A summary of the Baha'i Faith

This was a summary for my speech class:


Title: The Bahá'í Faith

Introduction
I. “The world is in travail, and its agitation waxeth day by day. Its face is turned towards waywardness and unbelief. Such shall be its plight, that to disclose it now would not be meet and seemly. Its perversity will long continue" wrote Bahá'u'lláh, Prophet-Founder of the Bahá'í Faith (Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh).
II. In the 1700s and early 1800s
    A. the large empires of the world were engaged in horrible wars
    B. were being worn down through fruitless civil conflicts
    D. and peoples were being decimated through the brutality of the slave trade
    E. and ethnic and racial genocide
    F. According to Selected Death Tolls for Wars, Massacres and Atrocities Before the 20th Century, a compilation of historical statistics,these events claimed at least eighty million lives
III. During that time there were also great and building expectations throughout the world that a glorious Prophet would soon appear Who would fulfil the prophecies of the religions of the past and build up a just, peaceful world civilization.

Body
I. The Báb led a preparatory Religion
    A. The creation of the Bábi Cause
        1. In the early 1800s in the Middle-East a movement began around the belief that two Prophets would soon appear Who would fulfill the prophecies of the Qur'an
        2. In 1844 in Persia, what is today Iran, a young Man known as the Báb, or the Gate began teaching a new Religion
    B. The course of the Bábi Cause
        1. During Báb's ministry He was tortured, imprisoned, and denounced by Muslim clergy who were angry about losing their leadership to the rise of the new Religion, the Báb's claim to fulfill the Qur'an's propechies, and the changes that He made Its long-held Teachings
        2. Tens of thousands of people, most of whom lived in Persia, chose to believe in Him
        3. These people arose to align their lives with His Teachings and as a result disrupted the corrupt ways of their country
    C. The culmination of the Bábi Cause
        1. According to Time Magazine's article “Religion: Bahá'í” twenty thousand of these souls willingly sacrificed their lives when given the option to recant their Faith or be killed
       2. In 1850, six years after His ministry began, the Báb Himself was strung up and shot in the city of Tabriz in northern Persia
    D. The consequences of the Bábi Cause
        1. The massacre of the Bábis continued even after His death
        2. And the Báb Speaking about the Prophet greater than He to come after Him He said: "By the righteousness of Him Whose power causeth the seed to germinate and Who breatheth the spirit of life into all things, were I to be assured that in the day of His Manifestation thou wilt deny Him, I would unhesitatingly disown thee and repudiate thy faith.... If, on the other hand, I be told that a Christian, who beareth no allegiance to My Faith, will believe in Him, the same will I regard as the apple of Mine eye." (The Revelation of Bahá'u'lláh v. 1)
    
