CAO DAI FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) PART IV

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CAO DAI FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) PART IV - The Sacerdotal Council of Caodaism

FAQ - Frequently Asked Questions

CAO DAI FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) PART IV


Updated 2021-11-10 06:20:39

Question 1 - Are Noah, Abraham, Moses, Zarathustra or Guru Nanak considered as prophets/saints by you?

 

As you are aware of, Caodaism is a syncretist and spiritist religion. All of our teachings came from divine messages (from God and other divinities such as Jesus Christ, Sakyamuni Buddha, Quan Yin, Confucius, Lao Tze, Victor Hugo, etc...). The first message from God dated April 24, 1926, was as follows :

 

“Formerly, people lacked transportation and therefore did not know each other, I then founded at different epochs and in different areas, five branches of the Great Way: Confucianism, Shintoism, Christianity, Taoism and Buddhism, each based on the customs of the race.

In present days, transportation has been improved, and people have come to know each other. But people do not always live in harmony because of the very multiplicity of those religions. That is why I have decided to unite all those religions into one to bring them to the primordial unity. Moreover, the Holy Doctrine has been, through centuries, more and more denatured by the people responsible for spreading it. I am so broken-hearted to see that human beings, for the last ten thousand years, have sinned and subsequently suffered life after life in Hell.

I have now firmly resolved to come Myself to save you and not to leave anymore the Holy Doctrine in human hands. You have to be well organized to guide and support each other on your way to Nirvana.”

So, to us Caodaists, there is only One Supreme God and we are all Brothers and Sisters in a same family. Because of time, location and language, each religion named God differently.

Yes,  a Caodaist accepts all other religions prophets and respectfully venerates them. A Caodaist can enter a church, buddhist temple, mosque to pray without any discrimination.

                

Question 2 - What is Cao Dai view on homosexuality?

In Caodaism, our teaching is based on the principle of YIN and YANG. Also, all human beings, holy spirits and all what we can see exist in this universe are all coming from only one source: God or the Supreme Being and will evolve through the eight grades of souls: Materials, Plants, Animals, Humans and then at higher levels to Angels, Saints, Immortals and Buddhas. Humans in this concept are therefore considered to be God’s children and thus are our brothers and sisters. Therefore, whatever life purpose or pleasure they pursue in their life is just because it is this and has been spiritually pre-arranged by the Divine Will.

In a spirit-séance on February 20th 1926, aiming to teach the Great Way to HIS first few disciples, God the Father emphasized that, “For whatever happens, you (children) must remember that I Myself am in it”. From this, it is safe to say that to Caodaists, whether someone is straight or belongs to LGBT is not a  problem because we believe that it is God’s pre-arrangement, even though homosexuality is something contradictory to the principle of Yin and Yang.

Cao Dai view is that all human beings are considered as brothers and sisters of the same Supreme God. Homosexuality is a social issue which should be better examined from the social perspectives and attitudes.

This is a tough question for us as Caodaists to answer because to the best of our knowledge, the issue of homosexuality has never been mentioned in any Divine Messages, Doctrine, Philosophy or any teachings from the Supreme Leader and High-ranking dignitaries.

Regarding the Cao Dai cosmology about the origin of this universe, the principle of Yin and Yang is rather crucial. From the Caodaists’s perspectives, the balance between Yin and Yang is quite important because it is not only the principle of the nature, but also the principle of life. This world would never be developed without one of these two principles: Yin and Yang. Just imagine, what would happen to this universe if one day there was no sun or no moon anymore? What would happen to this life if there were only men or only women on Earth? Would life continue to develop? And in what ways?. Would the plants and other materialistic forms grow normally without any of these two principles?

In Caodaism, all human beings, holy spirits and all what we can see exist in this universe are all coming from only one source: God or the Supreme Being and will evolve through the eight shades of souls: Materials, Plants, Animals, Humans and then at higher levels to Angels, Saints, Immortals and Buddhas. Humans in this concept are therefore considered to be God’s children and thus are our brothers and sisters. Therefore, whatever life purpose or pleasure they pursue in their life is just because it is this and has been spiritually pre-arranged by the Divine Will.

