What is your name? First name is fine
As per my Profile, that is me.
1. What religion do you practice and how did you come to practice it?
Baha'i and a very long story. In the end Faith is gifted. My wife found it in her heart by reading a prayer from the Baha'i Faith and after a while I read a book written by a follower called 'God Loves Laughter', which in turn changed my heart.
2. The frequency and types of prayer the person engages in?
We have daily obligatory prayers to perform. We Pray at least Dawn, noon and evening. Mostly as much as we can when God comes to mind in our daily lives.
3a Same as above 3b. Why do you worship? 3cWhat do you preform during your worship services?
3B.To connect to the source of all Love.
3c. There is no set program. Obligatory prayer has ablutions and actions that must accompany the prayer.
4. What do you believe is the best lesson your religion teaches?
The Oneness of our God, the Oneness of His Messengers and the Oneness of Humanity. That no man should exalt himself above another.
5. What do you most disagree with about your religion, if anything?
Not a thing about the Faith. I would add that we as follows, are always the issue if anything is wrong.
6. What is one thing about your religion that affects your daily life and family life?
It is our life, we live for the Faith.
7. What does your faith teach about the nature of God or ultimate reality?
God is unknowable, above all knowledge. To be known he gives the Holy Spirit to a chosen Messenger in each age we need guidance. They are the Attributes. Thus we know of God only through them, by attributes and not by essence.
8. What does your faith teach about the truth of the human person? (ex. You are not who you think you are.)
We are Human in flesh with a Soul and Mind. Soul and Mind are not attached to the body and they will live past this life. This life is the Matrix of the Spiritual Worlds of God. We are here to gain the virtues which are our Spiritual Limbs.
9. What does your religion teach about the nature of the world?
Baha'u'llah will provide this answer. "Verily I say, the world is like the vapor in a desert, which the thirsty dreameth to be water and striveth after it with all his might, until when he cometh unto it, he findeth it to be mere illusion. It may, moreover, be likened unto the lifeless image of the beloved whom the lover hath sought and found, in the end, after long search and to his utmost regret, to be such as cannot “fatten nor appease his hunger.”
Gleanings From the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh Pg 328
0. What is your favorite religious text or passage? What is one story/message from this text that you remember having a strong impact on yourself?
"Be generous in prosperity, and thankful in adversity. Be worthy of the trust of thy neighbor, and look upon him with a bright and friendly face. Be a treasure to the poor, an admonisher to the rich, an answerer of the cry of the needy, a preserver of the sanctity of thy pledge. Be fair in thy judgment, and guarded in thy speech. Be unjust to no man, and show all meekness to all men. Be as a lamp unto them that walk in darkness, a joy to the sorrowful, a sea for the thirsty, a haven for the distressed, an upholder and defender of the victim of oppression. Let integrity and uprightness distinguish all thine acts. Be a home for the stranger, a balm to the suffering, a tower of strength for the fugitive. Be eyes to the blind, and a guiding light unto the feet of the erring. Be an ornament to the countenance of truth, a crown to the brow of fidelity, a pillar of the temple of righteousness, a breath of life to the body of mankind, an ensign of the hosts of justice, a luminary above the horizon of virtue, a dew to the soil of the human heart, an ark on the ocean of knowledge, a sun in the heaven of bounty, a gem on the diadem of wisdom, a shining light in the firmament of thy generation, a fruit upon the tree of humility. Gleanings From the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh Pg 285
11. Do you try to tell others about your religion? How might someone better understand your faith? In your opinion, what is the most common misconception about their faith?
Baha'u'llah has said; "Center your energies in the propagation of the Faith of God." (Bahá’u’lláh, Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh, p. 196)
The Guardian of the Baha'i Faith has provided further clarity to that answer;
"But he urges you to do all you can to always, however small the reference you are able to make to it may be, clearly identify or associate what you are giving out with Bahá’u’lláh. The time is too short now for us Bahá’í’s to be able to first educate humanity and then tell it that the Source is this new World Faith. For their own spiritual protection people must hear of the name Bahá’í—then, if they turn blindly away, they cannot excuse themselves by saying they never even knew it existed! For dark days seem still ahead of the world, and outside of this Divine Refuge the people will not, we firmly believe, find inner conviction, peace and security. So they have a right to at least hear of the Cause as such!" (Shoghi Effendi, The Compilation of Compilations vol II, p. 283)
12. Areas where your faith comes into conflict with modern culture?
Modern culture conflicts with Gods Message, it has rejected the elixir that it needs to find our Unity under One God.
14. How are you raising you children in this faith, if you have any?
We raised our Children with the Knowledge of all Faiths.
15. What are your beliefs on the after life?
Baha'u'llah will again answer this with a Hidden Word - “#32: O SON OF THE SUPREME! I have made death a messenger of joy to thee. Wherefore dost thou grieve? I made the light to shed on thee its splendor. Why dost thou veil thyself therefrom"
Baha’u’llah taught the existence of myriad “worlds of God”, including one we enter when we shed the physical form. But Baha’is also believe that the next life isn’t something we’re supposed to concern ourselves about in such a way that it reduces our life here to the status of a waiting room.
First of all, Baha’u’llah says that we can no more comprehend what that next existence will be like more than the child in the womb can conceive of life in this world, and for the same reason – we have no possible frame of reference. Baha’is believe that “afterlife” isn’t just a static place, but rather a progression toward God.
"And now concerning thy question regarding the soul of man and its survival after death. Know thou of a truth that the soul, after its separation from the body, will continue to progress until it attaineth the presence of God, in a state and condition which neither the revolution of ages and centuries, nor the changes and chances of this world, can alter. It will endure as long as the Kingdom of God, His sovereignty, His dominion and power will endure. It will manifest the signs of God and His attributes, and will reveal His loving kindness and bounty." – Baha’u’llah, Gleanings from the Writings of Baha’u’llah, p. 155
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"The nature of the soul after death can never be described, nor is it meet and permissible to reveal its whole character to the eyes of men. The Prophets and Messengers of God have been sent down for the sole purpose of guiding mankind to the straight Path of Truth. The purpose underlying Their revelation hath been to educate all men, that they may, at the hour of death, ascend, in the utmost purity and sanctity and with absolute detachment, to the throne of the Most High. The light which these souls radiate is responsible for the progress of the world and the advancement of its peoples. They are like unto leaven which leaveneth the world of being, and constitute the animating force through which the arts and wonders of the world are made manifest." – Gleanings from the Writings of Baha’u’llah, p. 155.
Regards Tony
