Opening the Door. by Kathleen

Transcription

1 Opening the Door 1 Opening the Door by Kathleen This article was written in response to a comment from a committed Christian that this particular Hidden Word is not what Jesus said. As we prepared this book for press, Dale remembered the incident sparking the article; I had forgotten. Such is interfaith dialogue, at times! Kathleen O son of being! Love Me, that I may love thee. If thou lovest Me not, My love can in no wise reach thee. Know this, O servant. 1 Unrequited love. It s awful. It s the theme of both medieval romances and teen movies. Person A loves Person B, while Person B remains unaware of Person A s existence. Person A s love will never reach Person B, and Person B will never have a chance to love Person A in return. Unrequited love between God and His creation is even worse. But does this Hidden Word really say that God does not love someone who does not love Him in return? Are, say, atheists forever doomed to lack God s love, and will they forever stand outside His grace? This Hidden Word can become a vexing thing when in conversation with some Christians, who may insist that it contradicts what Jesus said. God loves all, good, bad, or ugly. His grace and mercy are infinite and ever-present. But further passages from the Writings of Bahá u lláh agree with Jesus. For instance, in a prayer revealed by Bahá u lláh, it is written: Thou well knowest, O my God, my Best-Beloved, that naught can quench the thirst I suffer in my separation from Thee except the waters of Thy presence, and that the tumult of my heart can never be stilled save through the living fountain of my reunion with Thee. Send down, then, upon me, O my Lord, out of the heaven of Thy bounty what will draw me nearer unto the chalice of Thy gifts, and make me able to quaff the choice sealed Wine, Whose seal hath been loosed in Thy name, and from Which the sweet savors of Thy days have been shed abroad. Thou, in truth, art the All-Bountiful, Whose grace is

2 2 A Planet With a View infinite. The whole universe testifieth to Thy generosity. Have mercy, then, upon me by Thy graciousness, and deal bountifully with me through the power of Thy sovereignty, and suffer me to enjoy near access to Thee by Thy manifold favors. Thou, truly, art the Great Giver, the Almighty, the Ever-Forgiving, the Most Bountiful. 2 Similarly, in the Lawh-i-Sultán, addressed to the Sháh of Persia who had just ordered His banishment, Bahá u lláh wrote: O My God! Thou art the All-Bountiful, Whose grace is infinite. Withhold not Thy servants from the most mighty Ocean, which Thou hast made the repository of the pearls of Thy knowledge and Thy wisdom, and turn them not away from Thy gate, which Thou hast opened wide before all who are in Thy heaven and all who are on Thy earth. O Lord! Leave them not to themselves, for they understand not and flee from that which is better for them than all that Thou hast created upon Thine earth. Cast upon them, O My God, the glances of the eye of Thy favour and bounty, and deliver them from self and passion, that they may draw nigh unto Thy most exalted Horizon, taste the sweetness of Thy remembrance, and delight in that bread which Thou hast sent down from the heaven of Thy Will and the firmament of Thy grace. From everlasting Thy bounty hath embraced the entire creation and Thy mercy hath surpassed all things. No God is there but Thee, the Ever-Forgiving, the Most Compassionate 3 Further, it is clear that God takes all circumstances into account: Every existence, whether seen or unseen, O my Lord, testifieth that Thy mercy hath surpassed all created things, and Thy loving-kindness embraced the entire creation. Look upon them, I entreat Thee, with the eyes of Thy mercy. Thou art the Ever-Forgiving, the Most Compassionate. Do with them as beseemeth Thy glory, and Thy majesty, and Thy greatness, and Thy bounteousness and Thy grace. Deal not with them according to the limitations imposed upon them, or the manifold vicissitudes of their earthly life. 4 More examples are present in the Kitáb-i-Aqdás, where Bahá u lláh offered

