Benjamin La Framboise asked the question:
Does this conversation count as a quarrel, a conflict, a dispute?
Baha'is are allowed a certain amount of latitude in their discussions:
"The shining spark of truth cometh forth only after the clash of differing
opinions." (Abdu'l-Baha, Selections from the Writings of Abdu'l-Baha, p. 87)
There is a limit:
"The honoured members of the Spiritual Assembly should exert their efforts
so that no differences may occur, and if such differences do occur, they
should not reach the point of causing conflict, hatred and antagonism, which
lead to threats. When you notice that a stage has been reached when enmity
and threats are about to occur, you should immediately postpone discussion
of the subject, until wranglings, disputations, and loud talk vanish, and a
propitious time is at hand."
('Abdu'l-Bahá: Consultation: A Compilation, from a previously untranslated
Tablet)
(Compilations, Lights of Guidance, p. 178)
Although these advices were Written in the context of instructions to
Spiritual Assembly consultations, it seems to me that they have general
application.
With regard to the explanation by Abdu'l-Baha regarding "Adam and the
others"
"Remember how Adam and the others once dwelt together in Eden. No sooner,
however, did a quarrel break out between Adam and Satan than they were, one
and all, banished from the Garden, and this was meant as a warning to the
human race, a means of telling humankind that dissension -- even with the
Devil -- is the way to bitter loss. This is why, in our illumined age, God
teacheth that conflicts and disputes are not allowable, not even with Satan
himself." (Abdu'l-Baha, Selections from the Writings of Abdu'l-Baha, p. 275)
I believe that this can have specific and general application as well.
Dominus vobiscum.
Richard.
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