You said “A primary difficulty for me in accepting the Baha’i faith as the basis for belief is in the concept of the Covenant which says that God will send messengers every thousand years or so and humankind will accept and follow them. Baha’i believe that no direct contact with God is possible. ”

Here is my take on the Baha’i belief that no direct contact with God is possible. Baha’is believe that God is infinitely perfect. So perfect, in fact, that the words “infinitely perfect” can’t even contain any kind of true perception of His perfection. The imperfect mind cannot comprehend perfection, and so, any thought we have of God is not truly a representation of the real God.

So, whenever we have a thought of God as being “all knowing”, “all powerful”, “in everything”, “containing everything” we are not truly thinking about the real God, who is infinitely beyond even these interpretations. So, if we cannot truly comprehend who the real God is, who exactly are we thinking about? This is where the Baha’i belief comes in. Baha’is believe that the manifestation of God is God as far as we are able to comprehend it. So, whenever you think of God, you are truly thinking about Christ, or Baha’u'llah, or Buddha, who, in Baha’i belief all represent God.

When I say this, I am not saying that Baha’is believe that the personage of these manifestations are God, but that the essence is. To that end, there is not true separation between the God that cast Adam and Eve out of the garden of Eden or the burning bush that spoke to Moses, or the God that we find inside of ourselves. All representations of God are one and the same, all are a manifestation of God and are the only way of truly knowing God.

When Jesus said, “I am the way and the truth and the light”, Baha’is believe that he was not saying this as a personage, but as the manifestation of God. Essentially, rather than looking at this phrase and saying that the only way to God is through Jesus the person, we say that if we have found God, we must have discovered that through Christ the manifestation. Even if we have never heard of Christ, if we have a concept of God, we have a concept of the reality of Christ.

So, essentially, if you have a concept of God, it is not capable of being a concept of the real God, therefore it is actually a concept of the manifestation of God. We all worship the same God, many of us simply don’t realize it. We get confused when we try to make our selves special by separating ourselves from the rest of humanity. The truth is we are all connected and the God we worship is the same God, even if we call it by different names.

As far as the Baha’i covenant goes for following the latest messenger. That is a matter called progressive revelation. Baha’is believe that mankind is not a stationary being that has already achieved the culmination of perfection, but rather an evolving being that is becoming more and more perfect as time progresses. In order to facilitate that perfection, the manifestation of God returns to us in a personage of a messenger to give us new instructions on how to deal with our current state of perfection. When we accept this new messenger and follow these new rules, we are able to move forward in our evolution. Even if we don’t accept the messenger, the new rules begin to apply. For instance, even most people in the Jewish faith will no longer stone a person for adultery (There may yet be some areas where this is acceptable, but in many places it is not). We even see that many of the leaders of Christian groups are finding that they are needing to change their stance on long standing rules and traditions.

I can only submit my own current understanding of this issue here, and that constantly evolves as well. I hope that it provides you with some useful information or food for thought.

Blessings to you

The later part is that He will return to earth at the end of the age and set up His kingdom on earth. Many Christians believe Jesus will be King on earth for 1000 years (Thy kingdom come… and after His 1000 yr. reign we will experience a New Heaven and New Earth where He rules and reigns eternally.

It has been my long standing belief that “In God’s image,” means, with a spirit of creativity. What sets God apart from everything else, It is the creator, and the image that we have that is at the very root of God is infinite creator, with deep love for Its creation. So we too are filled with that creative spirit, and that love for things that we create (which can become tainted since we aren’t perfect).

So God is within us, and Its kingdom is all around us. It can’t be trapped or bottled, only discovered.

I’m not very familiar with Baha’i, but in Christianity (or at least in the actual words that are the true fundmentals of Christianity which are light years removed from modern Christianity), there are verses that speak to the very world around us being a testament to the presence of God, and that even “pagans” worshiped the “God Unknown.” So really couldn’t the very world around us be a “manifistation” a messenger of God, and Its glory?

Just some thoughts. Great post.