The Baha'i Studies Listserv On Tue, Dec 21, 2010 at 11:47 PM, Naison Jones <naistrada...@gmail.com> wrote: > The Baha'i Studies Listserv > > Ok. That being the case do you witness old religions of the distant past > like the Abrahamic religion persisting today, possessing saints and > followers who are the progress of mankind?
Yes. > Your point being that a religion matures and evolves given time should show > that older religions are maintained in the world. If you look however Im > sure youll see a clear trend. What trend is clear? > Islam numbers in the world is great and so is Christianity and they are both > new religions. I don't think I would call either new. Especially compared to faiths like the Bahai Faith. Then go back some more and older religions become less and > less. > Everything eventually dies and becomes renewed and the Very old religions > like Budhism do not relfect how they were when they came at all (according > to Abdul'Baha). > I think you are making a different kind of point. Even Buddhism today is different from the teachings of the historical Buddha, you could argue that Buddhist philosophy and thought represents a growing and developing tradition of people who gradually getting a deeper and deeper understanding of the nature of the mind/person/soul/desires. > If you really think that the Behaviour of Bahais is comparable to say the > incidence of Christian ministers who have been convicted of child abuse for > example as a percentage then what more can I say? http://www.iranian.com/main/blog/mehrin/persian-bahais-pakistan-are-involved-full-scale-corruption http://bahairants.com/financial-scandal-rocks-italian-bahai-community-209.html And I know I've read examples of other similar cases. > Those who are in the position of power whose responsibility is to act like > saints themselves more so than the religious populous and yet you see how > the Muslim priests caused the death of the Bab and persecution of > Baha'u'llah in teh same way as the Jewish ones cause the death of Jesus. > Then ask the question if religion need not be renewed when the leaders > themselves are doing this things then when does it need to be renewed? Why > do you think all thousands marytres died in Iran? Was it because the > Government was scared of people becoming Bahais? Think about it. The Crown > shouldnt give a dam that people become Bahais its the Priests that are > afriad of losing their power.. I think you are oversimplifying some complex situations. But even putting that aside for the moment, the actions of a few in the past are not enough to invalidate an entire religion. > So how many Babis must die before people realise that the spirit of Islam > has not been maintained? > What was the sin of the Babis that they deserved these things? According to > the Muhammadan dispensation. And lastly What is the overall point of > religion if it does not translate into the saintly actions of men? ie is > there a point saying prayers five times a day of not eating pork if you are > willing to comit such atrocities? I didn't commit any atrocities. Yeah, this is how anti-semitism arose in Europe. You are blaming a whole group for the actions of a few. > What is the point of Christianity if its very saints and leaders comit these > child abuses reflecting a far higher incidence than is apparant in the > populoce of normal people who dont even beleive in God? You seem awfully quick to make generalizations. > You are saying that we should consider these people with a sin-covering eye, > but truly they are supposed to be the exemplaries of their religion and yet > you see them acting like bloodthirsty beasts. Tell me then that religion > needs not to be renewed. > So when you observe personal shortcomings or vices in members of the AO you would convert to another religion? > __________________________________________________ You are subscribed to Baha'i Studies as: mailto:arch...@mail-archive.com Unsubscribe: send a blank email to mailto:leave-548419-27401.54f46e81b66496c9909bcdc2f7987...@list.jccc.edu Subscribe: send subscribe bahai-st in the message body to ly...@list.jccc.edu Or subscribe: http://list.jccc.edu:8080/read/all_forums/subscribe?name=bahai-st Baha'i Studies is available through the following: Mail - mailto:bahai-st@list.jccc.edu Web - http://list.jccc.edu:8080/read/?forum=bahai-st News (on-campus only) - news://list.jccc.edu/bahai-st Old Public - http://www.mail-archive.com/bahai-st@list.jccc.net New Public - http://www.mail-archive.com/bahai-st@list.jccc.edu
