Being a Baha'i

All research or scholarship questions
Abu Talib
Posts: 21
Joined: Wed Oct 22, 2008 8:36 pm

Being a Baha'i

Postby Abu Talib » Wed Nov 12, 2008 1:04 am

I am curious to know how many members of this forum are converts to Baha'i and what part of the world they come from? I mean not to offend anyone by this post it is just that I am very interested to know.
The Holy Prophet (saww) said, "O Ali, you are to me as Harun was to Musa, but there will be no prophet after me."

slava_sz
Posts: 12
Joined: Sun Oct 26, 2008 10:22 am

Re: Being a Baha'i

Postby slava_sz » Wed Nov 12, 2008 4:13 am

Dear Abu Talib,
I am ethnic Russian (from Russian Orthodox family, though not very religious) from Uzbekistan. I became Baha'i in 1993 at age of 22.
My great-grand mother told me that there was Moses, after Him Jesus, after Him Muhammad. So, I always thought that there must be Someone after Muhammad and when I hear about Him I will definitely follow His Message .
When I learned about Baha'i Faith I accepted Abraham, Moses, Jesus, Muhammad and of course Krishna, Buddha and Zoroaster as Divine Messengers with Baha'ullah for today.
When you become a Baha'i you do not convert to Baha'i Faith. In the thread on "Last Prophet" you can see from the verses of Qur'an I brought that it is the same situation when a Christian accepts Islam he does not converts (abandons Christianity) to Islam. Being a Muslim He becomes even better Christian. Being a Baha'i makes you a true Muslim who followed Qur'an.

onepence~2
Posts: 221
Joined: Fri Apr 11, 2008 1:17 am

Re: Being a Baha'i

Postby onepence~2 » Wed Nov 12, 2008 6:39 am

I am from the United States.

I first heard of the Baha'i Faith when i was a small boy looking through an encyclopedia.

When i asked about it , my parents had never heard of it,
and when i asked my priest {methodist} He said there was a small group of Baha'is in Gulfport , MS
about a town 30 miles away from where i was.
Being as a small boy my interest waned as ,
at the time there was no internet or any other means of easy access to Knowledge.

Then at age 21 in Dallas Tx I had the honor of meeting up with some Baha'is.
I was given a small book "Baha'u'llah and the New Era"
After reading the book I wanted to become a Baha'i right away.
The community asked me to wait and learn a little bit more about our Faith,
and so, about a month later I was able to met with the LSA of Dallas TX and sign my deceleration card.

*smile*

This all happened back in the late 1980's.

hmmmm ...

To me it seems very natural to want to be a Baha'i.

I remember talking to some 2nd and 3rd generation Baha'is ...
they would often remark how fortunate the the first {generation} believers within a family were,
because the first generation had to "earn" the right to be a Baha'i ,
while the second and third generations had been "given" the right to be a Baha'i.

after some years of thought ... we have concluded ...

just by being born one has "earned" the right to be a Baha'i ... *smile*

oneness,
dh

Sen McGlinn
Posts: 123
Joined: Tue May 03, 2005 7:11 am
Location: Leiden, the Netherlands
Contact:

Re: Being a Baha'i

Postby Sen McGlinn » Wed Nov 12, 2008 3:10 pm

I'm from New Zealand, though I live in the Netherlands now. I bumped into the Bahais in Blenheim while hitch-hiking, aged 17. The town has no youth hostel: I needed a place to stop the night, they sized me up and put a mattress down in a small room where the local community had its lending library. I stayed 3 days.

Been there ever since, in a way.
Sen

onepence~2
Posts: 221
Joined: Fri Apr 11, 2008 1:17 am

Re: Being a Baha'i

Postby onepence~2 » Wed Nov 12, 2008 3:49 pm

Sen McGlinn wrote: ...

Been there ever since, in a way.
Sen


*smile*

yes ... i had a chance to serve Green Acre ...

the Library there is awesome

*smile*

Harlan
Posts: 4
Joined: Wed Nov 12, 2008 9:42 pm

Re: Being a Baha'i

Postby Harlan » Wed Nov 12, 2008 9:55 pm

I came into contact with the Baha'i Faith in 1961 when I was 23. I was from a Christian background but was not satisfied spiritually or intellectually with many of the beliefs I was taught. I hoped that there must be much more to religion than what I already knew. I looked into every religion I could find and found that they were all good. Only in the teachings of Baha'u'llah did I find a beautiful way to actually accept all religions. I couldn't become a Baha'i fast enough. I felt as if I had always been a Baha'i and not that I had converted to some new faith. This was in Salt Lake City, Utah in 1961. My family background is in the southern states of the U.S., but I grew up in California.

Harlan

emifinan
Posts: 13
Joined: Sun Nov 09, 2008 7:25 pm
Contact:

Re: Being a Baha'i

Postby emifinan » Thu Nov 13, 2008 10:15 pm

I was raised both Catholic and Baha'i. Which to me is the best of both worlds First world being raised with the Baha'i teachings, and 2nd world being able to experience the Faith as a new believer when, after an independent investigation of truth I left Catholicism and spent 3 years learning about all the world religions before investigating Baha'i Faith.


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