Course:Teaching Christians

This course is currently under construction

Origin

Note that this course has borrowed heavily from the excellent work Handbook for Teaching Christians More Effectively (in many cases verbatim). This work follows its own copyright (for which we have obtained permission to reuse and adapt for teaching). (There was also an accompanying video for the course, and the course was abstracted for easy reference in the teaching booklet “The Resurrection of All Mankind.”.) We have sought to linkify its references (to Bible verses, the Bahá'í Writings, and our own compilation pages on the given topics) as well as add to and adapt the work as deemed useful.

Introduction

The theme of this course is the application of basic Bahá’í teachings, especially from the Kitáb-i-Iqán, to answering the most common questions Christians ask regarding Bahá’í beliefs. Its goal is to equip Bahá’í teachers with the skills and knowledge to confirm Christians, whether liberal or conservative, in the knowledge that the Bahá’í interpretation of the Bible is both entirely Biblical and most profoundly spiritual. Thereby, the true Christian can find scriptural Christianity confirmed as the foundation of the Bahá’í Faith and recognize its Author, Bahá’u’lláh, the “Glory of God,” as their Lord returned through the same profound proofs that the disciples came to recognize Jesus as the Christ. However, rather than suggesting the Bahá'í teacher rely solely on citing scripture as the proof of the Bahá'í Revelation, this Handbook emphasizes that, in accord with the Writings, the most effective tool of the Bahá'í teacher is the attitude and personal spiritualization that the teacher brings to the teaching work which can be developed through the steps outlined in the Writings themselves. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá emphasizes that the “cultivating of heavenly attributes,” (Paris Talks, p. 106) if evidenced by the Bahá'ís, is “absolute proof” and Shoghi Effendi confirms this:

“One thing and only one thing will unfailingly and alone secure the undoubted triumph of this sacred Cause, namely the extent to which our own inner life and private character mirror forth in their manifold aspects the splendor of those eternal principles proclaimed by Bahá'u'lláh.”

(Shoghi Effendi, Bahá'í Administration, p. 66)

It is anticipated by the author that the organizing principles demonstrated herein will encourage every reader to adapt and improve upon this effort.

Lessons

1. Need for teaching Christians
2. Sample sequence for teaching
3. Paradigm for answering questions
4. Addressing concerns or questions from Christians

To-dos for this course

• Pages iii-iv, 3, 7-17, 22, 31-32, 41-42, 63, 71, 73-76, 86-88, and 92-93 are not yet added from https://bahai-library.com/pdf/y/young_teaching_christians_handbook.pdf