I attended a Race Unity Day event
put on by the Baha’i faith community at our local city park and had a
conversation for about 3 hours with several followers of Baha’u’llah. One of them
discussed things with me more than the others, but not at first.
Since it was Race Unity Day for the Baha’i, we eventually started the
conversation with the idea of whether or not world peace was the thing that
mattered most in the world. Baha’i are extremely motivated to promote world
peace. They think that the problem
with the world is that it lacks unity, which would ultimately provide world
peace. This first part of the conversation was with Doug (names changed for privacy).
Doug implied that world peace mattered more than anything, but I reminded him of the problem of suicides where we live. I asked him if this is why they commit
suicide, because of the lack of world peace. He reluctantly said, “Probably not,” but then
I offered a better solution to what is wrong with the world, which is a lack of
hope. If certain people are utterly hopeless, then why would they want to live? World peace
is probably the last thing on their minds. This immediately informs us that
world peace, in a sense of unity, is not the world’s highest priority.
Then he introduced me to a much
younger man. I’ll call him Andy. Andy was listening to the prior conversation
and the way he would look up at the sky and then look down at the ground and then
look to the left or right of me told me that he was thinking hard about some
things we were discussing. We discussed several things such as why he believes
that “nothing matters,” which was a phrase to which he kept returning, and I
showed him that this is not how he
lives his own life, as if “nothing matters.” He lives as though things do
matter, and I was pointing out ways in which that he contradicts himself. I explained
to him the Law of non-contradiction, and gave several examples, which he didn’t
deny, but then when we would discuss some things, he would disagree or propose
another incoherent solution. I pointed out the incoherencies in every example,
which he agreed were contradictive, but that he couldn’t explain them.
We moved to Christianity. He had a
little knowledge of Christianity, but he told me flat out that he liked to
argue (Which, I assume that he meant debate). So he enjoyed our conversation,
but deeply struggled with my pointing out his logical inconsistencies. On top of
this, he kept saying that there was no way that right or wrong existed, and
even if it did exist, we would not be able to know it, or that it would matter
because we all die anyway (Baha’is believe that they alone have the truth, but
that the truth should not be defended from a Baha'i because it would go against
their belief of unity. So there is a logical inconsistency: that Baha'i has the
one truth, but that other beliefs should be accepted as true, even if they
contradict).
I gave him the gospel with a heavy
fist (possibly unfortunately). I told him that even Baha’i recognize that God
is perfect (Baha'is are monotheistic). That He is holy (He wouldn’t be God if
He was not perfect). Then I told him that we fall short of His glory and I
explained that this creates a problem between God and man. He nodded. I
continued with the rest of the Roman Road…
After this, I then moved to the
importance of justice. I told him that there has to be a place for God to send people
who do not love Him. I explained that the existence of Hell answers two very
big questions. 1, that God cannot destroy a being that He created with
intrinsic value, for that would be immoral. So He can send them to Hell,
preserving their life. 2, that because they chose to be in a world without God,
that they wanted to be their own God, that Hell is a place that separates them
from God. This is because He is perfect and cannot be near sin. So Hell solves
the problem of not destroying that which is intrinsically valuable (human life),
as well as it separates the person from God, which is the ultimate judgment for
sinners. We discussed Hitler and Joseph Stalin in comparison to Mother Theresa
quite a bit as well. I was showing him that there is a real value to life, with which he disagreed. He insisted that how
we live our lives does not matter. I told him that it does matter the way we live our lives. That our lives would have no
value in the end otherwise.
I even got a little ugly with him.
I said, “Theoretically speaking, what if I cocked back and punched you on the
mouth? Would that be wrong?” He acknowledged that it would hurt but that it wouldn’t
ultimately matter because we all die. In our discussion of right and wrong, sadly,
Andy did not believe that torturing babies for fun would ultimately be wrong.
He argued that because people do it every day must mean that it is not wrong.
The problem with this is that we
can know that right and wrong exist, and we live as if it does every day. Andy
told me that it “didn’t matter” either way. I pointed it out to him once again
that this is not how he lives his own life. For one thing, Baha'i believe that
the world is not at peace. To a Baha'i, the lack of unity is wrong. He kept
coming back to nothing mattering. But I kept showing him that he does not live
his life as if nothing matters, and that he is living a contradiction.
He seemed to be a critical thinker
at times, but kept contradicting himself because of his presuppositions from
Baha’i. He could not squirm away from the idea that he used logic. When I was
showing him through logic and evidence that Christianity was true, he tried to
denounce logic all together. But I explained to him that in order to denounce
logic, he would have to use logic to do so. It was seemingly and endless cycle
of him living as if he were logical, but then denying logic until he was blue
in the face.
He told me that he was afraid of
death. He admitted that life only matters because he fears death. But I explained
to him that we can know what happens after death because Jesus tells us what
happens after death and is able to do this because He died and rose again. He
has been there, done that. I proved that Jesus is God to him earlier when I
told him about the fact that Jesus is who He says He is by His miracles, among
other things.
Baha'is believe that any knowledge
that one has is only relative knowledge. This was one of the inconsistencies
which I sought to explain to him. I wanted to keep to the law of
non-contradiction as much as possible in order to show him his own
inconsistencies. When cornered with consistent, logical ideas with which he
could not escape, he explained that he is only Baha’i because this is what his
mother is. I showed him that he can know the truth and doesn’t have to follow
what his mother believes especially if it is not the truth.
Baha’is need nine people (9 as an
integer represents unity in diversity) in any given location in order to form an
official gathering. I live in a considerably remote part of the Rocky Mountains,
yet shockingly, there is a Baha’i community here. It was confirming for me,
even in this part of the world, that the most important thing to know when
discussing theology with a Baha’i, is the law of non-contradiction. It is good
to confront them on this and stick to it as much as possible.
Baha’is believe that there is one
truth, but are enormously inconsistent with it. This is why the conversation
was so circular in general, because one truth is what Baha’i have the mindset
of, when it boils down to it, but they do not live as if this is the truth. For
instance, a woman cannot be both pregnant and not pregnant at the same time, in
the same sense. It is the same way that all religions can be false, but not all
of them can be true. One of them can be true, which is what I argue for
Christianity, but not all of them can be true because they oppose one another. Religions
by their own existence imply exclusivity. Unity is difficult for Baha'i because
they believe they alone hold the truth, but to be united as one, they must
confirm other religions truths, even if it disagrees or contradicts their own
views.
In the end, he told me that he had
a crisis of faith about a year ago, and that he doesn’t really have a religion
anymore; that he is basically an agnostic. I am assuming that he said this
because he sees how inconsistent Baha'is teachings really are, but struggles
with a hope that he can really count on.
I explained that Jesus alone is
where we get our hope. It is not through world peace, because even if we were
ever to be able to attain world peace, (to bring it full circle) what about how
we felt as individuals? If world peace could exist, would that be the true motivator
for people who contemplate committing suicide not to act?
Please keep these people in your
prayers, friends. There is only one true place where we can find hope and that
is in Jesus Christ alone (John 14:6).
Written by Nace Howell through the
grace of the Lord Jesus
© Nace Howell, 2022
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