Thread: bahai faith and bahai religion

For those of u familiar with the bahai faith and the earths geological state in the 19th century .....I was reading a book entitled Thief in the Night by William Sears and it begins with saying that in the 19th century people were beyond eager for the return of Christ. I dunno if there was a period of time when this eagerness was greater than in the 19th century but first of all ....


1. We're Christians incredibly eager for the return of Christ in the nineteenth century?
2. Was there any period of time before that that people were as eager as then?

What was the earth like then from a geological standpoint, was it as "active" other periods in the past?

Thanks.

Millennialism - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Okay so question.... I have also a major interest in Zoroastrianism. Mainly because of the aspect that is this 1. That God will temporarily lose power (if I understand it correctly)

And also I'm interested in it at the moment because of what u just showed me! I am not sure if u were wanting me to get further interest in Zoroastrianism by your post but can u further explain or can anyone further explain the (2) I'm presuming , successive thousand year periods of the devil and God and if that means they are going to be like "equal" in pain and joy. Also this means both the devil and God get 1000 years to reign before God ends evils existence correct? Like God's period was or will have the same amount of joy as the devils reign will have of pain. Also, I will further reply in the future once I read a little more to about the bahai faith.

This successive 1000 year thing scares me because I literally devised a system or calculated my own life a year ago I am not lying (not sure if this matters to any of u and said the devil was reigning on my bad days or at least in my bad years and that God was reigning in my life in the good years. Now I know this sounds crazay and I also know that a person cannot for sure say oh I know that I had 10 good years in my childhood but that is truly what I did. Maybe I got the idea from reading about Zoroastrianism and forgot I read this stuff? Or does it sound crazy that I did this in the first place?

~ Sarah1234. Following some friends from the East into a quick study of many faiths.. The Bahia seem to follow all of the prophets of religion.. encompassing most if not all. I find no proof of fact of devil or God any and all, and reject the lot as a wast of your time.
It's a subject of mass hysteria and faiths. I want and look for the sciences.. for any inspiration and answers.. To test and question. To challenge and probe..

Originally Posted by Sarah1234

For those of u familiar with the bahai faith and the earths geological state in the 19th century .....I was reading a book entitled Thief in the Night by William Sears and it begins with saying that in the 19th century people were beyond eager for the return of Christ. I dunno if there was a period of time when this eagerness was greater than in the 19th century but first of all ....


1. We're Christians incredibly eager for the return of Christ in the nineteenth century?
2. Was there any period of time before that that people were as eager as then?

What was the earth like then from a geological standpoint, was it as "active" other periods in the past?

Thanks.

Predictions for the return of Christ are one of the more common mythologies oftentimes taken up by the masses after bad events as evidence for the Apocalypse.
List of dates predicted for apocalyptic events - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Bahais believe that Christ has come in the person that is ballulah .

There is no god or devil.

So here's why I think atheists should believe I God. So, I will try to give a decent response here.

First, there are many reasons that I believe in God, but here, I'll try to discuss the one that will make the most sense to atheists.

Generally speaking, humans have evolved to believe in God. If you believe in evolution and have confidence in modern psychology, this is the currently held point-of-view. So, the simple answer is that I believe in God because I am evolutionarily programmed to believe. I have many other reasons to believe as well, but perhaps this is the reason that will appeal most to atheists.

I know that a lot of atheists say that we are all "born atheists," but this point of view flies in the face of evolution. So, realizing that this is a grand statement, I'll give you the words directly from a source.

The words below are from page 645 of the Handbook of Personality, 3rd edition. This book is a modern, doctoral-level textbook used in psychology courses.

"Accumulating research further indicates that humans exhibit a developmental predisposition to believe in such socially infallible supernatural agents, appearing in early childhood (Barrett & Richert, 2003). Cross-cultural studies conducted with children between the ages of 3 and 12 indicate that young children may possess an 'intuitive theism' that prompts them to see intentional purpose in the natural world that cannot be attributed to people but only to specially powerful supernatural agents (Kelemen, 2005). Therefore, mental tools predispose people to hold religious beliefs. In this sense, widespread belief in gods arises from the operation of natural processes of the human mind. In the views of cognitive scientists, belief in gods does not amount to anything strange or peculiar; on the contrary, such belief is nearly inevitable. In answering the questions of why would anyone believe in God, the answer from cognitive science is that the design of our minds leads us to believe (Barret, 2004)."

That chapter of the textbook, entitled "The Capacity for Religious and Spiritual Experience" also states that religion is also a evolutionarily advantageous trait. I could go into details about why evolution and faith in God (or Gods for some people) has proven to be evolutionarily advantageous, but that is a little beyond the scope of this forum post.

The simple answer is that the vast majority of humans believe in the "infallible supernatural" (aka God) because they are evolutionarily programmed to do so.

Evolutionary variation would also explain why some people are more "skeptical" and more likely to abandon faith in the supernatural. Again, this comes from modern psychology.

Personally, I believe in God for many reasons, but like I said, to atheists, perhaps the reason above will make the most sense.

As an aside, I'll go off topic a little and make another statement or two, and these might be a bit controversial. I'm going to make some wide-ranging statements about atheists, but I do realize in that these statements don't apply to all atheists. I don't intend to stereotype all atheists, but, on internet message boards and in real life, here are three things that I sometimes consider.

First, I don't fully understand why so many atheists mock belief in God. In effect, you are mocking a much, much more highly successful evolutionary development. Every inhabitable continent on earth developed large, widespread religions. Faith in God or Gods has been around since the dawn of mankind. Like I said, we evolved to believe in deities and have religion because those have proven to be extremely successful evolutionary traits. I mean, how many other evolutionarily prescribed mental (and behavioral) processes get mocked? I would imagine very few.

