Can I ask what your religious (or non-religious) background was before Baha'i? Is Baha'i the only religion you have ever had?
I never had a religion before I became a Baha’i. My parents had been raised as Christians but they dropped out of the Church before we were born. As a result, I never thought about God or religion until my first year of college when I found out about the Baha’i Faith. Even after that, I was not very interested in religion because my life took another turn…
Fast forward to 2013 and I started reading and posting to Christians on forums, so I started learning about Christianity and the Bible.
As far as Christianity is concerned I see it in quite simple terms....God chooses us as much as we choose him.
The apostle John wrote Jesus' words in John ch 6....this is an important factor in our search for God....
"44 No man can come to me unless the Father, who sent me, draws him..."
"65 “This is why I have said to you, no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father.”
If God is choosing us, then if he sees potential in a person, he will open their hearts to his truth...it will be a little like the Apostle Paul's conversion when he was struck blind and where something like scales fell from his eyes so that he could 'see'. Saul of Tarsus died that day and the Apostle Paul was anointed to begin his new life. He was chosen. All of Christ's followers are "chosen" by God to understand his truth. Jesus said "you will know the truth and the truth will set you free"....that is the overwhelming feeling you get when it happens to you. It gives you an appetite for spiritual things that is almost insatiable. Some people never realized that they were so hungry!
History repeats itself, so every time a Manifestation of God comes to earth, only certain people recognize Him, and we could consider them the ones who are chosen, because there is more than free will involved when it comes to recognition. As you said, God draws you near.
The Baha’i Faith has a similar belief about being chosen, but rather than using the word chosen Baha’u’llah used the word guided.
“Great indeed is this Day! The allusions made to it in all the sacred Scriptures as the Day of God attest its greatness. The soul of every Prophet of God, of every Divine Messenger, hath thirsted for this wondrous Day. All the divers kindreds of the earth have, likewise, yearned to attain it. No sooner, however, had the Day Star of His Revelation manifested itself in the heaven of God’s Will, than all, except those whom the Almighty was pleased to guide, were found dumbfounded and heedless.”
Gleanings From the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh, p. 11
“So blind hath become the human heart that neither the disruption of the city, nor the reduction of the mountain in dust, nor even the cleaving of the earth, can shake off its torpor. The allusions made in the Scriptures have been unfolded, and the signs recorded therein have been revealed, and the prophetic cry is continually being raised. And yet all, except such as God was pleased to guide, are bewildered in the drunkenness of their heedlessness!”
Gleanings From the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh, p. 39
But I also believe that it works in reverse. If someone was once a faithful believer but has turned his/her attention to another 'truth', I believe that God will repel them.....they then join the other 'lost' ones who never quite find what they are looking for...probably because it doesn't exist.
I do not know exactly what happens to those who were once Christians and then rejected that Truth. I have a lot of friends in that category so I do worry about them. I recall a long time ago that a Trinitarian Christian told me on another forum that if someone was once a Christian and then they reject Jesus, the punishment is worse than had they never been a believer.
So what happens to those whom God does not ever draw, and who have not been granted an understanding of the truth?
That is an interesting question and I don’t think we have the answer. If God is fully responsible for drawing them to Him, and free will does not enter in, then how are they blameworthy? However, I don’t think it is all on God; as this passage indicates it is also on us, because those who make an effort will be guided if they have fulfilled the essential conditions of a true seeker (
bolded for emphasis).
“These are among the attributes of the exalted, and constitute the hall-mark of the spiritually-minded. They have already been mentioned in connection with the requirements of the wayfarers that tread the path of Positive Knowledge. When the detached wayfarer and sincere seeker hath fulfilled these essential conditions, then and only then can he be called a true seeker. Whensoever he hath fulfilled the conditions implied in the verse: “Whoso maketh efforts for Us,” he shall enjoy the blessings conferred by the words: “In Our Ways shall We assuredly guide him.””
Gleanings From the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh, pp. 266-267
Paul explains that there would be much religious confusion, an apostasy from the truth with even some claiming to perform miracles and such.....
That is interesting what Paul said about the confusion, because Baha'u'llah said pretty much the same thing and Baha’u’llah explained
why people are so confused about God (
bolded for emphasis).
“What “oppression” is greater than that which hath been recounted? What “oppression” is more grievous than that a soul seeking the truth, and wishing to attain unto the knowledge of God, should know not where to go for it and from whom to seek it? For opinions have sorely differed, and the ways unto the attainment of God have multiplied. This “oppression” is the essential feature of every Revelation. Unless it cometh to pass, the Sun of Truth will not be made manifest. For the break of the morn of divine guidance must needs follow the darkness of the night of error. For this reason, in all chronicles and traditions reference hath been made unto these things, namely that iniquity shall cover the surface of the earth and darkness shall envelop mankind. As the traditions referred to are well known, and as the purpose of this servant is to be brief, He will refrain from quoting the text of these traditions.” The Kitab-i-Iqan, pp. 31-32
This is why people can be so certain that what they believe is the truth....even if it isn't....its a delusion of their own choosing that they are permitted to keep.
They are permitted to keep it because free will is sacrosanct in God’s Eyes.
This is very confronting because it implies that if God considers us a lost cause because he sees a heart that cannot be reached with his truth, (no matter how many times they have heard it) then he will not bother to correct them or to draw them. They will still hear his message because it is being declared in all the earth, (
Matthew 24:14) but they will not respond, so he allows them to believe whatever they wish.
Logically speaking, God is omniscient so God knows everything, so God knows who will – of their own free will – choose to believe, and who won’t; so why would God bother drawing those who will reject Him? In so many words, Baha’u’llah said that those who have rejected the signs of God will not be guided. How can they be guided if they rejected the signs of God unless God overrode their free will choices?
"Some were guided by the Light of God, gained admittance into the court of His presence, and quaffed, from the hand of resignation, the waters of everlasting life, and were accounted of them that have truly recognized and believed in Him. Others rebelled against Him, and rejected the signs of God, the Most Powerful, the Almighty, the All-Wise.”
Gleanings From the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh, p. 145
If someone has the right condition of heart, then God will lead them to his truth...if not, then no amount of preaching will move them.
That is how I understand Christ's teachings.
I think that is part of the truth, but there is more to it since recognition of the truth involves both the heart and the mind.
On another note, today I noted to Israel Khan that the JWs are not far from what Baha'is believe about God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit.
#227 Trailblazer
I think the main points of disagreement between Baha’is and JWs are that (1) we believe in more than one Manifestation of God, and (2) we believe that the Christ Spirit has returned, and (3) we believe in a different kind of afterlife.
