SuperPersianVersion

Hello Friends, I am new to the forums and I was wondering if there are any former atheists here who became Baha'i? And if so what is your story and reason for doing so?

cire perdue

Great queston! I would love to hear the answer..........

arthra

Welcome to the Forum!

I know I went through what I would call a stage of atheism when I was growing up.. Mostly it was a rejection of the commonly held perspectives of God most people had around me... On becoming a Baha'i I realized that God was not what most people believe:

The pictures of Divinity that come to our mind are the product of our fancy; they exist in the realm of our imagination. They are not adequate to the Truth; truth in its essence cannot be put into words.

Divinity cannot by comprehended because it is comprehending.

Man, who has also a real existence, is comprehended by God; therefore, the Divinity which man can understand is partial; it is not complete. Divinity is actual Truth and real existence, and not any representation of it. Divinity itself contains All, and is not contained.

~ Abdu'l-Baha, Abdu'l-Baha in London, p. 22

Lunitik

I was atheist and through trying to discredit Baha'u'llah, I was presented with many proofs from many different faiths/religions which for me provided proof of God - something I am very grateful for.

BruceDLimber

Please check around in various Baha'i forums, and sooner or later you'll run across someone with the screenname "Booko."

She's a former atheist who's now a Baha'i.

Good hunting! :-)

Bruce

cire perdue

Lunitik,
Would you say more about that?
Regards, Cire or sometimes Seared by the Fire

RuhiWarrior19

I was born into a family of atheists. On my father's side his mother and siblings were all born in the Church (Roman Catholic) and baptized, and attended during at least their childhood. Today they are mostly atheists, and I was raised without any religious training.
I was aware of religion and educated to some degree in the beliefs, commonalities, and differences between the various religions. I did not however become a Baha'i directly from atheism. I realized maybe two years before I began investigating the Baha'i Faith that I believed in a 'higher power' of some sort, a creative force. I crafted a set of beliefs that I thought made sense and I found attractive and non-offensive.

Eventually I began to investigate the Baha'i Faith. Nothing in it's teachings really contradicted what I believed, and those few things I disagreed with I found non-offensive. I was not interested in embracing a religion, so I accepted that the Baha'i Faith was the best possible option, "If I had to join a religion . . . ."

Then I attended a Baha'i event, the celebration of the first day of Ridvan. After reading 'Some Answered Questions' written by `Abdu'l-Baha, and meeting the friends, I realized that I was a Baha'i. Although I did not know everything the Baha'i Faith taught, and I did not know if I would agree with everything I would learn, I realized that I had fallen in love with the person of `Abdu'l-Baha and that I had internally accepted Him as the Perfect Examplar and someone who spoke with Divine authority. I barely even understood the Station of Baha'u'llah, but I knew there and then that I could not honestly claim not to be a Baha'i, whether I wanted it or not. I declared my Faith in Baha'u'llah on the ninth of Ridvan, and since then my understanding of the Faith has grown, and although difficult, I am sure that it was the right decision.

BruceDLimber

Good for you, Gerald! Wonderful to have you with us! :-) :-)

Bruce

Truthseeker96

I went through two stages before fining Baha'i , first i was looking for a faith some kind of truth to help fill a longing in my soul. I found Unitarian universalism that was my thing for a month intill i realized that nothing has change, i have move no closer to filling the hole, so then i started searching again and the. Started to see how horrible this world is, it was during the oil spill and the earthquake in Haiti. I saw images of death and started to feel sick while i thought about it more i just saw a hate , evil , and corrupt filled world. I would go off to my local river and wondered how people could be happy and hated everything. That lead to believe that there was no god and people are doomed to kill each another forever in this sad world. I became an atheist out of hate and confusion. Then i had an dream where my grandpa told me there was a god as he was dieing he told me to believe , i awoke from that dream crying and started to research all the religions i could find, thats when i found the Baha'i Faith. When i read about it eveything just clicked.

4ourbestoutcome

new user here and now this is a thread I feel I can respond to. I am exploring the faith and to try to explain my background briefly that has led me here: born R.Cath-not raised it>returned to it on my own in late teens>rejected RC for many reasons>joined Protestant churches for + 10 yrs and found it empty and going through motions>periods of believing in some kind of God but half agnostic almost or just angry at how can there be a God with such horror in the world>most recent interest in Eastern religions but find it complicated too. Want unity but not a forced ritualistic type thing. Have thought about UU but wonder if that's too all over the place. Want a faith that believes in God but welcomes other religions and might even allow me to feel comfortable acknowledging positive oriented writings such as in the Christian Bible or the Bhagavad Gita in Hinduism. So I'm here to learn if I'm in the right place.

