I'm looking into the Baha'i faith and I'm a bit foggy on a few of their beliefs. What does the Baha'i religion say about reincarnation, karma, and homosexuality? And are they lenient to what you believe? Like if you are a Baha'i but you think that homosexuality isn't wrong and believe in reincarnation and karma is that okay? Thank you!
far more lenient than other AbrahamICCeligions. and they believe all religions reach God. Yes its much more lenient and I'm fairly sure you re okay with those ideas in that religion. but i would suggest something less Abraham, like Wicca, Noe-paganism, or something of that nature if you think homosexuality is OK, believe in reincarnation, and in eastern philosophy, meditation, tarot, etc. Also, Unitarian Universalism.
Basically, the faith is an offshoot from Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Founded about the same time as Mormonism and a couple of others, all of which claim that the Bible predicted a time for a second appearance of prophets, with an appearance of two comets following each other (happened in 1840 or thereabouts).
Like other religions of the Book, it does not advocate homosexuality, reincarnation or karma or other such nonsense.
Why is it that so many people think that homosexuality is important enough to be more than a blimp in any religion?
I have a couple of friends who are Baha'I, And they
know better than to mention it around me, I am very
tolerant of religion but that one is f**king retarded.
They believe that all religions are basically god exposing
himself to humanity one at a time, depending on spiritual
hunger, and that all religions are in fact right.
The stupid thing is that if God by definition is like that, then that
god is the worst bigoted irresponsible hatemonger in all of eternity.
All the religious persecution, of every religion that hates homosexuals,
subordinates women, condones rape, child molestation, All the wicked
atrocities of humanity based on religion they are to blame for it.
They just adopt a new M.O. of, We must now evolve!
Wait a second Lets get back to YOUR definition of God.
Dude, I just hate em, for being stupid and irresponsible, but that is just me.
I encourage everyone to formulate a belief based on your understanding of reality.
I am completely accepting of Homosexuals, if there is a hell, I don't believe you are going there, I couldn't believe that any human would go to a place of eternal torment for not conforming to a belief in ~80 or so years of life on Earth, even when i was a Hardcore Christian.
In his Kit?b-i-Aqdas (Most Holy Book), Bah??u?Lelah explicitly forbade pederasty, but Shogh? Effend?, the Guardian of the Bah??? Faith, is presumed to have interpreted this (in a letter written only *on his behalf*) to imply a general prohibition on all forms of homosexual activity. The Guardian did not, however, wish Bah??is to treat the words written by his secretaries as possessed of the same authority as his own letters: they are authoritative for the person to whom they are addressed in the situation in question, but they were not intended to establish general principles universally applicable to particular situations.
Most Bah??is believe that the Bah??? International Community of Haifa and ?Akk? based in Israel (headed by the Universal House of Justice on Mount Carmel) constitutes the only valid form of the Bah??? Faith; they interpret the Bah??? Covenant as unswerving obedience and total submission to the Baha'i ecclesiastical authorities, who teach that one must choose either a life of chastity within the mainstream Bah??? Faith or pursue a life of affectional fulfillment outside of the mainstream Bah??? community, which recognizes only *heterosexual marriage* as the sole context for sexual activity.
However, the Unitarian Bah??? Fellowship welcomes gay men and lesbians (both singles and couples) as members; it does not attempt to micromanage the lives of gays and lesbians through "counseling," "sanctioning" (disenrolling) or otherwise silencing them. See for example:
http://unitarianbahai.org/
"We find community in the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) ... the Unitarian Bahai Fellowship welcomes openly gay and lesbian people."
In the words of former Catholic and well-known actress Anne Hathaway: "The whole family converted to Episcopalianism after my elder brother came out. Why should I support an organization that has a limited view of my beloved brother?"
Official Bah??? teachings reject the twin concepts of karma and reincarnation (the idea that humans are continually reborn). The soul comes into existence at the moment of conception and continues in some form of non-material existence after death. It does not return to earth. Accounts of "past lives" are not real memories, but indicate the ability of the human mind to believe firmly in whatever it imagines.
?Abdu?l-Bah?, when asked about reincarnation, described the beliefs and interpretations of people who believe in reincarnation, and then argued that those understandings were mistaken. However, he did not directly say that reincarnation phenomena are false or non-existent.
