What do you think about the Bahá'í Faith?

>>2184785
>not Christian
Into the lake of fire it goes!

>>2184788
I've always been fascinated by how divided Christianity is. Why so many sects?

>>2184785
It's weird to think they are an Abraamic faith. I imagine it would be a positive influence in the middle east because instead of radicalism it pushes "spiritual evolution" - this is reminescent of what the RCC does when it "clarifies" it's doctrine, keeping it from becoming the mess that is American Christian fundamentalism.

>>2184805
There are no "sects". There are denominations. Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy are seperate religions.

>>2184825
But they're still under the "umbrella" of Christianity is that they worship Christ, right?

>>2184881
They also worship Mary, so they give their glory to Lucifer and not to Christ.

>>2184785
If it were to take off and spread extensively, I feel like it would be of enormous benefit to the regions it inhabited. Its emphasis on the validity of all faiths would help to end sectarian conflict.

It's just a shame Baha'u'llah and Shoghi Effendi died without appointing a new head of the faith, so it's pretty much stagnated now (I think that's the situation I read about. If it's not a spiritual leader I think it's the son of Effendi they're missing, which he didn't have).

>>2184890
Stop shitposting.

>>2184920
The head of the faith now is the Universal House of Justice, as defined by Bahá'u'lláh and Abdu'l-Bahá onthe global level. There are also National and Local Spiritual Assemblies for regional and municipal matters.

>>2184982
Do we know how the Bàb felt about Baha'u'llah essentially taking the reigns of his own movement? Or was he killed before that?

>>2184890

>Mary the mother of Jesus is the devil

OK...

>>2185153
The Bab and Baha'u'llah never physically met each other. Most Babis accepted Baha'u'llah as the Messiah the Babi proclaimed would come. Those who didn't were instead lead by Baha'u'llah's half-brother Mirza Yahya.

New Age tier crap

>>2185448
>started in 1844
New Age

I'd be interested to know more about the Baha'is. There's a Baha'i center literally down the road from my house I pass every day, yet I don't know very much about them at all.
Someone wanna give me a blow-by-blow with the meme arrows? Like how did the Bab relate to Baha'u'llah? He was kinda like the John the Baptist, right?

>>2184785
Bullshit scam.

>>2185602
>guy called the bab starts preaching a new, Twelver Islam offshoot religion and foretells of a coming messiah in Iran
>executed for heresy
>guy named Baha'u'llah claims to be that messiah
>vast majority of bab followers agree and become baha'is
>baha'u'llah teaches various new things that moved it away from an Islamic offshoot into its own religion
>some of these things include:
-All major religions come from God, with God revealing their respective scriptures depending on what the area needed, spiritually speaking, at the time
-The founders/major players of these religions (Jesus, Muhammad, the Buddha, Krishna, etc) are manifestations of God. This is what Baha'u'llah was (prophets are still a thing, but prophets and manifestations are different).
-There will be future prophets/manifestations, and Baha'is should follow the teachings of the newest manifestation, as they are here because God feels that these new teachings are the most relevant.
-Various other dogma that I can elaborate on if you want.
>Guy called Shoghi Effendi becomes head of the affairs of the faith after Baha'u'llah dies (I think, this is all simplified), giving additional instructions to followers based on letters sent to him.
>Effendi dies and the head of the faith becomes a group of people called the Universal House of Justice

If you want to visit the Baha'i center, they'd probably be happy to have you. Don't expect a typical church experience, though. Baha'is don't preach from pulpits and instead have group-led discussions. Should be a good way to ask questions.

Also, someone please correct me if I'm flat out wrong on anything.

>>2185694
What are you being scammed out of?

Completely autistic.

t. Great-grandson of a Baha'i proselytizer.

>>2185699
Shoghi Effendi was Abdu'l-Baha's (Baha'u'llah's son) grandson.

the dude who played Dwight Schrute on the Office is a Baha'i and he whines about Iran all the time on social media because of it

They're just kind of there. Kind of like Freemason temples, I see them in the oddest places, but I never give much thought to them. I kind of like that they don't stir up shit (that I know of), but as a Lutheran I'm contractually obligated to look askance at them.

One of the biggest questions I have about Baha'is is how they can claim all major religions can be seen to lead up to this one in scripture.

Islam especially. I've asked Baha'is how Islam can be compatible when Muhammad said that there would be no other prophets after them, and they say that the Qur'an never calls him the "last" prophet, but the "seal of the prophets". Though pretty much all Muslim scholars take this to mean that he's the last.

Apparently they don't really pay that much attention to hadiths. Does anyone know how legit this claim is?

Truly the great faith that should be respected and studied.

>>2187604
Pretty much every person who knew Muhammad, his son-in-law Ali included, said he claimed to be the last prophet of God.

That is a small, reconcilable difference relative to the ones that say Buddhism and Hinduism are actually extensions of the Abrahamic faith, no guys seriously I swear.

>>2184785
Will win in the middle east once wahabis and therefore islam dies

Quite a good idea but no one cares enough about peace, harmony and religious agreement to do it.

I grew up in a Baha'i family. Stopped practicing after I moved out.

While the ideas presented by the faith are all well and good, I had no interest in belonging to the faith from an organisational standpoint. One aspect that I do think is quite beneficial is that there were always appointed successors which prevented the massive fragmentation seen in Islam and Christianity. There were, of course, still divisions.

>>2187604
It's a concept they call "progressive revelation" in which each prophet was the messenger of God for that specific era. According to the Baha'is, Baha'u'llah is today's prophet.

>>2188923

>organisational standpoint

Mind elaborating?

>>2188923
I understand that every messenger was sent depending on what God thought the world needed at that time, but I don't understand why God would say that a certain messenger is the last one (Muhammad), or that belief in an eternal creator deity is a delusion (The Buddha).

Do Baha'is believe that some religions have been corrupted, like how Islam views Judaism and Christianity?

Also, are there any religions that Baha'is specifically state are not from God?

>>2189253
I basically didn't want to be part of an organized religion. To fully become a Baha'i, you have to sign declaration card. I did mine at 15, as is customary among Baha'i families. Simply put, I didn't believe in it anymore.

>>2189554
>Do Baha'is believe that some religions have been corrupted...are there any religions that Baha'is specifically state are not from God?
Any idol worship religion (like Paganism) is not of God. Other than that, I can't think of a specific example. It's been many years since I've read the Kitab-i-Aqdas.

>>2189613
Thanks for the answers anon.

>>2188923
>is that there were always appointed successors which prevented the massive fragmentation seen in Islam and Christianity

Successors were appointed in Islam as well - there just wasn't consensus agreement over who it should/would be. The many denominations of Christianity are not strictly due to successor issues but the way the faith is interpreted (and Islam for that matter and all it's factions) hence all these people claiming innovations or reinterpretations of the religion.

It's ironic you would claim Baha'i avoided this when it is at least an offshoot of an offshoot of an offshoot in itself (Islam -> Shia -> Twelver)

>>2189253
Bumping for this anons question

>>2190352
This was answered here >>2189613 retard

>>2190364
I know, I made the mistake of replying to a thread before refreshing it

Iran are a bunch of dicks for destroying their shrines and persecuting them.