Bahá'u'lláh

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I’ve heard of this before, but vaguely remember anything about it other that it’s claim to be a unifying belief of all faiths between Abraham, Buddha, Jesus, Muhammad.

A professional friend of mine that works in a different city claims this as her religion. She is very calm to the point of sounding almost like a hippy from the 60’s/70’s. This almost sounds New Age and almost like a cult by it’s desires for a central government, etc. Some of their ideas sound Franciscan to me. But I haven’t read enough to know one way or the other yet.
 
I don’t want to go into too many details as i will get my facts wrong. I will offer you some links that will help considerably. In Shi’ite Islam, there is a messianic culture not unlike some of the fundamentalist/Pentecostal Christian groups within Christianity. Within the context of this Messianic hope and expectation, in the early 19th century, a person known as the Bab began preaching that a new prophet was soon to come forth. His ministry was relatively brief–a decade or less as I recollect–but shortly before he was arrested by Islamic authorities in Persia (Iran), the Bab apparently declared that a distant relative of his was in fact the new prophet. This person became known as Baha’u’llah, which I believe means “the glory of God”. His ministry spanned several decades and he was succeed by his son, Abdul Baha. The writings of these two men comprise Baha’i scripture.

The Baha’i faith is somewhat a blend of Christianity, Islam, and Eastern faiths, but has it’s own unique features as well. It was more progressive on the rights of women than most older faiths. It also strongly supports racial equality. It has it’s own holy days, places of worship, and rites. It does not have any paid or professional clergy. It’s membership is slightly smaller than that of the LDS Church–perhaps 10 million people worldwide. It is a very influential faith, rather out of proportion to it’s actual size. Many of it’s members are highly literate, talented, and well-educated. It is heavily persecuted in most Islamic countries, especially Iran. My understanding is that the Vatican and the Baha’i governing body (The Universal House of Justice or UHJ) have a cordial relationship, though of course they are competing religious ideologies. Here are some links:

bahai.us/

bahaistudy.org/

planetbahai.org/cgi-bin/main.pl

Your best source of info will be the Planet Baha’i website, which will include links to almost anything available on the web about the Baha’i Faith, including web-forums where you can ask practicing Baha’is directly about their beliefs. Happy reading!
 
Vocatio,

Flameburns mentioned your post in Planet Baha’i, so I thought I’d stop by to see if I could answer any questions. I’m not here to “convert” anyone and will be happy to leave if people get tired of me. 😉

As Flameburns mentioned, the Baha’i Faith originated in Persia (now Iran) in the mid-1800’s. Although sometimes described as mix of various other religions, it is actually held by its adherents to be an independent religion based in a new revelation from God. It teaches that all of the world’s major religious systems come from one God, and that their founders, figures such as Abraham, Moses, Jesus, Krishna, the Buddha, Zoroaster, Muhammad, the Bab, and Baha’u’llah are of equal station. The differences we see in the various religions stem primarily from the differing needs and capacities of the people to whom they were given and also from the addition of human interpretations of the teachings of the Founders.

The core spiritual teachings of the Baha’i Faith are similar to those found in Christianity or any other religion. Some of the teachings “specialized” for the modern age are: elimination of all forms of prejudice, equality of women and men, harmony of science and religion, unity of religions, unity of humanity, and so forth. Baha’u’llah proclaims that the time for the fulfillment of ancient promises of an age of global peace and the advent of the Kingdom of God on earth has come and gives teachings for the development of a peaceful global society.

Although a lot of people find this on the surface to be kind of “hippy-ish” or cultish, a deeper study of these teachings shows them to be very practical and pragmatic, even though the goal is undoubtedly lofty. A key aspect of all of this is independent investigation of truth–that is, each person has the right and the responsibility to seek God and come to their own conclusions. Force and coercion are forbidden by Baha’u’llah. (Which is why I said if people get tired of me here, I’ll gladly go away.)

If you are interested in reading something on the Baha’i Faith, I can point you to online or print resources. And of course I’ll be happy to answer questions to the best of my ability if you’d like.

