M
Mick
Guest
Declaration stories are always interesting to me. It is a question I like asking other Baha'is. A persons declaration is life changing and most of us remember every detail. We had a thread that asked what caused us to become convinced in our belief system that had got hijacked by somebody and the theme of the thread got lost in 9 pages of nonsense. So, because Popeye suggested I start a new thread, I did. Let me start it out.
My Grandmother was a Baha'i and recognized Baha'u'llah in the late teens or early 1920's, being taught by Corrine True in Fruitport, MI, where Mother True (as the believers in West Michigan called her) had a summer home. My mother was the second youngest of 10 children and was herself a Baha'i. She was not very active, but I did go to youth classes until I was about 10 years old. The classes were held in Muskegon, MI and we lived about 10 miles out into the country and the trip was a hardship at that time. After Shoghi Effendi died, my mother kind of pulled away from the Faith and I was pretty much cut off from other Baha'is, occasionally seeing a couple of my Aunts and a cousin that was still very active with the Baha'i community.
My mother had attended the dedication of the House of Worship in Wilmette, IL, in 1954 and bought my older sister and I a prayer book, where she had taped a wallet sized picture of 'Abdu'l-Baha' into the front cover. I used to go to bed with this prayer book and look at 'Abdu'l-Baha's picture, just being overwhelmed with feelings. As time passed and I became a teenager and started attending Christian churches with a girl friend that eventually became my wife, I wandered from the Faith. Remember, I only had that prayer book to keep me connected and occasional interaction with an Aunt and a cousin.
Fast forward to marrying in a Christian church, becoming a member of the church, becoming disillusioned and leaving the church structure, but still loving Jesus the Christ. I spent most of my 20's looking for the truths of God and found them in many places and from many different people. I was again attracted to Baha'is, but was not very deepened. I started to attend Baha'i functions in the mid to late 70's and it was at the 75th anniversary of a continuous LSA in Muskegon, MI that I was asked "why I wasn't a Baha'i." Ironically it was asked by a seeker.
I had noticed a couple standing off to one side while we were eating and went over and introduced my self and asked if they were their to learn about the Baha'i Faith. They said yes. I suggested that they corner one of the Baha'is and ask them "whatever" because they didn't believe in proselytizing and so probably wouldn't offer information without questions and they started asking me questions. I answered, horribly I may add, but they were persistent and I was willing to offer all my misconceptions I had.
Somewhere along the way the conversation went like this,
"How long have you been a Baha'i?"
I answered, "Actually, I'm not."
"Why," I was asked.
I think I looked dumbfounded. I had never been asked that before and I couldn't answer the question and I told them I didn't know.
Later when I was sitting against a tree, away from everybody else, my wife found me and asked me what was wrong and I told her about the question I was asked. She listened to me carefully and then said, "I have always wondered why you weren't a Baha'i as well."
That was a Saturday, October 21, 1978. I spent the next 24 hours in anguish. I finally, Sunday evening, called a Baha'i friend and asked how somebody went about declaring his belief in Baha'u'llah. He said I'll be right over and I said no, just tell me. He was pulling in my driveway in less than 10 minutes. Well we spent most of the evening and into the wee hours discussing the Baha'i Faith and my feelings. The next morning I went to my Aunt Carol's house, who I call my "guiding light" and signed a card in front of about 15 witnesses. It turns out the LSA of Muskegon had been praying for my declaration for a couple of years.
Well they shared a dozen books with me and I proceeded to deepen and found out that I had known nothing about the Baha'i Faith or Baha'u'llah's claims. I can remember my surprise (shock?) to find out that Baha'u'llah claimed to be the promised one of all religions. You see, I became a Baha'i because I loved the people and had prayed with Baha'i prayers for my whole life. Well, I decided to check this out. Many Baha'is I have talked to said they spent years or months investigating the truths and the claims of Baha'u'llah. I am probably one of the few that declared and then spent a serious year trying to find one fallible instance in Baha'u'llah. You see, secretly, I felt that if I could find that one fallible thing about Him, I could kind of pick and chose those things I wanted to pay attention to in the Faith. For instance, I may want a beer once in a while and this would allow me to do this.
Of course, as the Baha'is that may read this know, a serious year of deepening in the writings did nothing but convince me of the truths of the claims of Baha'u'llah. All my questions of the past concerning religion and our relationship with God seemed answerable rather than fleetingly difficult to get a hold of. I became a Baha'i in 1978. I became a Baha'i with a developed soul in 1979.
