29 November 2006

The Challenge of the Baha'i Faith

A friend sent me a paper called, The Challenge of the Baha'i Faith, which was a section of a doctoral dissertation written in 1974. The author is not a Baha'i. He lists several reasons why Christians have been studying this religion for the last 150 years and why they should still study it.

I found another paper on the Bahai.org website entitled, For The Student of Religion, which covers similar ground from a different angle.

Both of these papers assume that you are comfortable in Christianity and offer no reasons why you should change--just that you should be familiar with a religion that supports Christianity, has many similarities to it, and seeks to bring the religions together in a true ecumenical spirit.

Why am I doing this blog and creating these podcasts? If you are not yet a Baha'i, I don't want you to change your religion. I really don't. We're not about changing people. But if you aren't settled into a religion, it's just possible that we are the religion you're looking for--that your beliefs and goals are aligned with ours. Maybe you've been wandering from religion to religion always feeling a little different from the people you meet. Most Baha'is will tell you that they've always believed what Baha'u'llah taught; they just didn't know there was a religion that shared their beliefs.

We want to find those people. Maybe you, or maybe someone you know.

Let me hear from you,

Ron

26 November 2006

A Few Baha'i Writings

We had a request from a listener in Philadelphia to include some of Baha'u'llah's Writings in a podcast. It was really hard to select a few from so many. Baha'u'llah wrote over 100 volumes of which we have perhaps ten translated into English. We chose just a few favorite prayers and some of The Hidden Words to give a sense of the power of the Words of God. I'm sure that other Baha'is would have chosen other examples to read. Please go to www.Bahai.org and read the Writings for yourself. Or go to your library, or BahaiBookstore.com and buy yourself a copy. If you're not sure what book to buy, send us an email and let us know what you're interested in. We'll be happy to help.

Some of you might like to read some of the Writings that we quoted in this podcasts. If so, here's the PDF file of the script.

This podcast and all our other podcasts are just to get you interested to the point that you'll read the Writings on your own. If you're looking for religious truth, you will find it in the Baha'i Writings, but I can't tell you what religious truth is, you have to read it for yourself.

Baha'u'llah's Writings are unique in religious scripture because God is speaking in the first person. He says, "I created thee rich . . . " rather than the third person as in "God created you rich . . . " So it takes some getting used to.

Thanks for listening,

Sandy and Ron

18 November 2006

What we lost and found

Sandy and Ron, and three of our Emerald Coast Baha'is, talk about the things that Christians give up when they become Baha'is. This was a result of a question from one of our listeners. We felt that it was a fair question. The biggest fear for Christians is that somehow they are turning their back on Jesus Christ. I think it's fair to say that each Christian who becomes a Baha'i feels their relationship with Jesus is illuminated and expanded, but there are things we give up--or many of us give up--depending on who we are as a Christian.

Some of the speakers mentioned the book, Thief in the Night, by William Sears. This is an excellent book for people who are interesting in Christian prophecy. The book has a few errors since Mr. Sears used some secondary sources that weren't verified with the original texts. But overall it presents a good overview of the many, many prophecies.

Please let us hear from you if you have specific questions about the Baha'i life.

Remember that we're just Baha'is talking about our own ideas--these podcasts aren't the official position of the Baha'i Faith.

Thanks so much for listening.

Sandy and Ron