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The question still remains, how should Baha'is understand Shoghi Effendi's
statement that:
"One of the great events," 'Abdu'l-Bahá has, in His "Some Answered Questions,"
affirmed, "which is to occur in the Day of the manifestation of that
Incomparable Branch [Bahá'u'lláh] is the hoisting of the Standard of God among
all nations. By this is meant that all nations and kindreds will be gathered
together under the shadow of this Divine Banner, which is no other than the
Lordly Branch itself, and will become a single nation. Religious and sectarian
antagonism, the hostility of races and peoples, and differences among nations,
will be eliminated. All men will adhere to one religion, will have one common
faith, will be blended into one race, and become a single people. All will
dwell in one common fatherland, which is the planet itself."
This is the stage which the world is now approaching, the stage of world unity,
which, as 'Abdu'l-Bahá assures us, will, >>>in this century, be securely
established.<<<
(Shoghi Effendi, The Promised Day is Come, p. 121)
As nearly as I can understand it, we have discussed variations of three basic
opinions.
1) Senn argues with great erudition and enthusiasm that "century" is used in a
very nonstandard manner and refers to an age, era or epoch of unknown duration.
The literal fulfillment will therefore come in its own time and will not and
cannot be late.
2) I argue that the Baha'i community has been spiritually tested by the
disappointment of unfulfilled prophecy, just as the followers of Noah were in
Kitab-i-Iqan pp. 7-9, as the followers of Christ were by the delay of the
"parousia" which they expected in the first century A.D., and as Jonah was
tested when Ninevah repented and was not immediately destroyed.
3) The conventional position, approved by many, appears to be that world events
which occurred before and around the turn of the Gregorian millennium suffice
to fulfill the prophecy concerning a literal century, especially the rise of
technological and commercial "globalism" (the internet, and all its works and
all its ways in particular), because they have set humanity inexorably on the
train-tracks to the literal fulfillment of the prophecy; and the train has left
the station. This certainly seems to be implicit in the non-binding narrative
carried forward by "One Common Faith", prepared under the supervision of, and
commended to our attention and study by, but lacking any assertion of
infallibility by, the Universal House of Justice.
4) The unbelieving option will not be put to rest by any of these. Nothing in
any of the three believing options can decisively refute, to the satisfaction
of everyone who asks, the contention that Shoghi Effendi was party to a failed
prediction, and therefore...and therefore...and therefore...
"Thus doth the Nightingale utter His call unto you from this prison. He hath
but to deliver this clear message. Whosoever desireth, let him turn aside from
this counsel and whosoever desireth let him choose the path to his Lord."
Peace,
Gary
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