In the spirit of Christmas, lets focus on the actual person whose supposed birthday is, the actual date is likely not December 25th. It may have been the winter solstice or it may have been January; what is known is that it was in winter and thus fairly mild in Bethlehem, definitely no snow at all to be found. Jesus’s birth is very significant as He is viewed as the Son of God, literally for Joseph had yet to consummate his marriage to Mary at the time Jesus was conceived. The virgin birth is considered the first miracle in Jesus’s life, the first in a series of miracles that attest to Jesus’s station. Jesus spent his ministry walking on water, turning that into wine, calming storms, healing the blind and lepers, and modestly owning the rabbis who dared to challenge him. After 3 years of doing this, he was crucified but then came back to life in front of his followers; his Resurrection is certainly the final miracle. The message of Jesus then spread everywhere, and 2000 years later almost everyone knows who He is and over 2 billion view him as their Lord and Savior.

The Christian view of Jesus is summed up as this: He is not just a sinless human but also the Son of God and God. He forms a key part of the Trinity, the Holy Godhead along with God the Father and the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is also a person and inspires and guides believers to the Way, the Truth, and the Life. The following verse captures this tradition clearly: “Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”(John 14:6) And Jesus says this as well: “If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.”(John 14:9) Jesus’s role is often seen as the mediator who reconciles all of mankind to God, who removes the sins of those who believe in Him, and allows them to be reconciled with God. Those who die not believing in Jesus are often seen as dying in a state of sin and detachment from God, and usually go to Hell. Although the exact nature of the afterlife is debated intensely among Christians, the traditional view is that those who do not get baptized or live a sufficiently penitent life must go to Hell, for they have died apart from God.

Good works are often not seen as sufficient, and there are certain denominations that believe only faith alone is sufficient. Many believe that virtuous non-Christians are still in peril because their sin is not forgiven, that they must have all their sins be forgiven somehow. Christians interpret the Jewish animal sacrifice traditions, involving a Lamb, to apply to Jesus’s death and His resurrection, that His sacrifice righted all that sin and enabled humanity to reconcile with God and receive grace. This is captured in the following verse: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16). The latter part sounds incredible, but the former part, applying to those who don’t believe, sounds terrifying. Depending on how they interpret perish, many Christians see evangelism as vital, life-saving work. So be patient next time you encounter these folks, as they really do about saving your soul.

What do Baha’is believe about Jesus and the issue of eternal damnation? Let the words of Baha’ull’ah, the founder of the Baha’i Faith, explains this: “Know thou that when the Son of Man [Jesus] yielded up His breath to God, the whole creation wept with a great weeping. By sacrificing Himself, however, a fresh capacity was infused into all created things. Its evidences, as witnessed in all the peoples of the earth, are now manifest before thee. The deepest wisdom which the sages have uttered, the profoundest learning which any mind hath unfolded, the arts which the ablest hands have produced, the influence exerted by the most potent of rulers, are but manifestations of the quickening power released by His transcendent, His all-pervasive and resplendent Spirit. We testify that when He came into the world, He shed the splendor of His glory upon all created things. Through Him the leper recovered from the leprosy of perversity and ignorance. Through Him the unchaste and wayward were healed. Through His power, born of Almighty God, the eyes of the blind were opened and the soul of the sinner sanctified…. He it is Who purified the world. Blessed is the man who, with a face beaming with light, hath turned towards Him.” The Guardian of the Faith, Shoghi Effendi, also says this: “Heaven and hell are conditions within our own beings.” The Baha’i view on Heaven and Hell are that these are spiritual conditions that persist after one’s time on Earth; one’s spiritual station is shaped by the choices and life one lives on Earth. Eternal life is interpreted by Baha’is as receiving the grace of God through accepting and following the teachings of a Manifestation of God; Hell is rejecting the ways of God and clinging to what one feels is right, no matter how material or ephemeral the joys and desires they espouse are. As Jesus says in Matthew 6:19–21, ““Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

But who is a Manifestation of God and how does this relate to the Baha’i Faith and Christianity? A Manifestation of God is not a mere prophet or a holy man; the thousands of new religious movements and sects that have arisen in the past two centuries are viewed by Baha’is as simply not as potent but inspired by the Revelation of the Bab, the founder of the Babi Faith, and his successor Baha’ull’ah. Yet we do not point this out that much because we do not wish to promote disunity or antagonize people of other beliefs. If one desires to get as close as they can to God, one must follow a Manifestation. Baha’ull’ah warns “They that have disbelieved in God and rebelled against His sovereignty are the helpless victims of their corrupt inclinations and desires. These shall return to their abode in the fire of hell: wretched is the abode of the deniers!” The Bab also says “If thou remainest, at the moment of death, a disbeliever in the signs of thy Lord thou shalt surely enter the gates of hell, and none of the deeds thy hands have wrought will profit thee, nor shalt thou find a patron nor anyone to plead for thee.” There are other examples of these fire and brimstone verses, indicating that Baha’is are serious about getting right with God in this lifetime. The Manifestations of God are described by Bahaullah, “These sanctified Mirrors…are one and all the Exponents on earth of Him Who is the central Orb of the universe, its Essence and ultimate Purpose. From Him proceed their knowledge and power; from Him is derived their sovereignty.” And he says “The Bearers of the Trust of God are made manifest unto the peoples of the earth as the Exponents of a new Cause and the Revealers of a new Message. Inasmuch as these Birds of the celestial Throne are all sent down from the heaven of the Will of God, and as they all arise to proclaim His irresistible Faith, they, therefore, are regarded as one soul and the same person. For they all drink from the one Cup of the love of God, and all partake of the fruit of the same Tree of Oneness.”, which indicates the Manifestations, Jesus and Baha’ull’ah included, are the same person in a spiritual sense. Although they have distinct personages, they are all the Word of God incarnate, the conduit between God and mankind.

What does this mean in relation to Christianity? It means that their claims about Jesus’s station are regarded as correct, but not in the exclusivist sense they interpret. Both Jesus and Baha’ull’ah forgive the sins of people, both of them are the Way, the Truth, and the Life in human form, both possess the hypostatic union of human and divine natures rolled into one form, both expounded the Word of God, both summoned humanity to find salvation in their message and grow close to God, both were without sin, and both sacrificed earthly comfort and lives for the Cause of God. Both lived in different times and places, but both had the same mission and shared the same divine nature, the station of the Word of God. And through the Holy Spirit, they have influenced the development of mankind and guided its efforts towards unity and do the will of God in heaven as it is on Earth. To close this essay out, I refer to this quote from the Blessed Beauty: “The first duty prescribed by God for His servants is the recognition of Him Who is the Day Spring of His Revelation and the Fountain of His laws, Who representeth the Godhead in both the Kingdom of His Cause and the world of His creation. Whoso achieveth this duty hath attained unto all good; and whoso is deprived thereof, has gone astray, though he be the author of every righteous deed. It behoveth every one who reacheth this most sublime station, this summit of transcendent glory, to observe every ordinance of Him Who is the Desire of the world. These twin duties are inseparable. Neither is acceptable without the other. Thus hath it been decreed by Him Who is the Source of Divine inspiration.”