World Peace is Possible and Will Happen

[Aupmanyav]

How are political and territorial disputes ever going to end? Adding more religions doesn't help either. This creates separation.

That is true, but it is so easy to claim that you are a messenger/son of a God. No proof is needed in Abrahamic religions. Religious dynasties take care of generations. Look at Prince Agha Khan or various other imamates in Islam. Happens in Hinduism too. Come out with some hare-brained scheme and you are done.

 

[Dawnofhope]

Justice? Yeah, better explain what that involves. Because it makes me think of things like returning stolen lands back to the original inhabitants and repaying them for stolen resources.

Justice is about determining what is fair and right. If one party injures another then a justice determines the appropriate consequences.

But with the nukes, we don't use them because we could destroy all life on the planet. With less lethal weapons, we will use them. So, what are the steps that need to be taken to get people to care about each other and not see each other as enemies?

The nuclear deterrent argument is problematic. What if there is a miscalculation and one country oversteps the status quo? The consequences could be catastrophic and unimaginable.

ve been loved and chastised by several different concepts of God that I held in my mind. One of them was that doggone Three-part Christian God. They showed me a lot of love, but boy, cross them and they sure could chastise you. Now, since we don't believe that God is real, who was loving me and who was chastising me? Well, I'll tell you. I think it was the belief in my head that this Trinity of a God was real.

It sounds as if Christianity has had a detrimental affect on you psychologically.

So, the people know best? They never get taken in by a smooth-talking person that appears to have all the answers? Or... some of the people vote for a representative, who then votes for who will be the leaders of the nation, then the leaders of the nations vote for who will lead the world? I'm sure the Baha'i model has some built in safe guards to avoid abuses and corruption. What might they be?

Democracy to some extent puts power in the hands of the people. The people may be gravely mistaken in determining their best candidate but there's the opportunity to learn from one's mistakes.

Yeah, the old model has to many flaws. What the Baha'i model.

The Baha'i model is the pattern of life followed by the millions of followers of Baha'u'llah. It does come down to the extent our lifes conform to Gods Teachings. Otherwise it is an empry shell.

 

[rational experiences]

I didn't follow anyone's teachings.

I read human written themes by other humans who said in their owned belief.... I'm special.

So I took to study human behaviour as a spiritual ideal. Family. Extended family. I believed everyone was my brother or sister. That Elders always should be respected. Yet a true elder respected my life also.

Therefore as science of human genetic study said everyone owned and came from the first ever humans. It was believable. Many brothers sisters of the same genetic type. Not just two humans. Two of in populous.

Who owned the same DNA. Meaning tribal heritage. All brothers sisters.

Was a common sense term. Made sense why I felt my family are not just by my only two parents. But everyone's. Same beginning.

You look you see. We notice we are so different. Why?

National land country. Environmental conditions different.

What changed?

Fall out above attack on biology proves it's national.

Change to DNA then made sense.

So then you ask basic human questions. I live I love I look I see I feel I'm psychic I'm a healer.

Why?

Natural the answer. Perfectly balanced communion. Nature and human. Advised. How to survive. Live. Assist by being mutual..and via medical.

To ask what went wrong with a loving or meek behaviour. Ours. Family.

Bullies. Groups. Threat. Torment. Torture. Murder. How to overthrow others for hierarchial fake status.

Rich man history. Changed brains. Fall out was obvious ...the reason.

So we know it's not natural human behaviour to not be mutual or loving. And we already taught and knew why.

It began falsely to natural humans whose behaviour did not murder or war or fight.

Which then changed. As life did change. We fought back eventually.

Now we've realised the need of a lesser peace. Unification by religious acceptance.

We now need to extend the teaching to family reunification. The greater peace.

To govern mutually as originally it was overthrow and greed and not mutual.

Pretty basic human advice.

The behaviour associated to basic acceptance is mutuality. Family human is first the mutual place.

