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Letter of 17 October 1944 |
There is a difference between character and faith; it is often
very hard to accept this fact and put up with it, but the fact
remains that a person may believe in and love the Cause—even
to being ready to die for it—and yet not have a good personal
character, or possess traits at variance with the teachings. We
should try to change, to let the Power of God help recreate us
and make us true Bahá’ís in deed as well as in belief. But
sometimes the process is slow, sometimes it never happens
because the individual does not try hard enough. But these things
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cause us suffering and are a test to us in our fellow-believers,
most especially if we love them and have been their teacher!
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The Guardian would advise you to leave your friend to
himself, to associate with him, his wife and sister-in-law with
love and forbearance in every way possible, but not to agonise
over the past or let it cloud your Bahá’í life. You have given him
the greatest gift in the world: the Faith. Now he must be
responsible for his own soul. Your prayers and example can no
doubt reach and help him.
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It is true the Bahá’ís should try and live a normal healthy life.
But we cannot for a moment overlook the abnormal state of the
world. If there had not been believers ready to give their health,
comfort, pleasure—everything, for the Cause in these dark days,
the work would not have gone on. What are these sacrifices
compared to keeping a beacon of the Light of Bahá’u’lláh
burning in dark London all these war years?
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