The Baha'i Studies Listserv Mark, This is the first time I've encountered the term "plenary inerrancy'. I would appreciate it if you would expand on this term and its application to our Faith. It is important to me.
My problem is that it is apparent to me that what I call "literal infallibility" or in other words verbal inerrancy or whatever is not valid. In other words, any literal reading of scripture, including of our Central Figures, can not be guaranteed to be literally inerrant and any attempt to insist that it does leads to big problems as we try to cover up and explain the discrepancies. For me this is a big issue, to say the least. My problem is, it seems to me that most Baha'is including famous ones who speak at Conferences and etc. probably do not find my understanding acceptable. This obviously worries me. Maybe this concept of 'plenary inerrancy not applying' can help me. But is a belief that our Central Figures including the Universal House of Justice don't have plenary inerrancy, is that acceptable to the Administration, do you think? In other words, if a person were known to have this belief, could they be expelled as say for instance Sen McGlinn was? OK I'm not verbal or outspoken so I'm not going to get expelled like Sen, but I hate to think my beliefs, if put to the the test, would be considered to be heretical by the Administration. Yet I can't make myself believe something that I truly believe is impossible to be true based on the evidence of my eyes and mind. Yet most Baha'is seem to vehemently believe in such literal verbal inerrancy, if you will. Can you help me with some thoughts on this? It is a big issue I think because if we get "entry by troops" then surely it will require that we not discourage people from entering the Faith unless they can accept literal verbal inerrancy. I do not believe mass numbers of people in a scientific age can or will accept literal verbal inerrancy. I have been advised on this list to just stay quiet and not worry about it. But I take this Faith seriously and I can't get this out of my mind. I believe most folks on this list believe in what I would call literal verbal inerrancy of the Writings and the Central Figures so for them its not an issue. But for me it is and I don't want to become inactive or be an outcast or leave the Faith because of this. I would appreciate thoughts from others on this list also. Ron On Thu, Jan 1, 2009 at 10:04 PM, Mark A. Foster <[email protected]>wrote: > The Baha'i Studies Listserv > David Friedman wrote: > >> >"Baha'u'llah's principal mission in appearing at this time in human >> > history is the realization of the oneness of mankind and the establishment > of peace among the nations; therefore, all the forces which are focused on > accomplishing these ends are influenced by His Revelation. We know, however, > that peace will come in stages. First, there will come the Lesser Peace, > when the unity of nations will be achieved..." > > >The wording of the last sentence, unless I'm seriously mistaken, >> > surely indicates that they used to think the two would happen at the same > time?<< > > > If I don't expect verbal plenary inerrancy from the Prophets, I clearly > don't expect it from the Universal House of Justice either. > > Nonetheless, I suppose that the above statement could be read as saying > that the unity of nations will occur during the Lesser Peace (i.e., perhaps > as one of the stages of the Lesser Peace), not that the two terms are > necessarily identical. > > -- > Mark A. Foster, Ph.D. * 25 domains: www.markfoster.net SED: > www.neurelitism.com > "... the modern challenge is how to live with uncertainty. The basic fault > lines today are not between people with different beliefs but between people > who hold these beliefs with an element of uncertainty and people who hold > these beliefs with a pretense of certitude." — Peter L. Berger, sociologist > > > __________________________________________________ > 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] > Or 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 (on-campus only) - news://list.jccc.edu/bahai-st > Old Public - http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected] > New Public - http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected] > __________________________________________________ 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] Or 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 (on-campus only) - news://list.jccc.edu/bahai-st Old Public - http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected] New Public - http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]
