The issue I struggle with most is the slow growth of the Faith in the West and the perilous state of humanity. I believe Baha'u'llah is the Divine physician for this day, but humanity appears unwilling or unable to accept the medicine that God has prescribed. So I'm frustrated with humanity and even more frustrated with myself.
Yes, slow growth is a huge problem. I first learned of the Baha'i Faith when some Baha'is were quoting Pilgrim Notes about the "lessor peace" being established before the year 2000. And even though Baha'is say that Pilgrim Notes are not authoritative, it looks bad when a "prophesy" we can all see and verify doesn't come true.
I also struggle with the slow growth of the Faith in the West but who is really to blame for it when the UHJ considers community building more important than teaching the Faith? Most Baha'is just follow along and do what they are told to do, and that can even be used as an excuse not to teach.
Yes, there was a request for a certain amount of people to give $50 each, and by doing that, the next building could get built. I knew a Baha'i who gave the $50 and not long after more money was asked for.
1. Many people have never heard of the Baha’i Faith, so they do not know there is something to look for. It is the responsibility of the Baha’is to get the message out, so if that is not happening, the Baha’is are to blame. However, there are so few Baha’is and they are busy building the New World Order, and there is only so much time, so they can only do so much.
In the 70's, as I've mentioned before, my Baha'i friends were constantly going on teaching trips. All Baha'is, I was in Southern California at the time, knew about the need and importance of teaching. I even went with them several times.
The problem... it was too much like what other proselytizing religions do. They went to a minority community, sometimes Black, sometimes Hispanic, sometimes it was an Indian Reservation. An evening meeting was set up with food, a short film about the Baha'i Faith, some music and a speaker. The Baha'is, mostly young people went out and knocked on doors and invited people to the meeting... a meeting about the Baha'i Faith. Most of the people then asked, "What is the Baha'i Faith?" That was the opening that allowed them to start "teaching". So the people heard the basics, but very few came to the meetings. And even fewer joined. And even fewer remained members. This was called "Mass Teaching" and if they got several people to "sign" a declaration card, it was thought to be a great success. The ones I went to usually got less than four people.
2. But even after people know about the Baha’i Faith, most people are not even willing to look the evidence in order to determine if it is true or not.
The "evidence"? You know the problem... Has Baha'u'llah fulfilled the "prophecies"? Yes, for you, but no for others. Is he the return of Jesus? No, he's the return of the Christ spirit. The one I always ask, Jesus said there will be wars and rumors of wars but that is not yet the end. Baha'is give their interpretation of that, but it is still not fulfilling exactly what Jesus said. So, it leaves questions and reasons to doubt. Like... the "lessor Peace" question. When will it be established? What can Baha'is say? Someday? That the Pilgrim Notes were wrong? But that was Baha'is quoting things that Shoghi Effendi had said?
3. Even if they are willing to look at the evidence, there is a lot of prejudice before even getting out the door to look at the evidence.
I'd call them "pre-conceived" beliefs based on the interpretations of the religious teachers they follow. I'm not even a Christian and I don't believe in the Baha'i interpretations of the Book of Revelation. The three "Woes" are manifestations? And then there's the "comforter" being Baha'u'llah? Sure, easy for you to see that, but for a Christian, the comforter is the Holy Spirit. And who is this "Holy Spirit" to them? Well, he's, or it, is something that Baha'is tell them is not true, he is God... along with Jesus and the Father. And, I'd imagine, every religion has little things they believe to be true that Baha'is believe to be false. So, in the end, a person has to reject part of what their old religion has taught them.
4. 84% of people in the world already have a religion and they are happy with their religion so they have no interest in a “new religion.”
Statistics? I'll give you my "statistics" based on seeing and talking to a few people. Most all of them go to a church and sit there and then go home. Most of their kids are bored silly sitting their. Most all of them do very little to live or promote the life that their religion teaches. A life of loving, giving, helping others... and a live of not "sinning". Most all young people, it was actually all of them that I knew, broke the "chastity" laws. So if they "preached" about God, they were being hypocritical. Unfortunately, it was the same for the Baha'i young people I knew also. So is the religion livable and practical?
5. The rest of the world’s population is agnostics or atheists or believers who are prejudiced against all religion.
Baha'is say not have "superstitious" beliefs. That beliefs must go hand and hand with science. Yet, Baha'is say God is an unknowable essence. How you going to prove that? By his manifestations? We aren't even sure if some of the old ones were real or just made up. Then, even with Jesus, we don't even know what he really said or did. And, if we go by what the Baha'i Faith tells us, most of the stuff was probably embellishments.
6. Agnostics or atheists and atheists and believers who have no religion either do not believe that God communicates via Messengers or they find fault with the Messenger, Baha’u’llah.
It's not that hard to find "fault" with any of the manifestations. Were they "perfectly" polished mirrors? Yet, some of them killed people, told lies, had multiple wives etc.
7. Baha’u’llah brought new teachings and laws that are very different from the older religions so many people are suspicious of those teachings and/or don’t like the laws because some laws require them to give things up that they like doing.
The laws are too similar to Islamic laws. How are Baha'is going to enforce laws about sex and drinking? Even where the death penalty was used by God, people still disobeyed "God's" laws. Without people following all the laws, how is there ever going to be a just, peaceful world?
Then their is the average life of an average Baha'i. In the U.S. what do Baha'is do? How many "live" the life? How many go to feast? How many teach the "Cause"? I saw the Baha'i community back in the 70's and 80's, there was not perfect harmony. There were problems. And who "fixed" the problems? Going to the local Spiritual Assembly". Having a Counselor step in? I was there when the "Dialogue" magazine thing happened. I met one of the editors. An article on how to "fix" the problems got them all in trouble with the National Spiritual Assembly. So if things aren't "perfect" some people are going to join and get disillusioned... same as with most all other religions. So why change from one religion that doesn't quite work to another one that promises to have all the answers, and that is the "remedy" for all the ills of society, but, in actuality, it still has the problem of people not being perfect. People that say one thing but do another. People that say a "new" day has dawned, but are still living like all the people that are living in the darkness? But, I think you know all that. So how do you fix it?
