Embracing Truth Wherever It Can Be Found: In Baha'i "The Sun of Reality"

A neighbor is Baha'i and she is letting me borrow a book that is considered an introduction to the origins and beliefs of the Baha'i faith. Its titled "Some Answered Questions" written by 'Abdu'l-Baha and is actually the edited transcripts of a series of interviews.

In my reading I have learned that the Baha'i historically have taught that Christ was who he says he was and Muhammad is who he says he was. The Baha'i too subscribe, more so than Latter-day Saints that truth is truth wherever it can be found. They also seem to teach the concept of apostasy, though the word is not used as a label. The following passage, that I have found describes that truth , called the Sun of Reality.

The people of perception are the seekers of the truth, and not the places of its appearance, nor of its dawning points; therefore they will adore the Sun from whatever point in the zodiac it may appear, and they will seek the Reality of the Sanctified Soul Who manifests it. Such people always attain to the truth and are not veiled from the Sun of the Divine World.

It goes on to describe how many religions that exist in the world today get "stuck" on the teachings of certain people.

"For example, once the Sun of Reality poured forth its ray from the sign of Abraham, and then it dawned from the sign of Moses and illuminated the horizon. Afterward it rose with the greatest power and brilliancy from the sign of Christ. Those who were seekers of Reality worshipped that Reality wherever they saw it, but those who were attached to Abraham were deprived of its influences when it shone upon Sinai and illuminated the reality of Moses. Those who held fast to Modeses, when the Sun of Reality shone from Christ with the utmost radiance and lordly splendor were also veiled; and so forth."

In terminology reminiscent of the early LDS prohets:

"Therefore, man must be the seeker after the Reality and he will find that Reality in each of the Sanctified Souls. He must be fascinated and enraptured, and attracted to the divine bounty; he must be like the butterfly who is the lover of the light from whatever lamp it may shine, and like the nightingale who is the lover of the rose in whatever garden it may grow."

It was this sort of logic that led me to ever begin learning about the LDS Church. I found a completeness of doctrine and was taught that "the reality" of existence began with the creation of the universe, we lived premortally and that the plan of salvation is not just a story concocted by humans to explain away our presence on the earth, but the explanation from the beginning of all that we see and experience.

One of the beauties of the "first principles and ordinances of the gospel" is that they are so simple, so universal and so accessible to all--if not in this life, in the next and time is given to extend those ordinances to each person who ever lives. But as I'm continuing on my individual "search for truth and meaning" I am feeling that as I have secured those blessings for myself, and strive to teach my children, friends and family to secure those blessings for themselves, that I must continue onward seeking truth wherever it can be found. I love the doctrines of the gospel, and yearn for the hidden treasures and mysteries, spoken of in the Word of Wisdom and the Book of Mormon. I'm finding that as I explore and seek out the doctrines of the gospel of Christ, I am finding portions that testify of the divine reality in many places, across religions.

I find this requires an open and inquisitive mind that when I find something where I instinctively recoil, I can objectively study it out to learn more. For example, I feel that my next steps are to learn about the prophet Mohammad and other spiritual leaders of other religions to decide for myself if they are, like the framers of the Protestant Reformers, inspired men and women who speak truth to a certain time, culture and people that can give them a foundation for seeking further truth and knowledge. I feel that the Unitarian Universalists did that for me and by being accepting enough to seek additional truth, I did find and now I can continue seeking and find more.

Alternate Ending to the First Vision

As a teenager I came to the same point when Joseph Smith prayed to know which church was true and which he should join. I started with the same course as he: I began learning about the different churches that I might join if I were to find the truth there. I visited my friend's churches, my grandparent's churches and I read the history of world religions. I spent 3 years with this as an intellectual pursuit where I attempted to have an open mind and be able to recognize the truth when I found it.

Through that search--what the Unitarians would call a "search for truth and meaning" I learned many valuable lessons about what I wanted to see in a church before I felt it could be the possessor of what is true. A short list includes:

1)prophets
2)modern-day revelation
3)God's authority to act in His name
4)opportunities for those who have never heard of the church to be redeemed
5)justice and accountablity as well as mercy for all people
6)families that could be reunited after death
7)freedom from pain and hurt after this life is over
8)the afterlife is not as black and white as heaven and hell

I honestly beleived, with how advanced our society is, and how long people have been on this earth that the truth must exist, that out of all the thousands of organizaed religions in the world, one of them must be true. So when I didn't find what I was looking for, I kept looking. Although I did give up my search of churches when I decided I would become a Unitarian Universalist reverend to dedicate my life to that search for truth.

That decision had been hasty because I hadn't investigated all of the religions in the world. At some point, I had written off all Christian churches because none of them had what I was looking for. That was before I was introduced to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

It has what I was looking for and more. I was overjoyed to have the opportunity to learn about it which I did. I spent 10 months meeting with the missionaries regularly to learn about the Lord's church on the earth today, that it was restored and revealed by Him through prophets, not pieced together by groups of men.

I abandoned my goal of becoming a Unitarian minister, needless to say when I was baptized and confirmed a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

As I pondered these events and how there were some similarities to Joseph Smith's first prayer on the subject of which church to join. I wondered what would he have done if the answer he had gone had been "none of them" and it was left at that. If the Lord hadn't then revealed to him that Joseph would become the first prophet of the restored church of Jesus Christ. And what would I have done if I had prayed to know if that Church of Jesus Chirst of Latter-day Saints was true and felt that it wasn't?

At that time in my life, I would have despaired. I was already despairing over the death of my father who made my questions concerning religion all that more poignant. Where was he? Would I see him again? Was he free from life's afflictions? At some point, I felt that the LDS church was the end of the line for me. Either it was true or it was not, and if it was not I didn't want to imagine life without it. The answers to my questions provided by the doctrines of the LDS church made so much sense to me that it couldn't not be true.

I'm sure the more pragmatic side of me would have continued my spiritual quest for truth, that I would have pursued my doctorate in divinity from one of the UU theology schools. But how grateful I am that I didn't have to. How grateful I am to know, through the verfication of the Lord's Spirit that the church is true, that Joseph Smith really was the first prophet of the restored church of Jesus Christ and that Christ really is who he says he is.