Dear Susan,
Well, I'm not sure about that. I think it grows partly out of the notion that the Institution of the Guardianship persists even without a living Guardian.
Personally I think the Institution of Guardianship supposed to be a temporary institution as Baha'u'llah never stated anything about this institution.
"But I think based on my poor understanding that the House will not make laws for civil society"
Then how would you translate akham-i madaniyyih and qanun?
I do agree with you that many of civil laws have their origins in religions. The House will legislate civil laws based on Kitab-i-Aqdas, i.e. the punishment for murder or arson or whether abortion could be considered murder or not. I do consider such laws as part of ahkam-i-madaniyyih. But I don't think the House will legislate all the Ahkam-i-madaniyyih or a detailed Qanun for various countries.
And how would you explain those letters written on the Guardian's behalf
which suggest the opposite? And why would the Guardian never have corrected
something so vital if it were in error? We are, of course, talking about
something *way* down the road in any case.
I am not sure why. Maybe Guardian never read this letter. Maybe this was a personal opinion of Guardian not an interpretation of Baha'i Writings. Actually I have seen a few letters on behalf of His secretary which did not make much sense to me. I am not really sure what exactly meant by "written on behalf of Guardian. Did all letter written on His behalf went through the same procedures. Any quality control?
I think the only possibility of that happening would be if they were to find
conflicts between the written instructions the Guardian gave to his
secretaries and what they subsequently wrote. But in the absence of such
evidence we sure can't argue along these lines in determining what the
Teachings are. We might as well argue that whatever portion of Baha'u'llah's
Writings we have difficulties with are are forged! One needs concrete
evidence for such assertions, not conjecture.
Susan, I mentioned a few quotes from the Writings of Baha'u'llah and Abdu'l-Baha that to my opinion support my case and you showed me a few other quotes that somehow proves what you're saying. But over all I still consider the evidences I have at this time are stronger than yours and hence would like to stick to my opinion on this issue until some new evidences are discovered. I hope in near future Baha'i scholars like yourself will have a chance to read all the original and translated Writings related to this issue and could enlighten all of us.
As you said it we are talking about something way down the road. We really at this time in history do not know or can imagine how the civilization would be in a couple of hundred years from now. Maybe it would be totally different from what we both think about the world government of the future.
Best regards, Firouz
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