"Believers in it [one form of reincarnation and transmigration] consider the body as a vessel in which the spirit is contained, as water is contained in a cup; this water has been taken from one cup and poured into another. This is child's play. They do not realize that the spirit is an incorporeal being, and does not enter and come forth, but is only connected with the body as the sun is with the mirror. If it were thus, and the spirit by returning to this material world could pass through the degrees and attain to essential perfection, it would be better if God prolonged the life of the spirit in the material world until it had acquired perfections and graces; it then would not be necessary for it to taste of the cup of death, or to acquire a second life."
- 'Abdu'l-Bah?. Some Answered Questions, pp. 286-287
Part two. Disclaimer for all of my answers: I am no official spokesperson. Though I believe any statements of mine are accurate, apart from direct quotes I speak for no one other than myself.
One of the principles of the Baha?i Faith is Independent Investigation of the Truth. Even though Reincarnation is very explicitly denied in the Baha?i writings, if you choose to still believe in it that is your choice and no one has the right to tell you what you may or may not believe. The only thing is you would not be allowed to go around telling everyone that the Baha?i Faith teaches reincarnation.
Nonagon has some interesting views and I have run across some of his/her answers before. Until I ran across Nonagon I was not aware of the existence of the Unitarian Bah??? Fellowship. I still do not know any more about it now than I did then, however I did some years ago spend some time studying both Unitarian and Universalist religions. There is a very good reason I never seriously considered joining either one or the combined (around 1960 or 1961) Unitarian Universalist church. I will go into one belief only, but that was more than enough for me. If one can look me in the eye and tell me that they seriously believe that the lives and teachings of Gandhi, Oral Roberts, Malcolm X, Theudas (around 45 A.D.) or Menachem Mendel Schneerson (1902-1994) are every bit as valid and significant for mankind as a whole as are the teachings of Buddha, Krishna and Jesus, then I will look with suspicion on anything they say that involves judgement. Do not get me wrong, I very much respect Gandhi and hope his name is never forgotten, but to seriously claim he was in every way the equal of Jesus or Baha?u?llah leaves me shaking my head.
But in short, the only requirement to be a Baha?i is to fully accept the Person and Station of Baha?u?llah. While there are advantages to being an enrolled Baha?i in good standing, you can still be a Baha?i without that.
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God has given man the eye of investigation by which he may see and recognize truth. He has endowed man with ears that he may hear the message of reality and conferred upon him the gift of reason by which he may discover things for himself. This is his endowment and equipment for the investigation of reality. Man is not intended to see through the eyes of another, hear through another's ears nor comprehend with another's brain. Each human creature has individual endowment, power and responsibility in the creative plan of God. Therefore depend upon your own reason and judgment and adhere to the outcome of your own investigation; otherwise you will be utterly submerged in the sea of ignorance and deprived of all the bounties of God.... We must not be content with simply following a certain course because we find our fathers pursued that course. It is the duty of everyone to investigate reality, and investigation of reality by another will not do for us.
(Abdu'l-Baha, Foundations of World Unity, p. 76)
When asked on one occasion: "What is a Bah?'??" 'Abdu'l-Bah? replied: "To be a Bah?'? simply means to love all the world; to love humanity and try to serve it; to work for universal peace and universal brotherhood." On another occasion He defined a Bah?'? as "one endowed with all the perfections of man in activity." In one of His London talks He said that a man may be a Bah?'? even if He has never heard the name of Bah?'u'll?h. He added: --
The man who lives the life according to the teachings of Bah?'u'll?h is already a Bah?'?. On the other hand, a man may call himself a Bah?'? for fifty years, and if he does not live the life he is not a Bah?'?. An ugly man may call himself handsome, but he deceives no one, and a black man may call himself white, yet he deceives no one, not even himself.
One who does not know God's Messengers, however, is like a plant growing in the shade. Although it knows not the sun, it is, nevertheless, absolutely dependent on it. The great Prophets are spirits suns, and Bah?'u'll?h is the sun of this "day" in which we live. The suns of former days have warmed and vivified the world, and had those suns not shone, the earth would now be cold and dead, but it is the sunshine of today that alone can ripen the fruits which the suns of former days have kissed into life.
In order to attain to the Bah?'? life in all its fullness, conscious and direct relations with Bah?'u'll?h are as necessary as is sunshine for the unfolding of the lily or the rose. The Bah?'? worships not the human personality of Bah?'u'll?h, but the Glory of God manifest through that personality. He reverences Christ and Muhammad and all God's former Messengers to mankind, but he recognizes Bah?'u'll?h as the bearer of God's Message for the new age in which we live, as the Great World teacher Who has come to carry on and consummate the work of His predecessors.
(Dr. J.E. Esslemont, Baha'u'llah and the New Era, p. 71)
Information about the Baha'i religion?
