Bible time?

Originally Posted by Sassafrass

This actually sounds like a really interesting religion. Is it very popular in the United States? Are there any associations here in the US? I'd love to read more on this one. I've never really bumped into a religion which embraced these values.

Oh yes, there are plenty in the United States. The official website for the Bahá'í Faith in the United States is http://www.bahai.us/. The official website of the international Bahá'í community. in general is http://www.bahai.org/. There's one North American House of Worship, which is in Chicago. You can see a picture here: http://chicagosnapshot.com/cs/archiv...3_bahai001.jpg .

Always glad to tell more to one who is interested.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Is the the only church of Bahá'í in the United States?

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Oh no. There are seven Houses of Worship in the world.

1. The first one, in 'Ishqábád, Turkmenistan. It was demolished after an earthquake rendered it unsafe.
2. The United States one, in Wilamette (suburb of Chicago) Illinois.
3. The African one, in Kampala, Uganda.
4. This'n's in Sydney, Australia.
5. Langenhein, Germany, close to Frankfurt am Main.
6. Panama City, Panama.
7. Tiapapata, Samoa
8. My personal favorite, in New Delhi, India. It is the most visited edifice in the world, getting a lot of visitors on Hindu holy days.

There are also planned constructions, in Tehran, Iran (if the local goverment doesn't try to destroy it...), Santiago, Chile, and Haifa, Israel, close to the Bahá'í World Center.

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So there is only one in the United States? :/ I figured you'd be naming more places than less than a dozen...

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

I imagine one of these Houses of Worship is a big deal, not just a little meetinghouse for people to say hi and drink coffee together. Sort of like how there's only one Mecca. Or for Mormons, there's chapels all over the place but only 120ish temples in the world.

FELIPE NO

Well, the Bahá'í religion is still a young one, it is growing. More Houses of Worship will come with time. And a lot of cities have Bahá'í centers, which are smaller and less impressive, but serve as meeting places. And like I said, a lot of worship is done individually and in small groups. There are no clergy.

How ya doing, buddy?

That is an interesting concept though, most religions have at least some sort of organized leadership usually in the form of priests.

So what is everyone of practices Bahá'í an expert on it?

Jam it back in, in the dark.

I read the Bible, though rarely, and I go to church as much as possible. I guess there really needed to be more options...

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Well, we do have a leadership. But they're not of the same level of clergy. There is an elected leadership, and an appointed. Some members include:
The Universal House of Justice, the highest elected officials. The seat is based in Haifa, Israel. There are nine members, elected every five years. It's responsibilities include (from Wikipedia):
* Promoting the spiritual qualities that characterize Bahá'í life individually and collectively
* Preserving the Bahá'í Sacred Texts
* Defending and protecting the global Bahá'í community
* Preserving and developing the world spiritual and administrative centre of the Bahá'í Faith
* Encourage the growth and maturation of the Bahá'í community.
There are also national spiritual assemblies, elected for various countries. And there are also local spiritual assemblies. The closest one to me is in Lexington, Kentucky, which serves the whole Lexington area.

For appointed leadership:
The International Teaching Centre, also seated
in the Baha'i World Centre in Haifa. Its duties are to stimulate and coordinate the Continental Board of Counselors and assist the Universal House of Justice in matters relating teaching and protection of the faith.
And that leads me to the Continental Counsellors, who protect and propagate of the Bahá'í Faith in all parts of the world.

For those who are interested in reading more about the Bahá'í Faith, I suggest you look at the Bahá'í Portal on Wikipedia, it's very well done and informative. Also check out www.bahai.org.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

I can't say I've read the Bible the whole way through. I've read through the New Testament, but only various excerpts from the Old. I haven't as much as I should, regrettably. My church is studying through the Old Testament this year, so maybe now's my chance in that regard. I go to church each Sunday too.

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Hrm.. I dont read the bible but i go to church every sunday

I was speaking idiomatically.

I only read the bible 4-5 years ago, in Sunday School. Now, so far, the only book I've read since then was the book of Revelations.

