RE: The Baha'i Faith
June 26, 2014 at 7:12 am
(This post was last modified: June 26, 2014 at 7:16 am by Mudhammam.)
Hey zan, thanks for the thread. So my questions are basically...
What does someone of your faith do in practice? Are there rituals, meditations, prayers, etc.? And if so, how are those to be performed? Is there a distinction between say, secluding one's self from the world to contemplate mankind's relationship to the individual and what your faith advocates?
Why any faith at all? If you are inspired by a person's moral teachings, and clearly there is something to be said about the "Oneness" of humanity, as you put it, why not pursue that line of reasoning without adopting the baggage that typically comes along with implementing rituals and ill-conceived and unfounded metaphysics about the Cosmos? Why call the unknown 'essence' of 'objective reality' god? Why not just call it unknown and carry on as if such a question couldn't really matter less since--for all purposes practical to our existence now, here on earth, it doesn't? There are a lot of individuals I am inspired by--from Gentle Jesus to Richard Dawkins--but it seems strange to me to devote myself to one person to the extent that you would call it a religious or faith commitment; what compels you to make that leap?
How can you say that all Gods were originally revealed to mankind (which you have no evidence for) in a cohesive manner, and only because of man's fallibility did these various gods become the distinct and separate identities they are today? If you read any of the holy books, there are vast amounts of differences...and if you're going to say, "Yes, but that's not how those were originally," shouldn't you have some reason other than a need to justify a doctrine to back that up?
I guess those are my initial questions. I'm sure I'll have more as we continue.
What does someone of your faith do in practice? Are there rituals, meditations, prayers, etc.? And if so, how are those to be performed? Is there a distinction between say, secluding one's self from the world to contemplate mankind's relationship to the individual and what your faith advocates?
Why any faith at all? If you are inspired by a person's moral teachings, and clearly there is something to be said about the "Oneness" of humanity, as you put it, why not pursue that line of reasoning without adopting the baggage that typically comes along with implementing rituals and ill-conceived and unfounded metaphysics about the Cosmos? Why call the unknown 'essence' of 'objective reality' god? Why not just call it unknown and carry on as if such a question couldn't really matter less since--for all purposes practical to our existence now, here on earth, it doesn't? There are a lot of individuals I am inspired by--from Gentle Jesus to Richard Dawkins--but it seems strange to me to devote myself to one person to the extent that you would call it a religious or faith commitment; what compels you to make that leap?
How can you say that all Gods were originally revealed to mankind (which you have no evidence for) in a cohesive manner, and only because of man's fallibility did these various gods become the distinct and separate identities they are today? If you read any of the holy books, there are vast amounts of differences...and if you're going to say, "Yes, but that's not how those were originally," shouldn't you have some reason other than a need to justify a doctrine to back that up?
I guess those are my initial questions. I'm sure I'll have more as we continue.
He who loves God cannot endeavour that God should love him in return - Baruch Spinoza