 

[InvestigateTruth]

I think there's enough calamity right now. Do you believe in the Baha'i peace plan? I'm sure you do. Then let's talk about it. Because tomorrow might bring another disaster that pushes us to the edge. Then it'll be a little late to talk about it. Let's hear the plan, then see what we think.

I dont think The calamity that Bahai scriptures talk about has come yet. It will be something that will shake the limbs of mankind. A great population of the world will be gone. First this happens, then people start thinking really seriously why it happend. Then only after this, the world will change and peace comes.

 

[firedragon]

Assume hypothetically that i did choose to criticise Islam, you still have a bankrupt morality if you think criticism of your religion is worse for peace than actually stabbing someone.

In which case assuming your religion is the source of your morality criticism of it is justified.

In my opinion.

Hahahaha. Utterly ridiculous mate. I didn't say anything about "criticism".

It's your need to bring Islam into any discussion in order to blame it, scorn it, or insult it by hook or crook. Any topic. Not criticism.

Criticism is done constructively and objectively with research and knowledge. Like literary criticism or higher criticism or narration criticism of ahadith or something valuable.

Not be a hypocrite, ignore everything but focus on Islam when you want to put your skepticism in world peace because of the only example you wish to pick using Islam. That's hypocrisy, not criticism. That's a bankrupt morality. It's no morality. It's A-moral. It's double standards. Bias.

Some weird need.

 

[Balthazzar]

Yeah, I think it's hard for any religion that believes it has the truth to really be understanding and respectful to people in a different religion that has very different beliefs. The way things used to go and still do in some cases, one person from one religion tells the other person how wrong their beliefs are and how they need to see the truth, which is to believe in this other religion.

Can religions respect the beliefs of others and still hold the belief that theirs... is the only true way to believe? Then to "see" the truth in all of them, to me is saying, "Yes, some of what they believe is true, but the rest is baloney." And if religious/spiritual people can't get along... what hope is there?

A bird just pooped on my head. It's not the religion but the people who have the difficulty. I'll follow my truth, you follow yours and guess what? A middle ground may show up along the way. If not, I'll follow my truth and you can follow yours. Did a bad just poop on your head? Probably not, but one pooped on mne.

 

[danieldemol]

Hahahaha. Utterly ridiculous mate. I didn't say anything about "criticism".

It's your need to bring Islam into any discussion in order to blame it, scorn it, or insult it by hook or crook.

You are spinning criticism as "blame", "scorn" and "insult" in an apparent attempt to shame it into being silenced then denying you are mentioning it.

That is simply dishonesty.

In my opinion.

 

[Truth in love]

And all that could very well be what's going to happen. With the Baha'is, they say their prophet is the return of Christ. After years of arguing with them, I think it's time to hear them out. It's too easy to reject them and not listen to the rest of the teachings... the ones that say that we will have peace and harmony, but that there's things we have to do to get there. It could be all untrue and Jesus will be coming any day now.

But, either way, right now things are looking like we're heading for disaster. It's not going to hurt to listen to them and you. And I'm sure you've had lots of people ignore your religious teachings too. And, actually, part of the problem between the different religions, do people in the different religions really listen to each other? Or do they write them off as false, because they don't fit their beliefs?

I actually like a lot of what they have to say. I don't buy into some of their claims, but their day to day trying to help others I think is excellent.

 

[CG Didymus]

How are political and territorial disputes ever going to end? Adding more religions doesn't help either. This creates separation.

But that's part of the claim of the Baha'i Faith... that they know what it takes to put an end to political and territorial disputes... and to unite all the religions. Here's one of their articles about the unity of religion....

