A worldwide community called “the Baha’i Faith”

[Jim]

Do not try to fool a grizzled old man who has seen 77 winters in his life. Social work by evangelists is brand-building. Even corporates do it. Current flow, lines of force, elections orbiting around a nucleus, and trees of life are not metaphorical, they are facts.

Speaking of lions ...

Once when I was a student at Purdue University, I had a date with someone who agreed to meet me by the lion statue in the Student Union building. I waited by the statue for a long time, maybe half an hour or more, before I gave up and found something else to do. That was before cell phones. Later, talking with her on the phone, I found out that there were two lion statues in the Student Union building.

Speaking of PU ...

There was a rumor that Purdue engineers couldn’t walk and chew gum at the same time. Just by coincidence, when I first went to study at Purdue was when I gave up chewing gum. I decided that it was more trouble than it was worth.

 

[Darkforbid]

Do not try to fool a grizzled old man who has seen 77 winters in his life. Social work by evangelists is brand-building. Even corporates do it. Current flow, lines of force, elections orbiting around a nucleus, and trees of life are not metaphorical, they are facts.

Yep, like the orbital electron model is current physics "The problem with the planetary model is that electrons would lose energy by orbiting, causing them to collapse into the nucleus."

 

[oldbadger]

Seriously? Are you saying all that seriously?

Yes Jim, seriously and candidly.

Bahais will claim that Kahlil Gibran was wholly influenced by Bahai, which is easy to disprove just by reading him. In the book 'The Prophet' the way he writes is SPIRITUAL, and nothing of the like is produced in any Bahai work written. He lays down a prescription for living in a tiny booklet and Bahai needs a page of drivvle to present one single idea. Kahlil seems to have been of a very delicate mindset, one of his women wrote a book about life with him, and yet his books will live on for centuries because they offer truth.

My idea of truly spiritual living, thinking, writing etc in a person is an old man I knew who stayed in Convict's Wood, Whitstable, Kent. I first met him when I walked through there during the 90's, and he lived off the land and was left in peace by the farmer who controlled the wood at that time.

Most Bahais I have known were steeped in material wealth and mammon, Jim. To flip between the impost of being so 'spiritual' and then living in mammon is an impost, imo. It's a lie, Jim.,

 

[Aupmanyav]

Yep, like the orbital electron model is current physics "The problem with the planetary model is that electrons would lose energy by orbiting, causing them to collapse into the nucleus."

"Niels Bohr solved this mystery by introducing quanta, discrete energy states in which electrons may stably persist. Think of an elevator that only stops at discrete floors (i.e. not between them). And just as an elevator won't take you below the basement, there's a minimum state below which the electron simply cannot fall. Strange as it sounds, the Bohr model is actually much too simplistic, and has since been replaced by even weirder portraits of the atomic world. I'll leave those for your poor physics teacher to tackle."
Where Do Electrons Get Energy to Spin Around an Atom's Nucleus? | Live Science

 

[Jim]

I don't think that there is anything spiritual about Bahai at all, but that's just my impression.

Do not try to fool a grizzled old man who has 77 winters under his belt. Social work by evangelists is brand-building. Even corporates do it.

oldbadger, Aupmanyav, I’m glad for you to be posting your thoughts about what I’m saying. I like seeing and reading your posts. Aupmanyav especially, I’ve been feeling a lot of affection for you. I’m still not sure sometimes how serious you are about some things you say . I won’t be trying to argue against anything you’re saying. I’ll just be posting some things about the worldwide Baha’i Faith community, that I’m hoping will help counteract some misunderstandings and misinformation being spread by its members.

 

[oldbadger]

I’ll just be posting some things about the worldwide Baha’i Faith community, that I’m hoping will help counteract some misunderstandings and misinformation being spread by its members.

How much involvement have you had with the Bahai Worldwide Community?
How many Bahais have you visited in foreign countries?

 

[Jim]

How much involvement have you had with the Bahai Worldwide Community?
How many Bahais have you visited in foreign countries?

50 years at the heart of community life, in Indiana, Virginia, Florida and Martinique, most of that time including membership on a spiritual assembly.

 

[Jim]

How much involvement have you had with the Bahai Worldwide Community?
How many Bahais have you visited in foreign countries?

Anyone can easily verify what I’m saying about the common interests and activities of Baha’i communities around the world, by visiting the websites of the communities that have them.

 

[Jim]

What I’m saying is about some interests and activities that thousands of Baha’i communities have in common all around the world, which can be easily verified by visiting some of their websites:
- Working with neighbors to help build a healthier, happier, more loving community life.
- Economic and social development revolving around continual self improvement, with continually growing love for all of nature including all people everywhere.
- Systematic training for those purposes, for people of all ages.
- Beliefs about all religious, political and social issues range as widely in the community as they do in all the rest of society. That can easily be easily verified with some research on the Internet, for example with a Web search using the words “gay” and “Baha’i.”