In a spirit-séance on February 20th 1926, aiming to teach the Great Way to HIS first few disciples, God the Father emphasized that, “For whatever happens, you (children) must remember that I Myself am in it” (Thanh Ngon Hiep Tuyen, 1972). From this, it is safe to say that to Caodaists, whether someone is straight or belongs to LGBT is not a big problem because we believe that it is God’s pre-arrangement even though homosexuality is something contradictory to the principle of Yin and Yang.

However, homosexuality is a social issue which should be better examined from the social perspectives and attitudes. Thus, personally it would be better to ask the question what a Caodaist thinks about the current social phenomenon called ‘homosexuality’. I personally guess there would be different answers to this question, but the common view could be that homosexuality could be acceptable from the view of a Caodaist but it should not be a popular trend of life because homosexuality does not show a balance in the principle of Yin and Yang and does NOT exhibit any sign of natural development.

Other religions would be inclined to judge homosexuality as a sin, even a “mortal” sin. This was the view for example of the Catholic Church. The Cao Dai position is “Live and let live,” a respect for all lives and life-ways.

It is diplomatically astute to suggest that these questions are best brought up and discussed in a secular context, and between a variety of sources with different points of view. 

Their consensus is likely to be that heterosexuality is not in line with Cao Dai life-ways. And importantly, it sets a  soft but respectable boundaries for Cao Dai: homosexuality does not have a precedent in Cao Dai, where the polarities and complementary of yin and yang are well-established. Typically of Cao-Dai, the message is one of acceptance without  judgment.

 

Question 3 - Are books like Torah, Bible, Quran or Avesta considered as holy books by you?

Certainly. We in Cao Dai are respectful of all holy books of any religion.

 

Question 4 - Can you tell me more about Mother Goddess? Caodaist believes in two Gods instead one?

It is very difficult to explain the Holy Mother Goddess in Cao Dai in an email. Nevertheless, I would like to quote herewith a paper presentation at CESNUR (Center for Studies on New Religions) Conference in June 2018 in Taiwan by Prof. Joe Hobbs, Director, Viet Nam Institute, Former Dean of  the Department of Geography, Chancellor Professor of Geography, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO :

 

“In a séance in Phnom Penh in 1927, the Eighth of the Mother Goddess’ Nine Muses, whom I will introduce later, revealed to His Holiness Ho Phap (Master of Mysticism and Guardian of Religious Law) Pham Cong Tac the Cao Dai creation story, with details on the powers of the Mother Goddess, and the responsibilities of her Muses.  According to the Cao Dai cosmology, before the Big Bang there was the "Dao," the infinite, nameless, formless, unchanging, eternal source. This primordial force transformed into the first divinity, the Universal Monad called Venerable God the Father or Venerable High Lord, Đức Cao Đài, and also the Jade Emperor, whose other names are on this slide.

            From the Monad sprang the two opposing entities or energies of the Diad, the Dual Principles of God’s Yang Energy --  the Active Cosmic Primary Principle -- and The Yin Energy -- The Feminine Passive Cosmic Principle. (Incidentally, the left eye of God represents the Male Yang principle in the duality of yin and yang concepts borrowing from Taoist tradition). The Yin was not controlled by anyone at this time because the Jade Emperor was the only Spirit in the universe. Then he imbued part of himself into the Holy Mother Goddess, who thereafter held half of the Jade Emperor’s power and controlled the Yin energy. Upon God’s command, the Holy Mother Goddess used her Yin Energy to attract the Yang energy of the Monad, combining the two energies to create the universe with its different celestial planes, 36 heavenly levels, the stars, and 72 inhabited planets.

            Then the Holy Mother Goddess -- whose other names are on this slide -- created all living beings in the invisible world, embedding them in eight grades of spirit: metal and stone (or matter), Vegetal, Animal, Human beings, Sages, Saints, Immortals and Buddhas. Four of these transformed into living beings having earthy lives as Matter, Vegetation, Animals, and Human Beings.

