How I Became a Baha'i

Denise and I declared our belief in Baha'u'llah on March 19, 1973, in our home on Lajes Air Force Base, Terceira, Azores, Portugal.

We each made our declaration independently, although we were about ten feet apart and could hear each other in conversation with our Baha'i friends, Gary and Maddie Papermaster. It was about 2:30 AM. Gary asked me whether I had thought about becoming a Baha'i. I've learned since in similar circumstances that it takes guts to ask that question. It's that personal. 

I made the decision that moment. It was a born-again experience in which my spirit soared, while my mind and body were anchored. I did not resist. 

Our study of the Baha'i scriptures, prayerful reflection, and ongoing discussions had lasted over a year before the decision. We were isolated in the Azores from any negative influence, or from our strong Lutheran and Roman Catholic families and churches. It was the essence of the Baha'i principle of independent investigation of Truth. Denise had made her decision weeks before, but said nothing to me or the Papermasters until that night.

The Papermasters visited our home many times in the village of Praia da Vittoria, where they lived a short distance up the street from our flat. They lived in relative poverty. I was an Air Force officer. Off-base housing in Praia was excellent. We could buy American food at the base commissary. We had excellent medical care at the base hospital. We could receive Baha'i literature through our APO mail, while such materials were prohibited through the Portuguese Post Office.

We learned from the Papermasters the best of what Azorean cuisine and culture had to offer. Some of our Air Force friends were afraid to buy local food at outdoor markets. Health concerns were justified. Denise made sure fresh baked chocolate chip cookies were always on hand for Gary. Hot dogs were a treat. Gary brought us the fresh catch of the day direct from the fishermen.

The late night visit on March 19 was normal. I worked shifts at the weather office on base. The swing shift was over at 11 PM. Maddie and Gary came over to play cards, usually canasta, to help me unwind.  Maddie always got wound up. We all stayed up too late. If there were long discussions about religion, I don't remember them.

We had moved into on-base housing a few weeks before the night of our declaration. The house was an exceptionally nice upgrade from what we had in town. Baha'i teaching often involves a "fireside" informal presentation or discussion. We hosted our own firesides before we became Baha'is. We had a real fireplace. A man delivered half a cord of wood for $5. Many things fell into place to make our declaration a sacred moment.

Baha'i Pioneers go to many countries specifically to teach the Baha'i Faith. The expectation is that you have the economic means to get there, set up housing, and provide for yourself by getting a job locally. The Papermasters quickly exhausted their meager life savings. The Portuguese government at the time was a Fascist dictatorship; Caitano was President. The local Catholic priest in Praia was strict about what would happen if you did business with or hired a Baha'i. Maddie and Gary were lucky to get part time jobs from locals who didn't care what the priest said. Like our communities in Lake and Cook counties of Northeast Minnesota, it was a small town culture scattered over the whole 19 x 12 mile island. Everybody knew what was going on.

We had performed as Baha'i pioneers should for about a year and a half before we were declared believers. We returned to Minnesota in July 1973.  I was honorably discharged from the Air Force. My eight year commitment had been reduced to six years, because of the rapid draw down of forces at the end of the Vietnam War.

Shortly after we left the Azores, there was a Communist revolution in Portugal. A newspaper reporter from the neighboring Island of San Miguel came to interview a Baha'i jeweler in Praia, because his was the largest file found in the office of the secret police. We didn't meet him until 1995. He had complied with the government restrictions on religion. The police files had all the best Baha'i pamphlets, and some opposing religious views. Conclusion: idealists, not a threat.

Bahá'í's Know Christ

A quote from Shoghi Effendi, the Guardian of the Baha'i Faith, from The Promised Day Is Come.

As to the position of Christianity, let it be stated without any hesitation or equivocation that its divine origin is unconditionally acknowledged, that the Sonship and Divinity of Jesus Christ are fearlessly asserted, that the divine inspiration of the Gospel is fully recognized, that the reality of the mystery of the Immaculacy of the Virgin Mary is confessed, and the primacy of Peter, the Prince of the Apostles, is upheld and defended. The Founder of the Christian Faith is designated by Bahá'u'lláh as the "Spirit of God," is proclaimed as the One Who "appeared out of the breath of the Holy Ghost," and is even extolled as the "Essence of the Spirit." His mother is described as "that veiled and immortal, that most beauteous, countenance," and the station of her Son eulogized as a "station which hath been exalted above the imaginings of all that dwell on earth," whilst Peter is recognized as one whom God has caused "the mysteries of wisdom and of utterance to flow out of his mouth." "Know thou," Bahá'u'lláh has moreover testified, "that when the Son of Man yielded up His breath to God, the whole creation wept with a great weeping. By sacrificing Himself, however, a fresh capacity was infused into all created things. Its evidences, as witnessed in all the peoples of the earth, are now manifest before thee. The deepest wisdom which the sages have uttered, the profoundest learning which any mind hath unfolded, the arts which the ablest hands have produced, the influence exerted by the most potent of rulers, are but manifestations of the quickening power released by His transcendent, His all-pervasive and resplendent Spirit. We testify that when He came into the world, He shed the splendor of His glory upon all created things. Through Him the leper recovered from the leprosy of perversity and ignorance. Through Him the unchaste and wayward were healed. Through His power, born of Almighty God, the eyes of the blind were opened and the soul of the sinner sanctified.... He it is Who purified the world. Blessed is the man who, with a face beaming with light, hath turned towards Him."

The Bab and Baha'u'llah - Twin Manifestations of God

The essence of Religion is knowledge of God.
Unique to the Baha'i Faith,  the revelation of the living Word of God appeared in Twin Manifestations. The Revelation of the Bab in 1844 precedes the Revelation of Baha'u'llah by 19 years.

The Bab proclaimed that He is the Promised One of all religions. His direct revelation of the Word of God expects us to recognize Baha'u'llah as the fulfillment of the Bab's Revelation. There are similarities in the appearance of Aaron with Moses, and in the role of John the Baptist as the Forerunner who prepared the way for Jesus.

The fundamental theology of the Bab and Baha'u'llah identifies the Word of God as Divine Oneness.   Moses, Christ, Muhammad, the Bab, and Baha'ullah, and a myriad other Manifestations of God down the ages is one divine essence.  The distinction of names differs only according to their historical appearance and specific mission.  Whether written, spoken, or the physical, historical human being, the Living Word is one.

the Root Principle of Faith

Here is the Root Principle of Faith as revealed by the Bab in the Epistle of Justice:

"Know thou that the essence of religion is the knowledge of God. The perfection of this knowledge is belief in His unity. The perfection of this belief is the negation of all names and attributes before His sanctified Essence. And the perfection of this negation is to immerse oneself with certain knowledge in the Ocean of oneness and to witness one's attainment to its bounty. And the truth underlying all these stages is the Sign of God alone, whereby the existence of the Lord of might and glory is recognized and known with certitude."
Gate of the Heart, by Nader Saiedi, p. 230