[This is part of the series "Various Views of Jesus"]
Like a giant octopus, Baha’is ecumenical tentacles seek out syncretistic solutions to competing religions: hence they claim compatibility with Christianity and at times can even sound Christian: “Baha’is believe in Jesus Christ. Baha’is believe that Christ was the son of God, born of the Virgin Mary. Christ came to bring salvation to mankind.... A person cannot be a Baha’i unless he believes in Christ.”[1] Of course, the basic issue here is not simply a claim to believe in Christ, something true for many non-Christian religions, but whether the Christ they refer to is the biblical Christ or a mere convenient reinvention.
The basic Baha’i message for Christians is that they are wrong in their view of Jesus. Since Baha’u’llah is now held to be the promised Messiah of the Bible (and other religious scriptures), his teachings therefore supersede all others including those of Jesus. As far as Christians are concerned, Baha’u’llah should be accepted as none other than Jesus Christ returned. “Baha’u’llah... is the Christ for this day” and “If you turn away from Baha’u’llah, you turn away from Christ.”[2]
How do they seek to reconcile the teachings of Jesus which contradict those of Baha’u’llah? Typically, Baha’i teaches it was the erring disciples of the previous divine Manifestations who falsely interpreted their own leaders’ teachings. So it is merely that they do not seem to conform to Baha’u’llah’s revelations. Properly interpreted, all divine manifestations will be seen to teach the same basic truths, Baha’u’llah taught because “Baha’u’llah taught that all men worship the same God no matter what religion they follow.”[3] (Some variation in teachings are accepted but only due to local customs, cultures, and the depth of religious evolution of man at the point of given divine manifestation.) In essence, Baha’is claim no fundamental conflict will be found between Baha’u’llah and the basic teachings of all the divine manifestations. (Of course, this is simply not true since the teachings of Moses, Krishna, Buddha, Confucius, Jesus, Muhammad, and Baha’u’llah all conflict with one another.)
Baha’is expect that all religions will eventually unite (under Baha’i teachings) into one grand ecumenical brotherhood of cooperation and peace. The Baha’i community itself is thought to represent a small scale version of this forthcoming, divinely-ordained utopia. Hence, they believe that one day their views on Christianity and other religions will be accepted around the world.
Baha’is insist that they are pro-Christian despite the fact that in their religion the biblical Jesus and Christianity are nonexistent. Regrettably, Baha’is typically misrepresent the Christian faith in presenting their erroneous twentieth century views of Jesus as more accurate than the disciples’ first century views! For example, Baha’is teach God can be worshipped through the divine manifestations, but again, the divine manifestations themselves should not be worshipped. Since none of them was God incarnate, this would constitute idolatry. Therefore, Baha’is reject the biblical teaching that Jesus is the incarnation of God, they reject the teaching that Jesus is God’s only begotten Son and they reject His role as Savior of the world. (In the chart below, biblical correctives are provided in the right column):
| “True Christians worship God in Jesus, not the person of Jesus.” | True Christians worship God in the person of Jesus, e.g., John 20:28 | |
| “To worship Baha’u’llah... is as vain, as idolatrous, as to worship Jesus.” | Jesus accepted worship throughout the Gospels; e.g., Matthew 8:2; 14:33. | |
| “Jesus does not once say, ‘I am God’s only Son.’” | On several occasions Jesus declared He was God’s only Son, e.g., John 3:16, 18. | |
| “God could not be a man.” | Jesus claimed He was God (John 5:18; 10:30; cf., Titus 2:13; Philippians 2:1-8). | |
| “Not that... Jesus was God the Creator.” | Jesus is God the Creator (John 1:3; Hebrews 1:1-3, 10; Colossians 1:16) | |
| “Jesus was not the only-begotten Son of God come down from Heaven, crucified and resurrected, nor the unique Saviour.” | See Acts 4:12; John 6:38, 8:12; 1 Corinthians 3:11; 15:3-4; Matthew 20:28; 20:18-19. |
In spite of the Baha’i denial of Jesus Christ, we are still told, “a person cannot be a Baha’i unless he believes in Jesus Christ”! Obviously, then, Baha’is believe in “another Jesus” (2 Corinthians 11:4), not the biblical Jesus. Biblically, it is clear that Jesus Christ is the only incarnation of God. This is the teaching of Philippians 2, Hebrews 1:1-3, and Jesus Himself. But Baha’u’llah himself declared, “Know thou of a certainty that the Unseen can in no wise incarnate His Essence and reveal it unto men.”[4]
Further, Baha’i claims to being Christian and religiously tolerant tend to suffer when we view their real attitude towards Christianity and true Christians. By implication or statement Christian leaders “verily, are of the fallen”; “By one stroke of His exalted Pen” Baha’u’llah stripped them of their power and abolished their church.[5] They have rejected Christ and God and failed, and “ye, and all ye possess, shall pass away,” including their “corrupt desires” which they love to rove in.[6] They are “inwardly wolves,” “inwardly foul”[7] ; Christians have blurred vision causing ignorance of the facts[8]; Christian leaders writing against Baha’is are “foolish divines”[9]; Christians engage in “folly” and “are seized by the frenzy of their vain fancies”[10]; they who believe Christ was the final revelation utter “vain and absurd sayings”; they are afflicted with a “spiritual disease”[11]; Christians are also likened to blasphemers who have made an idol out of Jesus.[12] How’s that for being tolerant?
