The Challenge of Baha'u'llah

by Gary L. Matthews

Shares the author's views about why he believes that the Revelation of Baha'u'llah is divine in origin and uniquely important, in a discussion of Baha'i prophecies that ties them to such historical events as the fall of the Ottoman Empire, the Holocaust and the development of nuclear weapons.

Genres: Baha I

286 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 1993

Reviews

[Trevor Wolfe · Rating 1 out of 5]

If I was never to read the Bible I can see why many people would be convinced that Bahá’u’lláh is of God by reading this book. A few ways the author is able to do this is by showing how Bahá’u’lláh supposedly fulfilled prophecies. A few examples is Bahá’u’lláh talking about how some rulers will be successful or not. He gets a 50% chance on this and gets lucky sometimes. The author does mention Deuteronomy 18 where it mentions if somebody gives a false prophecy that means that person is a false prophet. The author seems to forget that the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh can make him a false prophet as well(Deut. 13:1-10)

Bahá’u’lláh has many false teachings that contradict the Bible such as everyone follows the same God, that Jesus did not rise in bodily form from the dead and that He is the fulfillment of all the major world religions. The Bible tells us to look out for anti-Christs and false prophets and Bahá’u’lláh is clearly one when he contradicts the Bible.

“Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already.”
‭‭1 John‬ ‭4:1-3‬ ‭ESV‬‬


The author also talks about how Bahá’u’lláh practiced his own teachings. This is not true either. Bahá’u’lláh talks about how we need to be forgiving people yet he never forgave some of his family members specifically Mirza Yaya.

Bahá’u’lláh wrote this breaking his own law because he had 3 wives:

“God hath prescribed matrimony unto you. Beware that ye take not unto yourselves more wives than two. Whoso contenteth himself with a single partner from among the maidservants of God, both he and she shall live in tranquillity. And he who would take into his service a maid may do so with propriety. Such is the ordinance which, in truth and justice, hath been recorded by the Pen of Revelation. Enter into wedlock, O people, that ye may bring forth one who will make mention of Me amid My servants. This is My bidding unto you; hold fast to it as an assistance to yourselves.”-The Kitáb-i-Aqdas

Matthews also talks about how Bahá’u’lláh did not have much education and he still wrote great bodies of work and the only way he wrote such wonderful things was if God gave him the ability to do so. Even if Bahá’u’lláh did not have much education there are still a lot of people out there that never had much education yet they were still great writers such as Mark Twain or Charles Dickens. Joseph Smith was a false prophet yet he was able to write three different works that are considered scripture to the LDS faith. Let’s remember Baha’u’llah spent nearly 40 years in prison and he had time to learn how to write. Just because someone has little education does not mean that they can learn how to write over time.

Bahá’u’lláh did not tell the truth. He is not a worth putting trust in.

[Avrel Seale · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the three books I would recommend to anyone investigating religious reality in general or the Baha'i Faith in particular. In a fast-moving and easy style, Gary Mathews moves through the most convincing proofs -- including a fascinating survey of prophecy -- that the nineteenth-century Persian figure known as Baha'u'llah is in fact the Promised One foretold by all historic religions. (The other two books, if you're wondering, are Abdu'l Baha's "Some Answered Questions" and Esslemont's "Baha'u'llah and the New Era."

[Allan Wind · Rating 5 out of 5]

Old but new

An older book but revised and updated over the years albeit with little change beyond that needed for clarity. A serious book of personal independent investigation of the truth.

[Jody Mena]

An interesting presentation of evidence, full of not just metaphysical views, but correlational evidence from history, sociology, anthropology and science, and a relatively liberal amount of respect for the readers' potential skepticism. The author said that his goal for the book was not to convince people, but to interest readers and incite them to further investigation, and I believe that goal is thoroughly accomplished by the end of the book.



I'd recommend this book, a lot of what the author talks about can be applied not only to Baha'i Faith, but to religion in general, and I think an understanding of why so many people follow religion and how religion, science and social matters can harmoniously interweave, and perhaps even more importantly, how different faiths, which people tend to fight each other so hard over, can coexist peacefully side by side without conflict, are important lessons that people in this day and age need to learn about.

[D. · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was a mistake. I was looking for a book on the tenets and teachings of the Baha'i faith, but this was the only book the store had. Unfortunately, it only pays lip service to the teachings, then launches into a laundry list of prophecies supposedly made by the religion's founder that the author claims have come true. No thanks.