It Is God’s Will That You Be Tested

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Spending time with Persian Baha’i ladies has some consequences. You eat delicious Persian food (rather, you’re forcefed it), you learn to hide your enthusiasm for said food (the Persian practice of “tarof”) and you hear a lot about God’s Will and “tests”.

I have nothing against Persian food but I’m beginning to develop allergies against the superstitious practice of calling everything “God’s Will” or “a test”.

For one, how are we to know what is God’s Will? Sure, the general broad strokes are obvious. They are in every religious dispensation. Don’t kill, be nice, don’t lie, etc. Those are God’s Will for us. That’s what He wants us to do. I have no qualms about those. They are clear.

But what about the mundane, everyday things. Was it God’s “will” that I be late for an interview? Was it God’s “will” that I forgot to call ahead and make reservations? That I burn the toast by forgetting to adjust the setting on the toaster?

I’m not so sure. Maybe it was the Big Guy’s will that those things happen. But then again, maybe they were a result of less than devine motives.

But many of the Baha’is that I spend time with have no doubts whatsoever. They know. And they want to tell you. Usually I just play along and don’t upset their perception of things. But sometimes I do venture to ask meekly, how exactly it is that they know. In those times, they blink and recover with: why… what else can it be? of course it is God’s will.

And then they smile at me as if I’m a total idiot incapable of telling the difference between yogourt and glue.

I keep thinking though that unless you have some sort of direct phone line to God, or are a Prophet you can have no conviction on the matter. But then again, saying “It may or may not be God’s will” just doesn’t have the same ring to it, now does it?

The other one is when they call difficult situations “tests from God”. This one gets me even more. I mean, how the heck do you know? Oh, we already covered that: what else can it be? Yes, ironclad logic. How did I ever miss that one?

Seriously though, I’ve heard this explanation when people are confronted by challenges in their life and slap the name “tests” on them. Going through a divorce? It is a “test”. Children misbehaving? yup, another “test”. And you guessed it, it was specifically tailor made by the Big Guy for you.

Again, not once do these people stop to ask how exactly they know or can prove that this is a “test from God”.

This insidious practice is seeping into Baha’i culture and I hate it. For one, it is supersition and we are to guard against superstition. When religion doesn’t agree with simple reason, something is wrong.

Also, using these superstitious labels, like “God’s will” or “test” causes one to become separated from cause and effect. To not feel personally responsible for our actions, our lives and the results that we cause. I don’t believe that God wants us to live that way. Some things may very well be God’s will or tests, but there is no way for us to know.

What’s more, living our lives as if most or almost everything is a test or His will, can cause one to feel disempowered. I’d rather live my life believing that some things are under my power and some things under His. Since I will never truly know which is which, I will simply live my life by giving it all I’ve got. By living my life to the fullest, by trying my darndest, by never ceding an inch. And letting Him sort it all out in the end.

Where someone else might simply sigh and say, “Well, it is God’s will…” and sit back, I will redouble my efforts or reflect on what else I can do, what other options I have and how I can learn from this for the future. I attempt to be proactive, a protagonist in my own life, rather than a puppet whose strings are pulled by divine decree.

Where someone else might call a situation a “test from God”, and feel vindicated or absolved from responsability, I attempt to reflect on how I contributed to the outcome, how I may react or act differently in the future and what I may do now to improve things. It may be a test, or it may not. That sort of thing is irrelevant to the matter.

Finally, another reason I strongly dislike this practice is that it can be a useful tool in the hand of a bully. Let’s say that a situation arises and you disagree with things or how it came to be. If you contact the institutions and let them know, like a good Baha’i is supposed to, you may get the short and sweet response that “it is God’s will” and that agitating for change would mean that you are making the situation “a test” for yourself.

Farfetched? Impossible? Not at all. This has actually happened.

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  • birdie

    I think that having an attitude that helps you approach difficulties as the Will of God is useful, if, at all levels, not entirely the case; it helps us go through them and learn something. First, we live in a world that teaches that the individual is single, alone and lowly only if he’s been silly. Humility is honoured everywhere on t.v., in organisations, at board meetings, but the praise is faint, if one is actually humble, one is side-lined fairly quickly by the movers and shakers as someone who doesn’t have the drive, doesn’t meet the criteria. And so, if we can have a humble approach to our difficulties, we are open to learning from them.