I almost never go to church.. I just don't like the people there. The people say one thing in the classroom. After class, you see most of them totally acting in a totally opposite way, contradicting everything they said they believed in. Argh, I hate it, but I am still religious most times.

Sorry God, but some of your "believers" are totally whack.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Pill I believe those are called sunday Christians. Why do you only read the book of Revelations?

FELIPE NO

I find the study of how the Bible came to be, rather than how the Bible can benefit my life, more interesting.

It's origin's or so ambiguous you can't help wonder what the detailed history is behind it and it's human authors (of course I'm not debunking God's influence with it, although I'm no beleiver).

Also I don't read the Bible for my own reason's and although I spent five years in Catholic school, I never and don't go to Church on sundays. I have on a few occasions for high-school performances (music stuff) gone to church, although I'm not sure that really counts.

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To each there own Rasputin. Yes it is very interesting to see the history of the bible. Have you actively studied this or just a passing whim?

Jam it back in, in the dark.

By history of the bible, do you mean history within the bible or the history of the book itself? Because the history of the book itself really isn't all that complicated. A bunch of church leaders got together in ~300 AD and decided which books to put in it. The book we have today is pretty much the same book.

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I have read the entire Bible at least four times. I have studied the Bible through books and discussion for about three years in my native country. My mother is quite religious and I've been exposed to in-depth studies on Christian faith and doctrine - from the Catholic, Christian Orthodox and Adventist perspectives.

I am not Christian, and I do not attend church.

The actual text of the Bible is quite contradictory, stupid and oftentimes simply ridiculous. I've studied it enough to know.
The practice of Christianity today? I can speak on this because I have been in many churches - on the Balkans and in North America. It is often blatantly ignorant of the original text and deeply rooted in tradition and generational misconceptions.
I have very little patience for religious people even though they are generally a peaceful lot. Then again, I've heard that people on opium are quite mellow too. (Hrhr Marx.)

I do volunteer in a nursing home chapel every Sunday. As you can imagine, I do not go there to bring people closer to God.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

I've only read parts of the Bible, mostly because of church when I was young. But haven't touched it since and haven't been to church since I was a kid either.

How ya doing, buddy?

Originally Posted by Gumby

Pill I believe those are called sunday Christians. Why do you only read the book of Revelations?

Actually, I really don't know. I love fantasy, and the book of Revelations seems like a pretty neat dream filled with symbolism. I've read alot of the other stories in the other books during Sunday School way back, but they never seemed to be as fantastic as Revelations.

I was speaking idiomatically.

I definitely don't read as much as I should be. I'm guilty of putting everything else before reading.

I do attend church every Sunday and sometimes when there's prayer meetings outside of that, I'll go to those. I've been Bible study meetings as well.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Since I moved house, I haven't been attending church regularly. I haven't read the bible in a while, but I did quite a bit in the past.
I'm sick of the different traditions in churches, and the conflicts between them. All I need to know is that God created the earth, Jesus is my saviour and that I should follow his teachings. I don't know why so many people get hung up on the tiny details of things...

FELIPE NO

Because it seems as though certain churches are hung up more on tradition than actually following the Bible itself. I've been to a few of these churches before. It's the worst thing in the world to sit in a church and be in disagreement with what they're teaching because it doesn't line up with anything in the Bible.

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Originally Posted by Lady Miyomi

Because it seems as though certain churches are hung up more on tradition than actually following the Bible itself. I've been to a few of these churches before. It's the worst thing in the world to sit in a church and be in disagreement with what they're teaching because it doesn't line up with anything in the Bible.

And this is why I do not attend church.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Maybe, but all churches aren't like this. The one I currently belong to isn't anywhere like this. There's no dramatics and sugarcoating concerts going on there. I went to a church one time that was like that. After I left out, I told my fam that I could now say I've been to a concert. That's how wild it was.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

I haven't read the Bible or gone to church since High School, 7 years ago. I'm not baptized, either. Am I going to hell?

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.