II. Bahá'u'lláh created a Religion for the upbuilding of the world
    A. The beginning of the Bahá'í Religion
        1. During that persecution an outstanding Follower within the Bábi was chained, imprisoned, plundered of all of his possessions, and then banished out of Persia to Iraq
        2. In spite of the persecution He:
            a. Arose to teach the Bábi community
            b. The majority of them sought His counsels
            c. And in 1863 He announced that He was the One Whom the Báb and the other Prophets of the past had promised the peoples of the world would appear for their spiritual resurrection; He was known as Bahá'u'lláh, or which in English means The Glory of God
        3. He summarized His essential Teachings saying: “The virtues and attributes pertaining unto God are all evident and manifest, and have been mentioned and described in all the heavenly Books. Among them are trustworthiness, truthfulness, purity of heart while communing with God, forbearance, resignation to whatever the Almighty hath decreed, contentment with the things His Will hath provided, patience, nay, thankfulness in the midst of tribulation, and complete reliance, in all circumstances, upon Him. These rank, according to the estimate of God, among the highest and most laudable of all acts. All other acts are, and will ever remain, secondary and subordinate unto them." (Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh)
    B. The building up of the Bahá'í religion
        1.  Bahá'u'lláh Taught His Message despite being banished three times further and imprisoned by officials who were threatened by His teachings and influence.
        2. Wrote to all of the kings and rulers of the world, urged them to make peace with each other and told them how they could do so
        3. And taught and consolidated a community of thousands of souls who strongly believed in Him, including almost all of the Bábis, who now took on the name of Bahá'ís and lived together in peace
    C. The work of Bahá'u'lláh and the Bahá'ís
        1. Many Bahá'ís were killed in Persia
        2. And Bahá'u'lláh suffered His persecutions until His death, forty years after His ministry began, as a political prisoner in what is today Israel.
    D. The Covenant of Bahá'u'lláh
        1. During His lifetime Bahá'u'lláh revealed over a hundred volumes of scripture
        2. Designed an Administrative Order to manage His Faith in the future
        3. And left a last Will in which He appointed His eldest son 'Abdu'l-Bahá as the Head of His Faith after Him
III. 'Abdu'l-Bahá carried forward the Bahá'í Faith
    A. The ordination of 'Abdu'l-Bahá
        1. 'Abdu'l-Bahá was appointed as the "Expounder" of His "Text" and Who Bahá'u'lláh said was "informed" of His "purpose" (Tablets of  Bahá'u'lláh)
        3. 'Abdu'l-Bahá said that some His Father's most important Teachings were: "The Independent Investigation of Truth," "The Unity of Mankind," that "Religion ought to be the Cause of Love and Affection," "The Unity of Religion and Science," the "Abolition of Prejudices," the "Equalization of Means of Existence," the "Equality of Men before the Law," "Universal Peace," the "Non-Interference of Religion and Politics," the "Equality of Women and Men" and the “Education of Women,"
    B. The work of 'Abdu'l-Bahá
       1. Kept the Faith safe against the attacks of some self-seeking people who wanted the leadership the Faith themselves
        3. And In the years between 1911 and 1914 undertook a teaching journey across northern Africa, Europe, and North America on which He spread His Father's Message to thousands of souls
    C. The successes of 'Abdu'l-Bahá and the Bahá'ís
        1. 'Abdu'l-Bahá Succeeded in expanding and consolidating the Bahá'í community
        2. Served His Father's Cause despite several threats and an attempt on His life
        3. And during His Ministry the persecution of Bahá'ís in Persia continued
    D. The furtherance of Bahá'u'lláh's Covenant
        1. 'Abdu'l-Bahá explained His Father's Teachings about the Administrative Order that was to manage the Faith in the future
        2. Laid out teaching plans to lead the Bahá'ís all the way to the establishment of a peaceful world civilization
        3. And appointed His eldest grandson, Shoghi Effendi, to succeed Him as interpreter in His own last Will and Testament. (The early history of the Bahá'í Faith is summarized in the book God Passes By, by Shoghi Effendi)

Conclusion
I. The establishment of the Administrative Order
    A. Under the Guardianship of Shoghi Effendi the Faith grew astronomically.
    C. The highest level of the Administrative Order enjoined by Bahá'u'lláh, the Universal House of Justice, was first elected in 1963
II. The work of the Bahá'í community
    A. According to the Encyclopedia Britannica in 2009 the Bahá'í community numbered 7,300,000 individuals
    B. Who live in 222 of the 239 countries of the world
    C. And according to statistics from the Bahá'í World Center Bahá'ís represent 2100 of the ethnic and tribal groups of the human race
    D. And work together to build a just peaceful civilization.
III. The promise of Bahá'u'lláh
    A. Bahá'u'lláh asked: "That all nations should become one in faith and all men as brothers; that the bonds of affection and unity between the sons of men should be strengthened; that diversity of religion should cease, and differences of race be annulled - what harm is there in this?... Yet so it shall be; these fruitless strifes, these ruinous wars shall pass away, and the 'Most Great Peace' shall come." (The Proclamation of Bahá'u'lláh)