    That every little thing is the Will of God can, I think, only be in that the world was set in motion and it’s a universe of possibilities all brought about by God in whatever and whenever the beginning was. It can be good, all things such as free will and the randomness of the world around us considered, and in the same way, it can be tough. If we could identify something as a test, do we do better in facing it? If we identify something as a simple twist of fate, is it less difficult? Don’t we need the same positive outlook and sense of sturdiness in order to come through it well?

    In specific, our difficulties are down to many things – our decisions, our priorities, our struggles, and no one, not even ourselves, can determine the merit of how we meet all these things. That we’ve accepted the fundamentals of a Faith that can heal the ills of the world, spiritual and so, practical, means we have agreed to work on it. If we run into things that hinder us or frustrate us, our daily prayer – since we’ve accepted that our essence is spirit – is to give us the only blind faith in which we are to indulge – that of looking to the principles for answers, and if we are unable to understand a solution at the time, the steadfastness to believe in our initial recognition of the Manifestation for today, to be humble enough to hope to understand eventually.

    There are very down to earth things we can apply to keep a balance in our lives; and there are those mystical Writings that are to keep us stretching, evolving in our understanding.

    That cultural difficulties get us down is no surprise – look at the world and how well it deals with cultural differences. It’s not easy. With humility comes an attitude of open-mindedness, and if we are openminded, we can learn. If we feel like dupes each time we run into something really difficult, how can we go forward? How then can we give anyone the benefit of the doubt necessary to letting go of self and being right and allowing for differences?

    I too have found that with Ruhi came a fundamentalism and a propensity for community members to be beating one another over the head with information, in essence, taking on the responsibility of other peoples’ spiritual condition, and as though others couldn’t possibly understand something so simple. It’s a wanting in the individual – there will always be that, relatively speaking. For me, someone who has always had a deep sense of inadequacey, well, it’s been good for me to be able to turn to my prayers each time I’ve been on the verge of telling someone what they could do with Ruhi.

    The old thinking that we do this or we are nothing in the next world, can only serve to remind us that with this desperately needed Dispensation, the world has only crossed the threshold into adulthood, and the habits of the centuries of needing to think about our own spiritual skins if we are to do the right thing will pass very slowly into history, for look at the cultures that have that deeply rooted in them – there is perhaps none that escaped it that was one of the “mainstream”. First Nations all over the world may not have succumbed to this – they’ve had their own brand of decadency, but perhaps not that one. Naturally, humanity is on the road to knowing that we do the right thing for the sake of God – one way of saying that we do the right thing because it’s the right thing to do.

    Entering into a world culture will leave many people by the wayside, wondering why they don’t get it. But that’s not gone untold. Shoghi Effendi said people would wash in and out of the Faith like the tides. I think that has to do with our sense of beign right or wrong and how attached we are to those things right now. Very attached, it will severe our ties with the thing we need most: connection to that spirit that will bind us closely with our fellow world citizens. Teenagers emotionally, all of us really. And none lost, only detoured. All the worlds of God stretch ahead of us.

    As a grandmother, I’m coming to be less casual about my spiritual state in terms of the more forgiving understanding that I’ve come to appreciate about the nature of our evolution through this world and those to come, not because for a moment I don’t believe in my spiritual future but in that I’d like for my grandchildren to recognize me in those worlds of God. If limbs are chopped from a tree, others grow, but never that one that’s gone. Living continues but it’s altered.

    Nothing is simple, there is no one line answer in these matters, we can spend all our ives searching for one, only to find that we need to think each and every day we are alive. The histories of the cultures of the world are staggered and crossed. So many in the world have suffered culturally and prevailed, so many have suffered as individuals in a culture and avoided bitterness, so many have prospered with no effort and inexplicably come out of it decent, empathetic people who are good for the world around them – these are mysteries to ponder in such times as ours.

    All of this, all of the doubt, the fear of being duped, the difficulties inherent in not understanding being translated into “must be wrong”, it’s all organic and the way humanity passes from one phase of it’s story to another. If we were all really dull, our history would be less remarkable in both it’s accomplishments and it’s turmoil. In our belief or in our doubt, we are all symptoms of our times and undistinguished in these things, but rather, just living in the world as best we can.

