Faith

From a talk given by Leroy Ioas:

Every individual must fight with himself, must conquer himself, must overcome his lower nature, must overcome himself, and turn himself over to God so that the Holy Spirit can function through you. And when the Holy Spirit functions through you then you will gain victory after victory. Because the Holy Spirit is the creative aspect of God and it cannot do other than win
victories and make successes.

PR.com: And you’re a part of the Bahai faith. Is that your religion?
Eva La Rue: Yeah. We believe that everybody’s prophets came to teach basically the same word of God. We believe that there is one God, one people, one world and that everybody’s prophet is right and it’s the people that have sort of dogmatized [it] and religion has taken on a totally different meaning. They’re all at war with each other, but it’s the same truthful message. We basically believe that the reason there were different prophets in different parts of the world is because there were no telephones or newspapers. The only way to get your word out would be through human contact, so God put different prophets in different parts of the world so that everybody could have the word of God and that it’s the same spiritual truth.
PR.com: Were you born into the Bahai religion, or was it something that you discovered on your own?
Eva La Rue: It was something that, when I was a teenager, my mom discovered. You’re obviously born into a Bahai family if your parents are both Bahai, but you can’t become a Bahai until you’re fifteen. They don’t want you to be one just because you’re born one. They want you to make a personal, confident decision. You’re actually encouraged as a teenager to go and study all the religions and make a choice for yourself, and not just be a blind follower… of anything.
PR.com: With many of the people I’ve interviewed, I have spoken about various religions with them, whether because religion was a part of their public persona or just because it happened to come up in the conversation, and that makes more sense then just about anything I’ve ever heard as far as religion goes (laughs). That’s called using your brain.
Eva La Rue: (Laughs) It’s an educated choice. Somebody else choosing your religion for you just because you were born into it doesn’t make sense.

Ibelieve

Perspective.ppt

Education, Scholarship, and Global Civilisation.

Woman of light - Kerman - 1940

This is the century of light, it is evident that the Sun of Reality, the Word has revealed itself to all humankind. One of the potentialities hidden in the realm of humanity was the capability or capacity of womanhood. Through the effulgent rays of divine illumination, the capacity of woman has become so awakened and manifest in this age that equality of man and woman is an established fact

Man has to keep himself pure and clean bodily, mentally, and spiritually. Purity of body and mind is the best thing for man in life. It strengthens righteousness and sanctity…The fusion of the noble qualities both of the head and heart make the individual righteous….Without knowledge man is poor indeed, but without devotion he courts death in spirit. Knowledge teaches the spirit the philosophy of life, devotion lends to the spirit the zest to act it, and the true religion begins with this acting….Knowledge gives a right view of life, teaches man about his relations to his Heavenly Father and the universe, and creates ideals for him; but devotion strives to realize these. Knowledge is good, wisdom is better; but wisdom tinged with devotion is best….

by Arman Vaziri

Discovery

In studying the Bahai faith and the coming of Baha’u’llah, I realized that I really didn’t understand Christianity until I saw it in the light of Baha’u’llah’s coming.”

She says the beauty of the faith is its acceptance of all other faiths.

Arden Lee used her husband, Jack Lee, as an example.

“He has always loved and respected his Jewish background and realized what suffering his family has gone through,” said Lee, a 23-year-old student at the University of Nevada, Reno. “He was able to accept Christ, who came after Judaism and also recognize that Muhammad was a prophet, too. We learn about all the religions of the world as Bahais.”

TEHRAN - Mother of the World

Tehran is referred in Bahai' Writtings As:

the Sacred Land"
“the Mother of the World"
"the Abode of supreme blissfulness,"
"the holy and shining city,"
"the city in which the sweet savors of reunion have breathed"
"Rejoice with great joy, O Land of Tá, for God has made thee the dayspring of His light, inasmuch as within thee was born the Manifestation of His glory
"In thee, the Unseen hath been revealed, and out of thee hath gone forth that which lay hid from the eyes of men"
. Rejoice with great joy, for God hath made thee `the Dayspring of His light,' inasmuch as within thee was born the Manifestation of His Glory . . . Erelong will the state of affairs within thee be changed, and the reins of power fall into the hands of the people . . . The day is approaching when thy agitation will have been transmuted into peace and quiet calm.

A Story of Faith and human hearts

One of the young Baha'is of the city of Kerman in Iran had just started his mandatory military service in his town when one day he was approached by one of the mullas (priests) who are resident at Military Garrisons and provide
"spiritual guidance" to the soldiers. This mullah was referred to as Hadji and when he found out that this young man was a Baha'i, he approached him and instructed him to publicly announce at next morning's prayer assembly that he is a Bahá’í so that everyone would
know. The young Bahá’í obeyed and agreed to comply with this instruction.

So the next morning when all the soldiers assembled for morning prayers and received the day's instructions the young Baha'i went in front of the crowd and he announced that he has been instructed by Hadji to tell everyone that he is a Baha'i in case anyone would wish not to associate with him because of being a Baha'i. When he returned back to his duties, the Hadji approached him again and with great anger said, "I told you to only say that you are a Baha'i. I didn't ask you to give a lecture and tell them why, and now you have to be punished."

So the Hadji instructed the other men to throw the young Bahá’í into a toilet room and keep him locked there until further instructions. So they locked up the young Baha'i in a washroom and except for giving him a little food everyday, kept him locked up. Almost two weeks had passed from his detention when one night this young Bahá’í soldier had a dream of 'Abdu'l-Baha. In the dream 'Abdu'l-Baha addressed him with these words: "You have passed your test very well." The next morning, some soldiers opened the door and in great hurry took him to meet the Hadji. When they entered the room, the Hadji seemed very shaken and upset and with a trembling voice said: "The reason I released you from detention is that last night I had a very vivid dream in which a turbaned siyyid (a descendent of Muhammad) addressed me and said: 'Why have you imprisoned my son? You only have three days to release him and ask for his forgiveness.' "So I am releasing you," Hadji said, "and I am begging for your forgiveness and will not go until you have forgiven me." The young Bahá’í soldier said that
he has forgiven him. Exactly three days later the Hadji died and just before he died he had told the story to his wife and children and had said to them, "Follow the way and example of this youth for the rest of your lives."

By Kamran D

PILLARS OF LIFE

Lessons, articles, quotes, stories, memories and pictures about Faith, Friends and Families.