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It was a long road to my being able to have " eyes to see,ears to hear." I was raised in the Roman Catholic Faith. I left God. He never left me. In my early 20’s I briefly tried Buddhism. For the next 20 yrs I drifted in and out of several Christian churches, a synagogue, and back to both Buddha and Hinduism. In each I found some elements I believed, but never a feeling of “Home”, that any church believed the same as I did. However, I did fall back in love with God as I worked the 12 steps in Al-Anon meetings. I built my own spiritual life and used volunteering as a means of connecting with the world at large. I had come to feel that the world and humankind is one. I strongly felt connected with all people. To help with my hospice care volunteer services I took a sociology class at our local university about Death and Dying . The teacher invited many different religions and denominations to briefly tell about their beliefs and their rites concerning Death and beliefs about afterlife. All in a row sat various official looking, serious ministers, ECT. Then up to the board walks this fresh breath of a girl. She writes on the board the principles of the Baha’i faith and talks briefly about Baha’u’llah. As she talked I read the black board and was struck by lightning. I believe all of that!!! I couldn’t fathom that after all the years of search and my giving up to privately worship on my own I had stumbled onto a Faith that had the same beliefs as I did. This is what she wrote on the blackboard. Some Baha’i Principles: 1. The Oneness of God 2. The Oneness of humanity 3. The Oneness of religion 4. Independent investigation of truth 5. Equal opportunities for men and women 6. The common foundation of all religions 7. The essential harmony of science and religion 8. The elimination of all kinds and forms of prejudice and discrimination 9. A spiritual solution to the economic problems facing the world She also talked about an afterlife that was exactly as I believed. She told how Baha’is are followers of Baha’u’llah. She talked about progressive revelation that made so much sense to me. Of course God would always be with us and send messengers to us as we needed them. After class I approached Kathy and told her how I believed everything on that board but who was this “BA*%$LU” (Baha’u’llah)? She met with me for lunch and invited me to Baha’i classes on campus. I went and investigated. All my questions were answered and I fell in love with the group of people those weeks. Chris (who happened to be my sociology teacher) lent me three books: ‘Thief in the Night’, ‘The Book of Certitude’ and ‘God Passes By’.Reading ‘Thief in the night’ late at night in my daughter’s room (as they slept in my bed) I remember jumping up and down on their lower trundle bed screaming to myself “Oh My God! Oh My God! Jesus returned!!! How can it be that I’m blessed to find this? ME???? I intellectually “knew” that I believe in Baha’u’llah and that I am a Baha’i. After I read “As God Passes By” I was totally, overwhelmingly in love with Baha’u’llah. Due to this Baha’i faith I fell in love with Jesus all over again. If you love Jesus and the Bible as the Word of God continue on to my page about Jesus. To learn more about Progressive Revelation go to that page. To find out more about the Baha'i principles I read about on the board that day go to the section on Some Baha'i Principles Do you love gardens? Baha’u’llah declared in “Ridvan” Garden. Ridvan is Persian for “Paradise”. View pictures of gardens of the Baha’i faith Sacred Places and read the story of His declaration at "Baha'i Gardens" | 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 | |
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