What do you think of Baha'i Faith?
by Eyebrow2 36 Replies latest jw experiences
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Makena1
Over 25 years ago, I worked with a very nice man who was Baha'i. We had a number of spiritual discussions, and he was always very respectful of my beliefs at the time. His wife was baptist, which made life difficult for them both.
It seemed like he got time off for lots of religous holy days, days for fasting etc. I cannot add much to what others have posted about their beliefs. I showed another Baha'i person what was written in the Mankind's Search for God book and he said it was pretty accurate.
A family on our street is also Baha'i - nice people, just like a lot of other people in various religions. For me, at this point in my life, I have no use for any organized religion or cult who claims to speak for God. Especially one that would tell me I could not enjoy a nice cabernet with my steak! ; )
Mak
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Satanus
Hoob said:
'The basic problem of the Bahai faith is their doctrine that all religions are similar and come from the same God.'
I have to disagree w your conclusion, that this is negative. You see, it stops them from judging everyone else and feeling exclusive. It is probably the reason for them being nice people.
SS
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Abaddon
Saint Satan; you hit on the same phrase that jumped out at me in hooberus' post;
The basic problem of the Bahai faith is their doctrine that all religions are similar and come from the same God.
Literalism rears its ugly head again. Person of faith A (which is unprovable) assets how they are more right than faith B (which is also unprovable), and how ridiculous it is that faith B believe that all faiths come from god, when their literal interpretation of the sacred book of the culture they happen to have grown up in leads them to believe otherwise.
To me faith B is more honest. They don't think they are right and everyone else is wrong as they realise it is impossible to accurately determine the validity of such statments without god actually appearing and adjuducating, and that as this never happens it is best to recognise the fundamental similarities between faiths as a sign of union, rather than the differences as as pretexts to set one faith above another.
Now, if a materialist/atheist/evolutionist/humanist were to assert that they were right and hooberus was wrong, hooberus wouldn't like it. Why it's okay for hooberus to do this to others, well, maybe hooberus can let us know...
(P.S. hooberus, you know perfectly well I respect your right to an opinion, but I am curious as to how you justify this stance other than on presuppositionalist faith.)
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NeonMadman
Literalism rears its ugly head again. Person of faith A (which is unprovable) assets how they are more right than faith B (which is also unprovable), and how ridiculous it is that faith B believe that all faiths come from god, when their literal interpretation of the sacred book of the culture they happen to have grown up in leads them to believe otherwise.
It seems to me, though, that the essence of believing in something (having "faith") is believing that what you believe is really true. Doesn't matter what it is, the Bible, the Koran, science, atheism, little orange men living on Pluto - whatever. If you believe that little orange men live on Pluto - if you really have faith in that - isn't there an automatically inherent implication that anyone who denies that there are little orange men living on Pluto is wrong? If you believe that all faiths come from God, doesn't that imply that someone who believes that some faiths come from God and others do not - or that some come from the Devil - is wrong?
Whether a faith is provable or not isn't the issue; by definition a religious faith is not provable. If it were, no faith would be needed. Faith is personal assurance of what we cannot prove.
That's why I have such a problem with the postmodern maxim, "It's OK to believe that you're right, but it's wrong to believe that others are wrong." The statement is self-falsifying. If you really believe that you are right about anything, then you must believe that those who disagree with you are wrong. Otherwise you don't really believe, or else you lack the courage of your convictions.
And. frankly, that's how the universe is. Some things are true, and others are not. No matter how sincerely you believe that following I-95 will get you from New York to Chicago, you aren't going to get there by following that route. All the faith in the world won't make it true, if it's not. Nor is it a question of selecting the route that's "right for you". If you want to get to Chicago from NYC, I-95 won't do it, no matter how good it makes you feel to follow it. It does no good to assert that all paths are equally valid. They aren't. You might really enjoy your drive down I-95 (though I can't see how ), but the trip will never, ever bring you to Chicago.
Similarly, one who really believes that Jesus Christ is the only way to God (John 14:6) must of necessity deny the validity of any other path. To acknowledge that there may be other paths to God would negate the words of Jesus, and thus, the basis of Christianity. Now, you can argue that Christianity is wrong about that if you want to. But to argue that both sides of the debate are "equally valid" just makes no sense.
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hooberus
Well said Neon.
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hooberus
Abaddon said: Now, if a materialist/atheist/evolutionist/humanist were to assert that they were right and hooberus was wrong, hooberus wouldn't like it. Why it's okay for hooberus to do this to others, well, maybe hooberus can let us know...
Many materialist/atheist/evolutionist/humanists here have asserted that I am wrong !! And while I disagree with them I have generally respected their right to their opinion (many times they never returned the same respect but instead engaged in name-calling, and insults).
I don't believe that I have ever said that it was not Ok for them to have their opinion, or that it was not okay for them to say that they are right and that I am wrong (though I disagree with their opinion). So I am not guilty of double standards.
Regarding my earlier statement:
I have some of their literature, I also talked to a friendy member recently. The basic problem of the Bahai faith is their doctrine that all religions are similar and come from the same God. Tha attempt is made to link all the prophets suh as Abraham, Jesus, and Mohammad, followed by theirs, into a chain of representatives of the same God. The problem with this is that while Jesus never contradicted Abraham, others who claimed to be prophets such Mohammad contradicted both Abraham and Jesus.
The statement is accurate, and does not depend on coming from a Christain perspective. Some of the religions and prophets that the bahai try to say come from the same God are in disagreement with each other on basic points such as whether Christ was the Son of God or not, and whether he was crucified or not. Prophets that teach such different things cannot all be representatives of the same true God. Prophet A. "messiah will be killed" Prophet B. "messiah will be killed by crucifixion" Prophet C. "There will be no messiah and he was not crucified" Prohpet D. "Prophets A, B, and C, are all representatives of the same true God and so am I." The law of non-contradiction shows that while prophets A and B could be representatives of the same true God, prophet C could not (this is especially apparent when we are dealing with major doctine). Also prophet D.'s status as a true prophet would be along with C. highly questionable due to his endorsement of C. The above points are logical and even if one doesn't believe in a crucified messiah as I do, one should agree that the above prophets could not all come from the same true God. Now back to my earlier post:The Old Testament teaches that the messiah will die for our sins.
The New Testament agrees and teaches that jesus died on the cross for our sins.
The Koran contradicts both of these and teaches that Jesus was not crucified. hense the Koran could not be from the same God. Also since the Bahai faith incorrectly teaches that all these messengers came from the same God, it is a mistaken religion.
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Carmel
As the only resident Baha'i on this board (that I'm aware of) I'd be happy to answer any questions you may have regarding the Baha'i Faith. My only response to the original post is that the reference to prophecying about 9-11 is not authentic nor is it in the lexicon of Baha'i beliefs.
carmel
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gitasatsangha
I looked into Bahai at one point, and I can honestly say every Bahai I met was a well educated, thoughtful person. They stress education, equality and peace. And in a large amount, they practise what they "preach", although I think they are too restrictive about some things (just as a former Witness). You might not believe that Baha'Ullah is a messenger of god, but one thing that is difficult to deny is the fact they they do actually live it, rather then just believe it.