Super Babies: The Prophets of God
First presented at the Irfan Colloquia Session #72
Louhelen Bahá'í School: Davison, Michigan, USA
October 6–9, 2006
(see list of papers from #72)
Details of the early lives of the Messengers of God are sparse at best. Nevertheless, a common thread in religious scripture seems to be that the Divine Physicians showed remarkable talents even as young children. At the same time, we have many accounts where an admittedly talented but otherwise 'regular' person is suddenly 'chosen' to become a mediator between God and man. Moses heard the voice of God through the burning bush and learned of His Mission to lead the Jews to freedom. While being baptized, Jesus saw the Holy Ghost come down in the form of a dove, and the heaven was opened and the voice of God came out. On Mt. Hírah, the angel Gabriel appeared to the illiterate Muhammad and told Him to recite. Bahá'u'lláh was "but a man like unto others" asleep on His couch, when the Holy Spirit in the form of a maiden appeared to Him in the Siyáh-Chál and taught Him the knowledge of all that hath been. This apparent paradox between the childhoods of the Prophets and the dramatic episodes where They received Their respective Revelations will be reconciled in light of the coming of age of mankind, an idea that "constitutes the central core of the Bahá'í Teachings, and is the most distinguishing feature of the Revelation of Bahá'u'lláh." References made by the prophets "to Paradise, to hell fire, to future reward and punishment" will also be explored in the same vein.
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