Second, along the same lines, when an atheist argues to bring someone out of faith in God, you are arguing that they should embrace a much less successful evolutionary path. Perhaps you can say "Yes, but perhaps we are entering an evolutionary era where skepticism will thrive." -- But largely, this is a statement of faith, which is something that many atheists loathe. You've got millions of years of evolution on one side, suggesting that faith is a successful evolutionary trait, and the "skeptical" portion of humanity relegated to low percentages over most earth (except China, where state-sponsored atheism is the standard, and certain parts of Europe...but even in those pockets of Europe, you often find the immigrant population - often religious Muslims - out re-producing the local secularized citizenry. Of course, this could be an example of evolution in action - as I said, religion and faith have been highly successful traits at sustaining the species.)

Third, another interesting thing is that atheists often associate stupidity with faith, as though atheists alone have a license of words like "reason" and "logic" or something to that effect. This is hilarious because globally (outside of China) the vast majority of humans have some sort of faith in the supernatural. This sort of attitude is a logical fallacy. I guess the "fear of the religious fundamentalists" has really caught hold in the atheist community because people with some sort of faith in God (or Gods) make up the vast majority of the world's population. Faith does not equal stupidity or lack of reason or logic.



But, again, with those statements, I don't mean to stereotype all atheists. And, I am aware that "success" is a subjective term and that it may be measured in ways other than in evolutionary terms. However, all things considered, perhaps I have given everyone some food for thought.


Anyway, I went a little off topic there, but if it helps any, a very simple answer as to "Why do you believe in God?" is that evolution has programmed humanity to do so because it is an evolutionarily successful trait.


I'm aware that some of what I said might be taken as controversial. I don't have much free time to discuss it.

Later

So u are saying though that belief in god or gods or some supernatural being is because of evolution and our own gradual change towards what? What do u think the results of religion are? U need to ask urself does religions cause wars between people and the human race or problems, etc? Or does it make us evolve into a better race who because of a possible fear for god or gods act in a better manner and behave themselves? I wanna see proof that believing in god results in good things ? Just curious what ur answer will be not arguing.
Since though that I believe one way, should I have a kid that I should spread the way I believe? Lol

It is possible that atheists loathe the thought that the below is a statement of faith on their part.

We are entering an era where skepticism will thrive.

I thought in the 1950s we were watching shows like I love Lucy , etc. What do we watch at the moment? There were no bloody movies back then. Maybe no movies at all but still. Are u sure the human race is going towards the good ?

TLDR answer:

Originally Posted by bsmitts

Generally speaking, humans have evolved to believe in God.

Since you have taken great pains to point out that we are wired to believe in "god" how about theists just say "Okay, that's how the brain works - it's a built-in belief - a mental construct, a way of looking at the world. It's NOT A FACT that god exists, it's simply a phantom of our own psychology. So from now on we'll shut the f*ck up about it, stop telling people how to behave and make no further claims about the attributes and desires of this so-called "god"".

Have u ever believed in god since u are telling believers to shut up? How do u know what it is like? Oh the debating between the believers and the atheists. Who will win?

As I was raised in China's South West, and born there..* I can testify as to those comments above as true.
~ A state overview of atheistic view is encouraged.. and for centuries religious belief was discouraged physically..
Thought of as primitive and archaic. I have lived most of my life in New Zealand where a freedom to pursue whatever you like is your right. I understand that the Bahai faithful are a popular eastern option.. I still cast a sideways glance at all religious doctrine.
As weakness or reliance on a falsehood. Could I be guilty of a indoctrinated culture.. Hmm.. yep.

* ~ Just to clear up what I have been asked privately.. 'Born in China's Haicheng Provence 'Beihai' of a English Mother and a Welshman father who did not travel to China. My Mother moved while pregnant and remarried a Mr Lee of Beihai. 1952. Both died in 1968 and I have been a N Z 'er since 1977.. ~

Originally Posted by thepersianpuzzle

Have u ever believed in god since u are telling believers to shut up?

Perhaps you should learn to read.
What I wrote was "how about..."? A question, a suggestion.
As opposed to bsmitts' "I think atheists should believe". Not a question or a suggestion.

Ur post was just harsh , no need to be. u sound like u want take believers down. Eliminate them!

Originally Posted by thepersianpuzzle

Ur post was just harsh

Ah right.
But there's nothing harsh about telling atheists that they SHOULD believe simply because some ancient (and probably now-outdated and essentially useless ¹) evolutionary trait says they should, is there?
How about we get rid of all modern technology?
After all evolution didn't set us up for that did it?

1 Not to mention potentially divisive.

No ones telling you, or at least I'm not.

I do not think bsmitts has possibly enough logic to his post, however, it is a nice or interesting idea. I'll give him that.

Onto the OT, is there evidence to support the scripture about an increase in earthquakes before Christs return, etc? Isnt that in the scriptures?

Originally Posted by thepersianpuzzle

Onto the OT, is there evidence to support the scripture about an increase in earthquakes before Christs return

To get "evidence" for that you'd have to know when "Christ is returning".
And THEN start looking at the incidence of earthquakes to compare with previous incidences.
Offhand I'd say it's much the same as the rest of the "prophecies" in the Bible: drivel.

There's no evidence that the number is currently increasing, but we ARE registering more simply because we have improved detection and global communication. I.e. we're now listing/ registering quakes that would have gone unnoticed/ unremarked in the past.

That may be true dywyddyr,

Also I found this:
Several magnitude scales have been used over the years, Ritcher magnitude (ML) , surface wave mag. (Ms)
Etc. It has been possibly recognized (this I will research) that the older ML, Ms scales do not properly characterize the full-time wave frequency range of the energy radiated by an earthquake.