Are you living the life you want?

[Vinayaka]

The fact that I'm poor and broke helped me overcome obstacles. And now all I need is money.

It's an incredibly useful experience, in my view. When times get tough, you know what to do, or at least you're better prepared than those who haven't experienced it.

 

[Trailblazer]

Sounds like hell to me.

That is EXACTLY what it is.

 

[Wildswanderer]

That is EXACTLY what it is.

I thought your religion didn't believe in hell.

 

[syo]

How did being poor and broke help you overcome obstacles?
You can always get money but you usually have to earn it.

The fact that my money were extremely limited gave me less options. The options that I couldn't get, it seemed that I didn't need them in the first place. For example, I couldn't do ''shopping therapy'' (thank god).

 

[Trailblazer]

OK. Perhaps I misunderstood you. I thought that you were expressing discontent over the conflict between your religious beliefs and your desires. You cited several Christian scriptures advocating a life of abstinence and withdrawal, and seemed to say that Baha'u'llah had made similar statements which you saw as confirmation of their validity. You seemed to be in conflict over instructions to not be a part of the world (I'm still not sure what that means, but I understand it to mean 'just say no' to what's going on outside one's religious community).

Now, you're showing me something different, more in accord with what what I would advise, and what seems to me to be a contradiction of Jesus's advice.

Jesus gives a lot of advice. If you look in the Bible you will also find more practical advice. Not all scriptures are like the ones I cited. I guess that since I tend to be rather ascetic and I want to follow what 'I believe' God wants for me I am drawn to scriptures that support that view, whereas most Baha'is are not like me and even most Christians have a more balanced view, as @1213 said in post 80. It is not that we cannot enjoy life, but we are supposed to put God first.

This is what has me confused. What did you understand those scriptures from Jesus to mean that you quoted them as if you considered them wise?

I understand them to mean that we are not supposed to be attached to the things of the material world and our life in this world including the physical pleasures. That does not mean we cannot enjoy them though. I was never a Christian so I don't know all of what Jesus said in the Bible so I don't know verses that give different advice. I guess you might say I was cherry-picking to make a point. On the other hand, I don't think the scriptures of any holy books are going to encourage people to eat, drink and be merry.

I cited a Christian scripture that said to not plan for one's future as an example of what I consider bad advice coming from the same source you quoted earlier, which is why I don't consider it a good place to go for life advice.

If Christians took the scripture you cited to mean we should not plan for the future that would not be very good advice, as it would be foolish to not even think of the future at all. I think Jesus meant that we need to do what we need to do each day and not worry too much about what will happen tomorrow. Even though I never did any active planning the way you did, I lived the latter half of my adult life with my eye towards the future and that is why we have so much money and investments. As such I could go anywhere I want to now if I did not have my husband and the cats to think about. My financial adviser has told me that most people are nowhere near prepared for retirement as we are and he told me that over 20 years ago!

It seems that your unhappiness might not be related to "the world," but to these kinds of matters at home. I understand why they might take a toll on you. And maybe why you wanted to start this thread. When I thought that you were under the spell of bad religious advice creating cognitive dissonance, I thought that you could benefit by seeing it as an impediment and learning to disregard some of it. But these are different types of matters that are approached differently, and I trust you will - acceptance. Your religion will likely help you with that. Good luck.

You are very astute. No, my problems have nothing to do with "the world". My problems are related to issues I have in my life related to my house, rental houses, my marriage and my job. Right now my job is on the forefront so I cannot deal with those other things. I know myself well enough to know how much I can handle at once and still stay focused on what I need to do. I am good at setting priorities and following through on them.

That said, my religious beliefs do affect what I decide to do about my life circumstances and that is why I posted what I did in the second part of my post. maybe subconsciously I was looking for people who would say it is okay to enjoy the things of thew world, as long as they do not intervene between me and God. I guess that because they did intervene in the past I was worried that they could intervene again, but now I realize that is not going to happen because I was a different person back then and I had no connection with my religion or with God. The way I am now thinking is that if anything God wants me to be happy and have more of the worldly enjoyments for myself because I tend to deny myself so much. I cannot blame that on God or scriptures because that is my own psychological problem.

It is not only a psychological problem but it is according to my personality type that I have confusion and conflicts, and that is why it is so difficult form me to decide what to do! Other personality types just don't understand why it is so difficult for us to plan and decide what to do. The following article describes me to a tee.