            These two supreme spirits of God and Goddess are the sacred parents of the universe in the invisible world. Each spirit being in the invisible world has two essential elements: the Spirit or Soul given by God the Father, and the Perispirit, the invisible holy essential element given by the Holy Mother Goddess. When a spirit is incarnated in the earthly world, its given spirit and perispirit combine with a physical body borne by an earthly mother.

            My research so far suggests that Caodaism is unique because in other monotheistic religions, only the typically-gendered male God is worshipped. Here the Mother Goddess holds equivalent and complementary status with God. In some respects she is analogous to Catholicism’s Virgin Mary, especially in her capacity to attend to the interests of women. Caodaism is unlike Catholicism however in that the Holy Mother is worshipped, while the Catholics’ Virgin Mary is mainly revered. In Caodaism Goddess and God are on such equal footing that there is even debate in some denominations about whether The Mother Goddess or the Jade Emperor is the primary source of creation.”

 

Question 5 - Do Caodaists have their equivalent of Christmas?

Yes. In Cao Dai, we celebrate annually 2 big Festivals as follows:

a) Festival Commemorating God, on the 9th day of the First Month lunar calendar (for this year February 20, 2021)

b) Festival Commemorating the Holy Mother Goddess, on the 15th day of the Eight month lunar calendar (for this year September 21, 2021). You can view news and photos of last year celebration of the Holy Mother Goddess at the Cao Dai Holy See in Tay Ninh,Viet Nam : http://caodai.com.vn/en/news-detail/celebration-of-the-holy-mother-goddess-grand-festival-year-2020.html

 

Question 6 - In your opinion, can God also be called by the names of the creator gods derived from various mythologies, such as, for example Viracocha, El or Haneullim?

Caodaists believe only in One Supreme God, no matter what name God is called, because of time, location and cultural language. Remember a Caodaist can enter and pray in any church, temple or mosque.

 

Question 7 -  Do Caodaists also believe in Satan, who the Lord of evil and demons?

Yes, Caodaists believe also in Satan. Per our late Pope Pham Cong Tac’s sermon, this period is the Third Amnesty of God, so all sinned souls are pardoned. The Hell realm was therefore abolished. Satan became a Great Immortal receiving a divinely appointed task as a judge to test all Immortals who are ready to step in the next level of Buddhahood.

 

Question 8 - Can you tell more about your other holidays?

Caodaists do not call “holidays”, instead call “Commemorative Days”. These days are celebrated with a “High Ceremony” commemorating :

God (1st month, Day 9, lunar calendar)

Lao Tsu (2nd month, Day 15, lunar calendar

Guan Yin Bodhisatva (2nd month, Day 19, lunar calendar)

Shakyamuni Buddha (4th month, Day 8, lunar calendar)

Guan Yu (6th month, Day 24, lunar calendar)

Holy Mother Goddess (8th month, Day 15, lunar calendar)

Li Bai (8th month, Day !8, lunar calendar)

Confucius (8th month, Day 27, lunar calendar)

Jesus Christ (December 25th)

 

Question 9 - Can you tell more about the figures on the altar in your temple?

Caodai believes in the concept of “Unity of Gods”.  Caodai implies that all iconic symbols of Gods in different religions that were created in different times and at different places in different cultures are from the same source which is the Supreme God. At the Caodai Temple, the central canopy over the Altar area is a celebration of many of the great religious influences on Caodai.

 

Across the top from left to right is the God of three main religions of Asia (Taoism, Buddhism and Confucianism).

-         Lao Tzu, founder of Taoism

-         Sakya-muni Buddha, representing Buddhism.

-         Confucius, the master of The Great Way of Humanity, representing Confucianism

 

On the next row down, from left to right, are:

-         Kuan Yin, the Goddess of Mercy and guardian angel, is a figure of compassion in Buddhism.

