Chapter 5: What is a Bahá’í
Man must show forth fruits. A fruitless man, in the words of His Holiness the Spirit (i.e. Christ), is like a fruitless tree, and a fruitless tree is fit for fire.—BAHÁ’U’LLÁH, Words of Paradise.
Herbert Spencer once remarked that by no political alchemy is it possible to get golden conduct out of leaden instincts, and it is equally true that by no political alchemy is it possible to make a golden society out of leaden individuals. Bahá’u’lláh, like all previous Prophets, proclaimed this truth and taught that in order to establish the Kingdom of God in the world, it must first be established in the hearts of men. In examining the Bahá’í teachings, therefore, we shall commence with the instructions of Bahá’u’lláh for individual conduct, and try to form a clear picture of what it means to be a Bahá’í.