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Deal of bahai

InvestigateTruth

Well-Known Member
Hi gents
Just curious about the deal of being Baha'i
What I'd gain and what to lose if not belong to Baha'i?
Hello Islam abdullah, and welcome to Bahai Forum,

In our view, the Revelations of God are progressive, in a sense that, God sends down a set of teachings that is suitable for the Age people live in. These teachings may be likened to spiritual food, and medicine for humanity, that have come according to conditions of the Age. Bahais believe, this age has its own requirement and that those Religions before, also were given as spiritual food and medicine, however they were suited for previous ages.
So, the teachings of Bahai faith, is like going to a self service Restaurant, and get the food we need.
 

danieldemol

Well-Known Member
Premium Member
The All-Knowing Physician hath His finger on the pulse of mankind. He perceiveth the disease, and prescribeth, in His unerring wisdom, the remedy. Every age hath its own problem, and every soul its particular aspiration. The remedy the world needeth in its present-day afflictions can never be the same as that which a subsequent age may require. Be anxiously concerned with the needs of the age ye live in, and center your deliberations on its exigencies and requirements...

...He Who is your Lord, the All-Merciful, cherisheth in His heart the desire of beholding the entire human race as one soul and one body. Haste ye to win your share of God's good grace and mercy in this Day that eclipseth all other created Days. How great the felicity that awaiteth the man that forsaketh all he hath in a desire to obtain the things of God! Such a man, We testify, is among God's blessed ones...

(Baha'u'llah, Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah, p. 213)

Some of the punishment associated with turning away from the one-ness of humanity is self inherent in the needless war and bloodshed it brings about.
 

danieldemol

Well-Known Member
Premium Member

Dawnofhope

Non-Proselytizing Baha'i
Staff member
Premium Member
Hi gents
Just curious about the deal of being Baha'i
What I'd gain and what to lose if not belong to Baha'i?


Greetings

Perhaps you could reflect on what the Arab people gained from Muhammad's message from God. What loss for those who failed to recognise and follow HIs guidance in the Holy Quran? How they gained from embracing His Cause. Baha'u'llah means Glory of God and to follow His teachings or not is to have similar gain or loss.

Best Wishes
 

arthra

Baha'i
Hi gents
Just curious about the deal of being Baha'i
What I'd gain and what to lose if not belong to Baha'i?

Thanks for posting in the Baha'i Forum "abduallah"! and being from Egypt as well! There are some Baha'is in Egypt as you may know already... I will post a few sites so you may follow up on your question:

البهائيون في مصر

There's a good summary of the history of the Baha'i Faith in Egypt at

Bahá'í Faith in Egypt - Wikipedia

To answer your question though...for me being a Baha'i has been accepting the Divine Source of the major religions... building a family based on Baha'i values and raising our children according to Baha'i principles has made our lives positive and idealistic and based on love of God and our brothers and sisters. We also accept Prophet Muhammad and the Qur'an as an authentic repository of the Word of God:

They must strive to obtain, from sources that are authoritative and unbiased, a sound knowledge of the history and tenets of Islam -- the source and background of their Faith -- and approach reverently and with a mind purged from preconceived ideas the study of the Qur'án which, apart from the sacred scriptures of the Bábí and Bahá'í Revelations, constitutes the only Book which can be regarded as an absolutely authenticated Repository of the Word of God.

(Shoghi Effendi, The Advent of Divine Justice, p. 49)
 
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Esoqq

Member
What I find most important about becoming a Baha'i is the freedom to seek out the truth for myself. What I've found, before I became a Baha'i, was that all the religions that I've investigated teach the same spiritual truths. In my Opinion Jesus expressed it best when he said that the entirety of the law can be summed up with the following scriptures. "Love thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul and with all thy strength and love thy neighbor as thy self."
I also believe that whenever this spiritual truth becomes less important than the religion expressing it we get the violence, prejudice and intolerance that has become a hallmark of so much of todays humanity. This is the time that the Manifestation returns to restore God's original message.
 
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shunyadragon

shunyadragon
Premium Member
Hi gents
Just curious about the deal of being Baha'i
What I'd gain and what to lose if not belong to Baha'i?