In our study of some forty Baha’i books and periodicals, we discovered enough denials of the Person and work of Jesus Christ to fill a small book. In light of this, it is troubling to see Baha’is claiming to be Christians—genuine followers of Christ—and yet simultaneously upholding a comprehensive rejection of Christ. Despite occasional claims to the contrary, in actual fact Baha’i theology denies the incarnation, virgin birth, unique deity, saving death, miracles, resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ.
As noted, according to the Baha’i concept of manifestations, Baha’u’llah has now replaced Jesus Christ. Baha’u’llah himself declared:
“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.... Followers of the Gospel! If ye cherish the desire to slay Muhammad, the Apostle of God, seize Me and put an end to My life, for I am He, and My Self is His Self.”[13]
Baha’u’llah is seen as “a fuller and more glorious Revelation” of God than Jesus Christ despite Scripture telling us that Jesus Christ “is the radiance of His [God’s] glory [cf. Colossians 1:15, 24] and the exact representation [Gk. charakter] of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power” (Hebrews 1:3).
In keeping with their exalted view of Baha’u’llah, Abdu’l-Baha, Baha’u’llah himself, and modern Baha’is actually apply biblical texts referring to the second coming of Jesus Christ, as applying to the coming of Baha’u’llah (for example, Isaiah. 9:2-7; 11:1-2; 40:1-5, etc.).
In Thief in the Night, William Sears spends almost 300 pages vainly attempting to prove that Old Testament prophecies refer to Baha’u’llah and not to Jesus Christ! But we documented in The Truth About Jesus the Messiah that Jesus Christ is the only person in history to fulfill Old Testament prophecy. It is, at the least, interesting, to watch Sears attempt to make Baha’u’llah literally fulfill biblical prophecy, and to then declare that Christians misunderstand the Bible today because they take it literally and not symbolically![14]
When Baha’u’llah instituted the “great Feast of Ridvan” on April 21, 1863, as a declaration of his own “power and sovereignty,” he called it “the Day of God.” A Baha’i follower, George Townshend, who has written The Heart of the Gospel and Christ and Baha’u’llah comments,
“Now it was that Jesus Christ [i.e., Baha’u’llah] ascended His throne in the power of God the Father. Now it was that He took upon Himself the scepter of the fullness of God’s might and thus set Himself as Supreme Overlord of all that is in heaven and on earth.”[15]
Baha’u’llah had no misgivings about usurping Christ’s glory. He tells us, “I am the One Whom the tongue of Isaiah hath extolled.... Jesus, the spirit of God... hath once more, in My person, been made manifest unto you.”[16] Baha’is assert Baha’u’llah was better than Jesus,[17] Christ’s miracles are denied through spiritualization, etc.[18]
Some Baha’is also offer a gnostic version of Jesus. Referring to John 8:58, Townshend teaches, “Believers know that He [Jesus] spoke not of the individual Jesus but of the Eternal Christ. The Christ... which spoke through Jesus... had not confined its energies, its appearances, its utterances to the Hebrews alone.”[19]
Baha’is further deny Christ’s resurrection and ascension. Abdu’l-Baha stated, “The resurrections of the Divine Manifestations are not of the body... likewise, His ascension to heaven is a spiritual and not material ascension.”[20]
In light of the above quotations from authoritative Baha’i texts and sources, can any Baha’i logically believe and propagate the idea that Christianity and the Baha’i faith are compatible in any manner? We think not. Nor do we think it is fair for the Baha’i faith to distort the teachings of the founders of the major religions of the world. But like the religion of Masonry,[21] the Baha’i faith at this point has no option. If it is going to unite the world’s religions under the teachings of Baha’u’llah, it cannot possibly allow the founders of various religions to speak for themselves at face value.
The Baha’i approach to Christianity that we have just seen is representative. Baha’i leaders consistently distort what the Bible plainly teaches by ignoring the original languages, context, culture, historical setting, etc. The only interest Baha’i scholars have in the Bible is to distort its teachings to make them conform with Baha’i teachings. Is this being tolerant? Is this fair? Is this ethical? Again, we think not.
For an extensive, well-documented, objective yet critical history of the Baha’i movement see Dr. William Miller’s The Baha’i Faith: Its History and Teachings (464 pages). A good basic critique can be found in Francis Beckwith, Baha’i (Bethany, 1985).