You have asked if the mere declaration of faith by a
newcomer suffices to recognize him as a Bahá'í, and whether living the Bahá'í
life should not be regarded as the basis of admission into the Faith. You
should bear in mind that the signature on a card, in the sense that it
represents a record of the date of the declaration and data about the
declarant, is to satisfy administrative requirements enabling the enrollment of
the new believer in the community. The deeper implication of the act of
declaration of faith are between the individual and God. Shoghi Effendi has
made several statements on this important subject, and we have been asked to
share with you the following two excerpts from letters written on his behalf to
individual believers:
“There is a difference between character and faith; it is
often hard to accept this fact and put up with it, but the fact that a person
may believe in and love the Cause -- even being ready to die for it -- and yet
not have a good personal character or possess traits at variance with the
teachings. We try to change, to let the Power of God help recreate us make us
true Bahá'ís in deed as well as in belief. But the process is slow, sometimes
it never happens because the individual does not try hard enough. But these
things cause us suffering and are a test to us in our fellow-believers, most
especially if we love them and have been their teacher!”
“The process of becoming a Bahá'ís necessarily slow and
gradual. The essential is not that the beginner should have a full and detailed
knowledge of the Cause, a thing which is obviously impossible in the vast
majority of cases, but that he should, by act of his own will, be willing to
uphold and follow the truth guidance set forth in the Teachings, and thus open
his heart and mind to the reality of the Manifestation."
- The Universal
House of Justice (From a letter dated 7 June, 1974, written on behalf of the Universal House of Justice to an individual believer;
Bahá'í News of India, July/August, 1974; compilation: ‘Lights of Guidance’)