 

[Aupmanyav]

I won’t be trying to argue against anything you’re saying.

Stand with truth and no one will stand before you. "Satyen nasti paramam padam" (There is no station higher than truth).

 

[GoodbyeDave]

Beliefs about all religious, political and social issues range as widely in the community as they do in all the rest of society. That can easily be easily verified with some research on the Internet, for example with a Web search using the words “gay” and “Baha’i.”

So, I did that and got this:
Homosexuality

Ye are forbidden to commit adultery, sodomy and lechery. … He who relateth himself to the All-Merciful and committeth satanic deeds, verily he is not of Me.

(Extracts from the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh)
Behind all the sweetness and light, you're no different to the Muslims and worse than many Christians and Jews.

 

[Jim]

So, I did that and got this:
Homosexuality
(Extracts from the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh)
Behind all the sweetness and light, you're no different to the Muslims and worse than many Christians and Jews.

You might have missed my point.

 

[Jim]

Most websites I've been to are just vague, and give a link to the NSA of that country or to the Haifa website.

Sometimes it takes a little digging to find the back pages with details about a community’s interests and activities. The point is that when you do find details on community websites about their interests and activities, you’ll see some of the same interests and activities in most communities around the world, which are the ones that I’ve been describing:
- Working with neighbors to help build a healthier, happier, more loving community life.
- Economic and social development revolving around continual self improvement, with continually growing love for all of nature including all people everywhere.
- Systematic training for those purposes, for people of all ages.

 

[TransmutingSoul]

Most websites I've been to are just vague, and give a link to the NSA of that country or to the Haifa website.

A website is only as good as the continued effort and expertise that is behind it and most of us do not have that ability.

Here are 2 that I started one for a community that has no one that could even start a website and one for my community to which I struggle with both as to work out how to do it all properly.

Atherton Tableland Bahá’ís

Normanton Baha'i

Thus I agree, on a lot you will not find all that is happening.

Regards Tony

 

[Darkforbid]

You might have missed my point.

In what way?

 

[Jim]

Beliefs about all religious, political and social issues range as widely in the community as they do in all the rest of society. That can easily be easily verified with some research on the Internet, for example with a Web search using the words “gay” and “Baha’i.”

So, I did that and got this:
Homosexuality
(Extracts from the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh)
Behind all the sweetness and light, you're no different to the Muslims and worse than many Christians and Jews.

You might have missed my point.

In what way?

My point was that members of the worldwide Baha’i Faith community disagree with each other about homosexuality as much as people do in all the rest of society.

 

[TransmutingSoul]

When two or more websites from different places have pictures of the same group of smiling people, and not saying it's not a local picture. suspicions arise.

But sure.

I would suggest that there are more Baha'i Communities without websites that there are with ones, and of there that do have a website with their name on it, even fewer that are being updated by the community on a regular basis.

Consider also that it is not really a cheap undertaking, if one wants all the bells and whistles.

Regards Tony

 

[Jim]

Jim, I use non-Baha'i sources, as I don't at all trust Baha'i sources to not excessively exaggerate. I used google maps 'search nearby' function for Martinique for a Baha'i Center. It hit one in Trinidad,and another in Dominica. Google maps is generally very reliable, and see no reason for this situation to be any different.

I’m saying that in thousands of localities around the world, Baha’is are:
- Working with neighbors to help build a healthier, happier, more loving community life.
- Collaborating on economic and social development revolving around continual self improvement, with continually growing love for all of nature including all people everywhere.
- Providing systematic training for those purposes, for people of all ages.

Are you disagreeing with that? Do you honestly, sincerely think that what I’m saying about that is not true?

 

[TransmutingSoul]

So, I did that and got this:
Homosexuality
(Extracts from the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh)
Behind all the sweetness and light, you're no different to the Muslims and worse than many Christians and Jews.

You might have missed my point.

In what way?

My point was that members of the worldwide Baha’i Faith community disagree with each other about homosexuality as much as people do in all the rest of society.

Their point, as I see it, is and they would correct me if wrong, that given the writings that are on offer, what would be that disagreement?

A willingness to embrace what can not be changed, may be an issue though and I suspect many wil have to face those conflicts within their own selves. I and others can only support each other on that journey.

Regards Tony

 

[Darkforbid]

'My point was that members of the worldwide Baha’i Faith community disagree with each other about homosexuality as much as people do in all the rest of society.'

That's exactly the same as saying the writings of the Bahá'u'lláh are clearly wrong to many of the
Baha’i Faith