> Gilberto: > Yes, exactly. Many religions prosyletize. But the Bahais give the > impression of prosyletizing, but not admitting that they are > prosyletizing.
. . . > > And looking at the Bahais by themselves it might be possible to say > that there is just some isolated misunderstanding. But then when I > think of other communities which try to spread their message, they > certainly admit candidly to trying to spread their message. > > It's the Bahahis which stand out as doing something which they say > they don't do. > > Maybe it is a "word" issue. When I first got on this group, it was > interesting to read that in the Ruhi classes people were discouraged > from using dictionaries. But it still gives an impression of > dishonesty. > I agree that it gives the impression of dishonesty; however, as I stated I think that the problem is the lack of volcabulary understanding among some of the Baha'is. I think someone just made the statement that Baha'is don't prostelytize & I got repeated over and over, without somone stopping to look up the dictionary meaning. I think that Mark's analogy with the idea of "compulsion in religion" is a good one. I, like our dear brother Kazeh, urge you to judge the Faith on the authoratative statements of Baha'u'llah, Abdu'l-Baha, Shoghi Effendi, & the House of Justice rather than on the words and interpretations of individual Baha'is. This includes a statement I remember you quoting in a previous post from Promulgation of Universal Peace. Please note that the statement you quoted is not necessarily authoratative because that book is not written or reviewed by Abdu'l-Baha, but rather it was notes that individual people took of the talks and may have been shaded by their understandings of what was said. > > > Also, touching on another aspect of this thread, please note that (at least) > > from a Baha'i viewpoint it's a totally different thing for a Manifestation > > of God (i.e. Mohammad, the Bab, or Baha'u'llah) to threaten "hellfire" than > > it is for a human. > > But I think that most religions would make the same distinction. e.g. > "I'm not telling you you are goin' to hell. God is telling you your're > goin' to hell. Unless you change your ways. It says right here in the > Bible." > Yes, most religions would probably make the same distinction. But, in my opinion a Baha'i who is being true to Baha'ullah's teachings would never say that, because in effect by saying "God is telling you you're goin' to hell" one is making a judgment that no individual human has the right to make. __________________________________________________ You are subscribed to Baha'i Studies as: mailto:archive@mail-archive.com To unsubscribe, send a blank email to mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] To subscribe, use subscribe bahai-st in the message body to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Baha'i Studies is available through the following: Mail - mailto:bahai-st@list.jccc.edu Web - http://list.jccc.edu/read/?forum=bahai-st News - news://list.jccc.edu/bahai-st Public - http://www.escribe.com/religion/bahaist Old Public - http://www.mail-archive.com/bahai-st@list.jccc.net New Public - http://www.mail-archive.com/bahai-st@list.jccc.edu
