worshipping this Bahai picture?

[drew22]

This is one of the pictures of Bahaullah that is on the internet, Bahaullah is the prophet the Bahai faith.
The Bahais seem to be thinking that the picture that they have in Hafia, Isreal is different from this photo here. At first the Bahai were aware of the photo on the website Answering Bahaullah, however there is this even better photo.
The reason I put this here is because the Bahai treasure their photo that they have in the Holy Land and will not display it in public and keep it only for those who can go and see it, they claim that Bahaullah told them to only put his photo in the Bahai shrine in Hafia, Isreal. But really, they worship the photo by keeping it locked away, making it a mystery, many Bahais do not know what Bahaullah looks like. Even, really it is just a photo. And the world should know that you don`t have to go to the Bahai shrine to see it. Well the mystery is over, here is another photo I found at the Bahai sect, Reform Bahais

***MOD ADVISORY***
Image has been removed
​

 

[Popeyesays]

You're off the mark on several points.

1) The photo of Baha`u'llah is on display for anyone who visits the Archives Building, not JUST Baha`i's. It is also on public displays at proper occasions, the dedication of temples, the world conclaves when they occur, the last one is New York. By the way there exist not just photos, but a couple of portraits done by individuals who knew Him in life, and several informal sketches. None of them are published in anyway, but more than the photos are on display in the proper places and the proper times.

2) I was also aware of Mr. Glaysher's website--for many years actually. Mr. Glaysher requested to be taken off the membership lists, then recanted the desire but not the opinions that caused him to disenroll himself from the faith. He isn't a covenant breaker because he is not a Baha`i.

3) The photo displayed there is still a photo of a photo, and the reporudction is not very good. It certainly is not displayed in the proper reverence and respect.

4) Baha`i's will not routinely display portraits, drawings, stills from movies and pageants that represent ANY of the Manifestations of God--including Jesus, Abraham, Moses, Muhammad, Krshna, the Bab, Baha`u'llah, Buddha or Zoroaster. It is considered disrespectful. Nor would we allow any of those Holy Figures to be portrayed in movies or on stage--we do not even allow Abdu'l Baha to be depicted in movies or plays--or Shoghi Effendi.

5) If we considered your Maitreya a Manifestation we would not display his likeness either--except in the proper surroundings of reverence and respect. There are sufficient reasons we don't consider him to be such, but if we did, we would not display his picture inappropriately.

6) Baha`i's have been encouraged to keep pictures of Abdu'l Baha, since He is the Perfect Examplar of a Baha`i. This is at the direction of Baha`u'llah Himself. Shoghi Effendi discouraged believers keeping pictures of the Guardian, because he did not consider himself to be worthy of comparison to Abdu'l Baha.

7) It's simply a matter of respect, and I, for one, would ask the moderators to take down the photo out of respect for Baha`i belief.

This is the photo of Abdu'l Baha taken on the same day for the same reason as Baha`u'llah's portrait--an Ottoman passport.

 

[drew22]

Yes, all can view the photo of Bahaullah at the shrine if they have enough money to get there, but what would be the point the photo is all, all, over the internet, --It is over !!
Scott you should be up to some Hindu pratices, here listen to this:
when you have a guru (in the east), you will have a picture of your guru, some aspirants will cover the picture of their guru, if they feel someone is going to look at it, with, "bad vibes", so they will cover it. Now when they meditate they take the picture into their seventh chakra, thru visualization meditation, here they will try to receive the grace from their guru though this technique. So, then we can say that the a photo can be sacred. The reason I decided to put the photo of Bahaullah up is because the Bahais are unaware of the hindu yoga practice, and would I bet,, think it is silly, or even idol worship. It seems worst to me that the Bahai are still saying that the photo is only to be displayed at the shrine, they are not using it for anything else, and I just read that the Bahais should not go to the sites where the photo is shown, (the bad photo that is) so why are you here Scott, you are not allowed, to look at it, it could be , "bad?", for you.
Now at the Mission of Maitreya we use this same guru technique with a choice of three images, one is an actual photo of Maitreya.

What happened today ,was that I came across another photo of Bahaullah by accident at the Reform Bahai site,(and they hold the photo with great care, hey understand that !), then I was looking around and found the photo of Maitreya, the one used for the grace process and printed it out in full color.
So photos of great people should be treated with reverence, but that is for the person to do, I would think. It does not make any sense to, to try to control the photo of Bahaullah at this stage. If the headquarters of the Bahai Faith were so-called infallible they would display the photo on there site and let it go, the individual can just as well treat it will reverence, and so can the website they could put it on.
I`m not being mean to the Bahais, I am trying to show them reality, they should let the photo go. Let it go, after all, on the other hand it is only a photo, and as the Bahai are saying, when the photo is on the undesirable sites, then the photo, it can only, then be to the Bahais, just a photograph, because they would have the real thing at the shrine in Israel. And I still don`t understand why the UHJ states that the accused photo is a bad reproduction, what would it matter, and it probly isn`t.


