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Re: Following in Jesus' Footsteps 4/6/2008 9:45:48 AM
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Hi James.
Your letters always breathe out kindness and sincerity of Faith. I thank you for those words above. This is the life of living in God.
However, you also breathe about the decay in peoples lifes, mentioning the extremes of conformity for exemple. This is so sad. And now,I hope you do not mind me dwelling on one
point, or taking this one point, the extreme conformity as a starting point
for a longer reflection or comment on the conditions of the world of mankind.
My belief as a Bahai , is that this must come to pass. That it was ordained well in advance, according to the Bible for exemple. Briefly one could say with the words of Bobby Kennedy at the moment of his assasination, as far as I remember them. "it (the conditions of the world) must all become worse before it can be good (done right) again."
Those words where glimpses of insight as he stood" in front of everything". Indeed, the world has been threwn out of balance, and in it there are the signs of God, prophesied about since thousands of bygone years. To be very brief, one cansay, that the the contrasts of life on earth, on all levels, has to be drawn forth, for the seekers to discern the truth. And for others to get used to, making them feel, " this is normal" and with this, get lost into it. Like the frog Freddy who didn't leave the slowly warming water in the cauldron .The seeker however, would try to find a reason for it and diligently seek that even at the remotest corner of the earth and not get tired of his quest until he findeth it and discern first) that something is breaking through, from God . Like a birth. second)that it is a deviation from the normal life, an unbalance in order to wake us up and cudgel our brains.
I believe, as a Bahai that we are the spectators of a new World Order breaking through and that it is universal and God given, since all this breaking of old rules is a global phenomenon. It started all of a sudden in the middle of the 19th century. Up to that time,things were as they had always been, kings where absolute rulers, godfearing men were "absolute priests" ,there was feodalism, colonialism and most people were illiterate and the great mass were oppressed farmers . On the whole it was like it had been always. OK? Then , for some reason ! came the industrial revolution and if I would continue recounting all the new inventions effected through it here, the letter would take on enourmous proprotions. You know all that. But there was also the starting date for decline of ageold institutions, people sought freedom, women for exemple, there was the breaking up of Christianity in thousands of sects, there has been up to this day a continous decline in the respectability of priesthood. How long will the Pope rule? That is , people want to understand the Bible on their own. Religion itself saw a decline worldwide. Science was to take its place, phycologists, actors are interviewed about life, the right livelihood,the right philosophy of life -then we have the stock market, another new king and what not, in these days. Don't you agree; The world has undergone a complete change actually? But because we live mostly ordinary lives not more than about 70, 80 years we loose the whole picture if we do not put on special specs that God has given, we tend to get used to the little changes that we see daily, like the frog Freddy. Often it doesn't help to study history either. This is, I'd say dangerous.
But...
As a Bahai I believe , like some thoughtful Christians, like Leo Tolstoy to take a famous author, (whom I have cited several times:) ,I have been given those long sighted specs that, for one thing, does'nt make me surprised at all at todays' conformative clothing, the extreme commercialism, the overexploitation of the natural resources, the decline of old immovable moral codes, the decline of the status of school teachers, the family,the unruly youth, racism, even new nazism (even in America! strange!), terrorism, sexism, and like in old Rome an excessive interest in sports, the extremes of amassed luxury on one hand and excessive poverty on the other. This is what has happened. And the climat change.The unbalance is here and there and eveywhere. And in politics gross improprieties! Politics now with increased speed loosing the respect among common people. And I say this is because a New World Order is breaking through. "The world is in a state of pregnancy" says Bahaullah, the Founder of the Bahai Faith. Like the yolk of the egg transforms itself, by the help of Gods creative force into a chicken while its surroundings rots and disappears, so does the world undergo its divinely ordained transformation and a lot of ups and downs until all will have to turn to God, because He is the only and last resource for all to turn to, when all the trustworthy institutions of the past has broken down and lost its leading positions.
And we will see "what God hath wrought" while the world was asleep.
Morses first message was, in 1844.:"What hath God wrought".
If you do not take the world embracing upheavals that are taking place, both in nature and in peoples ordered life as the signs of a new world order seeing the world, your" feet might slip", as Bahaullah puts it.
As for me I was terrified already more than 35 years ago. What will become of mankind was my constant and serious question. I was once upon a time, so worried, that i had to go to hospital but since I came to see what has happened in the world with the very long perspective that the Bahai Faith gives you, I feel safe and positive about the worlds course, I look at the end of things, the peaceful World Order that will replace this crumbling one and which is so clearly described by Bahaullah as to begin during the period of The Coming of Age of Mankind. The age of Consummation , isn't that the English word for it,? and mentioned repeatedly in the whole Bible and also very clearly prophesied in the other Holy Books of the world.
"The Promised Day has come" says Bahaullah.
So in one of the Bahai prayers
we get some information and explanation of this scene of accident, the present world.
"I know not, O my God, what is the Fire which Thou
didst kindle in Thy land. Earth can never cloud its splendour, nor water quench its flame. All the peoples
of the world are powerless to resist its force.
Great is the blessedness of him that hath drawn nigh unto it,
and heard its roaring.
Some, O my God, Thou didst, through Thy strengthening grace, enable to approach it, while others Thou didst keep back by reason
of what their hands have wrought in Thy days. Whoso hath hasted
towards it and attained unto it hath, in his eagerness to gaze
on Thy beauty, yielded his life in Thy path,
and ascended unto Thee, wholly detached
from aught else except Thyself.
I beseech Thee, O my Lord, by this Fire which blazeth and rageth in the world of creation, to rend asunder the veils that have hindered me from appearing before the throne
of Thy majesty, and from
standing at the door of Thy gate.
Do Thou ordain for me, O my Lord,, every good thing Thou didst send down in Thy Book, and suffer me
not to be far removed from
the shelter of Thy mercy.
Powerful art Thou to do
what pleaseth Thee, Thou art, verily,
the All-Powerful, the Most Generous."
Bahaullah
Dear James, your father has seen the great change during his many pious venerable 80 years. Ask him if the world has not become another world and beg him explain how come this is so. "What hath God wrought"?
Kind regards from
Laila
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