gilberto,
i don;t think they are stupid or silly.
ur point seems to be, if i am getting it, is that religion is somehow different
from other social sets.
i have difficulty seeing how.
matters of "beleif" ...sure... verry grey area.
if freind x tells me they have many ideas similar to those of Baha'is, i can
agree. if someone tells me that person abc is a nice guy and ever so Baha'i
like...i personally tend to cringe, becuase niceness is not something that
comes from being a Baha'i as some automatic gift.
a spiritual life with internal consistency tends to prodice harmonious
outward behaviour. that is by no means new or exclusive to the Faith.
the point of my legalistic interpreation about the Faith being Property of
Baha'u'llah, and subject to logic in thoset erms is that it obviates the entire
pseudo-construct of shoghi effendi leaving no will. he had no estate. he was
trustee of an estate, and had in fact, clearly and evidently, appointed with
due authority a board to take over the duties of guardian/trustee of that
Estate until it could be delivered.
yeah, i am quite familair with trhe idea that people thought the clause in
the Aqdas about the line of the Centre running out wouldn;t happen at all, or
not for a long tiem.
so let us do another hypothetical. a billionaire dies, and leaves his wealth
to a foundation. the terms of the flundation are spelled out in the will. they
call for a board of directors. in the meantime, an executor of the will is
named in the will, and duly authorised to do his job. no one would argue that
his death has anything to do with the legitimacy of the will he was executing,
particularly if he had filed an affidavit wit hteh court that his company, law
form, or wnhatever, would be overseeing the execution of the will any tine he
was unavailable.
now, if someone tells me they thin this is silly, so be it. i am not saying
the same of them.
i am saying firmly that they lack the right to tell me i am wrong.
they may say they see the situation differenty. but not that i am wrong.
i am saying firmly, here and on a reallly long thread elsewhre, that their
understanding and issueas are none of my business.
and that this sword cuts both ways. they lack any claim of any moral right
to change my understanding. we may exchange views, as u and i are doing. we may
share. if we do so lovingly, we may both gain from the exchange.
anyone may say they see the Faith as not being the religion for them becuase
It does not conform to their private understadning of what Go'ds religion is.
no problem.
the issue is that people do not have the right in my firmest beleif, to say
that the Faith must change to suit their understadning.
since i am not in harmony with the sociologic appraoch, i will hesitate to
accept someone's self-identification as a Baha'i.
as a creature still to some degree trapped by names, when said person
identifies with process concistent with that of members of the Baha'i Faith,
then Baha'i will tend to be the word i use to dedscribe their behaviour.
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