Hydraulic

I mean, come on, it developed from Islam. Enough said.

arthra

Hydraulic,,

Thanks for your post and welcoem to the Forum!

Every great revelation from God derives from Him and if you study them you will find they all have the same spiritual qualities at their core.. just as there is a succession of prophets and messengers noted in the Bible and the Qur'an fuilfilling each other so the Baha'i Faith is part of the great chain of revelation..

Verily, we have believed in Thee and in Thy signs ere the dawn of Thy Manifestation, and in Thee are we all well-assured. Verily, we have believed in Thee and in Thy signs after the fulfilment of Thy Manifestation, and in Thee do we all believe. Verily, we have believed in Thee and in Thy signs at the hour of Thy Manifestation and bear witness that through Thine injunction 'Be Thou' all things have been created.

Every Manifestation is but a revelation of Thine Own Self, with each of Whom we have truly appeared and we bow down in adoration before Thee.

~ The Bab, Selections from the Writings of the Bab, p. 4
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Andyman

Honestly, Its the only thing that makes sense to me. I come from a Mormon Background and grew up believing in the Mormon Church as the only 'right thing' as I got older and studying other religions and praying I came to the conclusion that every faith has some truth behind it. The Bahai Faith accepts all the prophets of God to be Manifestations from God. It makes sense to me. Plus the Faith is straight forward and makes sense. I don't know how else to explain it.

jwiegley

Islam accepts Christianity, which developed from Judaism. Several of the great chapters of the Holy Qur'án are Biblical stories, such as the Surat al-Yusef, or the Surat al-Maryam. Progression is like a stair, where each step has as its foundation the one previous. Jesus said: "I have not come to abolish, but to fulfill." Bahá’u’lláh is likewise the fulfillment of all past Dispensations.

John

Liq

I was a Muslim when I decided to become a Bahai. Yes, the Bahai faith resembles Islam a lot, but there is something I hated about Islam, it's sexist. It tends to form male-dominated societies. This, I couldn't handle. The Bahai faith makes a lot of sense to me. I'm happier now, and I'm comfortable with what I believe in.

lukasali

Don't let the backwardness of some of His professed followers blind you to the beauty of Muhammad and Islam!

Liq

It is true that Islam is a beautiful religion and I wouldn't have let go of it for anything, but the sexism part was my concern.

lukasali

Sorry for the confusion Liq, I was directing my comment to the original poster. =)

My understanding of the Faith is that you are not letting go of Islam by becoming a Baha'i - rather you are experiencing Islam's fulfillment - so I certainly didn't mean to say that you had somehow turned your back on Islam by becoming a Baha'i. I think the exact opposite is in fact true.

BruceDLimber

Greetings!

Hardly.

Islam is in fact a very peaceful and beautiful religion, as are ALL the great religions! So I would caution you against drawing hasty conclusions about religions you're not familiar with, and especially against prejudice ("pre-judging"), which can thoroughly poison and derail virtually any sort of investigation--religious or not!

As to why I'm a Baha'i, the short answer is, Great good fortune! :-)

And the more detailed answer is this:

I've been active in religion all my life. And when I first encountered the Baha'i Faith, I spent considerable time reading, praying, researching, investigating, observing, and evaluating it!

After an extended time doing this, I found myself--still not a Baha'i--telling others "This is really neat: you should look into it!" I finally said "This is ricidulous!" and enrolled.

That was over 38 years ago, and in all that time I have NOT ONCE found any reason to regret this decision!

(And indeed, the Baha'i Faith has had profound effects on my life in many different way. If I weren't a Baha'i now, I have no idea where I'd be or what I'd be doing!)

So I heartily encourage you to investigate it.

Best regards, :-)

Bruce

drhine

Thanks for the question. I was actually raised in a Baha'i family but still had to find out the truth for myself (as does everyone). The bottom line on why I believe is that 1) it passes every test I have seen; 2) it makes perfect sense and there is no request to simply accept doctrines without logical explanation; 3) it is the only force I see in the world today that is working to improve the whole world and not just our own little piece of it.

As to its arising from Islam - you are correct and Christianity arose from Judaism and so forth. None of the great religions of the world sprang from nothing. Still, while we can look around and see the current state of Islam, consider for a moment the state of Christianity in the 14th and 15th centuries. The Church was actively killing people who wouldn't convert (or forcibly exiling them from their property) in the Inquisition, raising armies to fight the Crusades - just reading the Church's accounts of these acts should bring a tear to any fair minded soul.

My purpose in bringing these things up is not to minimize or excuse the events occurring today but to remember that there is plenty of blame to go around. As Jesus said in the Gospels - "And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?"

(King James Bible, Matthew)

Orthodox

Actually the roman catholic church killed around about the time of the Crusades. It is also interesting to note that the catholics invaded Holy Constantinople, stole our relics, killed our citizens and plundered our riches something the pope today has thankfully apologized for. I say this so people don't think the Christian east engaged in what the west did.

But in part I understand why the roman catholic church reacted to islam in such a way, after succesive attacks against it and islamic encroachment on Christian lands as well as the destruction of the Holy Sepulcha and mistreatment of Christians in the middle east. It does make sense.

LarryK32

While I disagree with war of any kind, especially Holy War, I will agree that the Muslims did provoke the 1st Crusade. I honestly don't know much about the 2nd. But I believe the 3rd was almost completely the Catholic Church's fault. At least they were beaten by Salah al-din. That dude was supposed to be uber chivalrous.

Orthodox

Saladine is the only muslim I have any respect for. He did not kill the Christian population of Jeruselum when he took it but was merciful and merely sold them into slavery. He was well known as an enemy of King Richard the lion heart also an honourable man. But sometimes war is needed, I think, in order to combat a major threat like that of Hitler. and the Japanese by the end of WW2. Its not a pleasent thing, but sometimes it is needed.

tonyfish58

Hydraulic - I found it by chance read a few books and that was that. The world needs the solutions offered, like right away

As said above, all religion stems from previous dispensations, this is one of the proofs of the unity and progressiveness of religion.

I am not sure why you debunk the Muslim religion, if you read the Koran it is a great message.

We should never judge a religion by it's followers, it must be the word and the prophets own self. We would have to reject all religion, if we looked only at its followers

Cheers Tony

Orthodox

Doesn't Jesus tell us to judge something by its fruits? What are the fruits of Christianity if not in its people?

tonyfish58

Doesn't Jesus tell us to judge something by its fruits? What are the fruits of Christianity if not in its people?

The fruits of Christianity is the pure word and the life of Christ.

If you are calling the followers fruit, Do you only pick the good fruit of Christianity? There is also a lot of bad fruit rotting on the ground

In this context no religion is exempt from rotten fruit including the Baha'i faith, the evidence of this is the world today.

The fruits talked about in the biblical passage you quote is that of the manifestation or true prophet. The true prophet cannot bear bad fruit, so when you search you will know them from their words and their deeds.

How lucky we are to be given this guidance in the Bible.

Cheers tony