God is so great and so mighty He is unknowable to the understanding of mankind.

 

239. God is unknowable to mankind, His station is far above anything we can understand or comprehend:  Babi Religion: “No one except Thine Own Self can comprehend Thy nature.” (The Bab, Selections from the Writings of the Bab, p. 196) God is unknowable to mankind the writings of the Bahá’í Faith tells us. How can the finite understand the infinite or the painting understand the painter who paints it? Baha’i Faith: “How can he who is but a creation of Thy will claim to know what is with Thee, or to conceive Thy nature?” “Praise, immeasurable praise be to Thee! I swear by Thy glory! My inner and outer tongue, openly and secretly, testify that Thou hast been exalted above the reach and ken of Thy creatures, above the utterance of Thy servants, above the testimonies of Thy dear ones and Thy chosen ones, and the apprehension of Thy Prophets and of Thy Messengers.”

(Bahá’í Faith, Baha’u’llah, Prayers and Meditations by Baha’u’llah, p. 55)

The Holy writings of the bible also tell us that God is unknowable and unsearchable to the human mind and understanding.  Christianity: Romans 11:33 “O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past finding out!”

BAHA’I FAITH: “That which we imagine, is not the Reality of God; He, the Unknowable, the Unthinkable, is far beyond the highest conception of man.”

(Bahá’í Faith, Abdu’l-Baha, Paris Talks, p. 24)

 BABI RELIGION: “From everlasting no one hath comprehended Thine Own Self, and unto everlasting Thou shalt remain what Thou hast been since time immemorial with no one else besides Thee.” “I have known Thee by Thy making known unto me that Thou art unknowable to anyone save Thyself.”

(The Bab, Selections from the Writings of the Bab, pp. 196 and 211)

 JUDAISM: Job 5:8 “I would seek unto God, and unto God would I commit my cause:” Job 5:9 “Which doeth great things and unsearchable; marvelous things without number:” Job 9:2 “I know it is so of a truth: but how should man be just with God?” Job 9:10 “Which doeth great things past finding out; yea, and wonders without number.” Exodus 8:10 “……there is none like unto The LORD our God.”

BAHA’I FAITH: “Praise be to God, the All-Possessing, the King of incomparable glory, a praise which is immeasurably above the understanding of all created things, and is exalted beyond the grasp of the minds of men. None else besides Him hath ever been able to sing adequately His praise, nor will any man succeed at any time in describing the full measure of His glory. Who is it that can claim to have attained the heights of His exalted Essence, and what mind can measure the depths of His unfathomable mystery?”

(Bahá’í Faith, Baha’u’llah, Gleanings from the Writings of Baha’u’llah, p. 60)

 JUDAISM: Job 26:13 “By His spirit He hath garnished the heavens; His hand hath formed the crooked serpent.” Job 26:14 “Lo, these are parts of His ways: but how little a portion is heard of Him? but the thunder of His power who can understand?” Job 36:26 “Behold, God is great, and we know Him not, neither can the number of His years be searched out.” Job 37:5 “God thundereth marvelously with His voice; great things doeth He, which we cannot comprehend.”

BAHA’I FAITH: “To man, the Essence of God is incomprehensible.”

(Bahá’í Faith, Abdu’l-Baha, Abdu’l-Baha in London, p. 66)

 BABI RELIGION: “GOD testifieth that there is none other God but Him. His are the kingdoms in the heavens and on the earth and all that is between them. He is exalted above the comprehension of all things, and is inscrutable to the mind of every created being; none shall be able to fathom the oneness of His Being or to unravel the nature of His Existence.”

(The Bab, Selections from the Writings of the Bab, p. 151)

 JUDAISM: Job 37:23 “The Almighty, we cannot find Him out: He is excellent in power, and in judgment, and in plenty of justice: He will not afflict.” Psalms 145:3 “Great is The LORD, and greatly to be praised; and His greatness is unsearchable.”

BAHA’I FAITH: “Ponder in thine heart upon the unsearchable wisdom of God, and meditate on its manifold revelations….”

(Bahá’í Faith, Baha’u’llah, Gleanings from the Writings of Baha’u’llah, p. 161)

 JUDAISM: Psalms 147:5 “Great is our Lord, and of great power: His understanding is infinite.” Isaiah 40:28 “Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, The LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of His understanding.”

BAHA’I FAITH: “All these sacred words show us that man is made in God‘s image: yet the Essence of God is incomprehensible to the human mind, for the finite understanding cannot be applied to this infinite Mystery. God contains all: He cannot be contained. That which contains is superior to that which is contained. The whole is greater than its parts.”

(Bahá’í Faith, Abdu’l-Baha, Paris Talks, p. 23)

 CHRISTIANITY: Philippians 4:7 “And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” Colossians 2:2 “That their hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ;” Ecclesiastes 3:11 “……no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end.”

BAHA’I FAITH: “To every discerning and illuminated heart it is evident that God, the unknowable Essence, the Divine Being, is immensely exalted beyond every human attribute, such as corporeal existence, ascent and descent, egress and regress. Far be it from His glory that human tongue should adequately recount His praise, or that human heart comprehend His fathomless mystery. He is, and hath ever been, veiled in the ancient eternity of His Essence, and will remain in His Reality everlastingly hidden from the sight of men. ‘No vision taketh in Him, but He taketh in all vision; He is the Subtle, the All-Perceiving.”’

(Bahá’í Faith, Baha’u’llah, Gleanings from the Writings of Baha’u’llah, p. 46)

 BABI RELIGION: “No creature can ever comprehend Thee as beseemeth the reality of Thy holy Being and no servant can ever worship Thee as is worthy of Thine unknowable Essence.”

