Comments for Year of Faith

Comment on Cleansing by Leila

Leila — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 20:56:44 +0000

As far as I and my husband are aware it basically refers to washing hands and face. There’s nothing more prescriptive – I’m guessing though if you lined up a load of Baha’is from different backgrounds they’d all do it quite differently. I have some Iraqi Baha’i friends who, after praying, always kiss the prayer book and touched it to their forehead – but I’ve never seen anyone else do this. For me that’s the one of joys of being a Baha’i, the diversity is accepted and loved.
Good luck with the fasting – I’m doing if for the first time in 8 years after having my kids and the getting-up-early is killing me!

Comment on First Lesson by Leila

Leila — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 20:50:20 +0000

Hiya – was interested to see that that point about evolution. Now I’m really no expert in the science of evolution but I’ve always understood that we do believe in evolution – in a kind of intelligent design way, not as a random process. The best place to read about this is in Abdul-Baha’s book Some Answered Questions and maybe some book on evolution written by a Baha’i. Was a bit worried about that ‘not believe in evolution’ statement but maybe I’m a bit clueless of what evolution in the scientific world actually means.

Comment on First Lesson by Ryan

Ryan — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 16:23:54 +0000

I’m always inclined to be more sympathetic towards doctrines which express skepticism of, say, evolution not because they don’t believe what we observe in nature occurs, but because they don’t believe it occurs randomly.

I mean, it’s pretty fundamental to most deist faiths that the universe moves to some kind of plan, right. So ascribing agency to processes non-theists believe to be random seems pretty fair.

Comment on First Lesson by Ryan

Ryan — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 16:10:43 +0000

I’m always somewhat inclined to go a bit easier on doctrines that profess skepticism of evolution as a more or less random process, but which don’t try to argue that what we observe actually occurs.

I mean, ultimately, believing that the universe moves to some plan is a basic characteristic of most deist faiths, right? So ascribing agency to processes which non-theists believe to be random seems pretty fair.

Comment on World Religion Day by Jehovah Witness

Jehovah Witness — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 10:59:21 +0000

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it’z amazing blog . I just added you to my News Reader. Keep up.
Regards,
Jone

Comment on Delays due to Lack of Noms by Greenstorm

Greenstorm — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 15:38:03 +0000

Have you looked at the videos of the fasting woman linked from the wikipedia fasting site you linked to? I believe she did three consecutive 40-day fasts, drinking only water. They’re pretty haunting.

In other news, pick a weekend when you’re not doing much else to try a longer fast Not only do you want time and attention to focus on things instead of being distracted by work, but you’ll have fewer physical demands. I find it tends to thin the veil for me– things feel more transcendent or spiritual more easily –though I have never fasted long or entirely deliberately.

I’d be happy to switch any going-out-for-dinner to just hanging out sometime if you’re doing this.

Comment on Cleansing by Greenstorm

Greenstorm — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 15:30:40 +0000

I imagine the necessary (?) surrender of control/ego/self as the being of utmost importance (and the replacement of that by God) won’t be super easy for you.

Comment on Fasting by Michael

Michael — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 03:20:04 +0000

I can never get myself up early enough, but I’m making the effort.

Comment on Beginning Baha’i by Gord

Gord — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 00:03:49 +0000

I’m a Baha’i so if you have any questions I’d gladly do what I can.

Comment on Fasting by Michael

Michael — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 19:02:27 +0000

Thanks Christa, I’ll check it out.