Tuesday, September 30, 2008

BAHAI TEACHING

Baha'is are called upon to actively apply the teachings of their Faith in their daily lives. Baha'i teachings provide clear guidelines for personal conduct and responsibilities, and for Baha'i community life. These guidelines for human conduct are designed to promote unity and justice and to help people live happy and meaningful lives.

SCIENCE AND RELIGION

Baha'u'llah teaches that all true knowledge comes from God. Therefore, science and religion represent only different avenues to the same truth, and apparent differences between the two are merely illusions. If science and religion disagree on a specific issue, then one or the other must be in error. When traditional religious teachings contradict well-established science, the religious teachings may be in error because they have become influenced by man's interpretations of God's word. When a true Manifestation of God teaches ideas which are contrary to popular science, it is the science which is in error.

BAHAI GATHERINGS

Baha'i Gatherings
Feasts
The only regular Baha'i activity which might be considered a religious service is the Feast. The Feast, which is held once every nineteen days, consists of three portions. The spiritual portion involves the reading of prayers. The administrative portion is a discussion of community business, and the material portion is the sharing of refreshments and fellowship.Baha'u'llah established a new calendar with nineteen months of nineteen days each and four "intercalary" days to adjust to the solar year. Therefore, the Baha'i community's monthly gatherings are known as the Nineteen Day Feast.

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN TARBIYAT AND REST OF THE BAHAI WORLD

Q: What is the difference between the Tarbiyat Baha'i Community and other Baha'i groups?A: The only difference between the Tarbiyat Baha'i Community and the rest of the Baha'i world relates to the spiritual leadership of the Faith. The Tarbiyat Baha'i Community believes that the institution of the hereditary Guardianship, delineated by Abdu'l-Baha in his Last Will and Testament, is necessary to preserve the long-term integrity of the Faith. The Tarbiyat Baha'i Community believes that the Guardian must come from the bloodline of Baha'u'llah, and that a Guardian from the Holy Family will arise in due time. The largest Baha'i group, with American headquarters in Wilmette and international headquarters in Haifa, Israel, believes that the institution of the Guardianship terminated when the Faith's first Guardian, Shoghi Effendi, died without children and, apparently, without appointing a successor Guardian

GUARDIANSHIP OF BAHAULLAH

There is a spiritual wing to the Baha'i Administrative Order also. The spiritual leader of the Baha'i Faith is known as the Guardian of the Faith. He must be a male lineal descendant of Baha'u'llah and has sole authority to interpret Baha'i scriptures. He also sits as chairman for life of the Universal House of Justice. He has the right to define its proper sphere of legislative action and to require that body to reconsider any of its decisions. He is required to appoint a successor in his own lifetime. The Guardian also appoints believers as Hands of the Cause to assist him in spiritual matters, particularly teaching and protection of the Faith.

CENTRAL FIGURE

  • The Central Figures of the Baha'i Faith are as follows, in chronological order:
  • The Bab - Forerunner
  • Baha'u'llah - The Manifestation of God
  • Abdu'l-Baha - Center of the Covenant
  • Shoghi Effendi - First Guardian of the Faith

Guardianship

"Divorced from the institution of the Guardianship the World Order of Baha'u'llah would be mutilated and permanently deprived of that hereditary principle which, as Abdu'l-Baha has written, has been invariably upheld by the Law of God... Without such an institution the integrity of the Faith would be imperiled, and the stability of the entire fabric world be gravely endangered..."
Shoghi Effendi, First Guardian of the Baha'i Faith

Saturday, September 20, 2008

TARBIYAT BAHAI COMMUNITY

Followers of Tarbiyat Bahai Faith are found in America, Canada and India