    With all, the entire world has a spiritual history and we have a spiritual future together. Baha’is, people who’ve not accepted the Faith, we are all on the same spiritual continuum. And we have the need to become sturdy and tolerant – people will be stepping on our cultural toes for many years to come; is that to keep us from the truth?

  • birdie

    I think that having an attitude that helps you approach difficulties as the Will of God is useful, if, at all levels, not entirely the case; it helps us go through them and learn something. First, we live in a world that teaches that the individual is single, alone and lowly only if he’s been silly. Humility is honoured everywhere on t.v., in organisations, at board meetings, but the praise is faint, if one is actually humble, one is side-lined fairly quickly by the movers and shakers as someone who doesn’t have the drive, doesn’t meet the criteria. And so, if we can have a humble approach to our difficulties, we are open to learning from them.

    That every little thing is the Will of God can, I think, only be in that the world was set in motion and it’s a universe of possibilities all brought about by God in whatever and whenever the beginning was. It can be good, all things such as free will and the randomness of the world around us considered, and in the same way, it can be tough. If we could identify something as a test, do we do better in facing it? If we identify something as a simple twist of fate, is it less difficult? Don’t we need the same positive outlook and sense of sturdiness in order to come through it well?

    In specific, our difficulties are down to many things – our decisions, our priorities, our struggles, and no one, not even ourselves, can determine the merit of how we meet all these things. That we’ve accepted the fundamentals of a Faith that can heal the ills of the world, spiritual and so, practical, means we have agreed to work on it. If we run into things that hinder us or frustrate us, our daily prayer – since we’ve accepted that our essence is spirit – is to give us the only blind faith in which we are to indulge – that of looking to the principles for answers, and if we are unable to understand a solution at the time, the steadfastness to believe in our initial recognition of the Manifestation for today, to be humble enough to hope to understand eventually.

    There are very down to earth things we can apply to keep a balance in our lives; and there are those mystical Writings that are to keep us stretching, evolving in our understanding.

    That cultural difficulties get us down is no surprise – look at the world and how well it deals with cultural differences. It’s not easy. With humility comes an attitude of open-mindedness, and if we are openminded, we can learn. If we feel like dupes each time we run into something really difficult, how can we go forward? How then can we give anyone the benefit of the doubt necessary to letting go of self and being right and allowing for differences?

    I too have found that with Ruhi came a fundamentalism and a propensity for community members to be beating one another over the head with information, in essence, taking on the responsibility of other peoples’ spiritual condition, and as though others couldn’t possibly understand something so simple. It’s a wanting in the individual – there will always be that, relatively speaking. For me, someone who has always had a deep sense of inadequacey, well, it’s been good for me to be able to turn to my prayers each time I’ve been on the verge of telling someone what they could do with Ruhi.

    The old thinking that we do this or we are nothing in the next world, can only serve to remind us that with this desperately needed Dispensation, the world has only crossed the threshold into adulthood, and the habits of the centuries of needing to think about our own spiritual skins if we are to do the right thing will pass very slowly into history, for look at the cultures that have that deeply rooted in them – there is perhaps none that escaped it that was one of the “mainstream”. First Nations all over the world may not have succumbed to this – they’ve had their own brand of decadency, but perhaps not that one. Naturally, humanity is on the road to knowing that we do the right thing for the sake of God – one way of saying that we do the right thing because it’s the right thing to do.

    Entering into a world culture will leave many people by the wayside, wondering why they don’t get it. But that’s not gone untold. Shoghi Effendi said people would wash in and out of the Faith like the tides. I think that has to do with our sense of beign right or wrong and how attached we are to those things right now. Very attached, it will severe our ties with the thing we need most: connection to that spirit that will bind us closely with our fellow world citizens. Teenagers emotionally, all of us really. And none lost, only detoured. All the worlds of God stretch ahead of us.

    As a grandmother, I’m coming to be less casual about my spiritual state in terms of the more forgiving understanding that I’ve come to appreciate about the nature of our evolution through this world and those to come, not because for a moment I don’t believe in my spiritual future but in that I’d like for my grandchildren to recognize me in those worlds of God. If limbs are chopped from a tree, others grow, but never that one that’s gone. Living continues but it’s altered.