-         The Immortal Li Bai, the spiritual Pope of the Caodai Religion

-         Guan Yu, the famous Chinese Image of a war hero and figure of profound loyalty. 

 

On the next row down is:

-     Jesus Christ, representing the Christian belief system (and more widely the monotheisms of the West including Judaism, Christianity, and Islam)

 

At the bottom Centre is:

-     Jiang Ziya or Jiang Tai Gong, representing the Sino-Vietnamese tradition of Geniism.

 

Question 10 - Why have the Caodaists still not elect a new Pope?

The process and election of a Pope in Caodai hierarchy are very arduous, complex and challenging. The Candidate for Pope must be in the rank of Cardinal or Censor-Cardinal. First, he must be approved by the Popular Council (Council of all adepts), then by the Sacerdotal Council (consisting of all dignitaries from the rank of Priest to Cardinal), then by the Supreme Council (consisting of Pope Li Bai, Ho-Phap Pham Cong Tac, Thuong Pham or Chief of the Spiritual Realm, Thuong Sanh or Chief of the Temporal Realm, 3 male Censor-Cardinals, 3 male Cardinals and 1 Female Cardinal of the Cuu Trung Dai or Executive Body. If all these Councils approve the papal Candidate, then the Sacerdotal Council is required to organize a seance to submit the name of this papal candidate to God for approval.

 

Currently we have a divine Pope who is Li Bai, and he is in charge of the management of the religion thru seance. Since the establishment of the religion we had only 2 temporal Popes : Interim Pope Thuong Trung Nhut (secular name is Le Van Trung) and Pope Pham Cong Tac (who was in charge of both the Cuu-Trung-Dai (or Exceutive Body) and the Hiep-Thien-Dai (or Legislative/Judicial Body)

 

Since 1975, seance has been banned by the Communist government. Therefore our highest rank can only be Cardinal. The current Cao Dai leader is Cardinal THUONG TAM THANH (Secular name : Nguyen Thanh Tam)

 

Question 11 - Is there a complete list of your Saints somewhere?

No. In Caodai, we have thousand of Saints. Above the rank of Saint, we have the rank of Immortal and Buddha.

 

Question 12 - Can a Caodaist use christian, islamic, etc. prayers?

Yes and No.

Yes if a Caodaist goes to a Catholic church, knows the prayers, then he can recite them at a mass if he wants.

No because Caodai has its own prayers provided by God and Divinities thru messages. These messages also give instructions on how to recite the prayers, how to play the accompanying music and how to perform religious rites. These prayers are in Vietnamese and can only be performed in a Caodai temple.

 

Question 13 - Is your prayer book available in English?

No. All of our prayers are in Vietnamese. They are very difficult and impossible to translate into English because some texts have figurative meanings.

 

Question14 - Did I understand correctly and each Caodaist can personalize his faith to some extent? So he can ignore Mother Goddess and focus solely on worshiping Father God or ignore God at all and follow the nontheistic path?

No. A Caodaist does not ignore any Divinity. He/she cannot personalize his/her faith to his/her personal wish and adoration. We are all Brothers and Sisters of the same Father who is the Supreme God. So, Sages, Saints, Immortals, Buddhas, as well as the Holy Mother Goddess, are all under God’s governance. In brief, Caodaists worship God and all Divinities.

 

Question 15 - You mentioned that Caodaism accepts all prophets, so Bahaullah and Mirza Ghulam Ahmad too?

Caodaists believe only in One Supreme God, no matter what name God is called. All prophets are Messengers of God, coming to Planet Earth at different times and locations, so God’s name was reflected in the language that the Messenger/Prophet was tasked to promote salvation.

 

Question 16 - Can you tell more about your calendar and is it intended to be used by all humanity? Lunar calendars are very impractical.

Lunar calendar is only used for some Asian countries, such as China, Taiwan, Viet Nam,Japan, Korea. Nevertheless for daily life use and for practical purposes, these countries use Gregorian calendar, i.e normal calendar, and lunar calendar is only use for festival and commemorating days of the religion. So, in normal life, Caodaists use Gregorian calendar.