–Dale
 
I am reading casually. I have way too much to read as it is. But since I have a Geography degree I am always interested in other cultures and faiths. I’ve heard of this before but never really took time to read about it. As a former fundamentalist I would have had no reason to waste my time. We did study some aspect of misinformation about other Christian faiths. But I alway learned the facts. I noticed that many people do not care to learn about a religion that they refute as heretical. Being a Christian would make this a giant leap anyway. I’ve seen enough miracles in my life to convince me that the God of Abraham and Issac and David is indeed a very Powerful God that deed not be questioned. I feel like I need to break into a Gospel Cantical for some reason.🙂

I have a copy of the Quaran and have read some of it. My life is filled with the domestic church and seeking a vocation to the diaconate. If the Lord would permit I’d go to the eastern Catholic Church since I am drawn to it like a magnet. EWTN had a special Ukranian Divine Liturgy on a few weeks and I couldn’t leave even though it was so late when I finally got to see it. My wife is shy of it since she’s a real convert from the church of Christ. She forwarded the name of this faith to many of our “key” parishoners because they are also quite educated and find topics like this interesting.

Thanks for the info though. Anything would be good. I’ve read a little on Wikapedia and some international website. But I haven’t read enough to knowk.
 
Vocatio,

Yeah, I know how that works. So many books, so little time. My wife is even worse about that than I am, but at least she reads faster than I do. 😉

The official Web site of the Baha’i Faith is at bahai.org/. You’ll find a lot of different articles there on a wide variety of subjects. Scan the home page for links of interest. The official U.S. Baha’i web site is at bahai.us/.

Good introductory works on the Baha’i Faith that you might be able to find at your local library include Esselmont, Baha’u’llah and the New Era and Hatcher and Martin, The Baha’i Faith: The Emerging Global Religion. (The latter is somewhat more scholarly than the former.) You can probably find a few others, too, although there are some older books out there written by avowed opponents of the Baha’i Faith that are full of errors. (That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t read them if you want, but just be aware that they aren’t always very accurate. There is one, I can’t recall the name, that even has a photo of someone mislabeled as a photo of Baha’u’llah. A photo of Baha’u’llah does exist, but that one isn’t it.)

If you are interested in reading some of the Baha’i Holy Writings, which I would recommend at some point if you really want to understand the religion, good starting points would be The Hidden Words, The Seven Valleys and The Four Valleys (two short mystical works usually published as a single volume), or Gleanings from the Writings of Baha’u’llah (a compilation of excerpts from a variety of works). You can usually find one or more of these in a library. All of the available translated works of the Bab, Baha’u’llah, and 'Abdu’l-Baha are also available online. I’ll be happy to point you to them if you need help finding them.

That’s more than you’ll have time to read this week, so I’ll stop there. 😉 Again, if you need any help feel free to let me know.

–Dale
 
Greetings, friends! 🙂

I’m also Baha’i and will be happy to answer whatever questions any of you might have!

For those interested specifically in seeing the Baha’i scriptures (which amount to many volumes), I recommend these sites:
· www.ibiblio.org/Bahai (This site has includes a search engine.)
· www.bahai-library.org (Click “Baha’i Writings” for our scriptures.)
· www.reference.bahai.org (This site is multi-lingual.)
· www.bahaistudy.org (This also has videos and talking books.)

And I’ll mention one other book in addition to those Dale described above: for those who’d like to read about Baha’i theological beliefs, I recommend The Book of Certitude (aka Kitab-i-Iqan), which (along with the other books) you can find at the sites above.

Good hunting, and do keep those questions coming!

Cheers! 🙂

Bruce
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Mickey said:
Life is short. Use your time constructively and continue to read the Holy Bible and the writings of the Church Fathers. 👍
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Nothing else is worth reading? :confused:

I’d offer that it’s worth learning about a lot of things, including religions besides one’s own. Some years back I compiled a list of ten reasons to learn about the Baha’i Faith, most of which don’t have anything to do with becoming a Baha’i. Do you think any of them are good reasons? Just curious.

By the way, the Catholic Church did actually put out a very good document detailing the fundamentals of the Baha’i Faith some years ago. I can’t recall where it can be found. Bruce probably knows and will most likely link to it when he sees I didn’t.
 
Mickey said:
There is an inexhaustable treasure of materials to read pertaining to the Apostolic faith–enough to last many lifetimes. Time to get busy vocatio! 😃
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Mickey,

Well . . . I’m not sure that really answers the question, but whatever. Myself, in addition to reading the Sacred Texts and other religious material, I also read on astronomy (a life-long interest of mine) and physics, other sciences, bonsai (a recently-acquired hobby), various nature topics, mystery fiction . . .

God doesn’t live in a little box. He created an unimaginably huge universe, and every atom of it is ordained for our education and training.