    Nothing is simple, there is no one line answer in these matters, we can spend all our ives searching for one, only to find that we need to think each and every day we are alive. The histories of the cultures of the world are staggered and crossed. So many in the world have suffered culturally and prevailed, so many have suffered as individuals in a culture and avoided bitterness, so many have prospered with no effort and inexplicably come out of it decent, empathetic people who are good for the world around them – these are mysteries to ponder in such times as ours.

    All of this, all of the doubt, the fear of being duped, the difficulties inherent in not understanding being translated into “must be wrong”, it’s all organic and the way humanity passes from one phase of it’s story to another. If we were all really dull, our history would be less remarkable in both it’s accomplishments and it’s turmoil. In our belief or in our doubt, we are all symptoms of our times and undistinguished in these things, but rather, just living in the world as best we can.

    With all, the entire world has a spiritual history and we have a spiritual future together. Baha’is, people who’ve not accepted the Faith, we are all on the same spiritual continuum. And we have the need to become sturdy and tolerant – people will be stepping on our cultural toes for many years to come; is that to keep us from the truth?

  • Will

    There are two types of Gods’ Will, to clarify what we’re talking about. One which is a phrase commonly used by individuals as an emotional crutch to justify the outcome of an event beyond their control. The second is that which has been sent down or revealed by the Manifestaions of God.
    I think sometimes we miss focusing on what the real test is when it comes to following Gods’ Will for instance lets take the case of you being late for a job interview and therefore you loose the job. In this case the attribute/virtue at test here is your tardiness, not the fact that the Unseen has placed barriers infront of you to make you miss the appointment.
    Even in the case of missing the appointment due to Gods’ intervention may show some wisdom in the future, like the next job you go to pays better. In reality if you have listened to the writings and taken to heart that you have to improve your virtues (in this case tardiness) then you will arrive at the next appointment on time and probably get the job.
    It’s easier to just blame or accept the Unseen when things don’t go right. Instead we should be looking at what attributes or virtues are at play and deal with them.
    That in a nutshell is what tests are all about. They are not divine interventions in a direct way but instead are simply the natural reaction to not following the Will of God laid out by the Prophets.

  • Will

    There are two types of Gods’ Will, to clarify what we’re talking about. One which is a phrase commonly used by individuals as an emotional crutch to justify the outcome of an event beyond their control. The second is that which has been sent down or revealed by the Manifestaions of God.
    I think sometimes we miss focusing on what the real test is when it comes to following Gods’ Will for instance lets take the case of you being late for a job interview and therefore you loose the job. In this case the attribute/virtue at test here is your tardiness, not the fact that the Unseen has placed barriers infront of you to make you miss the appointment.
    Even in the case of missing the appointment due to Gods’ intervention may show some wisdom in the future, like the next job you go to pays better. In reality if you have listened to the writings and taken to heart that you have to improve your virtues (in this case tardiness) then you will arrive at the next appointment on time and probably get the job.
    It’s easier to just blame or accept the Unseen when things don’t go right. Instead we should be looking at what attributes or virtues are at play and deal with them.
    That in a nutshell is what tests are all about. They are not divine interventions in a direct way but instead are simply the natural reaction to not following the Will of God laid out by the Prophets.

  • Robert Clifton

    A Christian tv program says :”Of course God loves you and you can count on that love no matter what you do.” Pretty hefty because that includes covenant breakers, thieves, and any other category you don’t especially care for, et al.
    But then what part of Gods creation does He not love? He loves you, me and the rest of the 6 billion.
    For me “God’s Will” is that this material universe will operate according to a set of rules laid down by God. What goes up comes down – unless you jump out of a gravitational pull. Thou shalt not kill – unless you want a drink of water. You will – unless.
    We (all six billion of us) are the children of God and we operate within the narrow parameters of being a human being. Our free will obtained when we ate the apple does not allow us to will ourself to be an elephant. Whether we want or not we operate within the rules.
    We choose our tests. Late for work, being nasty to others, sexual activity, not praying. None of those choices alters the universe universally. They do in the cause and effect scheme of things (hard determinism) make some of us more comfortable or less comfortable with those around us. We learn from our ‘mistakes’, our choices, our sins and we move on to ever higher understandings.
    We are children of God, not Adults of God, we are learning. I liked the prototypes statement above. Learn vicariously from Job, Abraham, Baha’u'llah. Nailed to a cross, chained in a dungeon? Don’t do this at home.
    If you have been chosing very difficult tests, choose easier ones, or as stated above take it as an up.
    My mamma used to read to me, then I read to her. In grade school I read Bambi, in middle school I read White Fang, in high school I read Shakespeare, well – you get the idea. Take your test and pick up the next book.
    And above all, enjoy!
    It is the will of God.

