We started with the three questions:

1. What is innocence?, What is it not?
2. Are we born innocent?
3. Can we become/stay innocent?, How?

This progressed nicely, and the discussion centered around how we define innocence and what it is that takes it away from us. We eventually moved on to the concept of ‘Original Sin‘ and the idea that we are all born not only with the desire to do things that would be an affront to God, but that we carry with us the burden of all of the sin that was committed before we were alive. That would hardly make us innocent. However, Christians believe that Jesus dies for our sins, which does raise the concern over whether or not we need to be careful about not sinning, or if it is okay because we will be forgiven anyway.

In the end, we came around to look at how we have allowed our differences such as whether or not a baby is born carrying the sins of his ancestors all the way back to Adam & Eve, who a piece of land belongs to, or who has the right to wear a scarf on her head and where she is allowed to do so. These are all differences created by man and may represent the true lack of innocence. However, all we truly need to do to receive God’s love is to love Him back.

The earth has one surface. God has not divided this surface by boundaries and barriers to separate races and peoples. Man has set up and established these imaginary lines, giving to each restricted area a name and the limitation of a native land or nationhood. By this division and separation into groups and branches of mankind, prejudice is engendered which becomes a fruitful source of war and strife. Impelled by this prejudice, races and nations declare war against each other; the blood of the innocent is poured out, and the earth torn by violence. Therefore, it has been decreed by God in this day that these prejudices and differences shall be laid aside.

Abdu’l-Baha : The Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 316

Love Me, that I may love thee. If thou lovest Me not, My love can in no wise reach thee. Know this, O servant.

Baha’u'llah : The Persian Hidden Words #5

The Spirit breathing through the Holy Scriptures is food for all who hunger. God Who has given the revelation to His Prophets will surely give of His abundance daily bread to all those who ask Him faithfully.

~ Abdu’l-Baha, Paris Talks, p. 57

Hunger is a natural feeling that we have all experienced.  It is how our body tells us we must find some food for sustenance we cannot live without.  Our souls, too, can have hunger—a hunger for truth, wisdom and a purpose in life.  The scripture can fulfill those needs and God has provided it for us.  All we must do is ask to partake of it; to read, to investigate on our own, is how we fulfill that hunger.  Just as it is necessary to eat daily, Baha’is are instructed to read of the scriptures every day, thus, our daily bread.

Jesus Christ also made allusions to bread by telling his disciples at the Last Supper, that it represented his body and to eat it in remembrance of him.  Perhaps the most popular Christian prayer is the Lord’s Prayer (Pater Noster), which contains the line:

Give us this day our daily bread.

~ Matthew 6:11 (KJV)

In the Gospel of John (6:1-15) Jesus fed 5,000 men (no record of how many women and children were also present) with just two loaves of bread and two fish.  Everyone took as much as he (or she) wanted and was satisfied and fed.  It is my belief that these both serve as analogies to the spiritual bread that is provided to us, if only we would partake of it.

Our purpose is to show how true religion promotes the civilization and honor, the prosperity and prestige, the learning and advancement of a people once abject, enslaved and ignorant, and how, when it falls into the hands of religious leaders who are foolish and fanatical, it is diverted to the wrong ends, until this greatest of splendors turns into blackest night.

~ Abdu’l-Baha, The Secret of Divine Civilization, p. 78

I often hear the comment from people that they are uninterested in “organized religion,” and when I ask why, or what it was that turned them away it is normally something related to the practices of the religious institution, the admonishments from other parishioners on the adherence to religious laws, a disagreement in interpretation of scripture, or something of this type.  Rarely is their repulsion from spirituality related to disbelief in God, but to the wrongs of man and how the original message of the particular manifestation, whether it be Abraham, Jesus or Mohamed has been perverted.

For years I felt this way as well and shunned the Church.  I was fond of saying that I did not have a problem with Christianity, but I did have a problem with my fellow Christians.  It took me years to realize that I was harming myself by not seeing through those forces that were darkening the brilliance of God’s message.  When I began searching I found a deeper spiritual truth.

