I was at a Feast (Baha'i equivalent of Church, but no priests or clergy) the other night when this was read out, it's official scriture outlineing the previous post, but said shorter and better, so I thought I would throw it in:
"The fourth teaching of Baha'u'llah is the agreement of religion and science. God has endowed man with intelligence and reason whereby he is required to determine the verity of questions and propositions. If religious beliefs and opinions are found contrary to the standards of science they are mere superstitions and imaginations; for the antithesis of knowledge is ignorance, and the child of ignorance is superstition. Unquestionably there must be agreement between true religion and science. If a question be found contrary to reason, faith and belief in it are impossible and there is no outcome but wavering and vacillation." -- 'Abdu'l-Baha, Baha'i World Faith p 240.
I think that pretty much sums up that topic...
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
Hey Mike-
My eyes are burning but I have been meaning to jot some thoughts down on the topics of your last two posts since Saturday when I had typed a VERY lengthy reply that was deleted when the screen refreshed an cleared all my text for no apparent reason... (After so much typing and thinking too!!! ARGH!)
Unfortunately I am coming to this late, and don't think I can really fully express my thoughts on the topic.
I honestly don't know anything, except what I have learned from you and your mom, about the Bah'ai faith. I grew up in the Anglican Church as a kid and then was invited during high school to a youth group at a Pentecostal Church too. When I went to university, I also attended a pretty big Pentecostal church, spending a LOT of my time (around 4-5 nights a week) volunteering/leading different youth, junior high, and young adult programs.
I have always had a pretty good idea of what I believed, and even though I wasn't in complete agreement with everything that was preached in that church, I felt as though I could still be involved since there were lots of good things happening.
Interesting part is that I went through shock of sorts when I arrived up North in a town with only a small Anglican congregation all in Inuktitut. I missed and had new appreciation for having fellowship with people that you identify with. I also however felt a new closeness to God as I spent time driving my skidoo across the wide open clean sparse expanses of snow covered tundra. It sounds weird but I sense God the nearest to me when I am taken away in my own thoughts with the steady rumble of the motor and the beautiful environment all around me.
I still have lots of questions but I feel as though, if I am treating others with kindness and respect, and helping people whenever I can no matter who they are. That I am living a right life. There are many issues that I have heard people speak strongly against, but sometimes I have a hard time since often the pure issues are often lost when the people connected with an issue are attacked/threatened.
As for science, how can anyone ever disagree with things that have very tangible and clear proof... I think we must never take logic and the power of our minds to understand things for granted. I think faith will remain shallow if it is ONLY accepted in faith because someone tells you to. Faith however is still very important to me. I don't know how God could remain divine if there were no mysteries left to how he operates... That's the exciting part in some ways, believing in what you cannot see...
Anyway, I don't know much... my brain is kind of getting lazy... But I'll be interested in hearing more of why you believe in the Bah'ai faith in the coming weeks...
IF you have time with the new little one in your house!
Take care,
G.
G,
Thanks for the comment, and I am truly sorry that your first attempt "disapeared" on you. I picked this reason the night I wrote this post because I thought that it would be the shortest and easiest to write a bit about late at night!
Thanks again for your views, and I hope that I'll be fortunate enough to hear more when I get my bottom in gear to write more!
Baby's fine, check out Bec's site for updated pics.
Post a Comment