On Discovering the Baha'i Faith: Questions and Answers on LJBaha'i

Below are the questions posed by Erin. Check out the responses provided members of the LJBaha'i community. Erin Kay Carrigan (februaryskye) wrote in ljbahai:

Photo: Saginaw High School
Hi everyone. My name is Erin and I'm 18. I heard about the Baha'i faith for the first time yesterday, and I'm pretty sure it's what I've been looking for. I'm going to learn some more about it before I join, but I love the idea of unity and that you aren't calling out all other religions as wrong and saying everyone is going to burn in some eternal pit of fire just because they don't believe the same as the next person. I have a few questions.

1.) I want to make sure that I'm reading correctly and that this is a very accepting faith. I'm right in thinking that Baha'is accept everyone, right?

2.) What is the Afterlife supposed to be like?

3.) How long have you been Baha'i? What drew you to it?

4.) What do you do at a Baha'i center? Is it like a church? I noticed there's one right here in Saginaw so I was curious.

5.) How do I ease my mother's mind on this? I mentioned it to her, and she looked like she was going to cry and said, "I don't like this. I thought you were a Christian!" Which I am, but I see so many points where I disagree with it, that I can't really see myself staying in the faith much longer. I disagree with it too much to even be calling myself a Christian. I think she's worried because for a very long time (since I was like 7 until I was 16) I was an Atheist. Then I had a spiritual awakening after some really bad stuff went down in my life, and I've been a Christian since then. I think I chose Christianity at the time because my family had started going to a Christian church, and that's what I was taught. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad I chose some kind of faith. My life got instant better for reasons that I can't explain except that I found something to believe in.

Anyway, I want to ease my mother's mind on this and make her realize I'm not joining a cult. Which I guess she realizes that it's not anything bad, but she told me last night that the Bible says that during 'the end times' there's going to people trying to get Christians to join a lot of off the wall religions. I tried explaining things to her, and she said it's my decision...but she's concerned for my soul, I guess. I told her nobody is forcing me to join or telling me any totally wacky things, but she's still worried.

A lady from what I'm assuming to be the Saginaw Baha'i center e-mailed me today saying if I had questions, we could meet for coffee. If I decide to join and meet her for coffee, would it be a good idea to bring my mom if she wants to go? I don't know much yet, so it's hard for me to explain it to her. I told her Baha'is don't condemn Jesus, Moses, or any other important figure from the major religions. That didn't seem to do much.

But yeah, those are my questions. Sorry this is so long. I'm really interested though. Thank you so much! :)