One interesting contrast between the Orthodox Bahai Faith, and the dominating group of sans-Guardian Bahai's presently headquartered in Haifa and Wilmette, is the manner in which the two organizations promote their teachings.
The sans-Guardian organization actively markets the Faith as if it were a corporation selling household products. They promote the Faith in an undignified manner by use of various marketing techniques such as billboards, to try to sell the Faith. Their focus is almost entirely on increasing their numbers and raising money. Raise money to increase the numbers; and increase the numbers to raise more money. Your faith is measured by how much you give to the cause of increasing those numbers, both enrollments and money. Rarely do they discuss subjects involving the mystical union of a soul with God, eternal life, or true loving kindness, and when they do it is with an eye toward making more Bahai's.
I recall that, when I left the sans-Guardian organization to join the Orthodox Bahai Faith, I was surprised to see what little emphasis was placed upon increasing the numbers or with making financial contributions. The emphasis was and still is on deepening one's knowledge in the fundamental verities of the Cause. The outreach by the Orthodox Baha'is consisted of occasional newspaper and magazine advertisements and internet web pages, in an effort to make the true teachings of the Faith available to the public. Other than that, there was never any concern for whether there were enrollments. Even when somebody approaches the Orthodox Baha'is stating their intention to join the Faith, instead of being quickly absorbed into the community, an effort is made to ensure that those seekers have a deepened knowledge of the Faith's teachings before their declarations are accepted. The focus is on quality of faith and true understanding rather than a large number of enrollments. There is no effort to sell the teachings or make more Bahai's. The sans-Guardian Baha'is even have the audacity to criticize the Orthodox Baha'is because of the fewness of their members, not realizing that we have a religion here, and not a product to be sold. The Orthodox Bahais have no interest in trademarks, copyrights, market share, marketing and other corporate nonsense that occupies the attention of the sans-Guardian Baha'is.
The sans-Guardian Bahai's, having no divine guidance whatsoever, have clearly lost their way. This has never been more evident than in the recent NBC news piece on religious faiths, which features the Bahai Faith as being the most "comfortable" faith to join. Here is a video clip of that piece:
http://video.msn.com/video.aspx?mkt=en-US&brand=msnbc&vid=cdaf2f7d-ad01-4c65-9f6c-390ea4305ea7
Of all the reasons to choose a specific religious path, the least valid one in my opinion is to pick out the one that seems most comfortable. You are not picking out a mattress. For heaven's sake, you are seeking the Truth and not a comfortable consumer product! The whole focus of the NBC News piece was which religions are gaining members and which are losing them, and market studies of favorable or unfavorable opinions of the various religions. The only person they interview in all of this is none other than a sans-Guardian Bahai who joined the Faith because it was a "modern fit" and she did not want her friends to think she was joining a "religion of the month club" presumably by actually searching for Truth.
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