Despite being a proclaimed atheist I still find the concept of religions and their individual beliefs fascinating. Perhaps that fact that I am an atheist is why I find them so fascinating.
I recently came across this page, Baha’i Views which is an excellent source for information and commentary on the Baha’i faith and their views. As of about two days ago I was completely ignorant to the Baha’i faith, despite having taken a ‘world religions’ class.
Here I will attempt to summarize what in my opinion are the key points of the Baha’i faith, at least those that I find interesting. Please feel free to correct me if I err on certain points as I likely will. Most of this information is paraphrased from Baha'i.org
Any text in italics are my questions or comments.
GOD: The Baha’i believe in one God who created the universe. This one God is responsible for the prophets (messengers) in all of their incarnations; including: Abraham, Zoroaster,
1) Why allow for people to fall into separate individual religions that at times hate eachother if they are all emissaries for one God?
2) How do we know that some of these messengers really existed and weren’t created by people? Many mythical and deital beings are created by people looking for answers.
PURPOSE OF LIFE: Religion gives life purpose. If live were the result of ‘chance’ then “Each individual human being would represent the temporary material existence of a conscious animal trying to move through his brief life with as much pleasure and as little pain and suffering as possible.”
Hmmm.
This seems like a circular argument. For life to have meaning (purpose) we must have a religion. For a religion to exist there must be a purpose to life.
What if, perhaps, there was not purpose to life, yet religions were created as a way to maintain a stable society? Perhaps Moses was a genius in the method he used to persuade his followers? For most, if not all people, the most frightening is the unknown. So Moses invokes God, and people fall into line and listen.
Sorry for the extremely brief and likely unjust discussion of the Baha’i faith. But I do find it fascinating nonetheless and plan on posting more details in the future.
3 comments:
All good questions you pose, James.
"Why allow for people to fall into separate individual religions that at times hate each other if they are all emissaries for one God?"
God unites, man divides. It surely
was not Christ's wish that his followers would kill each other in his name, yet they have. It surely was not Muhammad's wish that upon his death his followers would divide into Sunni and Shiite, yet that's what happened. Despite human frailty, the respective coming of Christ and Muhammad have each lead to the advancement of humanity, spiritual and otherwise.
"How do we know that some of these messengers really existed and weren’t created by people? Many mythical and deital beings are created by people looking for answers."
Baha'is believe that God has never left humanity alone and without guidance. There may well be messengers and religions for which there is little or no historical record. If we were to operate on the premise that religion was "created by people," we would have to conclude that those were some very wise people.
As for Moses being a genius and evoking God out of a motivation to dominate over people, that simply isn't the story that has emerged over the millenia. If what you suggest were the case, Moses' name still would not be invoked with such reverence after all these years. "By the fruits ye shall know." Human domination is a bitter fruit and does not inspire reverence and leads to resistance and downfall.
I like your quote for the day. God gave us reason and we should use it, even in our investigation of religion.
Thanks for the link.
I really like your questions, James, because I believe religion should be strongly scrutinized and be held accountable for its teachings and the deeds of its adherants. We are indeed living in a time where people are asking, "Why should we have religion", because its miss-use is so prevalent.
We also have come to understand that the definitions man applies to his concept of 'God' is only as deep as his own intellect can fathom. The painting cannot know the painter, and man cannot really conceptualize God. But, man, if he indeed needs God, can come up with some definitions. I think it is similar to the quandry, "what came first, the chicken or the egg".
Although I was raised a Baha'i, I continue to question, as I am a skeptic, and I continue to be enriched by a religious community - the Baha'is. A Baha'i community allows diversity, including people like myself, who enjoy the process of inquiry and discovery.
As to your question about the differences in religions, yet having one source: It is like having 9 children, with one Father. The Father spawns unique individuals, all of whom proceed with specific intentions in different environments that have particular challenges. It is the specific needs of a time that will determine the religious motiffs. The integrating theme is unity. and love.
That is an interesting way of looking at it. '9 children with one Father'. Too bad the kids can't get along.
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