"I bear witnes, O my God, that Thou has created me to know Thee and to worship Thee." has become my anthem. The love of humanity is my desire. The spreading of these sweet princples is my hope.
Mick
My Grandmother was a Baha'i and recognized Baha'u'llah in the late teens or early 1920's, being taught by Corrine True in Fruitport, MI, where Mother True (as the believers in West Michigan called her) had a summer home. My mother was the second youngest of 10 children and was herself a Baha'i. She was not very active, but I did go to youth classes until I was about 10 years old. The classes were held in Muskegon, MI and we lived about 10 miles out into the country and the trip was a hardship at that time. After Shoghi Effendi died, my mother kind of pulled away from the Faith and I was pretty much cut off from other Baha'is, occasionally seeing a couple of my Aunts and a cousin that was still very active with the Baha'i community.
My mother had attended the dedication of the House of Worship in Wilmette, IL, in 1954 and bought my older sister and I a prayer book, where she had taped a wallet sized picture of 'Abdu'l-Baha' into the front cover. I used to go to bed with this prayer book and look at 'Abdu'l-Baha's picture, just being overwhelmed with feelings. As time passed and I became a teenager and started attending Christian churches with a girl friend that eventually became my wife, I wandered from the Faith. Remember, I only had that prayer book to keep me connected and occasional interaction with an Aunt and a cousin.
Fast forward to marrying in a Christian church, becoming a member of the church, becoming disillusioned and leaving the church structure, but still loving Jesus the Christ. I spent most of my 20's looking for the truths of God and found them in many places and from many different people. I was again attracted to Baha'is, but was not very deepened. I started to attend Baha'i functions in the mid to late 70's and it was at the 75th anniversary of a continuous LSA in Muskegon, MI that I was asked "why I wasn't a Baha'i." Ironically it was asked by a seeker.
I had noticed a couple standing off to one side while we were eating and went over and introduced my self and asked if they were their to learn about the Baha'i Faith. They said yes. I suggested that they corner one of the Baha'is and ask them "whatever" because they didn't believe in proselytizing and so probably wouldn't offer information without questions and they started asking me questions. I answered, horribly I may add, but they were persistent and I was willing to offer all my misconceptions I had.
Somewhere along the way the conversation went like this,
"How long have you been a Baha'i?"
I answered, "Actually, I'm not."
"Why," I was asked.
I think I looked dumbfounded. I had never been asked that before and I couldn't answer the question and I told them I didn't know.
Later when I was sitting against a tree, away from everybody else, my wife found me and asked me what was wrong and I told her about the question I was asked. She listened to me carefully and then said, "I have always wondered why you weren't a Baha'i as well."
That was a Saturday, October 21, 1978. I spent the next 24 hours in anguish. I finally, Sunday evening, called a Baha'i friend and asked how somebody went about declaring his belief in Baha'u'llah. He said I'll be right over and I said no, just tell me. He was pulling in my driveway in less than 10 minutes. Well we spent most of the evening and into the wee hours discussing the Baha'i Faith and my feelings. The next morning I went to my Aunt Carol's house, who I call my "guiding light" and signed a card in front of about 15 witnesses. It turns out the LSA of Muskegon had been praying for my declaration for a couple of years.
Well they shared a dozen books with me and I proceeded to deepen and found out that I had known nothing about the Baha'i Faith or Baha'u'llah's claims. I can remember my surprise (shock?) to find out that Baha'u'llah claimed to be the promised one of all religions. You see, I became a Baha'i because I loved the people and had prayed with Baha'i prayers for my whole life. Well, I decided to check this out. Many Baha'is I have talked to said they spent years or months investigating the truths and the claims of Baha'u'llah. I am probably one of the few that declared and then spent a serious year trying to find one fallible instance in Baha'u'llah. You see, secretly, I felt that if I could find that one fallible thing about Him, I could kind of pick and chose those things I wanted to pay attention to in the Faith. For instance, I may want a beer once in a while and this would allow me to do this.
Of course, as the Baha'is that may read this know, a serious year of deepening in the writings did nothing but convince me of the truths of the claims of Baha'u'llah. All my questions of the past concerning religion and our relationship with God seemed answerable rather than fleetingly difficult to get a hold of. I became a Baha'i in 1978. I became a Baha'i with a developed soul in 1979.
"I bear witnes, O my God, that Thou has created me to know Thee and to worship Thee." has become my anthem. The love of humanity is my desire. The spreading of these sweet princples is my hope.
Mick
