doberman pizza. a baha'i (bahai, bahá'í) blog.

The Laws of God are not imposition of will, or of power, or pleasure, but the resolutions of truth, reason and justice.

Abdu’l-Baha, Paris Talks, p. 154

I was so glad when I first ‘got’ the Baha’i concept of laws. I’ve always said that I’m a Baha’i because the Baha’i Faith just makes so much intuitive sense, and for me this was further confirmation. Basically, people get all down about laws sometimes because they think THE MAN is laying it down on them, tying them up with his RULES AND REGULATIONS and not allowing them their FREEDOM!!!! Except that laws (or at least the Laws of God) are actually nothing like that. They’re more like statements of the principles underlying all reality. Like, for example, the law of prayer. Baha’is must pray every day; it’s one of Baha’u'llah’s Laws. But that doesn’t mean there is (or indeed should be) a PRAYER POLICE that busts down your door and messes you up good if you don’t say your prayers every day. Prayer is a conversation between oneself and God. Baha’u'llah teaches us that we need to converse with God every day in order to further our own spiritual growth—to allow our souls to grow and be healthy. So, just as going a long time without food will make our bodies weak, going a long time without praying will make our souls weak. That’s a reality of our existence, and it’s enshrined in a Law for our own good. Human beings have free choice, so we can choose to observe or disregard that Law. That doesn’t change the facts, of course; the law will still apply. And so we continue to pray every day—it allows us to remain in harmony with the natural rhythms of the universe, otherwise known as following God’s Will.