Abdu’l-Baha emphasized that the religions are all fundamentally in agreement, yet differences have arisen due to human limitations and not the inherent truths that these religions contain:

Therefore, if the religions investigate reality and seek the essential truth of their own foundations, they will agree and no difference will be found. But inasmuch as religions are submerged in dogmatic imitations, forsaking the original foundations, and as imitations differ widely, therefore, the religions are divergent and antagonistic. These imitations may be likened to clouds which obscure the sunrise; but reality is the sun. If the clouds disperse, the Sun of Reality shines upon all, and no difference of vision will exist. The religions will then agree, for fundamentally they are the same. The subject is one, but predicates are many. – The Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 126.
​

I agree with most everything you've said about religions. that people made-up myths and borrowed myths and put together their beliefs about their Gods. But the Baha'i Faith is so recent. Can they really be all they claim to be? That their prophet is the promised one of every religion? I have my doubts. And "debating", meaning arguing with them about whether their concepts of God are true, and whether or not their prophet has come from that God, haven't gotten any of us anywhere. They claim their teachings can bring peace to the world. Well, that's what I'm asking... can they?

And, actually, their belief in the unity of religion is a big part of that plan. I'd love to hear your comments on it.

​

 

[CG Didymus]

I actually like a lot of what they have to say. I don't buy into some of their claims, but their day to day trying to help others I think is excellent.

Well, you know how claims go... lots of us don't believe the claims of Joseph Smith, so we automatically think he's a false prophet. The Baha'i prophet has the same kind of problem, but even worse. He's claiming to be the return of Christ It makes it very easy to just write him off as a crackpot without learning about what he taught. Are there somethings in their peace plan that you think could actually work?

 

[Madmogwai]

That's the claim of the Baha'i Faith. Is it true? The claim is that their founder, Baha'u'llah, was sent from God to bring humanity the social and spiritual teachings needed to bring the world together in peace and harmony. So, what are those teachings?

In 1985 the Baha'i governing body, the Universal House of Justice, put out the "Promise of World Peace". Here's how it ends....

In the earnestness of our desire to impart to you the fervour of our hope and the depth of our confidence, we cite the emphatic promise of Bahá’u’lláh: “These fruitless strifes, these ruinous wars shall pass away, and the ‘Most Great Peace’ shall come.”​

And here's an excerpt from the middle of it...

Acceptance of the oneness of mankind is the first fundamental prerequisite for reorganization and administration of the world as one country, the home of humankind. Universal acceptance of this spiritual principle is essential to any successful attempt to establish world peace. It should therefore be universally proclaimed, taught in schools, and constantly asserted in every nation as preparation for the organic change in the structure of society which it implies.

In the Bahá’í view, recognition of the oneness of mankind “calls for no less than the reconstruction and the demilitarization of the whole civilized world—a world organically unified in all the essential aspects of its life, its political machinery, its spiritual aspiration, its trade and finance, its script and language, and yet infinite in the diversity of the national characteristics of its federated units.”

Elaborating the implications of this pivotal principle, Shoghi Effendi, the Guardian of the Bahá’í Faith, commented in 1931 that: “Far from aiming at the subversion of the existing foundations of society, it seeks to broaden its basis, to remold its institutions in a manner consonant with the needs of an ever-changing world. It can conflict with no legitimate allegiances, nor can it undermine essential loyalties. Its purpose is neither to stifle the flame of a sane and intelligent patriotism in men’s hearts, nor to abolish the system of national autonomy so essential if the evils of excessive centralization are to be avoided. It does not ignore, nor does it attempt to suppress, the diversity of ethnical origins, of climate, of history, of language and tradition, of thought and habit, that differentiate the peoples and nations of the world. It calls for a wider loyalty, for a larger aspiration than any that has animated the human race. It insists upon the subordination of national impulses and interests to the imperative claims of a unified world. It repudiates excessive centralization on one hand, and disclaims all attempts at uniformity on the other. Its watchword is unity in diversity”.​

For Baha'is... How's the plan going? For others... What do you think? Will it work?

Don’t concern yourself with the impossible, find peace within your self.

 

[CG Didymus]

I dont think The calamity that Bahai scriptures talk about has come yet. It will be something that will shake the limbs of mankind. A great population of the world will be gone. First this happens, then people start thinking really seriously why it happend. Then only after this, the world will change and peace comes.

And you don't think things are starting to get to where a catastrophic calamity could happen at any moment? So, it sounds like a total collapse of the old world will happen before the people of the world will listen to the Baha'i plan for peace? Even the lesser peace?

