When Christ came, out of the millions of people living at that time, only twelve souls truly recognized him and became his disciples.
The vast majority of people, whether learned or not, unhesitatingly rejected him. Why? Because they were not open to the possibility that Jesus was a prophet, a messenger of God.
When someone declares he is a messenger of God, the natural response is skepticism, or maybe to openly proclaim: “I don’t think so!”
It’s hard to recognize and accept a messenger of God if we have our own beliefs, our own expectations, and we are happy with what we believe. Our cup being full, we can’t fill it any further.
The only way we can accept someone as God’s messenger is if we are sincerely open to the possibility of it.
If necessary, this requires that we do something we don’t want to do, that our egos may strongly resist: completely emptying our cups by unlearning our traditions and all we have been taught to believe, and starting our religious education all over again. This requires tremendous courage and a burning desire. The vast majority of people do not even think of doing this; or if they do think of it, they don’t want to do it. The result? They automatically reject anyone who claims to be a messenger of God.
When we make a deliberate effort to unlearn all we have been taught, what we are admitting to ourselves is this: our clergy, Sunday school teachers, parents, and even our culture, through no fault of our own, are at the very least, incomplete in our views about religion, if not downright wrong. This is extremely difficult to accept and the pain can be excruciating. Our egos fight us tooth and nail.
Why shouldn’t we just hold on to our current beliefs? We don’t want to feel like heretics! We don’t want to upset our friends and families, much less risk their rejection. We naturally assume our clergy, Sunday school teachers, parents, and culture are knowledgeable. How could they all be wrong?
However, if we are going to be deeply sincere in our investigation of the truth, and search with open hearts and minds, we have no choice but to empty our cups by unlearning what we have been taught. Baha’u’llah stated this clearly when he wrote:
O Son of Dust! Blind thine eyes, that thou mayest behold My beauty; stop thine ears, that thou mayest hearken unto the sweet melody of My voice; empty thyself of all learning, that thou mayest partake of My knowledge; and sanctify thyself from riches, that thou mayest obtain a lasting share from the ocean of My eternal wealth. Blind thine eyes, that is, to all save My beauty; stop thine ears to all save My word; empty thyself of all learning save the knowledge of Me; that with a clear vision, a pure heart and an attentive ear thou mayest enter the court of My holiness. – The Hidden Words, p. 25.
http://bahaiteachings.org/hard-work-accepting-new-prophet?utm_source=BT+Subscribers&utm_campaign=91cd5d92ac-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_22fe645b0d-91cd5d92ac-114045481&mc_cid=91cd5d92ac&mc_eid=a5e50159ab
