- Schoolmarm Wood Publications: Solution to Violence
A Teaching Program
This teaching tool has been in use in the San Antonio, Texas area since 2002, resulting in perhaps the highest declaration and retention rate in the United States. In one year, San Antonio saw over 40 declarations with 80% of them becoming active believers as a direct result of the use of this program. Most of the new Bahá'ís were people who responded to the National Media Campaign and to local proclamation activities. The significance of the program is that it is successful in turning a high percentage of these inquirers into active believers.
How does this simple program accomplish this? It speaks to the seeker's heart. Or more precisely, by means of a very compelling, one-on-one presentation, it facilitates the Bahá'í teacher's ability to speak from his or her heart to the heart of the inquirer, just as the Universal House of Justice recommended in its July 13, 1964 letter on teaching.
"When the friends are teaching the Word of God they should be careful to give the Message in the same simplicity as it is enunciated in our teachings. In their contacts they must show genuine and divine love....
"Those who declare themselves as Bahá'ís should become enchanted with the beauty of the teachings, and touched by the love of Bahá'u'lláh. The declarants need not know all the proofs, history, laws, and principles of the Faith, but in the process of declaring themselves they must, in addition to catching the spark of faith, become basically informed about the Central Figures of the Faith, as well as the existence of laws they must follow and an administration they must obey.
"After declaration, the new believers must not be left to their own devices. Through correspondence and dispatch of visitors, through conferences and training courses, these friends must be patiently strengthened and lovingly helped to develop into full Bahá'í maturity."
When presented as designed, this program meets all these requirements, but the teacher must invest a few hours to learn to present it effectively. The success of the program relies not just on an accurate, non-threatening presentation of the Faith, but also on a well-designed follow up program to lovingly assist the new believer to immediately take an active part in the community.
Compiled from several sources,
not the least of which was the advice of successful teachers of the
Faith brought to San Antonio by the Local Spiritual Assembly, Larry
Magee put the material into a coherent, simple to present package. He
has been making it available on a limited basis. Our function is simply to provide
a means for the program to be distributed.
We offer a downloadable version without charge. It consists of three Acrobat Reader files and a 16 bit MP3 audio file of the presentation. As you can see below, the files are somewhat large and will require some patience for those without a high speed internet conneciton. These files are the smallest size consistent with giving you a printed product that will maintain the dignity of the Faith in your presentation. The PDF files should be printed at a minimum 360 dpi on good quality inkjet paper in order for the photos and graphics to be sharp and clear.
If you have questions about the program or its use, please contact Larry Magee at: larry_magee@hp.com
Solution to Violence Free Downloads
All the downloadable files are BinHex (.hqx) encoded, a standard internet encoding system that makes it possible for the files to be downloaded. Your browser should decode them automatically upon completion of the download. If you have trouble decoding them, you may need to check to see that automatic hqx decoding is enabled, or you may need to update your browser. Consult program help if necessary.
The files are all usable, after decoding, on Macintosh and Windows computers. You must have Acrobat Reader, a free program from Adobe, to read and print the PDF files. You must have a program that can play MP3 sound files to use the audio file. If you want to play the file on a CD player your software must be able to convert the MP3 file to AIFF format and then burn it onto a CD. Please be aware that not all CD players will play computer generated audio CD's.
To download a file, click on the file's name. You will need to download all four Solution to Violence files to have the complete basic teaching program. The Adobe Acrobat Reader download links you to Adobe's web site where you can download the latest Reader for Windows or Mac.
Solution to Violence MP3 Audio (3.7 MB)
Solution to Violence Presentation PDF File (9.7 MB)
Solution to Violence Presentation Script PDF File (6.7 MB)