 

Question 17 - Caodaism accepts Greek and Egyptian mythology, what about other mythologies?

In Caodai, we do not discriminate against any mythologies.

 

Question 18 - So a convert to Caodaism must learn the Vietnamese language just like a convert to islam must learn Arabic language?

No, Vietnamese language is not required to become an adept. Even though a foreign Caodaist cannot recite the prayers, his skills (foreeign languages) can be used in thousand ways, such as propagate the doctrine of Caodaism in International Conferences, in Universities, so that researchers and students could have an opportunity to learn that there is a new religion in Southeast Asia called Caodaism.

 

Question 19 - If a convert to Caodaism is already married, does this marriage become invalid from your perspective and such a person has to look for a new spouse among fellow believers?

No, there is no law in Cao Dai to invalidate this marriage. As Caodaism accepts all religions, your spouse can be Catholic, Protestant, Muslim, or whatever. All Religions are One.

 

Remember, in Caodaism, we have no intention whatsoever to proselytize (“Caodaism is not an organization used for burial purposes, nor a merchandise to bargain and sell” – God’s message July 18, 1928). “Caodaism is a precious religion, and anything precious cannot be pleaded for sale” – God’s message August 27, 1926)

 

Question 20 - Can you explain to me what are differences between saints, buddhas, immortals, etc and who for example, is a buddha and who is a saint?

To Caodai teaching, the evolution of the soul must go through eight grades of spirit: metal and stone (or matter), Vegetal, Animal, Human beings, Sages or Genii, Saints, Immortals and Buddhas. Four of these transformed into living beings having earthy lives as Matter, Vegetation, Animals, and Human Beings. The Invisible World consists of : Sages or Genii, Saints, Immortals and Buddhas..

 

In the West, people use to identify that an Angel and a Saint are the highest spirits in the Invisible World. But in the East, people categorize higher spirits than Saints, such as Immortals and Buddhas.

 

It is like a ranking system in the Army, you are Lieutenant, you want to perform good service in order to be promoted to Captain, then Colonel, then General.

 

Planet Earth is only a training place where your soul or spirit comes here to learn, be tested in order to be promoted to higher planes. Remember your body dies but your soul lives forever.

 

Question 21- Are there any photos/videos showing how you are celebrating Jesus commemorating day?  

All the religious ceremonies at the Grand Cathedral in the Caodai Holy See are the same.

The only difference is that, at the end of the ceremony, a petition invoking the name of the Deity (Buddha, Jesus Christ, Confucius, Lao-Tse, Guan Yin, etc...) who is in commemoration, is read aloud and then is burnt in the incense burner.

 

So, please view this video link and you can see that there is a religious ceremony at the end of the video

 

http://caodai.com.vn/vn/gallerydetail/cdtv-90-gioi-thieu-dao-cao-dai-anh-ngu.html

 

Question 22 - Earlier I read "New Canonical Codes" and I would like to refer to this fragment: "Article 6: - Marriage is a very important act in life. One's spouse should be chosen from among one's co-religionists, except in the case when the future spouse agrees to convert." So "New Canonical Codes" is an obsolete document that no longer applies to believers or this fragment has been poorly translated, or maybe I misunderstood something?

Article 6 is correct. If you want to get a religious marriage ceremony in front of the Cao Dai altar, both spouses must sign in the “Marriage Register Book” implying that you both agree with the Cao Dai rules and laws. Of course, it is wonderful if both spouses are Caodaists, but this rule is not mandatory, as the sentence explains “except in the case when the future spouse agrees to convert” (Future can be forever). In brief, the marriage ceremony can be done if one spouse is Caodaist and both agree to perform the religious ceremony.

 

Question 23 - Women and men must stand separately during the ceremonies in the temple, are there any penalties for breaking this order? Here in the west, men and women are standing together during mass in the church, and rather many people would like it to stay that way.