(The Bab, Selections from the Writings of the Bab, p. 200)

I found that the unknowable essence of God is also declared in Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism Sabeanism and Zoroastrianism, we just needed to search through the writings of these religions for the clues.

 ISLAM: “There are things which are beyond our ken, things which we do not and cannot know and things which cannot be foreseen and foretold, for example the rewards and punishments on the Day of Judgement,” or the understanding and comprehension of Allah (God).

(Ali b. Abi Taalib, Letters from Nahjul Balaagh)

Islam: 103. “No vision can grasp Him, but His grasp is over all vision: He is above all comprehension, yet is acquainted with all things.”

(The Qur’an (Yusuf Ali tr), Surah   6)

Islam: 180. “Glory to thy Lord, the Lord of Honor and Power! (He is free) from what they ascribe (to Him)!”

(The Qur’an (Yusuf Ali tr), Surah  37)

Islam: “Allah says: ‘No vision can grasp Him.’ And if anyone tells you that Muhammad has seen the Unseen, he is a liar, for Allah says: ‘None has the knowledge of the Unseen but Allah.”’

(Hadith, Bukhari Vol 9, Book 93, # 477)

 ZOROASTRIANISM: 14. “What is Your Kingdom, Your riches; how may I be Your own in my actions, to nourish Your poor, O Mazda (God)? Beyond; yea, beyond all we declare You, far from.”

(Zoroaster, The Zend-Avesta, Avesta – Yasna 27)

 Zoroastrianism: 7. “Ahura Mazda replied unto him: ‘My name is the One of whom questions are asked, O holy Zarathushtra!”

(The Zend-Avesta, Khorda Avesta – Book of Common Prayer pt. 1)

 Zoroastrianism: “God (Ahura Mazda) is beyond conception.” (ZOROASTER, Hymns of Atharvan p. 643)

 Zoroastrianism: “Mazda is incomprehensible.” (ZOROASTER, Hymns of Atharvan p.700)

 HINDUISM: “Neither gods nor men Nor demons comprehend Thy mystery Made manifest, Divinest! Thou Thyself, Thyself alone dost know, Maker Supreme! Master of all the living! Lord of Gods!”

(Hindu, Bhagavad Gita (Edwin Arnold tr) chapter 10)

 Hinduism: 50. “The sages declare Brahma (God), the creators of the universe, the law, the Great One, and the Undiscernible One (to constitute) the highest order of beings produced by Goodness.”51. “When he whose power is incomprehensible, had thus produced the universe and men, he disappeared in himself, repeatedly suppressing one period by means of the other.”

(Hindu, Laws of Manu chapter 1 and 12)

 Hinduism: “The One Unborn, Unending: Unchanging and Unblending! With might and majesty, past thought, past seeing!” “No one has grasped Him above, or across, or in the middle. There is no image of him whose name is Great Glory.” “His form cannot be seen, no one perceives him with the eye. Those who through heart and mind know him thus abiding in the heart, become immortal.” “Thou art unborn.”

(Hindu, Bhagavad Gita (Edwin Arnold tr) chapter 11 and Upanishads vol. 2, Svetasvatara-Upanishad)

 BUDDHISM: “There is an Unborn, Unoriginated, Uncreated, Unformed.” (How can the created understand the nature of one who is uncreated, unformed and not born into existence? It’s not possible!) “To beings subject to birth there comes the desire: ‘O that we were not subject to birth! O that no new birth was before us!’ Subject to decay, disease, death, sorrow, lamentation, pain, grief, and despair, the desire comes to them: ‘O that we were not subject to these things! O that these things were not before us!’ But this cannot be got by mere desiring; and not to get what one desires, is suffering.”

((The Eightfold Path), Buddha, the Word (The Eightfold Path))

 Buddhism: “Those who see Thee thus, serene and beyond conception, will be emancipated from attachment, will be cleansed of all defilement, both in this world and in the spiritual world beyond.” (Buddha, Lankavatara Sutra)

 SABEANISM: “In the name of The Life! (Haiyi, God) I worship The First Life and praise my lord Manda-d-Hiia. Thou art immeasurable, infinite and everlasting.” Immeasurable, beyond our comprehension. (Sabeanism, Ginza Rba- chapter 75)

BAHA’I FAITH: “O (thou) spiritual youth! Praise thou God that thou hast found thy way into the Kingdom of Splendours, and hast rent asunder the veil of vain imaginings and that the core of the inner mystery hath been made known unto thee.”  “This people, all of them, have pictured a god in the realm of their mind and worshiped that image, which they have made for themselves. And yet that image is comprehended; the human mind being the comprehender thereof, and certainly the comprehender is greater than that which lieth, within its grasp; for imagination is but the branch, while mind is the root; and certainly the root is greater than the branch. Consider then, how all of these peoples of the world are bowing the knee to a fancy of their own contriving (imagination); how they have created a creator within their own minds, and they call it the Fashioner of all that is, whereas in truth it is, but an illusion, thus are the people worshipping only an error of perception. But (in reality) that Essence of Essences, that Invisible of Invisibles, is sanctified (far) above all human speculation, and never to be overtaken by the mind of man. Never shall that immemorial Reality lodge within the compass of a contingent being. His is another realm, and of that realm no (real) understanding can be won. No access can be gained thereto; all entry is forbidden there. The utmost one can say is that Its existence can be proved, but the conditions of Its existence are unknown.”

(Abdu’l-Baha, Selections from the Writings of Abdu’l-Baha, p. 53)