Bahai

HydroMan: does Bahai accept reincarnation? If not, then how can it maintain the view that all religions (including those that believe in reincarnation) are from god

Zanjan: No, not reincarnation. Baha'i's don't focus on the precepts of men - they refer to the Word of God in all scriptures, seeing no conflict between them.

All religions and philosophies can be traced back to their source, to a Revelation of God, Who spoke many times throughout history. The Creative Word is delivered in a measured package of very condensed knowledge that mankind will learn as it gradually extracts the wisdom.

You see, at a certain point, the said wisdom becomes a snatch and grab free for all; when dispersed throughout society, unbelievers pick it up without knowing the source.

Religion is organic - its community goes through a number of stages in its aging process so men try to adapt their religion to the changing times. There is tension when people disagree so the religion breaks up into sects, each retains the core but with their own human spin on something. Eventually, there are thousands of interpretations. Unity is utterly lost.

More is lost in the translation and storymind of the people over long spans of time. Traditions become woven in so tightly that it's impossible to separate culture from religion.

Baha'is bypass all that by referring directly to the Revelators to get a picture of the pristine religion. Although they're set in different societies, now long gone, this approach reveals that all Revelators agree with each other and unity is once again established.

Zanjan: An example of the above morphing is on the concept of "Return". Recognizing that everything is cyclic is a core principle of all religions; as such, we can discern patterns of behaviour and agree on those. We can mark on a timeline map when those patterns changed.

The disagreement amongst men is WHAT returns and its cause. Understanding is further impaired by ignorance of language tools. For instance, incarnation is NOT reincarnation.

Baha'i writings explain the Return using the visual aid of a fruit tree. I think it's the best. As Abdu'l Baha says, the apples this year are perfect, sweet and juicy, large and evenly coloured without marring; they taste and look exactly the same as the apples we harvested 3 years ago. Well, those apples are long gone; this year's apples are new but they're identical to what that same tree produced several years ago.

So we say all those qualities have reappeared - it's the incarnation of perfection which has returned - not apples from 3 years ago.