Of course, that’s just my view. Your mileage may vary. 😉
 
lehket said:
Of course, that’s just my view. Your mileage may vary.
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Indeed, and vocatio will read what he wills. As an Orthodox Christian, I only read material pertaining to the Apostolic faith. It feeds my soul. This includes Holy Scripture, Church Fathers, lives of the Saints, etc.
 
Welcome, Baha’i friends. Even though I believe that Jesus is the GREATEST, I have a lot of respect for your faith.

My understanding of their belief in the unity of humanity and one world government is that God will do the work-- they as an individual or as an organization do not intentionally work toward it. They are more Chardain-ian than Franciscan in perspective. 😉

If I had time right now 😦 I would definitely get into those readings.
 
Mickey said:
Indeed, and vocatio will read what he wills. As an Orthodox Christian, I only read material pertaining to the Apostolic faith. It feeds my soul. This includes Holy Scripture, Church Fathers, lives of the Saints, etc.
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If it works for you, then go with it. Thanks for your (name removed by moderator)ut.
 
Mickey said:
Of course not! Who said this?
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Oh . . . sorry, nobody said it directly. I guess it was just sort of a reaction of mine to the idea that all we need to read/learn is one subject. My wife sometimes uses the expression “putting God in a box” to describe the idea that everything we need to know about God is contained in one convenient package somewhere. The whole shebang is His revelation, in one way or another. So why not avail ourselves of it?
 
Jerusha said:
Welcome, Baha’i friends. Even though I believe that Jesus is the GREATEST, I have a lot of respect for your faith.

My understanding of their belief in the unity of humanity and one world government is that God will do the work-- they as an individual or as an organization do not intentionally work toward it. They are more Chardain-ian than Franciscan in perspective. 😉

If I had time right now 😦 I would definitely get into those readings.
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Jerusha,

Thank you for the welcome. Your understanding is correct, at least to a point. Obviously God works through us, but it is true that Baha’u’llah teaches that the work of spiritual transformation (both at the individual and societal levels) is so great that it cannot be accomplished without the power of the Word of God. We try to learn to rely upon Him and seek His help in all matters, and trust that He will guide us in our actions to make such transformation possible. But we also have to make an effort. If we don’t make an effort, we won’t get anywhere (as in all aspects of life).

Regarding Jesus, one of my most favorite passages from Baha’u’llah’s Writings is about Him:

Know thou that when the Son of Man yielded up His breath to God, the whole creation wept with a great weeping. By sacrificing Himself, however, a fresh capacity was infused into all created things. Its evidences, as witnessed in all the peoples of the earth, are now manifest before thee. The deepest wisdom which the sages have uttered, the profoundest learning which any mind hath unfolded, the arts which the ablest hands have produced, the influence exerted by the most potent of rulers, are but manifestations of the quickening power released by His transcendent, His all-pervasive, and resplendent Spirit.

We testify that when He came into the world, He shed the splendor of His glory upon all created things. Through Him the leper recovered from the leprosy of perversity and ignorance. Through Him, the unchaste and wayward were healed. Through His power, born of Almighty God, the eyes of the blind were opened, and the soul of the sinner sanctified.

Leprosy may be interpreted as any veil that interveneth between man and the recognition of the Lord, his God. Whoso alloweth himself to be shut out from Him is indeed a leper, who shall not be remembered in the Kingdom of God, the Mighty, the All-Praised. We bear witness that through the power of the Word of God every leper was cleansed, every sickness was healed, every human infirmity was banished. He it is Who purified the world. Blessed is the man who, with a face beaming with light, hath turned towards Him.
(Baha’u’llah, Gleanings from the Writings of Baha’u’llah, XXXVI, p. 85-86)

Of course, it’s up to each person to draw their own conclusions about Baha’u’llah, but if I may I would like to offer this in evidence:

Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God: And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.
(King James Bible, 1 John 4:2-3)

The Bible offers several tests that can be applied. This is one of them, or at least I so believe.
 
lehket said:
I guess it was just sort of a reaction of mine to the idea that all we need to read/learn is one subject.
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There are many things to read/learn, but only Christianity is necessary. 😉 It covers the spectrum.

Good day!
 
Mickey said:
There is an inexhaustable treasure of materials to read pertaining to the Apostolic faith–enough to last many lifetimes.
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None of which, of course, refutes what Dale pointed out.

And the same can be said about many (if not all) of the great religions!

So all I can say is that, as always, ignorance is never a virtue–how much less so, advocacy thereof!

Peace,

Bruce
 
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