ALL CHRISTIANS - Has Elijah returned or not?, page-173

"One must remember that there were hardly any Christians in the first two centuries from its inception. There are more Baha'is now after 170 years than there were Christians and the Baha'i Faith is growing through heart to heart connection, ..."

Hi Kam,
Not sure what you are claiming here. Firstly, we really don't know how many "Christians" there were in the first two centuries but more importantly the conditions in this era of Baha'i are not comparable. Early Christianity did not have the good old USA ... at a time when just
about any cult/stream of religion had a ready audience. Not to mention the relative global population and ease of travel and communication.

Perhaps a closer measure would be how well Baha'i is doing in it's country of origin after 170 yrs ?

"This may still be a "relative few" in your view, I don't know, but I sure as heck won't be able to curb your pessimism. You are entitled to it."

It is a relative few Kam. That's just a fact and is the only reason it's "my view".
I emphasise that view is not a judgement of the worth of what Baha'i is doing. Only the appropriateness of the grandiose claims made which to
many people are nonsense and to others blasphemy.
Claims which are clearly counter productive to the outcomes desired from those claims.

But your pessimism will never curb my enthusiasm. Every single heart transformed is a victory for humanity, and I'm honoured to offer my tiny contribution to it "

Likewise my view of the "optimism" of your Baha'i vision of unity and a new age of enlightenment for Humanity is based only on impartial observation and knowledge of Human history. It has nothing to do with pessimism or optimism. I only label your view as optimistic because it is not supported by either history or the degraded psychology which now dominates much of Human society.

In my opinion if you are convinced that what you (and Baha'i) are doing is self evidently worthwhile at it's current level, then why is optimism even needed ?
Optimism is usually only called on when reality does not support the hoped for outcome.

.