study group

i am so so pleased with my participation in the baha'i faith.
i enjoy so much the baha'i study group i attend. each time the discussions have been rich and enlightening. i come away feeling uplifted and inspired for positive change.
one thing i love about the baha'is in contrast with other faiths i have participated in is the topics and principals that are emphasized. i feel they are very applicable to my life, and presented in clear ways, allowing me to benefit more than i feel i have from any other faith.
i feel the things taught by Baha'ullah, more than anything else i have yet experienced, provide good, clear direction for how individuals and groups should live.

in Mormonism a great deal of emphasis is placed on things like faith, atonement, being a disciple, sexual purity, fulfilling callings, being worthy, loving god etc. while i can see the value of these things, for the most part they are principals i long ago stopped believing.

other churches seem to place enormous amounts of importance on praising god, loving god etc. something that may indirectly improve a persons way of living, but is not something i see as incredibly important.

however with the baha'is, their main emphasis is on things like tolerance, equality(racial, religious, gender), honesty, independent investigation of truth, self examination, the oneness of humanity, etc. while these are things that may be touched upon by other faiths, it is not their main emphasis.
i feel the baha'i teachings, and ways of teaching more easily create the kind of people and communities our world needs.
they have several similar doctrines as mormonism, such as eternal marriage, eternal progression, heaven and hell as metaphor.

one of the only things about mormonism i prefer to the baha'is is their theology on god and the human being.
in mormonism individuals are intelligences, uncreated, that have always existed, in that sense equal to god. god is unique because he is further advanced and acts a spiritual father to guide us into becoming similar to him. he himself having been required to progress as we are now.

while i am not sure if necessarily believe this, i enjoy it. because a great confusion of mine is why would people exist. why would god want to create beings, just to test them in something they may or may not be successful.
islam says that god created people so they can know god. but i think, why would he bother? this all powerful perfect being, why would he go to the trouble to create people to know and worship him? you think he would be more self actualized than to need that.
but in mormonism it is that these beings already existed, and so this god character is doing what he can to help them along, having greater experience and so is able to serve as an appropriate guide.
this is kind of a godless theology. there is no one all powerful being ruling over everything, but rather uncreated always existing beings, finding themselves existing, so working together towards what they see as the best possible reality.

i would be so happy if my friends and family would embrace the baha'i faith. i think it is something that could be of great benefit for them. however i see this as unlikely. but i am fine with that.
i would love to find a baha'i girl to marry. and i look forward to raising my children as a part of the baha'i community.