Sure, but if I decide that I find this particular piece of evidence not to be good enough, then it seems to me that you're implying that I won't find any other evidence good enough either, because the revelation of Baha'u'llah is the best we have... right?
No, that is not what I am saying. I am saying that *I consider* the Revelation of Baha’u’llah to be the *best evidence* but other people consider the Bible or the Qur’an or other scriptures to be the best evidence. It is kind of like I think Hondas are the best vehicles but other people think that Toyotas or Fords are the best vehicles.
That's true of many things. The part I'm not clear on is how anything written by a human being can be convincing evidence for God.
That is a good point, and I would be in full agreement with you IF I thought that Baha’u’llah was nothing more than a human being, because in that case there would be no good reason to believe He knew any more than anyone else, about God or anything else.
My belief all hinges on the belief that Baha’u’llah was a Manifestation of God (what I call a Messenger) and below is an apt description of the distinguishing characteristics between Him and an ordinary man.
A Manifestation of God is not an ordinary human being although he has a human nature. Manifestations of God possess two stations: one is the physical station, and one the spiritual. In other words, one station is that of a human being, and one, of the Divine Reality. Every Manifestation of God is a mirror of God, reflecting His Self, His Beauty, His Might and Glory. All else besides them are to be regarded as mirrors capable of reflecting the glory of these Manifestations Who are themselves the Primary Mirrors of the Divine Being,
The Manifestations of God are another order of creation above an ordinary man. Their souls had pre-existence in the spiritual world before their bodies were born in this world, whereas the souls of all humans come into being at the moment of conception. The spiritual world is where They get their special powers from God. They possess a
universal divine mind that is different than ours and that is why God only speaks to them directly and through Them God communicates to humanity.
Let's assume whatever you like about Baha'u'llah's character; how do you get from what he wrote to "... therefore God exists?"
... or even to "... therefore God probably exists?"
I can't see any way to do it, myself.
Let me try to explain this by telling you a story of my own experience, which is really all I have. I am sure that other Baha’is came to their conclusions about God in other ways. I think that everyone has to find their own way. Obviously some people never find a way, but I believe that all things are possible if only people keep trying, because I believe that God guides those who make an effort to believe.
Before I tell my story, I would like to say that it is not really Baha’u’llah’s character that is the best proof for me, it is what He wrote about God, and that is reflected in my story below. Of course, I am in awe of Baha’u’llah and His character, but that is a separate matter. Many men have a good character, but that does not make them a Manifestation of God.
Okay, here is my story. I might have told you some of this before and if so please bear with me till I get to the end. I was not raised in a religious home as both of my parents who were raised Christian dropped out of the Church before we were born. So I do not recall either parent talking about God and I never wondered about God. I just never thought about God.
Then during my first year of college, I heard about the Baha’i Faith and I was really curious so I read all the books that were available in English at that time. I was drawn to the teachings and I thought the theology made sense and I was drawn to the stories about the life of Abdu’l-Baha. At first, I could not believe it so I verified that Baha’u’llah was a real person by looking at the Encyclopedia Britannica. However, at that time I really did not understand what a Manifestation of God was. Nevertheless, I did not question that Baha’u’llah represented God. It could be that my mother, who retained a belief in God after she left the Church, had talked to me about God as a child but I cannot recall it. I know my father didn’t talk to me about God because he became an atheist after he left the Church.
What is important to note is that I did not
really believe in God back then, although I accepted that God existed, so my belief did not have much of an impact upon my life. Because of that and other personal problems I had at that time, I fell away from the Baha’i Faith for the most part for many decades, and as time went on I fell further and further way from it.
Yet I still believed that Baha’u’llah was a Manifestation of God, that never changed. I just did not want anything to do with the Baha’i Faith but I don’t remember exactly why. All I can remember is that I was really angry at God for many years because I thought God was punishing me in order to teach me a lesson, because a Baha’i who I thought knew more than me had told me that and I did not question it. Back then, I did not question everything the way I do now.
Anyhow, to try to make a long story shorter I came to a point in my life when nothing was helping me with the problems I had at that time so I decided that I wanted to do something different. It was not something I remember as being a conscious decision, but in retrospect I realized I was searching for something that could help me because despite all the counseling I had gone for no counselor had been able to help me with a specific problem that had tormented me for many, many years. Other than that problem, I was doing just fine, managing the many problems I had in my life quite well.
So one day I did a Google search for something related to my particular problem and I ended up at Planet Baha’i. The rest is history. Mind you, I had never been on an internet forum before that time. So I got to know some Baha’is and started to change my attitude towards God, realizing that I had received false information about God punishing me; that was not the case at all, it was simply one Baha’i’s misinterpretation of the Baha’i writings that had led me astray for almost 10 years. So I started on the road to understanding more about God and what the Baha’i Faith actually teaches about God from Baha’is who had been actively involved in the Faith for decades.
I was learning more about God from Baha’is but I was not reading much for myself because I was not motivated to and I was too busy on forums. In June 2013 I endured a crisis of astronomic proportions and I have no idea how I got through that. But still, I do not recall that I had much of a connection to God, or a real understanding of God.
It was not until June 2014 when that all changed by a life-changing spiritual experience. An intuitive part of me was telling me I had to do something different than I had done a year before, so I asked my husband to give me a book called Gleanings so I could read it while I was riding the bus to and from work. On the way home from work that day, I was reading Gleanings from the beginning and I never recalled reading that part before.
Anyhow, it suddenly hit me that Baha’u’llah was speaking for God, and from that day on I was never the same. I now
knew God existed, I did not just believe it half-heartedly. I now wanted to read everything I could that Baha’u’llah had written but my main focus was on Gleanings and The Kitab-i-Iqan because these books contain what is most important to understand about God and Manifestations of God I read both books over and over until the main concepts were firmly planted in my mind.
After this spiritual experience in June 2014, I got more serious about the forums I started my own forum in October 2014, which was very active for a while until I ventured off to another forum, the one that was comprised of mostly atheists. I never knew anything about atheists before I went to that forum because you do not meet many atheists in the United States and I am not very social. On that forum, I started to get questions from many atheists and some Christians, so I had to look things up in the books and explain things to people, and that further solidified what I already knew from my reading.
So I just continued to learn more and more and this became my passion, although I still had many things to tend to in my real life. I still never got involved with bahais in muy community but the reasons why are complex and somewhat private. Suffice to say, I met many Baha’is on forums so I had a lot of contact with Baha’is, as well as with my husband who is a very strong Baha’is. I will add that despite the fact that I now knew God existed I still has issues with God, for the same reasons some atheists have issues with the idea of God. I could not understand why a loving God allows suffering for example, not just mine which has been extensive, but suffering in general.
As time marched on and I posted to more and more people on forums, I came to make peace with suffering. Although loving God is still not easy for me, I do not hate God anymore, and I kind of like Him. Not only that, I have total faith that whatever happens to me now is the Will of God and I simply accept that rather than fighting it. My life is no picnic but with God I can endure it a lot better than ever before. Before, I would worry about the future all the time, but now I just live one day at a time. Other people and my animals matter most to me. I do not feel a need for anything for myself so I am not disappointed that I presently have no time for myself. This too shall pass if it is meant to be. I have no idea what the future holds.
