 I love Jesus because of the Baha’i Faith. I am reading and studying the whole Bible for the first time in my life. This summer I read the biography of Thornton Chase, the first American Baha’i. In it I learned that the first Baha’is in America did not have written literature about the faith. What they had was the Bible. The Bible is what they used to teach others about the Baha’i Faith. That inspired me to crack open a gift bible from a friend. I had, of course, read bits and pieces and the gospels at camp 30 years ago. I heard parts of the Bible read from pulpits all my life. But this is my first time to really study it with pen and markers and notebook in hand. At a Baha’i conference I was encouraged to study the bible , again, and it was there a wonderful man told me about Strong’s Dictionary of Bible words and how he felt (as do I ) That we should always get the whole story-or a complete view on any topic in the Bible. He showed me how many “beliefs-or stories I’d learned growing up were not, in fact, even in the Bible at all. It was church dogma, their beliefs or interpretations, but not actually in the Bible. One thing I love about the Baha’i Faith is that there are no clergy. You are to investigate on your own. I believe that we, as human kind, are now at a place in spiritual, historical and physical evolution where we are capable of understanding and interpreting The Word of God for ourselves. It is time to let go of preconceived and “passed down”, inherited ideas. To look up all those teachings and see if they are in the Bible and what all else is said on each idea or teaching. You read, study, pray and meditate on The Bible and come to your own conclusions. Be open minded as you study. This is my goal. For myself, I wish to know the whole story on each subject in the Bible I come upon. As such I’m using a concordance, dictionary and a book with 4 different Bible versions side by side as I go to look through the entire Bible and learn all that Jesus and God has to say on each word or subject. To “get” a complete picture. I invite you to come back and see what I find as I go deeper into the Bible. For each “subject” (say, since its Christmas, I’d read all versions of Christ Birth) Hmmm, think I’ll start there. I’ll get back with you here on the complete story-all the references I can find and musings I might have as one who was raised a Catholic, attended different Christian denominations in my 20’s and 30’s and am now a Baha’i loving Jesus again and studying the Bible for the first time. | The Golden Rule and Beyond | Religious Teachings on One Personal God | The Life of Baha'u'llah | Progressive Revelation | Some Basic Baha'i Principles | Jesus, The Bible and Me | Baha'i Gardens | | Return Home | Contact Us | My Baha'i Faith | Family | My Garden | MY Roses | Plant Gallery Database | New Orleans Botanical Gardens | Feng Shui Gardening | Links & Resources | |
||