The other Baha'is have posted effectively the spiritual advantages belonging to the Baha'i Faith.

Islam was once the spiritual light of the world, in spiritual guidance, science, and tolerance for religious diversity, but now Islam is fractured violently between Shia and Suni Islam, at tribal war within Islam, and the other believers of the Book, and no longer the light of the world in science, tolerance, and religious diversity. People of other religions are being driven from Islamic countries, and persecuted. You would be giving all this up by becoming a Baha'i.

The problems you would face becoming a Baha'i are you would face the problems that people of other religions face from today's Islam. You likely be shunned and rejected by your fellow Muslims at minimum, and not welcome in Islamic countries and communities. At worse you would be the subject of violence from the Islamic community like other Baha'is.
 

Esoqq

Member
I'm curious, does anyone else speculate on what God's plan might be? I know the Baha'i faith discourages vain imaginings and this might might well be one but I find it very informative when I do. I gain a great deal of insight about myself and my understanding of God.
 

Dawnofhope

Non-Proselytizing Baha'i
Staff member
Premium Member
I'm curious, does anyone else speculate on what God's plan might be? I know the Baha'i faith discourages vain imaginings and this might might well be one but I find it very informative when I do. I gain a great deal of insight about myself and my understanding of God.

Hi Esoqq, Welcome to RF. I'm Adrian from New Zealand.

How is your Baha'i reading going? There is much in the writings that will comprehensively cover the question you are asking?
 

Esoqq

Member
Hello Adrian, and thank you for your response.
I thought I've read everything available that was written by Baha'u'llah but I don't recall reading anything that explains why God created the Universe and everything in it. This is the speculation that I'm referring to.
 

danieldemol

Well-Known Member
Premium Member
Hello Adrian, and thank you for your response.
I thought I've read everything available that was written by Baha'u'llah but I don't recall reading anything that explains why God created the Universe and everything in it. This is the speculation that I'm referring to.
I think Abdul-Baha wrote an exposition of the well known Hadith, "I was a hidden treasure that desired to be known"
 

arthra

Baha'i
Hello Adrian, and thank you for your response.
I thought I've read everything available that was written by Baha'u'llah but I don't recall reading anything that explains why God created the Universe and everything in it. This is the speculation that I'm referring to.

Of course the short obligatory prayer contains the words: "I bear witness oh my God that Thou hast created me to know Thee and worship Thee..." For me this fits well with the four kinds of love described by Abdul-Baha:

There are four kinds of love. The first is the love that flows from God to man; it consists of the inexhaustible graces, the Divine effulgence and heavenly illumination. Through this love the world of being receives life. Through this love man is endowed with physical existence, until, through the breath of the Holy Spirit -- this same love -- he receives eternal life and becomes the image of the Living God. This love is the origin of all the love in the world of creation.

58.5
The second is the love that flows from man to God. This is faith, attraction to the Divine, enkindlement, progress, entrance into the Kingdom of God, receiving the Bounties of God, illumination with the lights of the Kingdom. This love is the origin of all philanthropy; this love causes the hearts of men to reflect the rays of the Sun of Reality.

58.6
The third is the love of God towards the Self or Identity of God. This is the transfiguration of His Beauty, the reflection of Himself in the mirror of His Creation. This is the reality of love, the Ancient Love, the Eternal Love. Through one ray of this Love all other love exists.

58.7
The fourth is the love of man for man. The love which exists between the hearts of believers is prompted by the ideal of the unity of spirits. This love is attained through the knowledge of God, so that men see the Divine Love reflected in the heart. Each sees in the other the Beauty of God reflected in the soul, and finding this point of similarity, they are attracted to one another in love. This love will make all men the 181 waves of one sea, this love will make them all the stars of one heaven and the fruits of one tree. This love will bring the realization of true accord, the foundation of real unity.

~ Abdu'l-Baha, Paris Talks, p. 179

So "love" is if I can use the phrase is the energy of the universe...

"Even so, all phenomena are realized through the divine bounty."

(Abdu'l-Baha, The Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 286)
 
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