Good News — Bahá’u’lláh’s Glad Tidings

Good news — glad tidings or “gospel”, to use an old English word. In Arabic, “bisharat”.

Bahá’u’lláh’s Glad Tidings are a short collection of teachings concerned with reform of the world.  They are addressed to all human beings.

Bahá’u’lláh notes the abolition of the following as key consequences of his Glad Tidings. The abolition of holy war, destruction of books, the ban on association and companionship with other peoples and on reading certain books.

There are 15 Glad Tidings. The following is a brief summary of some of them, sometimes accompanied by a personal reflection. Of course it is best to refer to the Glad Tidings themselves.

The first glad tiding is the abolition of holy war.[1] (This good news has not yet reached every mind and heart, but it will)

The second glad tiding is for all human beings to associate with one another in friendship.[2] (War still rages, but one day friendship will replace hate)

The third glad tiding is for a single language to be adopted for all the world.[3] (So that we may share the joy of conversation with all members of our human family and everywhere will be home)

The sixth glad tiding is for peace in the world — the convening of an “all embracing assemblage” at which the peace of the world is forged and permanently upheld.[4]

The time must come when the imperative necessity for the holding of a vast, an all-embracing assemblage of men will be universally realized. The rulers and kings of the earth must needs attend it, and, participating in its deliberations, must consider such ways and means as will lay the foundations of the world’s Great Peace amongst men.[5]

The seventh glad tiding: human beings are free to dress as they wish. In Ornaments, Bahá’u’lláh identifies “human virtues” as adornments worthy of humanity.[6]

The tenth glad tiding: abolition of the destruction of books.[7]

The eleventh glad tiding: to study sciences and arts that are useful to humanity.[8]

The thirteenth glad tiding: the establishment of the Universal House of Justice — an institution charged to foster the welfare of humanity.[9][10]

There is only one thing that Bahá’u’lláh asks of us in the Glad Tidings. He asks for the help of each and every human being so that:

the fire of animosity which blazeth in the hearts of some of the peoples of the earth may, through the living waters of divine wisdom and by virtue of heavenly counsels and exhortations, be quenched, and the light of unity and concord may shine forth and shed its radiance upon the world.[11]

Image Credits: By T.Kiya from Japan (Rose,Glad Tidings, バラ, グラッド タイディングス,) [CC BY-SA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

This article is the 42nd in a series of what I hope will become 200 articles in 200 days for the 200th anniversary of the birth of Bahá’u’lláh. The anniversary is being celebrated around the world on 21 and 22 October 2017. The articles are simply my personal reflections on Bahá’u’lláh’s life and work. Any errors or inadequacies in these articles are solely my responsibility.