Current mood:

curious

Hey! My name's Jeremy, and I'm very new to the Baha'i Faith, but I already consider myself one, for the most part. It really wasn't that much of a conversion to me, considering that I believed about 95% of it for at least five years. Even though I heard about Baha'i before, I really didn't know anything about it. That was until about a week and a half ago when my school (Kenesaw State University) held an interfaith panel with people of different religions--Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Mormonism, Baha'i, and Paganism. When the Baha'i explained her beliefs, I just thought "Oh my God! That's me!" I walked up to her after the seminar and I told her what I thought and she gave me a book, I forgot who it's by, but it's called God Speaks Again--An Introduction to the Baha'i Faith. The more I read it, the more I was satisfied with the whole religion.

I've gone to a Unitarian Universalist Church now for about a month and a half, and I love it, but it's not quite as spiritual for me. Even thought I feel as though I have already found my own spiritual truths, I wanted structure, and I think Baha'i provides that for me without making me sacrifice too much. I was, though, extremely upset when I read whay Baha'i says about homosexuality. To me, frankly and with all do respect, it contradicts the central teaching of Baha'i--that there's beauty in unity and diversity--and I would hope that that means all aspects of diversity. I can't deal with the concept of somehow I'm spiritually deprived--for lack of a better term, because of something as natural as my sexuality. I was very emotionally messed up when I was first struggling with my sexuality because I was raised in a Christian household, and I refuse to go back to that--not for Jesus, and not for Baha'u'llah (again, with all do respect). So, I've come to the conclusion that I'm a Unitarian Universalist Baha'i, with Baha'i being the foundation of my beliefs, and I just add and subtract where I deem necessary.

Okay. Now that I did that over-drawn introduction, I have some questions. I've been reading a lot of the past entries, and you guys give amazing answers--which is definately excellent.

Could someone explain to me what a covenant-breaker is? I read about it in that book, but I still don't understand it.

I read somewhere (maybe it was am old entry here) that Baha'i shouldn't be political active. Is this true and if so, could someone elaborate on it? As you can tell from my icon and userinfo, I'm very politically active.

Is there anywhere where I can read the Holy Scriptures online? I read about the Ocean program in here, but, unfortunately, I'm in the computer lab on camppus so I can't download anything. And if at all possible, is there a site with them written in just plain English? I can read the "thou" and "ye" stuff, it's just a lot easier the other way.

Thanks! Oh yeah, my favorite Baha'i passage (thus far) is on my userinfo. =)