Re: Baha'i as the "best religion" ?

Dear Reed-
That was a wonderful story my friend.
However I'm still sort of confused about making a difference between a selfless act and a deed. Aren't "acts" and "deeds" the same thing?
Also if we commit a selfless act would we really know about it?
But I feel we can see selfless acts in others. For example a parent sacrificing food to give to the children who are hungry. A comrade in the military throwing himself over a bomb to save the squad. My son ran over to a car accident to help extricate young people when the car was burning. He did not realize he was risking his own life. I went into a burning building and helped an old lady down from the second floor and afterwards became conscious of what I did and thought I must have been crazy for I could have died and that would hurt my own family.
So while we are not aware of our own selfless acts we can see examples in others I believe.
It seems, from this quote, that God is giving us an opportunity to recognize His Manifestation and it seems to be a "feeling act" and not a "thinking act".
In any case I certainly would never judge others just because they refused to recognize Baha'u'llah for my own understanding is that we are given Mercy and can at any time reverse our decisions and finally recognize and that is another reason why we need to treat all with unconditional love.

regards,
doug


On Oct 27, 2007, at 6:18 PM, Reed wrote:

Kent,

This is certainly a very interesting discussion and there is one
phrase that seems to occur frequently - "selfless acts".

IMO, truly selfless acts are difficult for Man to achieve, and even
more difficult to perceive. The curse of introspection would usually
provide us with a false positive or a false negative when testing for
our own selflessness; the same could be said for an analysis of anyone
else's actions.

However, I think you are mis-reading: "Whoever has received this
blessing must, prior
to his acceptance, have performed some deed which, though he himself
was
unaware of its character, was ordained by God as a means whereby he
has been
guided to find and embrace the Truth."

There is nothing in that quote about a "selfless" deed. Indeed, it is
axiomatic in Christian religious teachings (and probably equally in
all others) that the individual must be prepared spiritually, usually
through trials but definitely through conscious choices, in order for
him/her *to be able to* receive *any* spiritual Truth, great or small.
The "deed...(was) a means whereby he has been guided to find and
embrace the Truth." That is to say, the deed was a not a currency, nor
a payment, but simply a guidepost. For example, a lovely 18 month old
girl took me as her servant. It was my joy to hold her blankie until
she wanted it again, get her a drink as requested, etc.. That bit of
voluntary servitude taught me the great joys of unconditional service
to others - a wonderful divine Truth.

Warmest Baha'i regards,
Reed






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