> Anyhow, a while back, I went to a Christian youth group, and the leader
> afterwards was really telling me that I was wrong, and that he wanted me to
> find the truth. I got pretty upset, and never wanted to repeat the
> experience, however, it re-inforced my faith. The guy thought that I
> worshipped the Golden Calf in the Old Testament.
> Anyhow, the night after my 15th b-day, I went to another youth group. They
> were trying to brain-wash me, and suckme into this group. I almost got
> sucked in. I know another Baha'i Youth who felt the same way. IT was VERY
> scary. They were all crying, and fainting. I got pretty upset, but I tried
> tot talk to my friend about it (who went to the OTHER youth group) she said
> that her church is like that. Is that right? should Christianity be like
> that? Someone told me that the people were being struck by the Holy
> Spirit,and that it was normal, and that they were bringing back what
> happened in Acts. Is this right? isn't the Baha'i Faith supposed to be the
> one that is so special for now? it doesn't make sense to me, really, how
> can they have all this power, and all these converts, when the Baha'i
> Faithis supposed to be the relgion of the futtrues. I guess part of it is
> that i don't understand how people can investigate the Baha'i Faith, and
> then trun their back on the beautiful teachings to go with the dogma and
> inconsistancies of Christianity. I guess that I am open-minded, but I don't
> get that at all. What do you think (about the youth groups)?
About 23 years ago I almost joined a Christian Youth Group. While I
believe that some of these organizations probably do excellent things
and help the young men and women involved, others may be less
beneficial.
My experience may be of some help.
At a lunch assembly at school a group of performers put on a program.
The music was pretty good and they seemed like a great bunch of
college age students. One of them was an extremely attractive blonde
who befriended me after the concert. Unfortunately, I was looking at
the package, not the contents (I was only 16) and found myself
attending a couple of their meetings at one of the local churches.
Throughout this time this young lady made a special effort to spend
time with me, talking, etc. Wisely, one of the male participants
attempted to lessen my attachment to the girl. I just about signed up
when I was shocked back to my senses by a prayer meeting with speaking
in tongues and other behavior that I wasn't ready to buy into.
I soon realized that the attraction was to the girl, not their
organization and learned a tremendous lesson. I've always been aware
of that when I've been involved in any teaching effort and tried to
watch for similar situations.
One other situation happened with a small Christian youth group.
Many years ago I was participating in a teaching event in a small town
with no Baha'is. We had rented a hall and were providing weekly
classes on a variety of Baha'i topics. Attendance at the first several
was promising. From the very beginning a group of young, high-school
aged boys attended every class. In the first few classes they were
polite and asked general questions. Within six weeks they had managed
to chase all but a few other seekers away and were preaching and
attempting to convert any one who was within earshot. I found out that
they were being sent by the lay preacher at the local Christian coffee
shop, who wouldn't make an appearance himself. He was coaching them in
techniques to disrupt our meetings. I had taken them aside several
times and told them that if they were sincerely wishing to hear what
the Baha'i Faith taught that they were welcome, but if their motives
were to disrupt and cause trouble they were no longer welcome. By the
8th or 9th week they jumped up in the middle of a meeting and
performed an exorcism. We were told that the Constitution of the
United States only allowed us freedom to practice our religion if we
were Christian, etc...
At that point I called the sheriff.
Michael Eissinger
Los Angeles
[Followups should address the Baha'i Faith -mod]