 

[InvestigateTruth]

And you don't think things are starting to get to where a catastrophic calamity could happen at any moment? So, it sounds like a total collapse of the old world will happen before the people of the world will listen to the Baha'i plan for peace? Even the lesser peace?

It may happen anytime.
The lesser peace will be after the Catastrophe.
I think Its time is in the Bahai scriptures as Baha'u'llah mentions, but it is not said explicitly, so I am not aware. It is written in a hidden language. The same way, the Bible contains hidden language.

 

[joelr]

That is true, but it is so easy to claim that you are a messenger/son of a God. No proof is needed in Abrahamic religions. Religious dynasties take care of generations. Look at Prince Agha Khan or various other imamates in Islam. Happens in Hinduism too. Come out with some hare-brained scheme and you are done.

That's why I believe more emphasis should be put on teaching critical thinking, rational and skeptical thought and so on.

 

[joelr]

But that's part of the claim of the Baha'i Faith... that they know what it takes to put an end to political and territorial disputes... and to unite all the religions. Here's one of their articles about the unity of religion....

Abdu’l-Baha emphasized that the religions are all fundamentally in agreement, yet differences have arisen due to human limitations and not the inherent truths that these religions contain:

Therefore, if the religions investigate reality and seek the essential truth of their own foundations, they will agree and no difference will be found. But inasmuch as religions are submerged in dogmatic imitations, forsaking the original foundations, and as imitations differ widely, therefore, the religions are divergent and antagonistic. These imitations may be likened to clouds which obscure the sunrise; but reality is the sun. If the clouds disperse, the Sun of Reality shines upon all, and no difference of vision will exist. The religions will then agree, for fundamentally they are the same. The subject is one, but predicates are many. – The Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 126.
​

I agree with most everything you've said about religions. that people made-up myths and borrowed myths and put together their beliefs about their Gods. But the Baha'i Faith is so recent. Can they really be all they claim to be? That their prophet is the promised one of every religion? I have my doubts. And "debating", meaning arguing with them about whether their concepts of God are true, and whether or not their prophet has come from that God, haven't gotten any of us anywhere. They claim their teachings can bring peace to the world. Well, that's what I'm asking... can they?

And, actually, their belief in the unity of religion is a big part of that plan. I'd love to hear your comments on it.

​

There are many issues working against this idea. You cannot ask people to re-interpret their religion, it's not going to happen. You can only support rational, critical and skeptical thinking. Christian theology is you must follow Jesus, Islam says Christians are wrong and Bahai is heresy and so on.

A person who happens to be charismatic, has a following and is a good writer can then claim he has been contacted by God and if enough people will follow him then you have another religion. This person may have different ideas about how to run things.
But leaders of countries may be religious but are far more motivated by politics, land, the position of possible enemy countries. We do not enact good ideas because a religious prophet says they are good. We advocate for racial unity, gender equality, universal education, and understanding of philosophy and science because they are good secular ideas. If someone wants to be in a religion that's great. It's not part of laws or world peace. We don't enact world peace because of a religion. Because in 2050 when Islam is the largest religion in the U.S. do they get to enact laws they prefer?



When people understand the planet is not given to us by a deity, we are not special creations who go to an afterlife and this is all there is it might inspire us to live our best lives and be kind to others.

Russia and Ukraine are basically the same religion. How would being the same religion help world peace?

 

[questfortruth]

New That's the claim of the Baha'i Faith. Is it true?

Communists have failed.

 

[CG Didymus]

Communists have failed.

The part of the Baha'i peace statement that talks about economics says...

The inordinate disparity between rich and poor, a source of acute suffering, keeps the world in a state of instability, virtually on the brink of war. Few societies have dealt effectively with this situation. The solution calls for the combined application of spiritual, moral and practical approaches. A fresh look at the problem is required, entailing consultation with experts from a wide spectrum of disciplines, devoid of economic and ideological polemics, and involving the people directly affected in the decisions that must urgently be made. It is an issue that is bound up not only with the necessity for eliminating extremes of wealth and poverty but also with those spiritual verities the understanding of which can produce a new universal attitude. Fostering such an attitude is itself a major part of the solution.​

So, we needed God to send the Baha'i prophet to tell us that having a few people with tons of money and a whole bunch of people with very little money is a problem? I wonder who these experts are that will be the ones to actually come up with a solution. But then I checked, and the Baha'is do have more to say on how to fix the economic problem...

