FW: Conversion

[Khazeh]

Dear David if you would kindly and lovingly ponder these four references only you will find an answer to your question. 1]   It says in the Writings that it is not the teacher who converts seekers to the Faith but the Holy Spirit.  Every day people convert to religions other than the Baha'i Faith.  Given that the Baha'i Faith is the religion for today, God obviously wants people to become Baha'is.  Hence, surely when these people are converted to other religions the Holy Spirit did not convert them.  I don't understand why, then, we are to believe that every single person who becomes a Baha'i does so because of the intervention of the Holy Spirit.  It seems incredulous that no one would ever become a Baha'i without the Holy Spirit deciding to 'make' them a Baha'i.  I do wonder whether what the Writings says is a generalization made to subdue the   ego's of those who have lead people to the Faith.   Regards, David       From the Guardian Shoghi Effendi Let no one, however, mistake my purpose.  The Revelation, of which Baha'u'llah is the source and center, abrogates none of the religions that have preceded it, nor does it attempt, in the slightest degree, to distort their features or to belittle their value.  It disclaims any intention of dwarfing any of the Prophets of the past, or of whittling down the eternal verity of their teachings.  It can, in no wise, conflict with the spirit that animates their claims, nor does it seek to undermine the basis of any man's allegiance to their cause.  ITS DECLARED, ITS PRIMARY PURPOSE IS TO ENABLE EVERY ADHERENT OF THESE FAITHS TO OBTAIN A FULLER UNDERSTANDING OF THE RELIGION WITH WHICH HE STANDS IDENTIFIED, AND TO ACQUIRE A CLEARER APPREHENSION OF ITS PURPOSE.  It is neither eclectic in the presentation of its truths, nor arrogant in the affirmation of its claims.  Its teachings revolve around the fundamental principle that religious truth is not absolute but relative, that Divine Revelation is progressive, not final.  Unequivocally and without the least reservation it proclaims all established religions to be divine in origin, identical in their aims, complementary in their functions, continuous in their purpose, indispensable in their value to mankind.           (Shoghi Effendi:  World Order of Baha'u'llah, Pages: 57-58)   Again from the beloved Guardian of the Bahai Faith (1897-1957)   The Faith standing identified with the name of Baha'u'llah disclaims any intention to belittle any of the Prophets gone before Him, to whittle down any of their teachings, to obscure, however slightly, the radiance of their Revelations, to oust them from the hearts of their followers, to abrogate the fundamentals of their doctrines, to discard any of their revealed Books, or to suppress the legitimate aspirations of their adherents. Repudiating the claim of any religion to be the final revelation of God to man, disclaiming finality for His own Revelation, Baha'u'llah inculcates the basic principle of the relativity of religious truth, the continuity of Divine Revelation, the progressiveness of religious experience. HIS AIM IS TO WIDEN THE BASIS OF ALL REVEALED RELIGIONS and to unravel the mysteries of their scriptures.  He insists on the unqualified recognition of the unity of their purpose, restates the eternal verities they enshrine, coordinates their functions           (Shoghi Effendi:  The Promised Day is Come, Page: 108)   The third ** Far from aiming at the overthrow of the spiritual foundation of the world's religious systems, its avowed, its unalterable purpose is to widen their basis, to restate their fundamentals, to reconcile their aims, to reinvigorate their life, to demonstrate their oneness, to restore the pristine purity of their teachings, to coordinate their functions and to assist in the realization of their highest aspirations.  These divinely-revealed religions, as a close observer has graphically expressed it, "are doomed not to die, but to be reborn...  `Does not the child succumb in the youth and the youth in the man; yet neither child nor youth perishes?'"           (Shoghi Effendi:  World Order of Baha'u'llah, Page: 114)**   The fourth ** this Faith is now increasingly demonstrating its right to be recognized, NOT AS ONE MORE RELIGIOUS SYSTEM SUPERIMPOSED ON THE CONFLICTING CREEDS WHICH FOR SO MANY GENERATIONS HAVE DIVIDED MANKIND AND DARKENED ITS FORTUNES, BUT RATHER AS A RESTATEMENT OF THE ETERNAL VERITIES UNDERLYING ALL THE RELIGIONS OF THE PAST, as a unifying force instilling into the adherents of these religions a new spiritual vigour, infusing them with a new hope and love for mankind, firing them with a new vision of fundamental unity of their religious doctrines, and unfolding to their eyes the glorious destiny that awaits the human race.             (Shoghi Effendi, Summary Statement - 1947, Special UN Committee on Palestine) **   The key to the conversion of people to the Faith is the action of the individual Bahá'í conveying the spark of faith to individual seekers, answering their questions and deepening their understanding of the teachings.   (9 February 1989, written on behalf of the Universal House of Justice to a National Spiritual Assembly) [43   He feels that what the … Bahá'ís need -- and must have -- more than anything else in the world is a far deeper understanding of the Covenants of both Bahá'u'lláh and the Master. This is the rock-foundation without which no sound superstructure can be built. Neither the administration, nor the general teaching work of the Cause in Germany, will progress, or be able to accomplish anything, unless the believers are truly firm, deep, spiritually convinced Bahá'ís. An intellectual grasp of the Teachings is purely superficial; with the first real test such believers are shaken from the bough! But once a Bahá'í has the profound conviction of the authority from God, vested in the Prophet, passed on to the Master, and by Him, to the Guardians, and which flows out through the Assemblies and creates order based on obedience -- once a Bahá'í has this, nothing can shake him....   (11 April 1949)   509. As he has cabled the N.S.A. a few days ago, he feels that the difficulties which have arisen ... are mainly due to the fact that the believers need to be deepened in their knowledge and appreciation of the Covenants of both Bahá'u'lláh and 'Abdu'l-Bahá. This is the stronghold of the faith of every Bahá'í, and that which enables him to withstand every test and the attacks of the enemies outside the Faith, and the far more dangerous, insidious, lukewarm people inside the Faith who have no real attachment to the Covenant, and consequently uphold the intellectual aspect of the  teachings while at the same time undermining the spiritual foundation upon which the whole Cause of God rests.             (Compilations, The Compilation of Compilations vol. I, p. 229)       The information contained in this e-mail and any attachments thereto ("e-mail") is sent by the Johnson County Community College ("JCCC") and is intended to be confidential and for the use of only the individual or entity named above. The information may be protected by federal and state privacy and disclosures acts or other legal rules. 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