Bahá'ís and Revolution
I don't know about you all, but I have neighbors stockpiling guns, food and fuel for the battles they foresee after the national elections here in the US. It doesn't matter what the outcome, apparently, since there will be heavily armed opponents to whoever is elected, according to one person I overheard at the grocery store.
I don't remember such a situation ever happening before, and I have been voting for half a century. Now, I want change as much as anyone, I think, and I spend time and energy every day working on goals to make the world a better place--according to my own understanding, of course. But as a Bahá'í, and as a thinking person, I can't justify violent revolution.
Here is the prophecy which gives hope to Bahá'ís:
Any change, no matter how small, is messy. It will take time to bring these changes about, and some days it seems like it will never happen. However, no matter how impatient I might be, or how frustrated, violence is not the way to go about it. Never works, anyway; just look at history.
Instead, this is how Bahá'ís see change for the better happening, more an evolution than revolution:
I don't remember such a situation ever happening before, and I have been voting for half a century. Now, I want change as much as anyone, I think, and I spend time and energy every day working on goals to make the world a better place--according to my own understanding, of course. But as a Bahá'í, and as a thinking person, I can't justify violent revolution.
Here is the prophecy which gives hope to Bahá'ís:
"In the day of the manifestation of the Lord of Hosts, and at the epoch of the divine cycle of the Omnipotent which is promised and mentioned in all the books and writings of the Prophets--in that day of God, the Spiritual and Divine Kingdom will be established, and the world will be renewed; a new spirit will be breathed into the body of creation; the season of the divine spring will come; the clouds of mercy will rain; the sun of reality will shine; the life-giving breeze will blow; the world of humanity will wear a new garment; the surface of the earth will be a sublime paradise; mankind will be educated; wars, disputes, quarrels and malignity will disappear; and truthfulness, righteousness, peace and the worship of God will appear; union, love and brotherhood will surround the world; and God will rule for evermore--meaning that the Spiritual and Everlasting Kingdom will be established. Such is the day of God. For all the days which have come and gone were the days of Abraham, Moses and Christ, or of the other Prophets; but this day is the day of God, for the Sun of Reality will arise in it with the utmost warmth and splendor." - 'Abdu'l-Bahá, Some Answered Questions, p. 56It isn't a new prophesy, but that is a lot of change to have happen, even though mankind has been working towards it for millennia--according to the Bahá'í belief that there is only one God who has been carefully guiding mankind by periodically sending Teachers. What looks like all sorts of religions is actually chapters in one continuous religious Book, and each has moved those who believed a few steps closer to the goal of the Kingdom on Earth as it is in Heaven.
Any change, no matter how small, is messy. It will take time to bring these changes about, and some days it seems like it will never happen. However, no matter how impatient I might be, or how frustrated, violence is not the way to go about it. Never works, anyway; just look at history.
Instead, this is how Bahá'ís see change for the better happening, more an evolution than revolution:
"And that universal Manifestation will subdue the world by spiritual power, not by war and combat; He will do it with peace and tranquility, not by the sword and arms; He will establish this Heavenly Kingdom by true love, and not by the power of war. He will promote these divine teachings by kindness and righteousness, and not by weapons and harshness. He will so educate the nations and people that, notwithstanding their various conditions, their different customs and characters, and their diverse religions and races, they will, as it is said in the Bible, like the wolf and the lamb, the leopard, the kid, the sucking child and the serpent, become comrades, friends and companions. The contentions of races, the differences of religions, and the barriers between nations will be completely removed, and all will attain perfect union and reconciliation under the shadow of the Blessed Tree." - 'Abdu'l-Baha, Some Answered Questions, p. 58All this is happening, little by little, day by day.
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