Be generous in prosperity, and thankful in adversity. Be worthy of the trust of thy neighbor, and look upon him with a bright and friendly face. Be a treasure to the poor, an admonisher to the rich, an answerer to the cry of the needy, a preserver of the sanctity of thy pledge. Be fair in thy judgment, and guarded in thy speech. Be unjust to no man, and show all meekness to all men. Be as a lamp unto them that walk in darkness, a joy to the sorrowful, a sea for the thirsty, a haven for the distressed, an upholder and defender of the victim of oppression. Let integrity and uprightness distinguish all thine acts. Be a home for the stranger, a balm to the suffering, a tower of strength for the fugitive. Be eyes to the blind, and a guiding light unto the feet of the erring. Be an ornament to the countenance of truth, a crown to the brow of fidelity, a pillar of the temple of righteousness, a breath of life to the body of mankind, an ensign of the hosts of justice, a luminary above the horizon of virtue, a dew to the soil of the human heart, an ark on the ocean of knowledge, a sun in the heaven of bounty, a gem on the diadem of wisdom, a shining light in the firmament of thy generation, a fruit upon the tree of humility. We pray God to protect thee from the heat of jealousy and the cold of hatred. He verily is nigh, ready to answer.

~ Baha’u'llah, Epistle to the Son of the Wolf, p. 93
Gleanings from the Writings of Baha’u'llah, p. 285

This particular quote has been one of my favorites as it is comprised of small commands or directives on how to live one’s life.  In many ways, it reminds me of the Beatitudes from Jesus’s Sermon on the Mount:

¹Now when he saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, ²and he began to teach them saying:
³“Blessed are the poor in spirit,
      for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
⁴Blessed are those who mourn,
      for they will be comforted.
⁵Blessed are the meek,
      for they will inherit the earth.
⁶Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
      for they will be filled.
⁷Blessed are the merciful,
      for they will be shown mercy.
⁸Blessed are the pure in heart,
      for they will see God.
⁹Blessed are the peacemakers,
      for they will be called sons of God.
¹⁰Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,
      for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

¹¹“Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. ¹²Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

~ Matthew 5:1-12, NIV

And Jesus Christ our Lord was shown to be the Son of God when God powerfully raised him from the dead by means of the Holy Spirit.

~ Romans 1:4 NLT

At the end of this post, I have included three narratives of the Resurrection from the synoptic gospels (Matthew, Luke and Mark).  I intentionally have omitted the verses from the Gospel of John because I have always felt the theology in this book differs from the rest—it reads as heavily evangelistic and therefore loses its neutrality and accuracy as an historical record.

I believe that the resurrection was a metaphor for the realization by the followers of Jesus Christ that he was a manifestation of God, and not just a charismatic spiritual leader.  After he had died, they felt his presence and guidance again – it was his spirit that appeared to them, not his body clad in white robes.  As can be seen from the excerpts below, the apparition was not recognized for what the modern-day church interprets as being either.  I could provide much supporting evidence for my viewpoint, but that is not my intention in this post.

Rather, I would like to remind people that this is a day to celebrate and to remember that it was on Easter Sunday when Jesus was recognized as a messenger from God that truly founded Christianity and enabled its beautiful message to be sent throughout the world.

After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb. There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men.

The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples: ‘He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.’ Now I have told you.”

So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples. Suddenly Jesus met them. “Greetings,” he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him. Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.”

~ Matthew 28:1-10, NIV

When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices so that they might go to anoint Jesus’ body. Very early on the first day of the week, just after sunrise, they were on their way to the tomb and they asked each other, “Who will roll the stone away from the entrance of the tomb?”

But when they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had been rolled away. As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side, and they were alarmed.

“Don’t be alarmed,” he said. “You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.’ ”

Trembling and bewildered, the women went out and fled from the tomb. They said nothing to anyone, because they were afraid.

~ Mark 16:1-8, NIV

On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: ‘The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’ ” Then they remembered his words.

When they came back from the tomb, they told all these things to the Eleven and to all the others. It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the others with them who told this to the apostles. But they did not believe the women, because their words seemed to them like nonsense. Peter, however, got up and ran to the tomb. Bending over, he saw the strips of linen lying by themselves, and he went away, wondering to himself what had happened.

~ Luke 24:1-12