Bahai: What is the Bahai faith?

The Bahai faith originated in Iran (Persia) in 1844 when a Moslem, Mirza 'Ali Muhammed, announced that he was the forerunner of the World Teacher, who would appear to unite mankind and bring a new era of peace. He assumed the title of "Bab" (the Persian word for "Gate"). He was prosecuted and executed by the Moslems and the Persian Government for forming a new Moslem sect.

One of his disciples, Mirza Husayn 'Ali, when an exile in Baghdad, proclaimed himself the prophesied World Teacher and took the name Baha'u'llah which means "The Glory of God". The name Bahai faith is derived from that title. The world headquarters of the Bahai faith is in Haifa, Israel.

If we condense the teachings of this faith, we find that they revolve around three basic principles:

1. The oneness of God.
2. The oneness of religion.
3. The oneness of mankind.

The "Bab" taught that he replaced Muhammed as God's prophet and that he formed a new universal religion based on a new book, Kitab-Akdas. This "new religion" means according to the Baha'u'llah:

1. The independent search after truth, unhindered by superstition or tradition.
2. The oneness of the entire human race.
3. The basic unity of all religions.
4. The condemnation of all forms of prejudice whether religious, racial, class or national.
5. Harmony must exist between religion and science.
6. The equality of men and women.
7. The introduction of compulsory education.
8. The adoption of a universal auxiliary language.
9. The abolition of extremes of wealth and poverty.
10. The institution of work to the rank of worship.
11. The glorification of justice as the ruling principle in human society and religion as a bulwark for the protection of all peoples and nations.

This sounds good and few people will object to some of these principles. But the crux of the problem is that in its basic beliefs Bahai collides head-on with Biblical Christianity. It rejects the cardinal doctrines of the Bible such as: The Trinity of God (which Islam also rejects), the Deity of Christ as one of the Persons in the Godhead, the virgin birth of Jesus; the bodily resurrection of Christ; the fact that Jesus died as the Lamb of God for the sins of all men and women; salvation by faith in Jesus alone, the final authority of the Bible and the Second Coming of Christ.

A Bible-believing Christian cannot believe that Jesus Christ is given a place in Bahai as only one of the prophets. He is the Divine Son of God. Read John 14:6; Acts 4:12; 1 Corinthians 3:11; 1ÿ20Timothy 2:5; Hebrews 13:8.

Furthermore, Bahai's teaching of the oneness of religion is not Biblical. Christianity cannot compromise its teachings to accommodate the doctrines of the Hindu religion, Islam, or any other religion. None of them, including Bahai, accepts the teaching of the Bible concerning the lost state of man because of sin, and that the work of Christ in the redemption of lost sinners is directly related to this sinful nature (Isaiah 64:6; John 1:29; 3:14-17; Romans 3:23).

Dr Walter Martin, who studied Bahaism, came to the following conclusion in his book "The Kingdom of the Cults": "There is very little indeed that a true Christian can have in common with the faith of Bahai. There is simply no common ground on which to meet ... The Bahai faith is at its very core anti-Christian theology."