Re: How we found the Baha'i Faith
A.D. Scott (phd10@cc.keele.ac.uk)
Mon, Nov 21 1994 17:26:26 GMT
Dear Friends, Allah'u'Abha !
What a wonderful thread this is ! Thankyou for starting and participating in
it ! :)
So you want to know how I found the Faith ? Well, cut a long story short,
all I can really say is it was God's will and it found me ...
My background and my family were (and still are) 'social Christians', the
kind who are all too pleased to hob-nob with the vicar but dont normally go
near a church. Both my sister and I went to Sunday School as children, but
we never felt particularly comfortable there. Obviously something was
missing, but I didnt know what it was. By the time I went to university, I
had completely rebelled against what I saw as the empty-headed suicidal
'faith' element (the kind that says 'believe just because it is
impossible'). I thought faith was something you kept in one side of your
head while living your life in a separate compartment in the other. But I
still preferred the teachings to be found in the Bible (such as the 'Golden
Rule' ie do to others as you would have done to yourself etc) to the vacuum
of pure materialism. You might say I was a 'moral atheist'. After a year of
slow decay, the Faith found me. My head wanted to keep right on going, but
my feet were having none of it. There were no 'mystical experiences',
however it was still involuntary. The first time I saw some Baha'i
literature I remember thinking 'hey, thats what I already believe !'. It was
about this time that I started taking seriously what was happening to my
life. Shortly after that, on attending my first 19 day feast (little did I
know this was a 'unity feast' specially arranged by the host community, and
that they then had to arrange a 19 day feast for themselves !), the thing
that struck me most was the overpowering sense of warmth and unity, so
totally unlike anything you might find in a church. I felt as though these
people would really be prepared to die for each other. I also decided to
visit the UK's national suboffice to find more about this Faith. They were
more than a little surprised to be having to cater for a seeker ! Little did
I know this was an administrative office only.
The most difficult thing for me at this time was this whole 'God business',
eg existance of God, the afterlife, prayer etc. Coming from this background,
there was a tremendous barrier to believing there was anything to this 'faith'
thing. Two people, not from the local community, who really helped most in
this test were Don Rogers, of the International Teaching Centre, who
happened to be visiting Liverpool at the time, and a wonderful Friend from
Guyana, whose name I have unfortunately forgotten. I had already started to
try to live the life (including prayer, which felt very strange, and the
Fast - the local Friends were most amazed at this seeker who insisted on
spending the whole Fast with them). What helped me most were the analogy
that the life and progression of the soul is analogous to the develoment of
the body - in this life we develop certain characteristics that we will need
in the next just as the unborn baby doesnt need limbs in the mother's womb -
that the existance of religions whose Founders could not normally have known
of Each Other but which said the same things is a proof of the existence of
God, and finally 'Abdu'l-Baha's statement that 'Faith is conscious
knowledge', not some leap in the dark. Finally, after 6 months, I was ready
to declare, but I kept my surprise until the 12th Day of Ridvan, 1989. The
first person who learned came from a background where teaching the Faith was
forbidden, so you can imagine how pleased she felt ! I dont think anyone who
was there will forget that year - there were two declarations ! Since then,
I have been privileged beyond my worth to serve on the National Youth Committee
here in the UK, and to have gone on a 9-day pilgrimage to the World Centre. The
best thing that has happened since then has been the bounty of serving the
*wonderful* youth community of Northern Ireland. God willing, I may visit
again :)
Yours in His service,
Andy
phd10@cc.keele.ac.uk