My Christmas Post

They say that Jesus of Nazareth was humble and meek.

They say that though He was a just man and righteous, He was a weakling, and was often confounded by the strong and the powerful; and that when He stood before men of authority He was but a lamb among lions.

But I say Jesus had authority over men, and that He knew His power and proclaimed it among the hills of Galilee, and in the cities of Judea and Phoenicia. [ . . . ] Was He seeking shelter in words when He repeated again and yet again, “Destroy this temple and I will rebuild it in three days” ?

Was it a coward who shook His hand in the face of the authorities and pronounced them “liars, low, filthy, and degenerate” ?

Shall a man bold enough to say these things to those who ruled Judea be deemed meek and humble?

Nay. The eagle builds not his nest in the weeping willow. And the lion seeks not his den among the ferns.

I am sickened and the bowels within me stir and rise when I hear the faint-hearted call Jesus humble and meek, that they may justify their own faint-heartedness; and when the downtrodden, for comfort and companionship, speak of Jesus as a worm shining by their side.

Yea, my heart is sickened by such men. It is the mighty hunter I would preach, and the mountainous spirit unconquerable.

My Best Beloved was born 190 years ago tommorow by the Gregorian Calendar, and for me that is the closest date I have to the birth of Jesus. As Bahá’u’lláh is the Christ come again, I will do a little bit of thought on Christ’s visit to our realm 2000 years ago.

I have always struggled to accept the spiritual interpretation of Jesus’s Ressurection that Abdu’l-Bahá propounds, as in many ways it does not appear this way in the Bible, or at least the appearance of the Ressurection is the same as that of the Virgin Birth, and it is hard to accept the Virgin Birth literally and deny the literal physical Ressurection. However, this quote byKahlil Gibran that I shared above shed some light on the issue for me.

Gibran says, and rightly so, that Christ was far from meek. Christ was warlike and not afraid of creating dissension. He said that he came to bring the sword, not peace. He came to kick us out of our wayward ruts of life and into a cleansing tumult, from which we might emerge purer beings. This of course does not refer literally to physical violence or even emotional cruelty, but to spiritual turbulence. He came to shake things up, as they weren’t working in their peaceful state.

Now recently I was speaking with an Adventist friend on the Bahá’í interpretation of the Third Temple in Israel, and due to a misunderstanding he thought I believed this refered literally to a third temple, which I do not. He explained that the Third Temple means the Kingdom of God on Earth. I take it a step further and say that this Kingdom refers to the Order of things created by the Manifestations; the dharma of the Manifestation.

When I read what Gibran says about the Temple, a bell went “ding!” in my head. “Destroy this temple and I will rebuild it in three days” Christ’s ressurection is both a spiritual and prophetic statement. The temple is the body of Christ, synonymous as it often is with the body of His teachings, or His Word. (He is afterall the Word incarnate) Christ was stating that His body could be destroyed, but not the Body of His Word, or his dharma.

When Christ speaks to Thomas explaing that His reborn body is real, not a ghost or spirit, this is a further statement about His dharma. It is not hocus pocus, but Christ is very really alive and working in the world when he speaks to Thomas. His body can affect the world in real physical ways through the actions of His followers in accordance with His teachings. Thomas, touching the body, shows that the followers represent the physical limbs and hands of the new body of Christ.

Then there is a thought I had a while back about the three days. I think that may be closely aligned with the dispensations since Christ. He has as we know been reborn in the Glory of the Father, as Bahá’u’lláh. Since the time of Christ three dispensations have passed, the Sun of Truth has risen and set three times since Christ passed from this world physically. His own dispensation passed away, that of Muhammad, the Apostle of God, and that of the Báb, the Gate of God. Bahá’u’lláh rose early in the Bábs day.

The Pledge of Allegiance

I am in an American High School, and I do not say the Pledge of Allegiance. Is it because I do not love my country? Far from it, I am an ardent patriot in so many ways; no matter where I move, I will always have a love affair with America going on. However, I personally view nationalism and the very swearing of oaths as wrong. Instead I stand, with my hand over my heart and recite a prayer in my head for our country, it goes something like this each time. “O Lord, you are my only God. Please guide this nation nearer to your ways, and guide other nations nearer to its ways that the world may be unified in Your Name. Please protect this nation from corruption and wayward influences. You are the only God and we are all Your servants.”

Religiously I draw a few inspirations for my decision not to say the Pledge. First there is Christ Jesus. In the Holy Bible it says, at Mathew 5:34:

“Ye have heard that it hath been said by them of old time, Thou shalt not forswear thyself, but shalt perform unto the Lord thine oaths: But I say unto you, Swear not at all; neither by heaven; for it is God’s throne: Nor by the earth; for it is his footstool: neither by Jerusalem; for it is the city of the great King. Neither shalt thou swear by thy head, because thou canst not make one hair white or black. But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil.”

This to me says, “Do not swear oaths, do not claim a power greater than nothingness, and do not use the Seat of Heaven for your fallible endeavors. If you are an honest man Yes and No will suffice.”

As well there is as statement by Bahá’u’lláh that says: “Let not a man glory in this, that he loves his country; let him rather glory in this, that he loves his kind.”
I cannot say that I love America to the exclusion of other nations. I love mankind, and becuase I believe America represents the pinnacle of our creation, I love America. I think our nation, in showing what man can acheive, is a prayer in itself. How can I take that and say that I love America and only America deserves my allegiance? Mankind deserves my Allegiance.