3 Opening the Door 3 forgiveness to His murderous half-brother Yahyá 5 ; and Abdu l-bahá points out in Some Answered Questions that even those who have died in sin and unbelief can be pardoned through the bounty of God 6. Perhaps the best parallel in Christian scripture is the parable of the Prodigal Son, which also explores the question of sin and forgiveness: And he said, A certain man had two sons: And the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me. And he divided unto them his living. And not many days after the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living. And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land; and he began to be in want. And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country; and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat: and no man gave unto him. And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father s have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee, And am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants. And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him. And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son. But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet: And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and be merry: For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry. 7 But the matter is not strictly one of forgiveness so much as it is perhaps of grace. Bahá u lláh describes grace as a flood ; grace is poured out upon men ; the portals of grace open and the clouds of divine bounty...rain upon mankind. He

4 4 A Planet With a View writes, Not for a moment hath His grace been withheld, nor have the showers of His loving-kindness ceased to rain upon mankind 8. So now we have two seemingly contradictory images: first, the God Who pours out His grace in a flood upon us; and, second, the God Whose love cannot reach us unless we love Him. How can these be resolved? Through the mechanism of free will. Like the Prodigal Son, one can shut himself away from the rain of bounty can erect a roof and walls of self and pride through which God cannot penetrate. When he was far from home, the Prodigal Son could not eat at his father s table. He was starving. To fully receive the blessings of God s grace, one must turn oneself toward God and love him, so that, unlike the unrequited lover, He can fully return that love. Like the Prodigal Son returned, the wanderer then finds himself in the embrace of God. But like a true lover, God is not violent: He does not batter down the door closed against Him; He is patient and waits for an answer. This is not far from the idea expressed in Revelation: Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. 9 A mistaken interpretation of this article s opening quote might lead a Christian reader to conclude, Jesus says God always loves us, but Bahá u lláh says that God only loves us if we love him that is, God s love is conditioned on whether or not we love Him. But Bahá u lláh says no such thing. He says that if one does not love God, God s love cannot reach him, not that God ceases to love that individual. Bahá u lláh writes: The exhortations of God, the True One, have compassed the world, but until now their influence hath not been disclosed. Men s unseemly deeds have kept them back from attaining unto Him. We entreat God exalted and glorified is He to pour down, out of the clouds of divine grace, the overflowing rain of His bounty upon all His servants. Verily potent is He over all things. 10 It is clear, then, that while the God s love is omnipresent, man is thoroughly able to build barriers between himself and the love pouring down from the divine kingdom. It is worth noting that our passage is just one of several in The Hidden Words dealing with the love of God for mankind and what mankind s attitude toward that should be. It follows this exhortation to love God, and is perhaps a warning of what

5 Opening the Door 5 might befall the heedless: O son of man! I loved thy creation, hence I created thee. Wherefore, do thou love Me, that I may name thy name and fill thy soul with the spirit of life. 11 When one locks oneself away from God s blessings and bounties, one cannot share in their benefits. God becomes an unrequited lover loving us passionately, yet ignored by us. Whatever gifts He has given us in his love for us, we ourselves have rejected. Another Hidden Word vividly portrays this: O son of the wondrous vision! I have breathed within thee a breath of My own Spirit, that thou mayest be My lover. Why hast thou forsaken Me and sought a beloved other than Me? 12 Words: And the father s response to the Prodigal Son? It s here, too, in the Hidden O son of man! Sorrow not save that thou art far from Us. Rejoice not save that thou art drawing near and returning unto Us. 13 God s grace and mercy are infinite indeed, and granted to all without condition. This is as clear and evident in the writings of Bahá u lláh as it is in the words of Jesus. Let there be no confusion on that point. Thus have We recounted unto you the tales of the one true God, and sent down unto you the things He had preordained, that haply ye may ask forgiveness of Him, may return unto Him, may truly repent, may realize your misdeeds, may shake off your slumber, may be roused from your heedlessness, may atone for the things that have escaped you, and be of them that do good. Let him who will, acknowledge the truth of My words; and as to him that willeth not, let him turn aside. My sole duty is to remind you of your failure in duty towards the Cause of God, if perchance ye may be of them that heed My warning. Wherefore, hearken ye unto My speech, and return ye to God and repent, that He, through His grace, may have mercy upon you, may wash away your sins, and forgive your trespasses. The greatness of His mercy surpasseth the fury of His wrath, and His grace

6 6 A Planet With a View encompasseth all who have been called into being and been clothed with the robe of life, be they of the past or of the future. 14