    Robert

  • Robert Clifton

    A Christian tv program says :”Of course God loves you and you can count on that love no matter what you do.” Pretty hefty because that includes covenant breakers, thieves, and any other category you don’t especially care for, et al.
    But then what part of Gods creation does He not love? He loves you, me and the rest of the 6 billion.
    For me “God’s Will” is that this material universe will operate according to a set of rules laid down by God. What goes up comes down – unless you jump out of a gravitational pull. Thou shalt not kill – unless you want a drink of water. You will – unless.
    We (all six billion of us) are the children of God and we operate within the narrow parameters of being a human being. Our free will obtained when we ate the apple does not allow us to will ourself to be an elephant. Whether we want or not we operate within the rules.
    We choose our tests. Late for work, being nasty to others, sexual activity, not praying. None of those choices alters the universe universally. They do in the cause and effect scheme of things (hard determinism) make some of us more comfortable or less comfortable with those around us. We learn from our ‘mistakes’, our choices, our sins and we move on to ever higher understandings.
    We are children of God, not Adults of God, we are learning. I liked the prototypes statement above. Learn vicariously from Job, Abraham, Baha’u'llah. Nailed to a cross, chained in a dungeon? Don’t do this at home.
    If you have been chosing very difficult tests, choose easier ones, or as stated above take it as an up.
    My mamma used to read to me, then I read to her. In grade school I read Bambi, in middle school I read White Fang, in high school I read Shakespeare, well – you get the idea. Take your test and pick up the next book.
    And above all, enjoy!
    It is the will of God.

    Robert

  • Andrew

    A good spiritual life is not dependent on others although it can be nurtured and supported by a positive community life. Religion becomes dysfunctional when is governance structure becomes autocratic and dictatorial. When the governance structure allows for the participation of all members, it tends to be more healthy and constructive. As young children who have found their own voice say, “You’re not the boss of me!”, a good spiritual life also recognizes that no cleric can be the boss of me without my consent and willingness to give up my exercising of my own will by submitting in obedience to the will of another.

    When parents say to a questioning teenager, “Do it because I say so!” it is like a cleric requiring blind allegiance from a disciple or follower. There is a fine line between cult like submission, and reverent obedience.

    The UUs governance structure is open, transparent, and democratic. For people who have been raised in other faith traditions it doesn’t seem very “religious”. If people turn to religion looking for answers from someone, or a group, who claims to speak for a higher power, they will be sorely disappointed with the Unitarian Universalists. UU is a faith for mature minds and hearts ready to take on the tough challenge and responsibility of trying to figure out with love, compassion, tolerance, and patience, the best way to live life.

    –David Markham

  • Andrew

    A good spiritual life is not dependent on others although it can be nurtured and supported by a positive community life. Religion becomes dysfunctional when is governance structure becomes autocratic and dictatorial. When the governance structure allows for the participation of all members, it tends to be more healthy and constructive. As young children who have found their own voice say, “You’re not the boss of me!”, a good spiritual life also recognizes that no cleric can be the boss of me without my consent and willingness to give up my exercising of my own will by submitting in obedience to the will of another.

    When parents say to a questioning teenager, “Do it because I say so!” it is like a cleric requiring blind allegiance from a disciple or follower. There is a fine line between cult like submission, and reverent obedience.

    The UUs governance structure is open, transparent, and democratic. For people who have been raised in other faith traditions it doesn’t seem very “religious”. If people turn to religion looking for answers from someone, or a group, who claims to speak for a higher power, they will be sorely disappointed with the Unitarian Universalists. UU is a faith for mature minds and hearts ready to take on the tough challenge and responsibility of trying to figure out with love, compassion, tolerance, and patience, the best way to live life.

