I am very disheartened right now by recent forum activities I have been engaged in on other forums. Over the years I have posted more to atheists and agnostics than to religious people, and I prefer posting to them because I think they are more rational than religious people, other than Baha’is. I cannot see rationality in any religion other than the Baha’i Faith. All I see are outdated religious traditions people cling to for dear life just because they are comfortable with them, as if religion is a pair of shoes you pick out according to what fits. Does anyone care about the Truth from God, or even what might be the Truth?
It seems as if every time I start posting to Christians I get frustrated about teaching the Faith at all because I feel utterly hopeless. It is not that I am trying to convert anyone, quite the contrary, but there does not seem to be any common ground at all. It is all about their Church doctrines they accept without question and this is because of how they interpret the Bible. They say “the Bible says” but the Bible does not say anything; they interpret the Bible to mean what they think it means and then they say it means what they think it means. Yet they cannot understand this is what they are doing when I point it out.
Their interpretations of their scriptures make it utterly impossible for them to ever see the claims of Baha’u’llah as being true. This is also the case with Jews and Muslims, but I do not post to them much since there are not many of them on forums and I do not know their scriptures as well as I know the Bible. I do not know the Bible that well, but I know what it doesn’t mean because I believe the Baha’i Writings are the Truth. It is very frustrating to be in this position and difficult to not come across as arrogant, whenever I say the Baha’i Faith is the newest religion from God and I believe the older religions are outdated. I do not think I am arrogant just because I believe the older religions are not pertinent to this new age; I just wonder why more people cannot understand that. I guess I am just fortunate that I was able to find the Baha’i Faith and recognize it as the Truth immediately. I think that was because I was not be blinded by another religion since I had no religious beliefs before I became a Baha’i.
I am finally at the point of tears after hours writing to a Christian I have been posting to for five years. I feel like just taking my toys and going home but then I remember what Baha’u’llah wrote about teaching the Faith being the most meritorious of all deeds.
Can I suggest a different strategy?
Instead of talking to them about your faith, try talking to them about
their faith. If you have a certain Baha'i principle you wish to communicate, try doing so through the language of their own religion or scriptures. As an example I've had long discussions with Mormons on the concept of progressive revelation--a concept which their religion shares with us.
According to 'Abdu'l-Baha
“To be a Bahá’í simply means to love all the world; to love humanity and try to serve it; to work for universal peace and universal brotherhood” and has said
"The man who lives the life according to the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh is already a Bahá’í." So why focus on Baha'u'llah and station, when you could alternately talk principles?? If through talking to you a person begins to apply Baha'i principles to their life while still practicing Christianity or Islam or any other faith, then that person is, according to 'Abdu'l-Baha, our brother or sister in religion regardless of outward forms.
The fact of the matter is that humans are tribal. If someone thinks you are trying to get them to reject their tribal group, then
natural human instinct will give them a negative emotional response to what you are saying, regardless of how rational it might be. Heck, I've even seen some atheists out there who are so attached to the concept of atheism as a tribal identity that they become far more dogmatic and close-minded than many theists.
But as Baha'is we're to strive for unity, so I feel we should be trying to work past tribal identities. If someone adopts Baha'i principles but rejects identifying with the Baha'i tribe, so be it. Difference in names are not true differences.
If you need help identifying Christian scriptures that cover Baha'i concepts, I can probably point you to something.
There isn't a single universally accepted standard for the status of a 'Son of God' that Jesus meets.
I mean, you're right of course,
but I've never understood why there are so many ideas on what "Son of God" means by Christian sects when their text spells it out rather plainly.
"Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called the Sons of God." or
"I said you are gods, you are all Sons of the Most High."
but if we are to be faithful to the Covenant of Baha'u'llah, we cannot believe that the body of Jesus rose from the grave, since Abdu'l-Baha clearly stated that it did not.
I don't think that is necessarily true. Certainly, 'Abdu'l-Baha gives a symbolic meaning to the meaning of the Resurrection. But can a thing not be both literal and symbolic at the same time?? Certainly we can see a
lot of symbolic meaning within the life of the Bab, but we are certain these events happened nonetheless, even with the Bab's life's symbolic parallels to, say, Jesus or Husayn.
My own position on the nature of the resurrection is that it is definitely symbolic, and I have no idea if it was literal, as I wasn't there. I think it is possible that it could have happened, but I'd say the symbolism is more important then the question of whether-or-not a thing literally occurred.
