What does it mean to you to be Bahá'i?

I am not of the Baha'i label, but a lot of the teachings/beliefs coincide interestingly with Christianity. I had to go to Wikipedia to learn more about it, as I had never had the opportunity to befriend someone of this label.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baha%27i, if anyone is interested. I know I was.

One of my dearest friends carries this label, but I have not yet been able to lure her in. Not for lack of trying!

Just off the top of my brain, the Bahai's believe that Bahaula (something like that ) to be the last prophet. They do believe in Jesus but believe that he was before this next prophet who left instructions for all of us. This concept is pretty cool really. They compare life to a tree, from that tree comes other trees and the older tree dies and goes away. So the prophets, same thing.
This happens about every 800 years or so, a new prophet comes up and we know who he is because he endures ultimate punishment from his or her stance like Jesus or Bahaula. Bahá’u’lláh (ok I looked it up-it was bugging me) was killed but amazingly enough, there are thousands upon thousands of writings that he left behind as he wrote them over a period of years in the dark while imprisoned. The Baha'i do not discredit other prophets, they believe Bahá’u’lláh was last one and the Bible is now super tainted by man's access to it over the years.
They believe women are just as powerful as men and newer concepts such as this.
Creditable but I might be programmed to think that if I believe there is another prophet after Jesus than I am then not really a true Christian or believer.
Still, I respect their difference.
In fact, I invited a Bahai friend of mine to join this website.

Me too, a dear friend. She's doing this weird thing called "living in real life" that makes her too busy to join us. Weird.

Sounds like blasphemy to me.

I liked this bit in the wikipedia article:

Bahá'í teachings state that the unification of mankind is the paramount issue in the religious and political conditions of the present world.[6]


They seem to be genuinly interested in finding common ground between different religions and cultures.

I like their ideas on unification of mankind, the equal status of men and women and the need for religion to be in tune with current science. The fact that it still is a monotheistic religion and for example their stance on homosexuality are less suitable to my ideas.

It does seem like a much more acceptable form of monotheism to me. Maybe a good stepping stone towards a truely free and peacefull global society?

Certainly, the Bahai's are more open to the equalization of men and women but they are like all organized religions, they too focus on the big bucks. I have read articles of a former Bahai.
He joined thinking their main focus was creating a more cohesive unity to find he the focus was recruitment, membership, and payment.

Not surprising, yet somewhat disappointing.

I agree, not surprising, but very disappointing indeed.
Yet another religion where the practice differs from the theachings then I guess...

Somehow I feel that I would be a lot less cross with religions if more of them practiced what they preach...

I know this is an old topic, but I thought I'd throw it out there.

I did a pretty extensive report on Bahá'í for my Government and Politics of the Middle East course. The faith was founded in Persia (Iran) in the 19th century and is not an offshoot of Christianity but an offshoot of Islam, which is why it is so terribly persecuted in Iran today. They believe that Muhammad was not the final prophet, and that the Bahá'u'lláh followed Muhammad. It's important to note that the Bahá'u'lláh is also not considered to be the final prophet.

I recently met some Bahai followers and must admit was really pleasant experience. They just established them-self in Slovakia as registered religion (religious group). So they can be founded from taxes. As always curious what is under cover took part at some of their events. For me it is just another modification of Islam and Christianity. No new message, less transparency (at least to me) but those I could encounter were trying to live what they are saying. Living tale story in "real" world can be true challenge. What is so divine about their prophesy? I am missing salvation element that differ from other "labels".

Very interesting post!! Welcome, oko!

I for one find it to at least be more in line with Humanism and more modern belief systems than Christianity or Islam.

The progression goes(simple time-line):
Judaism ~BCE 200 (finalized in the form we know today)
Jesus ~50BCE-100 AD - Judaism as an official "religion" wasn't THAT old in Jesus time.
Christianity 451 AD
Islam ~650 AD
Catholic Church ~1050AD (Split into E/W Churches)
Modern Christianity ~1450 (Reformation)
Modern Judaism ~1850
Bahai ~1850 AD (technically the above could be called "Protestant" and Bahai "Modern Christianity", depending upon your beliefs, of course)
Future ~? (guessing about 2200 or so based upon past cycles)

Of course, where you decide to stop is another issue, of course. But nowhere in any of the works does it necessarily state that there might not be other future prophets or changes as long as the Messiah hasn't come/come again(in Jesus case) already.

Also, it's interesting to note how Christianity, Islam, and Judaism also went through major shifts at the same time in the 1850s. This might indicate that there will be a merging of the three at some future date, or a limited symbiosis like still exists between Eastern Catholicism and Western Catholicism.

1850 is also about the time that Transcendentalism was flourishing among American intellectuals.

Knew and Iranian Baha'i who fled Iran when we was 14 with his family because of persecution. We didn't often talk about his faith, mostly because it simply didn't come up often, but he was a wonderfully nice guy named Majeed. I wish there were more people with his demeanor.

In His Grip,

christian_concern@yahoo.com