There are many practical ways to solve this problem from the Baha’i view. Here are seven:

1. Tax wealth progressively The more one earns wealth beyond that which is needful, the higher their taxes, to help pay for the needs of all society. This is called progressive income tax—a noble, fair concept already adopted by many of the world’s nations. Flat taxes disproportionately hurt the poor.

2. Educate the people from early childhood in all arts and sciences, to obtain skills and abilities to work gainfully and satisfy one’s own needs. This is also being universally applied, and is self-evident. Higher education and specific skills training should be available to all at reasonable and justified costs.

3. Elevate work to the level of worship and service to humanity. Whether we produce products or provide services, they should help not hinder humanity’s progress and security.

4. Volunteer time and energy to provide well-being, not only for ourselves and our own families but all peoples and nations. Hundreds of thousands of worthy organizations and religions provide selfless help to all, their members and non-members, high and low alike.

5. Promote free trade. Eliminate tariffs which hinder the free exchange of products and goods across state and national boundaries.

6. Institute and apply universal laws, rules, regulations and standards. An example here would be the provision of utility services, such as clean water, sewer, electricity and natural gas, communications and more. The rule of law must guide all societies and all transactions.

7. Institute profit-sharing in all businesses. This Baha’i principle fairly and equitably rewards both workers and owners for their labor and their capital expenditures.

The Baha’i teachings have many more economic principles, all with the goal of alleviating the extremes of wealth and poverty.
​

Supposedly, this is from God and will not fail.

 

[CG Didymus]

It may happen anytime.
The lesser peace will be after the Catastrophe.
I think Its time is in the Bahai scriptures as Baha'u'llah mentions, but it is not said explicitly, so I am not aware. It is written in a hidden language. The same way, the Bible contains hidden language.

That is one of the questions I keep asking... Is there any prophecy in any religion that has the Christ, the Messiah or anybody coming and not bringing about peace on Earth and good will towards men and all that goody, goody stuff? And the big catastrophe I always thought was before the Messiah came, not after.

But why aren't you and other Baha'is talking about the peace statement and other Baha'i teachings about peace? Peace is the big promise, isn't it?

 

[CG Didymus]

Come out with some hare-brained scheme and you are done.

You and I haven't been big fans of the Baha'i Faith. I thought this thread would get them going and to start talking about what they believe is needed to fix the world. But is it just a bunch of words? If the "Christ" the "promised one of all ages" can't deliver, and actually create a peaceful world, then what are the people of the world supposed to do? It sounds like the Baha'i plan is to wait for the world to fall apart, and then... whoever's left, to put the Baha'i plan into practice.

 

[Dawnofhope]

You and I haven't been big fans of the Baha'i Faith. I thought this thread would get them going and to start talking about what they believe is needed to fix the world. But is it just a bunch of words? If the "Christ" the "promised one of all ages" can't deliver, and actually create a peaceful world, then what are the people of the world supposed to do? It sounds like the Baha'i plan is to wait for the world to fall apart, and then... whoever's left, to put the Baha'i plan into practice.

That is not true. We're a small religious community with an estimated 5 to 10 million followers world wide. We are in no position to take over an government and it would be contrary to the spirit of our faith. As a faith community the Baha'is believe that world peace is not only possible but inevitable. Whether that comes about through humanities collective efforts or through unimaginable horrors is up to us all, not just the Baha'is. Many of the Baha'i principles put forward by Baha'u'llah in the nineteenth century are now mainstream and embraced by the majority of the world's peoples. Although much progress has been made there is clearly a great deal of work to be done. The Baha'is are not sitting back and waiting for the world to fall apart.