First of all there is this:
"If any differences arise amongst you, behold Me standing before your face, and overlook the faults of one another for My name's sake and as a token of your love for My manifest and resplendent Cause. We love to see you at all times consorting in amity and concord within the paradise of My good-pleasure, and to inhale from your acts the fragrance of friendliness and unity, of loving-kindness and fellowship. Thus counselleth you the All-Knowing, the Faithful. We shall always be with you; if We inhale the perfume of your fellowship, Our heart will assuredly rejoice, for naught else can satisfy Us. To this beareth witness every man of true understanding."
(Baha'u'llah, Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah, p. 315)
Apart from that, if some followers of Baha'u'llah are devoted to serving the interests of the House of Justice, and others want us to turn away from serving the interests of the House of Justice, how can we encourage and support each other in spite of that disagreement? I've already answered part of that question for myself. The question that remains for me is what I might do if I wanted the Baha'i community to turn away from serving the interests of the House of Justice.
I've already discussed in an earlier post how I might try to change the interests of the House of Justice. Apart from that, I don't see how I could honestly keep my membership in the community administered by the House of Justice, if I were trying to turn the whole community away from serving any of its interests. If I wanted to do that, I think I would need to give up my membership. Even then it wouldn't make sense to me to try to turn the whole community away from serving any of the interests of the House of Justice.
If I wanted more followers of Baha'u'llah to go in a direction contrary to the interests of the House of Justice, I might try to make friends with Baha'is individually, and develop relationships with them in which we would learn from each other. I would certainly take advantage of the opportunities offered by the inclusion of non-members in the core activities.
I haven't answered the question of how I might encourage and support Baha'is who are devoted to serving the interests of the House of Justice. I might do the same thing I've thought of doing in relation to my national government. I want to find some interests of my national government that I approve of, and try to serve them and promote them. One example is the The HealthierUS initiative.
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2 comments:
Hi Jim,
You speak here about people who serve the interests of the House and those that don't, but it isn't clear what exactly you are talking about. I have been disenrolled by the House, do you therefore assume that I don't serve the interests of the House? Or are you talking about those who would consider themselves loyal to the House but in fact don't serve the interests of the House; eg, George Dannells. My point is that to have a discussion about such sweeping generalisations is both meaningless and unhelpful for promoting fellowship.
For my part, I am in the business of serving the interests of Baha'u'llah. He is the One we should be serving, in my view.
Alison
Thank you, Alison. I'm really glad to see you commenting here.
You wrote "You speak here about people who serve the interests of the House and those that don't . . ."
No. That's very different from what I said, and from what I meant. I'll try to clarify that in another post.
"I have been disenrolled by the House, do you therefore assume that I don't serve the interests of the House?"
No. I imagine that you're trying to serve the interests of Baha'u'llah's House of Justice.
"Or are you talking about those who would consider themselves loyal to the House but in fact don't serve the interests of the House; eg, George Dannells."
I wasn't talking about George in this case, but I do think his posts about unenrolled Baha'is and about his "Internet Anti-Baha'i Society" are contrary to the interests of the House of Justice.
"My point is that to have a discussion about such sweeping generalisations is both meaningless and unhelpful for promoting fellowship."
Maybe so. I don't think that discussing disagreements is a good way to practice fellowship. Some of my other posts in this blog, or in one of my other ones, might be much better for that purpose.
Part of what I'm doing here is recording some of my thought processes for future reference. There's been a lot going on in my mind, and I might need to have this record later on for some of my purposes.
"For my part, I am in the business of serving the interests of Baha'u'llah. He is the One we should be serving, in my view."
My religion is learning from Him and serving Him, and I see you doing that too.
I'm devoted to serving the interests of the House of Justice because that's part of my understanding of serving Baha'u'llah.
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