From: Codi del Mundo <EnterEmailaddress@here.com>
Subject: Baha'is and marriage... have you ever had the experience of....?
Date: Tuesday, July 20, 1999 10:59 PM
I used to be a member of the Baha'i Faith, and though it has some very good
points, it ultimately fails to pass the test of independent investigation.
Baha'is usually seek an image as being very liberal and open-minded, to
attract seekers no doubt. Once within the community however, you are very
limited in terms of how you should feel about any aspect of life... it has
to be the "Baha'i Way" or no way. In fact, you may find yourself in a
ridiculous situation if you have unique family situations...
Are you adopted? Oh, too bad if you were wanting to get married.... Better
hope you can track down your biological parents, or you will face a real
nightmare, because you need their permission before you can marry if they
are still living. If they, let's say, don't like "negroes" and you want to
marry interracially, then despite the fact that they have never seen you
before in their lives (because they dumped you at an orphanage) you are
forbidden to marry, and face severe penalities if you do so anyways. Have
you, or anyone you know, had an experience where you faced a four fold
conflict with: the love of your life, a biological parent you've never met
(or a hard-headed parent with predjuices against your love's race), the
Baha'i religious administration, and your own conscience.
Thought I would also pass along these quotes posted here before on liberty
from the Baha'i writings for your contemplation. Notice several type-os so
you might want to verify them with the original sources.
Pass along your personal stories.
David Fiorito and Jennifer Spotila wrote in message ...
>Here is the quote from Baha'u'llah - the Kitab-i-Aqdas:
>
>Consider the pettiness of men's minds. They ask for that which injureth
>them, and cast away the thing that profiteth them. They are, indeed, of
>those that are far astray. We find some men desiring liberty, and priding
>themselves therein. Such men are in the depths of ignorance.
>
>123
>Liberty must, in the end, lead to sedition, whose flames none can quench.
>Thus warneth you He Who is the Reckoner, the All-Knowing. Know ye that the
>embodiment of liberty and its symbol is the animal. That which beseemeth
man
>is submission unto such restraints as will protect him from his own
>ignorance, and guard him against the harm of the mischief-maker. Liberty
>causeth man to overstep the bounds of propriety, and to infringe on the
>dignity of his station. It debaseth him to the level of extrème
>depravity and wickedness.
>
>124
>Regard men as a flock of sheep that need a shepherd for their protection.
>This, verily, is the truth, the certain truth. We approve of liberty in
>certain circumstances, and refuse to sanction it in others. We, verily, are
>the All-Knowing.
>
>125
>Say: True liberty consisteth in man's submission unto My commandments,
>little as ye know it. Were men to observe that which We have sent down unto
>them from the Heaven of Revelation, they would, of a certainty, attain unto
>perfect liberty. Happy is the man that hath apprehended the Purpose of God
>in whatever He hath revealed from the Heaven of His Will that pervadeth all
>created things. Say: The liberty that profiteth you is to be found nowhere
>except in complete servitude unto God, the Eternal Truth. Whoso hath tasted
>of its sweetness will refuse to barter it for all the dominion of earth and
>heaven.
>
>-- Bahá'u'lláh, The Kitab-i-Aqdas, p. 63-64
>
>
>