My First "Baha'i Experience"!

I just had THE coolest experience! I mean, other people probably won't think it's that cool, but I do because it was my first "Baha'i" experience. Let me elaborate...

This morning I didn't have work so Jay and I met up to finish the introduction to the Qur'an. Near the end, it was talking about misinterpretations, mistranslations, and people taking lines out of context. One thing it mentioned is a line that says that if two men are not available to be witnesses, you can substitute one man for two women. I wish I had the exact line but I still don't have my copy yet. :( Anyway, it goes on to say that this isn't deemed true anymore and that women can now be equals to men because the situation has changed. Previously, men were the only ones dealing with calculations (it was talking about remembering loan numbers) so women were not well-versed in this and you needed two women because they could help each other remember. Now, however, that's not the case and many Muslim societies view them as equals.

So, Jay and I were discussing this. He said he didn't like that people just felt free to change the rule. I told him I understood this, but at the same time society has changed a great deal. He agreed, but said then where do you draw the line? He also said that God doesn't change so he doesn't think his rules should change and furthermore, if God does want his rules to change, he should be more clear about it rather than letting people decide.

(If you're Baha'i you probably know where I'm going from here.)

Excitedly, I raised my hand grinning and he asked me what I wanted to say. "Baha'u'llah," I said. "Baha'u'llah's message was very clear on the equality of men and women. God did send someone."

This was the coolest thing to me! To actually be able to take Baha'u'llah's message and show someone who doesn't believe in it its relevance. Oh my gosh I was so excited. (Norah, I was so excited that I almost called you but decided to write this instead. I hope you don't miss this post though!)

There were other parts in the introduction talking about Islam and citing verses saying that God has sent Muhammad to confirm the messages of the previous religions (Christianity and Judaism) which of course I loved. Jay actually was surprised at how "Baha'i" of a thing it was and enthusiastically pointed it out to me. Needless to say, this experience is going VERY well, even better than I could have hoped for. We are meeting up again tomorrow to start reading the text; we actually read sura 1 today but it was so short that it hardly counts. Anyway, I am SO excited to see where it goes from here. Jay and I are learning so much and connecting so much and it's barely started yet! Doing this is such a blessing from God and it is showing me more of who He truly is. You also should know that I am not at all much one to say something is a "blessing from God" so the fact that I am really means something and should point to how much I have learned from and about Him recently. I am so happy with how EVERYTHING in my life is going right now and I know that it is because of this.

"O peoples of the world! Forsake all evil, hold fast that which is good. Strive to be shining examples unto all mankind, and true reminders of the virtues of God amidst men."
-- Baha'u'llah, LAWH-I-HIKMAT [Tablet of Wisdom], Tablets of Baha'u'llah p. 138