and that His teachings constitute the fulfillment of this sacred Bible promise.