Lunitik

Mind wants proofs before it will permit trust, Baha'u'llah provided that for me - or rather, scholars discussing proofs of Baha'u'llah provided that trust. The problem is that I began to realize mind was becoming fanatical about this, thus I began to delve deeper.

I saw that Baha'u'llah had spent much time with Sufi's, and I became curious - but where to start? I then saw Hazrat Inayat Khan in his autobiography saying that he has been urged by Abdu'l Baha to reveal a particular secret - I had found an entry point.

Inayat goes on discussing the oneness of God - Tawhid - and this began to change the way I looked at the world. It remained a concept, but I was becoming more open. I then saw a simple statement from Buddha essentially discussing the error of distinctions, that they must all be reconstituted... it culminated in the object/subject distinction, and I realized it too was false... God was the object, and I was the subject.

I died that day, and was resurrected as pure love.

Truthseeker96

4ourbestoutcome, sounds like a long journey, this is a very good place to learn about the faith. I hope you find what you are looking for.

tonyfish58

Welcome and best of luck with your search.

A lot of people are put off religion because of the bad in the world and what has been done in the name of religion.

It is important to look at the source, that is the pure word, It is here that each individual can choose what is right and what is wrong for themselves. It is also where you will find that God is One and Religions are indeed from the same source.

It is hard to grasp how big God & Creation is and how small we are in the big picture. We will never really grasp this.

I come to terms with the horrors of the world by the realization that it is all part of the cycle of material existence. Our true life is that of the spirit.The horrors of the world will decline when mankind connects to their spirit side and unify as one people.

Natural disasters are part of this world and will continue to happen. Our goal is to attire ourselves with all the virtues to prepare for the life of the spirit to come.

I hope your journey is rewarding - Regards Tony

arthra

Welcome 4ourbestoutcome!

Above you wrote:


Want a faith that believes in God but welcomes other religions and might even allow me to feel comfortable acknowledging positive oriented writings such as in the Christian Bible or the Bhagavad Gita in Hinduism. So I'm here to learn if I'm in the right place.

Well you are like me!

Years ago I discovered from reading the Bhagavad Gita (Prabhavananda/Isherwood translation) in a devotional at a Baptist church that people there appreciated the Gita even when they knew little about it so that began my search.. Finding that being Baha'i I did not have to reject Jesus or Krishna was a very important point for me in becoming a Baha'i!

You may enjoy the following:

Hinduism and the Baha'i Faith

4ourbestoutcome

Yes, like many, it's been quite a journey, and very many details are left out as to what led me away from being part of a Christian denomination.-- Some very unsupportive and negative experiences repeatedly and not isolated. It's hard to not have resentment, but same time, there are wonderful Christians too who do good work for people. When I was a kid, there was a man who would witness to people at a small shopping center. He was a genuine believer and he wasn't pushy. Yes, it bordered on that to some by his mere presence, but he didn't spout condemnation and REPENT spiels. He seemed to be concerned for other people. He seemed a Christian believer concerned for souls. Even when I was a "Christian" I never believed in a God that would allow people to burn for all eternity. I also find it terrible when one Christian sect declares another one false, etc.
I prefer to not feel I must attend a formal church building to feel "authentic" either. I have a harried work schedule so even finding an evening devotional group is a challenge. I like the idea of exploring on my own, and engaging in dialogue online, and being able to develop from there.
Thank you for the welcome!

4ourbestoutcome

Agreed-we'll never grasp many of the vast unknowns. I find our own earth fascinating and also look up at the night sky, see the planets, wonder what goes on there and all the other universes. I like that science and God aren't in conflict in Baha'i.

4ourbestoutcome

Totally awesome. I LOOOVE that link to the online book! Perfect for me as I do have interest in Hinduism but find it far beyond what I can practice or understand. I do like the Krishna avatar of God, and the man of Jesus. I like some of the other Hindu God forms, and that ultimately, worship of the avatars and for that matter, the aspects of God are also the worship of one ultimate God although it does not always seem that way. Baha'i seems to really allow unity.

BruceDLimber

Quote:

Originally Posted by 4ourbestoutcome I'm here to learn if I'm in the right place.

Well, I will say this:

While I would never presume to make your decision for you, I personally have never found a better place than this!

So welcome, and please feel free to check us out thoroughly and ask any questions you may have: we LOVE 'em! :-)

Here, BTW, is another great Baha'i area you may enjoy, one with lots of both Baha'is and others, and plenty of fascinating threads: the discussion forum at Planet Baha'i, which you can find here:

Planet Baha'i

And I wish you good hunting and all the best!

Bruce

4ourbestoutcome

Thank you tons! I discovered Planet Baha'i first in fact. Then I just googled "baha'i forum" and found here which looks very active, so I will probably hang out here more anyway! I have a similar user name there-had to alter for here, LOL as too many characters on the other with underscore use. I will ask plenty of questions in my time!