Follow up
Written by ry on September 27th, 2005
So of course the plan was that I would drop the sheep and goats thing on you all, let you read the bit about the Baha’is bringing unification with the aliens from other planets and then post something reminding everyone that not everything written about the Faith is accurate or flattering, even when it comes from our own lips.
That was the plan.
I certainly didn’t forsee having “Baha’is will rule the world and you’ll all like it” at the top of the page for a week… (if you haven’t already read the story, I’m sure you’re dying to read it now aren’t you?)
So today’s Baha’i blog post will be about the importance of using wisdom when talking to people about the Faith. I’m not talking about trying to hide things from the public, I’m talking about realizing that things that sound perfectly normal in a conversation with one journalist can sound positively nutty when taken out of context and put into a newspaper.
“The believers, and particularly those who have not had sufficient experience in teaching, should be very careful in the way they present the teachings of the Cause. Sincerity, devotion and Faith are not the sole conditions of successful teaching. Tactfulness, extreme caution and wisdom are equally important. We should not be in a hurry when we announce the message to the public and we should be careful to present the teachings in their entirety and not to alter them for the sake of others…”
(from Directives from the Guardian page 87 )
That said, you should all bear in mind that when these kind of things appear in newspapers and online, don’t hesitate to write to the editors of newspapers and magazines and offer a correction or clarification. If you don’t feel like you have the words yourself, you can always point them to the Baha’i Reference Library.
For those of us who came into the Baha'i Faith through the ever popular 
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As Heather B said in her comment on the last thread, it is very important for every Baha’i to know what the WRITINGS say about things such as the Bible and other religions, so that we can present the teachings in their entirety. Misconceptions are very common and can make teaching very difficult.
The “Progressive Revelation and the Bible” course is a very good starting point for this:
http://www.education.usbnc.org/cc_spirit_dev/ProgRevBible_PG.pdf
These are almost identical materials, in various forms:
http://www.special-ideas.com/products/teachchristians.cfm