If we pursue this subject we find there is a lot about this subject in the Baha'i writings. Thus there is more on this subject that has been disclosed than in other scriptures.
Baha'u'llah suffered for over 40 years and has said why he submitted to that path;
"The Ancient Beauty hath consented to be bound with chains that mankind may be released from its bondage, and hath accepted to be made a prisoner within this most mighty Stronghold that the whole world may attain unto true liberty. He hath drained to its dregs the cup of sorrow, that all the peoples of the earth may attain unto abiding joy, and be filled with gladness. This is of the mercy of your Lord, the Compassionate, the Most Merciful. We have accepted to be abased, O believers in the Unity of God, that ye may be exalted, and have suffered manifold afflictions, that ye might prosper and flourish. He Who hath come to build anew the whole world, behold, how they that have joined partners with God have forced Him to dwell within the most desolate of cities!" Love draws us towards the wisdom in suffering, we want to be moulded into better people.
A hidden word tells us why we are tested by suffering;
"O SON OF BEING! Busy not thyself with this world, for with fire We test the gold, and with gold We test Our servants."
We pray for suffering to be part of our journey, without suffering it is hard to grow spiritually;
‘Does the soul progress more through sorrow or through the joy in this world?’ ‘Abdu’l-Bahá.—‘The mind and spirit of man advance when he is tried by suffering. The more the ground is ploughed the better the seed will grow, the better the harvest will be. Just as the plough furrows the earth deeply, purifying it of weeds and thistles, so suffering and tribulation free man from the petty affairs of this worldly life until he arrives at a state of complete detachment. His attitude in this world will be that of divine happiness. Man is, so to speak, unripe: the heat of the fire of suffering will mature him. Look back to the times past and you will find that the greatest men have suffered most.’ (‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Paris Talks, p. 178)
But suffering, although an inescapable reality, can nevertheless be utilized as a means for the attainment of happiness. This is the interpretation given to it by all the prophets and saints who, in the midst of severe tests and trials, felt happy and joyous and experienced what is best and holiest in life. (Shoghi Effendi, Lights of Guidance, p. 280)
Personally the last decade has given me a path where the wisdom of this has become more clear. This passage full of wisdom;
"However afflictive your sufferings may be, stay ye undisturbed, and with perfect confidence in the abounding grace of God, brave ye the tempest of tribulations and fiery ordeals." (‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Selections from the Writings of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, p. 73)
True happiness is found by suffering;
‘Then it is impossible to attain happiness without suffering?’ ‘Abdu’l-Bahá.—‘To attain eternal happiness one must suffer. He who has reached the state of self-sacrifice has true joy. Temporal joy will vanish.’ (‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Paris Talks, p. 178)
Suffering
Susan has a good article on this subject;
Suffering Through Tests - Susan Gammage, Baha'i-Inspired Solutions
Regards Tony
I am really sorry I have to say this Tony, but the Baha'i Faith is the religion that has more platitudes and apologetics than any other religion.
In general some of what the Writings say about suffering might be true
for some people some of the time but it is not true
for all people all of the time, so the next thing I predict you will say is that it is their own fault that they cannot endure the suffering God throws at them because God only tests people according to their capacity. If that was
actually true, then there would be no suicides, so you just lost that argument..
Then we have the grossly unequal distribution of suffering... I am not going to say I have suffered more than anyone else because I am sure that is not true, but certainly most people have not suffered as much as I have.
I am not complaining, but logically speaking there is no way you can say that God is All-Loving when God allows so much suffering in the world... You can say it, but I will never believe it, nor will a lot of other people believe it just because it is written in a book that claims to be from God. Sorry, but that is not good enough, because what I see in the world does not align with what is written in the books. In short, if it does not pass the logic test, I am not going to believe it on faith alone.
My husband is also a Bahai, has been fro over 53 years, and we have this conversation often. He tries to be God's lawyer, but God does not need a lawyer, He just needs to get off His duff and help people in need. The fact that God does not do that is the evidence that God does not care if they suffer. I am not talking about ordinary suffering, minor inconveniences, I am talking about people who lose an entire family in a murder or a fire. Where was your Loving God then?
Let me make this perfectly clear. It does not matter to me one iota that there is an afterlife where people get recompense. There is no way to even know anything about the afterlife, another cheap trick God played on us. We are just supposed to believe the afterlife will be joy and gladness because that is written in a book. But given all the other promises from God that have not come true, the afterlife could well be just more suffering.
Let me make this perfectly clear. I have nothing but love and reverence for Baha'ullah and I do hold Him accountable for anything. Baha'u'llah was just like a mailman who brought the mail but God is the one who built and runs the post office. It is unfair to blame Baha'u'llah for what God has done, or not done. He was just the Messenger.
My husband often says I should just drop out of the Baha'i Faith because "I don't really believe it." But I do believe that Baha'u'llah was a Manifestation of God, so that is why I have not dropped out, yet. Baha'u'llah had good intentions when He wrote His Will and Testament but whatever happened after Baha'u'llah died was outside of His control, so I do not necessarily have to believe what Abdu'l-Baha or Shoghi Effendi or the UHJ wrote, not unless those Writings are congruent with what Baha'u'llah wrote. That is highly debatable as Abdu'l-Baha took a lot of literary license.
In short, only Baha'u'llah was a Manifestation of God. I am willing to look at what He wrote, but just as with the Bible, those Writings can mean different things to different people, and they will...
You said: "
We pray for suffering to be part of our journey, without suffering it is hard to grow spiritually;"
How many Baha'is do you think pray for suffering? Some of us don't have to. We are truly blessed.
The only thing is that we have been beaten down so bad that we can barely function at work and cannot do anything for the Faith or other people except online.
But suffering, although an inescapable reality, can nevertheless be utilized as a means for the attainment of happiness. This is the interpretation given to it by all the prophets and saints who, in the midst of severe tests and trials, felt happy and joyous and experienced what is best and holiest in life. (Shoghi Effendi, Lights of Guidance, p. 280)
The key words in that quote are "can be utilized." It may or may not be able to be utilized so I consider this a platitude. What has worked for some people does not work for all people. All quotes like this accomplish is putting a guilt trip on people who do not measure up, making them feel even worse. However, that is unavoidable because quotes like this were written for ordinary people, not for those afflicted with depression and anxiety. Those people can go to hell in a bread basket as far as God is concerned. They will get recompense in the afterlife.
"However afflictive your sufferings may be, stay ye undisturbed, and with perfect confidence in the abounding grace of God, brave ye the tempest of tribulations and fiery ordeals." (‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Selections from the Writings of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, p. 73)
Give me one good reason why we should have confidence in the abounding grace of God, other than what is written in books telling us about God. In other words, where is the evidence?
