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Good Afternoon everybody
In this letter I'll again quote from Tysons excellent book World Peace and World Government,
and meet further objections made by fearful religionists.
"Some people of Judeo-Christian background will no doubt assert that world peace cannot be established until the Messiah comes. Again, Bahai's are in full agreement. In this case, the task of promoting the idea of world government is a matter of demonstrating that the Promised One in Judaism, Christianity and all other religions,has already come .." and it is exactly this that I am trying to explain in all my letters or articles here at the forum of Adland. That Bahaullah "has given mankind both a plan for establishing world peace and the spiritual and material means to implement it."
"Occasionally, one will also find people who have fears of world government because of their understanding of certain passages of prophesy in the Bible...." "...The source of these fears can usually be found in the second half of Daniel and in the second half of the Book of Revelation which refer to an evil 'fourth kingdom' and to the 'beast' which will lead it. Some Christians may suggest that this refers to a world government. Upon closer inspection, however, it becomes clear that such suggestions fail to fit the present situation. Christian authors themselves state that this 'kingdom' is to be a confederation of ten kings from countries that were once part of the old Roman Empire. Clearly, a government which incorporates all of the nations of the world, including the most powerful ones which are outside the boundaries of the old Roman Empire, is an entirely different thing..
Since Bahais accept the Divine origine of all religions, we are able to see how prophesies span the ages and link together these different religions. From this much broader perspective, we can see that many of the prophesies of the past religions have already been fulfilled, but usually not in the manner that religious leaders expected. Christians will certainly acknowledge that a similar situation existed after the coming of Jesus: many of the Old Testament prophesies were fulfilled by His coming, but not in the manner that the Jewish religious leaders had anticipated. Furthermore, the fact that the Wise Men of the East were Zoroastrians, who successfully used Zoroastrian religious prophesy to foresee the birth of Jesus, serves as an example of how such prophesy forms a link between religions that outwardly appear to be different.
In the case of Biblical prophesies in question, Abdu'l-Bahá explains that they relate to the Islamic period and to the corruption of the larger branch of Islam under the Umayyad dynasty and the Caliphs, who ruled over most of the land that had once belonged to the old Roman Empire."
You might have raised your eyebrow at this , hesitating,but let us be openminded.Let us again look into the less "cryptic prophesies of Isaih, which clearly indicated the future establishemnet of peace and a world government of justice.Here we go:
"He shall judge between the nations, and shall decide for many peoples; and they shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more"Isaiah 2:4
"For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulder, and His name will be called 'Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace' Of the increase of His government and of peace there will be no end,upon the throne of David, and over His kingdom, to establish it, and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore." Isaiah 9:6-7.
Tyson
So, since there is no government on Jesus's shoulders, but rather on Ceasars during his dispensation, the prophesy is about another later Prophet. Bahais believe it is Bahaullah. And that the World Order of Bahaullah is the one intended in the Bible.
"Bestir your selves, O people, in anticipation of the days of Divine Justice, for the promised hour is now come. Beware lest ye fail to apprehend its import and be accounted among the erring."
Bahaullah
Miscellaneous about the Faith
Dear friends, if you already, by now, believe this Faith is indeed the absolute, complete and true Path of God for today and wish to promote it and also help other people see themselves as true and steadfast world citizens, to see mankind as one, if you wish to know more about the Will of God for this age, if you wish to deepen your faith in God, get a wider perspective of and a clearer insight into the previous religions, and thus enhance your love for God and widen your understanding, if you wish to meet the future with undimmed vision fearlessly and determined, if you wish to comfort peoples hearts in this perilous period,if you wish the divine wonderment, do join this Faith. It is a very simple procedure without any initiating ceremony at all. What matters is your wholly independent, steadfast and confirmed belief in Bahaullah as Gods Manifestation for todays world and in His Divinely ordained Institutions, (the "administration"). You just write your name on a card and you are a member. As a member one can contribute materially to the Faith. Not otherwise. You also get a Newsletter every 19th day and you can follow the development of the Faith. While mixing among the Bahais you'll clearly notice the calm atmosphere of great confidence that God is indeed at work with establishing His Kingdom on earth , using not only the Bahais, who are just ordinary people, but everybody and everything, in the whole world, to build it. All the forces of the whole universe is today working for the Covenant between God and mankind.There is practically nothing else at work at all. You'll finally understand that you are given such a thorough, all-embracing and well designed World explanation that your heart will be perfectly loving, calm and at peace, your intellect so illumined and clear, your mind so determined and your soul so empowered that you'll regard all other miracles of the world as utter nothingness and all other work as just temporary and insignificant. The work for the Kingdom of God on earth, what could be greater than this? This the work whose results are lasting.It is a reward in itself.