In Caodaism, our teaching is based on the principle of YIN and YANG, Male and Female. As you are aware of, all teachings came from spiritist messages, rules for religious rites were made by God, so it is compulsory to follow the order for the moment. In the future, these rules may be different (please see answer to Question 27).

 

Question 24 - You mentioned that Caodaist can pray in a church or mosque if he wants to, but the followers of other religions cannot pray in your temple, right?

Wrong, a Cao Dai temple welcomes everyone, anybody can come and pray. We do not discriminate against anyone coming to our temple. At the Cao Dai Tay Ninh Holy See, everyday  hundreds of foreign tourists come to visit, and you can see that some people kneel and pray.

 

Question 25 - Mother Goddess is based on Wusheng Laomu, right?

According to Cao Dai teachings, the Holy Mother Goddess had descended to earth many times as mythological and historical figures in different cultures, such as : Hera, ISIS, Demeter, Maya (Mother of Sakya Mouni), Mary (Mother of Jesus Christ), Wusheng Laomu, Xiwangmu, etc... When the Holy Mother Goddess came to Viet Nam the first time and met the founders of Cao Dai, she revealed her name as Dieu Tri Kim Mau (translated as Golden Mother of the Pearl Lake)

 

Question 26 - Do you have any prayers addressed directly to Mother Goddess?

Yes, we do have special prayers addressed only to the Holy Mother Goddess and Her 9 Muses. These prayers are spiritist messages given directly by the Holy Mother Goddess to the founders of the religion in 1925 and 1926.

 

Question 27 - If the convert is not required to know or learn Vietnamese language, how would this person pray? After all prayer is the basis of every religion, and since your prayers are supposedly untranslatable and kowledge of the Vietnamese language is not required, I do not know what it would be like in the future. Because I cannot imagine a situation in which in every temple in the world a Vietnamese master of ceremony is, because it would de facto elevate one nation and language above the other, and this is not what this is about?

Good question. This was the same question that Ho-Phap Pham Cong Tac (one of the original founders) had asked God. The answer was :”When time comes, I will provide new teachings and new instructions according to the customs, culture and tradition of the country in need.” Remember that all the current prayers, religious rites, liturgical music are in Vietnamese and came from spiritist messages, i.e not invented by any human being. Let’s suppose if one day you have thousands and thousands of people speaking English who are Caodai converts, then God will come down (thru spiritist messages) to give us new prayers, religious rites, liturgical music, all in English. Same thing with Chinese converts, the prayers, rites, music would also be given in Chinese. In brief, each country would have special teachings in its own language thru spiritist messages. For your information, spiritist messages can be in any language as needed for the reader and seance attendees to understand. Ex : back in 1926 we did receive messages in French because the persons attending the seance were French.

 

Question 28 - Hamsa symbol is sometimes also called Hand of the Goddess, so can it also equated with Mother Goddess?

Yes. Per Wikipedia, Hamsa is also called “Hand of Mary”, and we know that the Virgin Mary is another reincarnation of the Holy Mother Goddess.

 

Question 29 -. Can Cao Dai temples be adapted to the culture of a given region? So, for example, a temple located in the Middle East may be devoid of pictures, etc?

No. God  designed the current architecture of the Cao Dai temple. Every temple must follow its design and building structure, no deviation. But who knows what will happen in the future, in a country when you have thousand of adepts, God may come down and give new instructions on everything, i.e temple design, new rites, new church music, new prayers, etc...

 

Question 30 - Do you have a gift giving tradition similar to that of Christian Christmas?

No, we do not have gift giving tradition in Caodaism like at Christmas time or at any commemorating ceremonies. We do have gift giving tradition at the Lunar New Year (called “Tet”) according to traditional customs, not religious.

 

Question 31 - How you commemorate other important religious figures such as Muhammad or Moses?

Per Caodai teachings, Muhammad, Moses, Baha’i and Jesus Christ are all prophets in the era of Christianity and in Caodai ranking, Jesus Christ was the symbol and representative of all Saints in the Invisible World. The commemoration of Jesus Christ implies also the commemoration of all Saints such as Muhammad, Moses. We do not have special religious ceremonies commemorating Muhammad or Moses.