    –David Markham

  • Craig Parke

    [quote comment=""]In the mid 1970′s when the Hand of the Cause of God Mr Faizi came to San Francisco for several days, he said that the Baha’i Writings had identified three mysteries — three things that would never be understood by human beings in this world. One was the suffering of innocents (Abdu’l-Baha comments on this in Some Answered Questions). At the moment I don’t remember the second one. The third was, that we can never know the degree to which our actions are our own will, or God’s will.[/quote]

    Brent,

    I read many of Mr. A.Q. Faizi’s talks and listened to tapes of them also. He was a good man. But what Hand of the Cause of God Mr. Faizi had to say about anything means absolutely nothing more than what anyone else says or thinks both back then, now, and in the future. Zero. Nada. Zippo. Zilch, To think otherwise is pure 100% pure idolatry and is completely agaoinst the Archetypal Teachings of Moses, Jesus, Mohammad, the Bab, and Baha’u'llah. It will not fly in this World Age.

    Secondly, according to the current version of the Administrative Order of the Baha’i Faith (specifically the Sacred Holy Word of His Holiness Peter Khan) anyone who questions anything that comes down from the UHJ is a “corrosive influence”. Conseqyently, there are people who post on this site who could be declared “CI”‘s at any time by first class postage (not by Certified or even Registered mail!). I would be very careful posting here lest a file be opened on you in Haifa.

    To all the Americans here: Wow! Wasn’t Thursday night something!

    I knew many American Baha’is in the 1960′s and 1970′s who had marched with MLK before they became Baha’is. I am so happy that many have lived to see this day. To all the black U.S. veterans here, I am so glad you have lived to see this day.

    Best regards to all!

  • Craig Parke

    [quote comment=""]In the mid 1970′s when the Hand of the Cause of God Mr Faizi came to San Francisco for several days, he said that the Baha’i Writings had identified three mysteries — three things that would never be understood by human beings in this world. One was the suffering of innocents (Abdu’l-Baha comments on this in Some Answered Questions). At the moment I don’t remember the second one. The third was, that we can never know the degree to which our actions are our own will, or God’s will.[/quote]

    Brent,

    I read many of Mr. A.Q. Faizi’s talks and listened to tapes of them also. He was a good man. But what Hand of the Cause of God Mr. Faizi had to say about anything means absolutely nothing more than what anyone else says or thinks both back then, now, and in the future. Zero. Nada. Zippo. Zilch, To think otherwise is pure 100% pure idolatry and is completely agaoinst the Archetypal Teachings of Moses, Jesus, Mohammad, the Bab, and Baha’u'llah. It will not fly in this World Age.

    Secondly, according to the current version of the Administrative Order of the Baha’i Faith (specifically the Sacred Holy Word of His Holiness Peter Khan) anyone who questions anything that comes down from the UHJ is a “corrosive influence”. Conseqyently, there are people who post on this site who could be declared “CI”‘s at any time by first class postage (not by Certified or even Registered mail!). I would be very careful posting here lest a file be opened on you in Haifa.

    To all the Americans here: Wow! Wasn’t Thursday night something!

    I knew many American Baha’is in the 1960′s and 1970′s who had marched with MLK before they became Baha’is. I am so happy that many have lived to see this day. To all the black U.S. veterans here, I am so glad you have lived to see this day.

    Best regards to all!

  • P

    To all the Americans here: Wow! Wasn’t Thursday night something!
    ————–
    If you think Thursday night was someting, wait ’til Nov.4th! Yes we can!!! :o )

  • P

    To all the Americans here: Wow! Wasn’t Thursday night something!
    ————–
    If you think Thursday night was someting, wait ’til Nov.4th! Yes we can!!! :o )

  • Desir0101

    Hello,
    You are right.
    Why then should pray for the Bahais persecution in Iran.
    If it’s God’s will. In the Bahai literature I read that the faith will boost up through successive persecution of the believers. I learned that the Bahai community around the world was dismayed with these sorrowful news.
    Or you should be happy God has an special eyes on you.
    Have chosen you among the people of the earth.

    Why go against God’s will through prayer meetings to stop it.

    But I deeply sympathize with the Bahais under persecution.

    I believe it’s action and reaction as it do exist in matters.Newton’s laws of motion.
    Shoghi Efendi may be right to say that 9 tenths of our problems come from ours and one tenths from God.
    I wouldlike to set a question to who consider as truly Bahai.
    Is it not your ardent wish to give your life to Bahaullah one day.

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