Ursus Maximus wrote:
>From a spiritual and theological perspective, which to me is actually the
more important perspective, I believe in a conception called God and I
believe Baha'u'llah is His Prophet and Messenger. And, I believe that God
will never allow a community, Baha'i or otherwise, to obtain worldly power
now or in the future, with so disastrous a mis-conception of the principle
of infallibility. So I believe God will hold us back until we correct this.
And, I believe Baha'u'llah will also; indeed you can't really separate the
Two; Divine Providence will not allow our community, with its present
conception of infallibility, to grow further in numbers and//or influence,
until we correct this problem, I believe.
So to me it s a big issue.
Ron Stephens
Ron, you are fully entitled to your opinion, however, in your claim to
except the concept of God and by extention the validity of His
Messenger, your words differ markedly from His. Is the acceptance of
the concept of God equal to your own understanding?
"The people afore time joined partners with God, though they professed
belief in His unity; and although they were the most ignorant amongst
men, they considered themselves the most accomplished. But, as a token
of divine retribution upon those heedless ones, their erroneous beliefs
and pursuits have, in this Day of Judgement, been made clear and evident
to every man of discernment and understanding."
(Baha'u'llah, Tablets of Baha'u'llah, p. 123)
"O thou who hast set thy face towards the Realm on High and hast quaffed
My sealed wine from the hand of bounteousness! Know thou that the term
'Infallibility' hath numerous meanings and divers stations. In one sense
it is applicable to the One Whom God hath made immune from error.
Similarly it is applied to every soul whom God hath guarded against sin,
transgression, rebellion, impiety, disbelief and the like. However, the
Most Great Infallibility is confined to the One Whose station is
immeasurably exalted beyond ordinances or prohibitions and is sanctified
from errors and omissions. Indeed He is a Light which is not followed by
darkness and a Truth not overtaken by error. Were He to pronounce water
to be wine or heaven to be earth or light to be fire, He speaketh the
truth and no doubt would there be about it; and unto no one is given the
right to question His authority or to say why or wherefore. Whosoever
raiseth objections will be numbered with the froward in the Book of God,
the Lord of the worlds. 'Verily He shall not be asked of His doings but
all others shall be asked of their doings.' [1] He is come from the
invisible heaven, bearing the banner 'He doeth whatsoever He willeth'
and is accompanied by hosts of power and authority while it is the duty
of all besides Him to strictly observe whatever laws and ordinances have
been enjoined upon them, and should anyone deviate therefrom, even to
the extent of a hair's breadth, his work would be brought to naught."
[1 cf. Qur'án 21:23.]
(Baha'u'llah, Tablets of Baha'u'llah, p. 108)
Albert
The information contained in this e-mail and any attachments thereto ("e-mail") is sent
by the Johnson County Community College ("JCCC") and is intended to be confidential and
for the use of only the individual or entity named above. The information may be protected by
federal and state privacy and disclosures acts or other legal rules. If the reader of this message
is not the intended recipient, you are notified that retention, dissemination, distribution or
copying of this e-mail is strictly prohibited. If you have received this e-mail in error please
immediately notify JCCC by email reply and immediately and permanently delete this e-mail message
and any attachments thereto. Thank you.
__________________________________________________
You are subscribed to Baha'i Studies as: mailto:[email protected]
Unsubscribe: send a blank email to mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subscribe: send subscribe bahai-st in the message body to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subscribe: http://list.jccc.edu:8080/read/all_forums/subscribe?name=bahai-st
Baha'i Studies is available through the following:
Mail - mailto:[email protected]
Web - http://list.jccc.edu:8080/read/?forum=bahai-st
News - news://list.jccc.edu/bahai-st
Public - http://www.escribe.com/religion/bahaist
Old Public - http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]
New Public - http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]