Same thing with Buddhism. We have thousand names of Buddha, so God chose the latest known to humanity Sakya Mouni Buddha to be the representative of Buddhism. So we commemorate Sakya Mouni Buddha representing Buddhism.

 

Question 32 - Can you recommend me some interesting videos from this youtube channel?

https://www.youtube.com/c/CAODAISM99/videos

 

Sorry, this website covers too many videos with  thousand of topics. It would be hard to choose the video because we don’t know what you are looking for in your research of the religion. If you are interested in certain topics, then you choose yourself this specific video to watch (if you can read Vietnamese)

 

Nevertheless, you can go to this website http://caodai.com.vn/en/gallery/video.html to find the video (or videos) which matches your interest because the title of the video is in English. Unfortunately, the content of the video is in Vietnamese, but you can still watch it to have an idea of the religious event depicted in the video.

 

Question 33 - Why should figures like Guanyin or Guan Yu be important for all humanity in your opinion?

Guan Yin is also called “Goddess of Mercy, Goddess of Compassion”.

Guan Yu or Guan Gong is revered as a symbol of loyalty, righteousness and bravery.

Per Caodai teaching, humanity should adopt the above characters in life in order to achieve a peaceful society and at the end to achieve world peace.

 

Question 34 – Comments from Prof. Kacper Kowalick

I am just a simple man who just wants to get to know your religion as much as possible and then not be like those people who call you antichrist worshippers, freemason or illuminati.

 

A few years ago, despite being a Christian, I started to see God in a way that goes beyond the Christian faith, so I have no problem with respecting the Quran and Muhammad, even despite the fact that I do not like many things written in the Quran or facts from the life of Muhammad. Or the fact that homosexuality is not a sin and anyone who still considers it a sin is a sinner himself, but here in Poland, and probably in many other places in the world, it is not easy to talk openly about this type of thing without being considered a terrorist supporter or the wicked one.

 

The fact that the Sunnis persecute the Shi'ites is equally unpleasant, and yet for these two groups 3 things are common, namely Muhammad, the Quran and the hadith, and it does not matter whether the rightful successor of Muhammad should be Ali or Abu Bakr, this is not a reason to shed the blood of one's own brothers and sisters in faith.

 

That is why I started to look towards syncretic religions such as caodaism, because all religions come from one source and we will all return to that source one day.

 

What intrigued me the most about your religion is the dynamism that is absent in other religions. The fact that the Pope has direct contact with God from whom he receives messages means that every Pope during his pontificate has a real influence on religious law, which may change from liberal to very radical, but it also has its advantages, such as is that if the Pope receives messages from God, who said he could not receive messages from, for example, Muhammad? And yet this is the best way to convince Muslims to change their behavior and convince them to a new path.

 

Question 35 – Teachings from GOD

All religions come from one source and we will all turn to that source one day (your quote), which means that we are All Brothers and Sisters of the same family. We do have male dignitaries as well as female dignitaries, everyone is equal.

Spiritism is a new way to communicate with other spirits of the Universe. Spiritism currently is in its infantile mode, so it may need a couple hundred years for Science to prove that this communication could become real (just think about our cell phone 30 years ago). The current communication with the Other Side is thru a Medium, which has a special wavelength to receive messages. One day science would discover that this wavelength can be taught and used by everyone on Planet Earth. So, it is understandable that a lot of people do not believe in Spiritism at the moment and would consider our religion as Fake, Cult, anti-Christ, and so on.

In the future, our Cao Dai Pope can be someone other than Vietnamese, and he has direct communication with God and other Divinities. In 1925-1926, our founders did receive messages directly from Jesus Christ, Sakya Mouni Buddha, so, if one day Cao Dai has a presence in the Middle-East countries for example, then I am sure that Muhammad would come down thru divine messsages to give new instructions. Nevertheless, we must be very careful because this world still has many people not believing in God.

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