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When Bahais gather you will never see that kind of unnecessary "mass suggestion, or even hysteria" where people scream and throw themselves on the floor, where one is asked to publicly "bear witness" about ones faith, where there is crying for miracles or healing by the Holy Ghost and the like. As for the Bahais, the conviction is so deep that you do get a deep peace inside your heart through it, so why scream and shout. We have no priests, we have no confession of sins, like in the catholic church. That is a private matter, between yourself and God. We have no monks and nuns. No celibate. No ascetism. No preachstools. We do emphasize this" Day of Grace," not that old Doomsday type of Day, even if indeed it is. This is a happy religion.The rituals of the Bahai Faith are practically non-existent. When you marry, you may design the form of the marriage yourself, the music and the flowers for example. Two witnesses are needed and to recite one holy sentence, from the Scripts..
And every 19th day you can visit the 19-day feast, when we gather for,
a) recital of the Holy Books, for a spiritual uplifting. We pray one after the other or read aloud from the Texts. The atmosphere is calm and meditative.
b): discuss administrative matters, the economy, budgets and expenses. Also in this part we put forth suggestions and issues to be taken to the next administative level, the Local Spiritual Assembly
and c.)eating and drinking, enjoying each others company , this as a social part. It, the 19-day fiest replaces the sermon at the church.
We have a fast in march, we have daily obligatory prayers, and three to choose from. We work for the spreading of the Faith among all levels of mankind and for the uplifting of the worlds people in social projects, according to plans fashioned by the Universal House of Justice in Haifa, going out to the whole Bahai World.
We have a Revelation that can be likened to this: the ekvivalent of the 25 letters of the 27 letter-alfabet, whereof two were revealed in the previous religions.
I can add that the doors of the Faith always are open. It is like a garden, the doors to it are never closed, not even if you want to leave the garden. We do not chase people who just went about in the garden for some time and then left it. "This is the changeless Faith of God " Bahaullah. You see,it is not ours, it doesn't belong to the Bahais, it is Gods Faith.Therefore it is free. God gives His love and advice for free.Therefore we are confident and calm. I have great friends in the Faith, they are my family. And they are the same all over the globe., . There is no such thing as "to believe is to fight with doubts", which I have heard in certain circles elsewhere. For us, Faith or belief is to have "conscious knowledge" of God. True religiosity "is the the science of the love of God." Abdu'l-Bahá.
When we teach the Faith it is a matter" of removing the veils that has interceded between peoples hearts and God". Those veils consist of predudices and preconceived opinions, (mostly about God) ,that obscure the vision. Also people measure this Faith with the standard of passages of old religious texts that seem contrary to reason and and science, thinking Bahai is the same - but , on the contrary, the Bahai Faith explains all of them, there is nothing obscure really about them. Not even the story of Adam and Eve.
We appreciate and promote "unity in diversity", not uniformity on any level. Humankind should be compared to flowers in a garden, all different and together they are all beautiful with their contrasting colours and fragrances. You yourself have to see too that you continue to be bright and florishing. This is the beginning of "the age of the maturing of mankind". God relies on your own working towards this goal. Therefore , no priests interceding for you..
We pay for the printing of books and pamphlets, for the uppholding of radiostations, for international goals and we pay absolutely anonymously. There is definitely no showing off publicly how much we pay each one of us privately. We make our yearly budgets and try to reach our financial goals. In Sweden we support and cooperate with that governmental department which is working for development in the third world, like the education of women. There is similar work going on in other countries. In India there is a Bahai University. On all continents there are Mother temples. so kalled Houses of Worship. Around which, in the future all the important educational institutions will be centered, +hospitals and other social institutions. We are about 8 millions.
Welcome to the Bahai Community, all of you. See the telephone directory for the local or nearest Bahai Community. Get the Books and study this Faith according to your own pace or rate.
You see, I still do not know what exactly are your worries and your questions about the Faith of Bahaullah. You can find the answers yourselves by asking your Bahai neighbours. I wish you to see these people. They are very kind and generous and they are just like you and me, ordinary people.
Bye for now from
Laila
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