- Question: What is a Cult?
- Answer: "...a significant deviation from orthodox (normal) Christianity."
- ...or "a group of people gathered about a specific person or person's misinterpretation of the Bible."
We are continuing our online series on "Talking to the Cults" and this week looking at another non-christian cult called the "Baha'i Faith".
- The above YouTube video features Walter Martin speaking authoritatively on Baha'i Faith.
- "An impersonal god, and a confusion in terminology ....no where is this better personified than in Baha'ism"
Walter Martin Debates: Bahai' Faith vs. Christianity
In his authoritative work on Cults, christian researcher Walter Ralston Martin (1928 to 1989) has looked into this strange cult in his work entitled "Kingdom of the Cults". He first discerned that, although it is Islamic in its origin, Baha'ism has carefully cloaked itself in Western terminology and has imitated Christianity in forms and ceremonies wherever possible in order to become appealing to the Western mind.
Let's let his work speak for itself. Particularly interesting is the interview he does with a person of this cult.
(Click each page to enlarge for better viewing; Use your Control key and +/- keys will zoom in and out).
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This comment is in two parts.
ReplyDeletePart 1
Dear Anvil,
There are certainlly harmful cults and false prophets in the world, and we should be aware of them. At the same time, I suggest that we should seek out the truth in all matters, and be truthful in our presentation. Walter Martin, in his zeal to combat cults, seems to have neglected that principle. In the samples of his work that you share here, Mr. Martin misrepresents the English language, the words of Jesus, and the teachings of the Baha'i Faith.
English language
Not every non-Christian religion or group is a cult. Among the commonly used definitions of the word "cult", none of them mentions Christianity or the Bible. I believe that by including these words in his definition, Mr. Martin's purpose was to define all non-Christian religions, and anyone who understands the Bible in a different way from himself, as cults. Indeed, if you simply exchange the words "Judaism" and "Torah" for "Christianity" and "Bible", Christianity becomes a cult for Jews. This kind of misrepresentation led to the persecution of early Christians by the Pharisees.
Words of Jesus
Mr. Martin misrepresents the words of Jesus in the audio "Walter Martin - Christian View of the Baha'" when he says, "there are two kinds of fruit. There is the fruit of life, and there is the fruit of doctrine." This is in reference to this verse: "A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit." (Matthew 7:18)
Jesus did not say that there are two kinds of fruit. How can one tree bring forth two kinds of fruit? That is not natural, and that is not what Jesus said. A good tree gives only good fruit, not good and bad fruit. A bad tree gives only bad fruit, not good and bad fruit.
We have an apple tree in our back yard that gives forth four kinds of fruit--four different species of apples! This is because man has meddled with God's creation, and has grafted different kinds of apples onto the tree. In the same way, Walter Martin has meddled with the words of Jesus, and grafted on his own ideas. The tree, the Word of Jesus, is good. But Mr. Martin has added his own ideas. The result is man-centered, not God-centered fruit.
Part 2 will illustrate how Mr. Martin misrepresents the teachings of the Baha'i Faith.
This comment is in two parts. Part 1 showed how Mr. Martin misrepresents the English Language and the words of Jesus.
ReplyDeleteThe teachings of the Baha'i Faith
Mr. Martin said that Baha'is believe in an impersonal god, and not a personal God. Baha'u'llah, the Founder of the Baha'i Faith said:
"O Jews! If ye be intent on crucifying once again Jesus, the Spirit of God, put Me to death, for He hath once more, in My person, been made manifest unto you."
Jesus has come again, as promised, with His new name: "Baha'u'llah", which translates as "The Glory of God". As in His first coming, Jesus when "spake of the temple of his body" (John 2:21), Baha'u'llah used the word "temple" to convey the idea of His person being the seat of the revelation of God. He said:
"Fix your gaze upon Him Who is the Temple of God amongst men."
In the Bible we learn that Jesus is "the image of the invisible God" (Colossians 1:15). In the teachings of Baha'u'llah we find out more about how we can see the image, and thus know God, through His person, His temple:
"Naught is seen in My temple but the Temple of God, and in My beauty but His Beauty, and in My being but His Being, and in My self but His Self, and in My movement but His Movement, and in My acquiescence but His Acquiescence, and in My pen but His Pen, the Mighty, the All-Praised. There hath not been in My soul but the Truth, and in Myself naught could be seen but God. "
This small glimpse into the teachings of the Baha'i Faith illustrates that Baha'is believe in a personal God, in a way similar to Christians. For anyone who cares to honestly investigate, there are many points of unity between Christianity and the Baha'i Faith. And history has shown that those who attack the Baha'i Faith often resort to distorting the truth to build their case.
Anvil, if you want to inform your readers about the Baha'i Faith, I encourage you to point them to an authoritative source, such as bahai org. If you want to deceive them, point them to Walter Martin.
Sincerely yours,
Bob McIlvride