Part 2 – Timeless Divine Guidance

Some years back, it became popular to ask, what would Jesus do? He mostly taught in parables that required thought on the part of the listeners to understand. Deep reflection on His parables could take people well beyond the conventionally accepted social and religious laws and customs of their day.

This is still true today. Consider that rendering unto Caesar and the government what is theirs runs counter to tax fraud, shell companies, and offshore accounts set up specifically to avoid taxes. Concerning wealth and materiality, Jesus warned that it would be easier for the metaphorical camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God. Not impossible, but unlikely. Again in reference to riches, Jesus warned that the seeds of divine revelation that fall among thorns, which was a symbol for people’s worries, riches, and pleasures, would not grow and mature.

Jesus’s mission was not to confront the civil order of his time but to educate people about their personal relationship with God, the kingdom of God, and the life everlasting. Enhanced, raised spiritual consciousness would, in time, inevitably pave the way for an improved social order and more enlightened religious beliefs.

Back to what would Jesus do, His immortal Beatitudes certainly laid the foundation for answers we can ferret out ourselves. The Beatitudes challenge countless current beliefs and attitudes as to how we should behave.

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.
Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.
Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. (Matthew 5:3-12)

The Beatitudes cover much of what Jesus would have done, and what he would have said.

Humanity has been blessed with a succession of divine educators who have come to peoples all over the world. These divinely sent Prophets of God each had individual mandates for uplifting the people they appeared among in accordance with the needs of their times and the levels of their understanding. Yet these Prophets of God were one in the spiritual message They brought. Each confirmed the truths brought by previous Prophets. They also foretold future Prophets. As Jesus explained to His disciples, “I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come.” (John 16:12-14)

The coming of Bahá’u’lláh fulfilled Jesus’s foretelling. Humanity was then on the cusp of moving into a global age, what we call the modern age, with its advances in trade and economics, technology, and science. This new world, however, brought a myriad of seemingly new problems that challenged concepts of individual rights and freedoms as well as peace and prosperity. Let’s readdress the question: What would Bahá’u’lláh do?

Actually, Bahá’u’lláh answered many of these questions, before they would be asked, as an essential aspect of His ministry. For the first time in religious history, He directly addressed and challenged the leading secular rulers and religious leaders of His day and gave them His “manual” on their responsibilities for good governance and moral leadership. In His admonishments, He stated exactly what should be done to attain an age of global peace and prosperity for humanity, which He called the Most Great Peace.

Bahá’u’lláh’s summons, also called letters, epistles, and tablets that He sent to kings and religious rulers, were written in the late 1860s and early 1870s. Some of them were written to individuals, and others were addressed collectively, such as the “Tablet to the Kings.” Summons of the Lord of Hosts, 185-235. In all of them, Bahá’u’lláh proclaimed the nature of His mission. The English translations are compiled in the book The Summons of the Lord of Hosts. The individual messages were sent to Pope Pius IX, Napoleon III, Queen Victoria, Czar Alexander II, Emperor Francis Joseph (Austria), Kaiser Wilhelm I (Germany), Násiri’d-din-Sháh (Persia), Sultán Abdu’l-‘Azíz (Ottoman Turkey), and two of the sultan’s ministers, ‘Alí Páshá and Fu’ád Páshá.

He affirmed, “Never since the beginning of the world hath the Message been so openly proclaimed.” (Summons, Introduction, p. i)

Bahá’u’lláh’s tablets of directives to the kings and ecclesiastics, His manual for humane societies, peace on earth, and the prosperity of humanity, as compiled in English translations, total 235 pages. Here are snippets of His instructions to kings and religious rulers.

“Know of a truth that your subjects are God’s trust amongst you. Watch ye, therefore, over them as ye watch over your own selves.”
“Be united, O Kings of the earth, for thereby will the tempest of discord be stilled amongst you, and your people find rest, if ye be of them that comprehend. Should any one among you take up arms against another, rise ye all against him, for this is naught but manifest justice.”
“O rulers of the earth! Be reconciled among yourselves, that ye may need no more armaments save in a measure to safeguard your territories and dominions.”
“O concourse of divines! All that ye possess will profit you not, neither all the treasures of the earth, nor the leadership ye have usurped.”
“O King! I adjure thee by thy Lord, the All-Merciful, to look upon thy servants with the glances of the eye of thy favour, and to treat them with justice, that God may treat thee with mercy.”
“Beware, O King, that thou gather not around thee such ministers as follow the desires of a corrupt inclination, as have cast behind their backs that which hath been committed into their hands and manifestly betrayed their trust.”
“Lay not aside the fear of God, O kings of the earth, and beware that ye transgress not the bounds which the Almighty hath fixed. Tread ye the path of justice, for this, verily, is the straight path.”
“If thou bearest allegiance to any faith or religion, then thou shouldst know that, according to all the heavenly Books and all the divinely inspired and weighty Scriptures, children are not to be held accountable. It is certain that the sighs of these children . . . will have their due consequence.”
“Think ye that the things ye possess shall profit you? Soon others will possess them and ye will return unto the dust with none to help or succour you.”
“O ye the elected representatives of the people in every land! Take ye counsel together, and let your concern be only for that which profiteth mankind, and bettereth the condition thereof, if ye be of them that scan heedfully.”

There was also a short missive sent to the rulers and presidents of republics in North America, which said in part:

Hearken ye, O Rulers of America and the Presidents of the Republics therein, unto that which the Dove is warbling on the Branch of Eternity: “There is none other God but Me, the Ever-Abiding, the Forgiving, the All-Bountiful.” Adorn ye the temple of dominion with the ornament of justice and of the fear of God, and its head with the crown of the remembrance of your Lord, the Creator of the heavens. O concourse of rulers! Give ear unto that which hath been raised from the Dayspring of Grandeur: “Verily, there is none other God but Me, the Lord of Utterance, the All-Knowing.” Bind ye the broken with the hands of justice, and crush the oppressor who flourisheth with the rod of the commandments of your Lord, the Ordainer, the All-Wise. (Bahá’u’lláh, The Kitáb-i-Aqdas, para. 88)

As anticipated, these summons and warnings to the kings and ecclesiastics were ignored. Therefore, Bahá’u’lláh also said, “Now that ye have refused the Most Great Peace, hold ye fast unto this, the Lesser Peace, that haply ye may in some degree better your own condition and that of your dependents.” (Summons, para. 180) In other words, and as usual, the manual would be ignored and humanity would choose the hard way that we are experiencing today.

Part 3 of this series will focus on the Lesser Peace and the processes of disintegration and integration leading to it. This is where we are living today.

READ THE MANUAL!

Part 2 – Timeless Divine Guidance

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