[Layla]:
“Right girls, I’m off. Here’s my ride coming now.”
[Catherine]:
“No way. You get your parents to pick you up? You only live ten minutes up the road.”
[Layla]:
“Not that kind of ride. More like a fairground ride. Look there.”
Labouring and lumbering down Robinson Street was a long, blonde Joel in his Port Adelaide footy outfit. Read the rest of this entry ?
After school, Catherine, Annabel and Layla were sitting outside a coffee shop on Robinson Street – happy to have found shade in this forty degree Celsius furnace. At times there’d be a rise of dusty relief but mostly the unobstructed sun – searing, dominant and with magnetic attraction – held Horsham together. Read the rest of this entry ?
Mr Erfanian had finished his story and sat down in his allocated seat humbly and greatly afflicted. The room was silent. The other six men seemed … taken aback. Read the rest of this entry ?
It Works!
True to previous religious form, from the get-go there were major contests for the hearts and minds of the Bábi and Baha’i faithful. Today there is one solid branch of the Baha’i Faith with six to eight million adherents and a fine World Centre on Mount Carmel in Haifa, Israel. In contrast, there are just a few twigs dotted around the world under alternative Baha’i and Bábi banners. These are the desiccated remnants of lost contests. This is just as imagined in Baha’i scripture! The focus on unity in the lesser covenant must work! As with all sacrifices, it has not been without cost. Read the rest of this entry ?
God’s Great Covenant With Us
The Baha’i take is that God made a covenant with the followers of all the major prophets of the monotheistic religions; Judaism, Christianity, Islam and the Baha’i Faith (with a bit of Bábi’ism thrown in beforehand). God promised to provide continuing guidance to humanity; the followers promised to obey God’s teaching as defined by the current prophet and then to obey the next prophet when he appeared as prophesied. Those who shelter under the umbrella of non-monotheistic religions and philosophies are not exempt, it’s the same sun. God made similar covenants with their prophet founders whether they know it or whether they know their prophet. Read the rest of this entry ?
Danger! Spiritual Lepers Ahead
Like many other religions, like many real and imagined political ideologies; like many sports, like many ethnicities and accents and regions, the Baha’i Faith has developed its own set of words and phrases that can only be fully understood within a Baha’i context. Some think that a group’s distinctive character can be unveiled by studying its invented terminology. The term ‘covenant breaker’ is an integral part of Baha’i-speak. Read the rest of this entry ?
[Mr Erfanian]:
“This story, my father told me on his death bed.
In 1984 Afsaneh Javad was on her Youth Year of Service at the World Centre. On one very warm and enticing May night, she had decided to pray alone in the Shrine of the Báb until very late, maybe 2am. As she walked on the bushy path towards the Pilgrim House she was accosted by a man who sexually assaulted her. Read the rest of this entry ?
As soon as he completed his conversation with Mark McGuire, Behzad Rezvani called a Mr Erfanian in Haifa to recount the details.
[Behzad Rezvani]:
“Allah’u'abhá, Mr Erfanian. I have just spoken to McGuire and propositioned him as requested. I feel I pushed and pressed him with all the power I could muster. In the final analysis; he wants to know who is he is dealing with; he wants a written confirmation of the proposals and the intention of use; he may initiate some due diligence on ability to pay. And he wants the details by 6pm Eastern Time today.” Read the rest of this entry ?
On a trip to Israel you might decide to cross Haifa Bay by boat, not on foot because how could you? And then you may wish to walk towards the beautiful Ben Gurion Boulevard. From there, you’d see straight up the slopes of the famous Mount Carmel.
Dominating and dug into that mountain, if a wee bit lopsided, is the Baha’i World Centre with its fabulous terraced gardens and imposing Greek-styled buildings. This is the headquarters of the Baha’i Faith. Read the rest of this entry ?
Mark McGuire sat in his office regurgitating his conversation with Behzad Rezvani. Somewhat agitated and uncomfortable.
Rezvani had paid five hundred thousand to make sure McGuire had heard his proposal. A proposal that began with an attempt at censorship and legal threat; continued by desperately trying to get a trump card over other bidders; and finished with an out and out personal bribe. Read the rest of this entry ?
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