[SIZE=+0][/SIZE]God is teaching us !

Drew

 

[Popeyesays]

You're still of the mark, Drew. The photo is not displayed at a shrine. It is displayed in the Archives Building along with original handwriting and original dictated documents. About fifty thousand Baha`is a year go on pilgrimage, nine out of ten of those are on pilgrimage the first time. It's also viewable by those who visit the World Center as tourists, and to those who live in Israel and wish to go there. The Archives Building is not a shrine. The Shrine of the Bab and the Mansion of Baji do not have likenesses of the Bab or Baha`u'llah within them, though they are the final resting places of the Manifestations. The bodies are not on display either. Abdu'l Baha is also laid to rest in the Shrine of the Bab, and there is a photo of him nearby but outside the shrine.

The only other pictures in a temple or shrine are depictions in calligraphy of the Greatest Name. No other visual art is allowed in those places.

(Greatest Name: Ya Baha`u'l'abha)

As to the quality of the photo, try this for an experiment. scan a photo of yours into your computer files. Now print that photo and scan the print out. Put that on another computer file and print it out. Repeat the process twice. Now compare your original photo to the fourth generation copy and see how bad that fourth generation copy is.

You can do this with a text file and see the same kind of degradation by the fourth generation.

Don't tell me you can't. I used to be in the print trade, and I am quite convinced as to the truth of it. I would never allow someone to bring in a third or fourth generation xerox to be used as the original of a print run of a document. Why? It looks like hell, and they blame the printer for the poor quality.

Anyway, no one in the faith has any control over what you do, or Imranshaykh (the owner of BahaiAwareness, or Fred Glaysher, the owner of the Reform site. It's their business, but no one in the faith is going to display a portrait of Baha`u'llah, or even a picture of Jesus routinely. It's not done. It's disrespectful.

 

[Ruth White]

You're off the mark on several points.

2) I was also aware of Mr. Glaysher's website--for many years actually. Mr. Glaysher requested to be taken off the membership lists, then recanted the desire but not the opinions that caused him to disenroll himself from the faith. He isn't a covenant breaker because he is not a Baha`i.

None of that is true of Mr. Glaysher. He never "requested to be taken off the membership lists," nor ever "recanted the desire." Further, he says on his Bahai Censorship website that he is a

Google "Bahai in *Perfectly* Good Standing"
A Bahai in *Perfectly* Good Standing 11/2001 Frederick Glaysher[/url]

The only thing he ever requested was:

My Request Not to Receive the American Bahai 1996
Google "Please remove my name and address from your mailing list."
on Baha'i Faith & Religious Freedom of Conscience

For that he received a decade and a half of fanatical treatment on and off line, including slandering behind his back, as in backbiting...

The fact is that many Bahai fanatics harassed him for years claiming he was dropped from the rolls.

For example, search "You have been removed from the community" at
Baha'i Faith & Religious Freedom of Conscience, at the bottom its homepage.

If he ever was "removed from the rolls," it was by a corrupt administration that deceives and brainwashes its members into believing in a fraudulent will and testament. Being on its rolls is tantamount to a denial of the actual Interpretation that Abdul-Baha set forth in his 1912 Authentic Covenant.

Google Abdu'l-Baha's 1912 Authentic Covenant

 

[Meow Mix]

This isn't meant to be offensive, but does anyone notice that the writing looks like it says "EVIL" ?

 

[doppelganger]

I do miss Scott. He was an intelligent and decent person and a helluva good writer. RIP Scott.

 

[lunamoth]

I do miss Scott. He was an intelligent and decent person and a helluva good writer. RIP Scott.

Yes, I miss him.

 

[GabrielWithoutWings]

This isn't meant to be offensive, but does anyone notice that the writing looks like it says "EVIL" ?

Yes. Most people do.

It's read right to left, if I remember correctly.

 

[flouncing floo]

I have never seen the purpose of worshipping anything or anyone, no one is worthy of worship, even less so any supposed deity, in my opinion.

 

[BruceDLimber]

This isn't meant to be offensive, but does anyone notice that the writing looks like it says "EVIL" ?

Not only is this NOT English, but perhaps you should bear in mind that this language reads from RIGHT TO LEFT!

And in fact, what is says is "O Thou Glory of Glories" or "O Thou Glory of the All-glorious!"

Also, as to the thread topic, Baha'is worship nothing but God--and DEFINITELY not a plaque!

Just the facts.

Bruce

 

[BruceDLimber]

I have never seen the purpose of worshipping anything or anyone....

And you're obviously overlooking the fact that the Baha'i scriptures state explicitly that one's PROFESSION, done in the spirit of service to humanity, ranks as worship of God!

So you protest too much, methinks.

Bruce