Disappointment

"The Baha'is will disappoint you."

I could not, for the life of me, figure out why she was telling me this.She had been slowly and patiently teaching me the Faith for years and I had just declared less than an hour earlier. And now, here she was, telling me that the Baha'is would disappoint me. Was she trying to discourage me from staying within the Faith?

"No matter what happens", she went on, "always look to the Writings, not the people. The Writings will never disappoint you. Baha'is will disappoint, but Baha'u'llah never will."

To say that this was drilled into me may, perhaps, be a bit of an understatement. But you know what? She was right. And I praise her wisdom and foresight in warning me. (I also thank God, but she was the one who really carried that message to me, so I thank my teacher, too.)

Time and again over the years, I saw the truth of this. Over and over I found the Baha'is disappointed me. And I'm sure that I've disappointed my fair share across the years, too.

Now, to be fair, there are more times that the Baha'is impressed me far beyond belief (perhaps not the best phrase to use here, but I already typed it). Throughout my years within the Faith I have been very impressed with the quality of love, unity, insights, action, and I can really go on and on, but I don't want to tempt anyone out there with their ego.

But I have also had my share of disappointments. And if my teacher had not drilled into me the fact that this would happen, I might not be here today typing this.

From Ruhi Book 1, we all know the famous line from Baha'u'llah, "Nothing whatsoever can, in this Day, inflict a greater harm upon this Cause than dissension and strife, contention, estrangement and apathy, among the loved ones of God", but that doesn't warn us about the tests we seem to impose upon each other.

Baha'u'llah, in a few of His writings, points this out to us this test that we will likely face. "The imprisonment inflicted on this wronged One, O Dhabih, did to Him no harm nor can it ever do so; nor can the loss of all His earthly goods, His exile, or even His martyrdom and outward humiliation, do Him any hurt. That which can hurt Him are the evil deeds which the beloved of God commit..." "My captivity cannot harm Me. That which can harm Me is the conduct of those who love Me, who claim to be related to Me, and yet perpetrate what causeth My heart and My pen to groan." "My captivity can bring on Me no shame. Nay, by My life, it conferreth on Me glory. That which can make Me ashamed is the conduct of such of My followers as profess to love Me, yet in fact follow the Evil One."

We never really think of ourselves as those who could possibly commit those evil deeds. And while He may be referring to some other things, some heinous deeds perpetrated by the friends, such as that ludicrous attempt on the life of the Shah by some depraved Babis, we should also recall that He considers backbiting "grievous error". He says that it "quencheth the light of the heart, and extinguisheth the life of the soul." "How
couldst thou forget thine own faults", He writes, "and busy thyself with the faults of others? Whoso doeth this is accursed of Me." "Accursed" is a very strong term, and may seem too strong, but if we look at the results of being accursed, then it is quite appropriate.

"If any soul speak ill of an absent one," says 'Abdu'l-Baha, "the only result will clearly be this: he will dampen the zeal of the friends and tend to make them indifferent. For backbiting is divisive, it is the leading cause among the friends of a disposition to withdraw... (I)t would make the dust to settle so thickly on the heart that the ears would hear no more, and the eyes would no longer behold the light of truth."

So why am I writing about this? Because I think it is important.

I have seen too many friends pull away from the Faith because of something another Baha'i did.

Aside - I was once asked to breakfast with a couple of friends and their daughter. She was struggling with some issue and they wanted to know if I could answer her. It was a very common problem, and she explained it really well. But then, out of nowhere, she said that she had been told all people who do this thing would "go to hell".

"Who said that", I asked.

"My Sunday class teacher."

"Well, I think your teacher was wrong. First, we don't believe in a hell in that way, and second, there is nothing that says that people who do that will go there. This is what it says in the Writings", and I handed her some quotes. I was prepared for that question, but not in that way.

"Well, yes," she replied, "but my teacher said this."

"So who are you going to believe? Your teacher or the Writings?"

"My teacher."

What can you say to that? She was putting her faith in her teacher, instead of in the Writings. I tried to explain that we individuals are prone to error, present writer perhaps moreso than others, but that the Writings are always true. And while she didn't accept that, it did serve to remind me that we have to be extremely careful not to include our personal opinion when teaching, especially when teaching children.

Another friend of mine has become quite antagonistic towards the community, even though he still loves the Writings, prays regularly, and on and on. Over the years certain Baha'is had said some very bozoid things to him, and he has just decided that he can really live without the community.

Now, in both of these cases the people involved have severed themselves from the community, and it seems to me that it is because of what we in the Baha'i community did to them. We either said something silly, or did something thoughtless, and the effect was to turn someone away. And these were people who were actually within the embrace of the Faith. Imagine how our friends from the Greater Community must feel?

So, when I am teaching others, I always remind them that, yes, the Baha'is will disappoint you. For we will. Not on purpose, but through our carelessness.

The Writings, however, will not. They will never disappoint.