On Investigating the Baha'i Faith: Arash Gave Me a Declaration Card

Let's go backward in time on Notwedge's blog a bunch of stuff I decided to let out of my head on LiveJournal, starting with his most recent post in which he states his expectation that he will soon become a Baha'i. Notwedge doesn't post a lot, but the Faith has come up with regularity for several years.

notwedge's lj pic

The Baha'i House of Worship
May. 7th, 2006 12:18 am
Current Location: On the couch
Current Mood: happy
Current Music: it's pretty quiet
I went to the Baha'i House of Worship again today (the visitor's center was closed when I went last week). I had a great experience there. There is some work being done on the exterior, but it's still such a beautiful building. The gardens are very nice too and it was nice and sunny today. I went to the Auditorium first to pray for a little while, but I was anxious to get to the visitor's center. I just wandered around a bit at first, looking at some of the displays and looking at some of the free literature. I got a pamphlet on Choosing to Become a Baha'i and continued to look around. I saw that a video was about to start in the presentation room so I sat down to watch it. It was about the Baha'i faith in general and the building of the House of Worship in particular.

"Bahai Temple Reflecting Pool" Uploaded on April 23, 2006 by emace
After the video, I went over to the book store. After looking for books on the Baha'i faith in "regular" book stores, it was a little overwhelming to suddenly have so many to choose from! While I was in the bookstore, I started talking to someone named Arash who works at the House of worship, he not only helped me pick out some books (I wound up getting Thief in the Night, Some Answered Questions and a book of Baha'i Prayers) he also talked to me at length about the House of Worship, the Baha'i Faith and his own experiences. He was very nice and helpful. After I purchased my books, he showed me to the foundation room where the stone Abdul-Baha dedicated is located. He told me the story of how the stone was brought there and how it was chosen. He talked to me more about his own experiences as a Baha'i such as how he had to leave his home country of Iran after he declared. He also showed me the original model of the Baha'i House of Worship. It made me feel good that both the woman who brought the foundation stone and the man who designed the House of Worship were former Catholics like me.

He also gave me some information about how to get into contact with the Baha'is of my community and introduced me to another man there named Kim who talked to me as well. Like Arash, he was very nice to me and answered a lot of questions for me. I had such a great experience there, I'm getting more and more sure that I will make the decision to become a Baha'i. I plan to contact the Baha'is in my area soon so I can talk and learn more, but I don't think it will be long before my final decision is made. Arash gave me a declaration card for when I do.

"House of Worship Main Entry"

Uploaded on October 9, 2005 by kami009
Can't sleep...
[May. 5th, 20060 2:29 am]
Current Mood: awake
My wife and I went to the Bahai house of worship, it was really pretty even though there soing some construction and landscaping right now. The visitor's center was closed, but I got to attend a service. I'm really thinking it's the right thing for me. I'm planning on going again this weekend, hopefully the visitor's center will be open.

How the heck am I?
[Mar. 2nd, 2006 03:46 pm]
Current Mood: good
I'm still looking into joining the Bahai faith (and I figure now's the best time since I currently live less than an hour from the Bahai House of Worship). I know, my progress on this is practically glacial, but I have been actively reading about it and I think the moving plans will motivate me to get going.
Something you never thought I'd talk about in this thing
[Aug. 28th, 2004 09:10 pm]
Current Mood: excited
Current Music:
Random music (they've replaced the muzak at work! Yay! )
]I've been doing some research on a religion and, well, I like it. Yes, I actually like a religion. I thought that 8 years in Catholic schol had perminantly beat the religion out of me but I find myself seriously thinking about joining a religion. The name of the faith is Baha'i (that's not exactly right. there are fancy little symbols above some of the letters that I don't know how to make). I won't go into too much detail, you can type "Baha'i" (or even "bahai") into Google and find sites about it. The short version is that Baha'is believe that all religions are connected and that God wants everyone to live together in peace and unity and all that other good stuff. Anyway, I've been reading up on it and, interestingly enought, the center for worship for the Baha'i faith in North America is located north of Chicago, less than an hour from where I live. So, I'm planning on visiting. If nothing else, it's a beautiful building and admission is free. My girlfriend wants to visit it too. She isn't interested in the faith, really but she's interested in seeing the pretty building. Oh, another good thing is there are no rules against marrying a non-Baha'i if you're one so that won't keep me from joining. I'm going to talk to my parents about it the next time I see them. I'm hoping they'll be happy that I'm talking about ANY religion. Don't worry about me becoming a bible thumper or anything (or a Koran thumper or a Upanashads (sp?) thumper or a whatever-the-Buddhists-read thumper thumping any book at all for that matter. Well maybe one by Terry Pratchett or Peter David, but that's completely different) I'm still gonna be the same strange, strange guy. I'll just go from hardly ever drinking to never drinking at all. I'm actually excited about this, and I've NEVER been excited about a religion before, ever.

Notwedge, A bunch of stuff I decided to let out of my head