The INFJ is thought to be the rarest Myers-Briggs personality type, making up only 1-3 percent of the population. “INFJ” is an initialism that stands for Introversion (I), Intuition (N), Feeling (F), and Judgment (J), which describes the INFJ’s core characteristics. Both introverted and people-oriented, emotional and rational, thoughtful yet at times spontaneous, INFJs can feel like walking contradictions. They read others well and easily “see behind the mask” that people unconsciously wear; ironically, however, INFJs may struggle to understand themselves. Their reactions and behavior sometimes confuse even their own sharp intuition.

10 Secrets of the INFJ, the Rarest Personality Type in the World

P.S. While riding on my elliptical machine last night I was reading an article in the International Living magazine I subscribe to entitled "Central Mexico's Healing Mecca by the Lake" and it made me think of you. It sounds like such a wonderful place to live, and I would like to come down there someday, after the pandemic has died down. Costa Rica is also a great place to live, but I am mostly concerned about the language barriers whenever I think of living in countries south of the border.

 

[Trailblazer]

I thought your religion didn't believe in hell.

Oh yes, we believe in hell, although we do not believe that hell is a geographical location such as a fiery pit.

This short three minute video explains what Baha'is believe about the afterlife.

 

[Trailblazer]

The fact that my money were extremely limited gave me less options. The options that I couldn't get, it seemed that I didn't need them in the first place. For example, I couldn't do ''shopping therapy'' (thank god).

I went through a period for about seven years after I lost my job due to state budget cuts and was demoted into a much lesser paying job. During those years I never went anywhere except to work and school. I never went out to eat or to movies or shopping for anything I did not need such as groceries. I finally procured a better job and had more money but I never went back to my previous lifestyle. Even though I could afford to do those things I realized I did not care about doing them anymore. I have a lot more money now mostly because of investments I have made but I have no interest in buying things I do not need. I am perfectly content to have 1986 and 1999 Hondas which cost next to nothing to maintain.

 

[Wildswanderer]

Oh yes, we believe in hell, although we do not believe that hell is a geographical location such as a fiery pit.

This short three minute video explains what Baha'is believe about the afterlife.

Well it seems that Baha'is is a religion that is mostly just paraphrasing the Bible, but the idea that you can work for salvation is messed up.
You cannot earn heaven. It's clearly a gift according to scripture.

 

[Trailblazer]

Well it seems that Baha'is is a religion that is mostly just paraphrasing the Bible, but the idea that you can work for salvation is messed up.
You cannot earn heaven. It's clearly a gift according to scripture.

No, we are not paraphrasing the Bible but the fact that the Baha'i teachings sound similar to the Bible that is because spiritual truth does not alter over time, so the spiritual teachings are similar.

As regards salvation, we do not believe that is earned. Salvation is a separate subject from what the video described about spiritual development and nearness to God.

It is important to note that salvation is not the same as eternal life. Jesus told us what we need to do in order to attain eternal life, believe in Him and lead a righteous life:

John 3:16: For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

1 John 5:13 I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life.

Matthew 25:45-46 Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me. And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.

Regarding salvation, Baha’is do not believe in original sin, so we do not believe there was ever a penalty to pay for the actions of Adam and Eve. Therein lies one difference between Christianity and the Baha’i Faith beliefs. However, we do believe that we inherited the propensity to sin from Adam. We believe that when Adam was born and entered the human world, He came out from the paradise into the world of bondage, the material world. From the spiritual world, in the height of purity and absolute goodness, He entered into the world of good and evil, the material world... This attachment to the material world, which is sin, was inherited by the descendants of Adam... It is because of this attachment that men have been deprived of essential spirituality and instead have the propensity to sin.

Baha'is believe that the remission of sins is the remission of our sinful nature that intervenes between us and God.

The following quote explains what Baha’is believe Christ did to save us from our sinful nature (remission of sins). Christ gave us His teachings (profusion of His bounties) and then later died on the cross (suffered the greatest martyrdom) so we could be free of sin and attain everlasting life. Christ freed us from the chains of bondage to the material world. It was the Word of God as well as the cross sacrifice that freed us from the chains of bondage to the material world and that is how we are saved from attachment and sin.

“…those who turned toward the Word of God and received the profusion of His bounties—were saved from this attachment and sin, obtained everlasting life, were delivered from the chains of bondage, and attained to the world of liberty. They were freed from the vices of the human world, and were blessed by the virtues of the Kingdom. This is the meaning of the words of Christ, “I gave My blood for the life of the world” 6 —that is to say, I have chosen all these troubles, these sufferings, calamities, and even the greatest martyrdom, to attain this object, the remission of sins” Some Answered Questions, p. 125

 

[Wildswanderer]

It is important to note that salvation is not the same as eternal life.

Of course it is. It's also salvation from the penalty of sin. No one is entirely sinless after salvation but we are free to not give into temptation through the Holy Spirit working in us.