The Baha'i Studies Listserv
Who is happy in the next life and who is not?
This passage has always struck me as indicative of a very inclusive and
even-handed policy concerning the souls of individuals from various belief
systems and the judgments of their actions:
Baha’u'llah, Gleanings from the Writings of Baha’u'llah, p. 171 "It is clear
and evident that all men shall, after their physical death, estimate the worth
of their deeds, and realize all that their hands have wrought. I swear by
the Day Star that shineth above the horizon of Divine power! They that are
the followers of the one true God shall, the moment they depart out of this
life, experience such joy and gladness as would be impossible to describe,
while they that live in error shall be seized with such fear and trembling,
and shall be filled with such consternation, as nothing can exceed. Well is
it with him that hath quaffed the choice and incorruptible wine of faith
through the gracious favor and the manifold bounties of Him Who is the Lord
of all Faiths…."
Clearly a variety of virtues, probably including theological correctness, weigh
in our favor when we judge ourselves or are judged in the Presence of the Being
of Light; and a variety of vices weigh against us. We all "live in error" to
some extent, and we all pray to God for "gracious favor and manifold bounties."
e.g. virtues which outweigh vices:
James 5:20 let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way
willsave his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.
1 Peter 4:8 Above all, keep fervent in your love for one another, because
lovecovers a multitude of sins.
and vices which outweigh virtues:
Arabic Hidden Words 26 and 27:
O SON OF BEING! How couldst thou forget thine own faults and busythyself with
the faults of others? Whoso doeth this is accursed of Me.O SON OF MAN! Breathe
not the sins of others so long as thouart thyself a sinner. Shouldst thou
transgress this command, accursed wouldstthou be, and to this I bear witness.
O SON OF MAN! Breathe not the sins of others so long as thouart thyself a
sinner. Shouldst thou transgress this command, accursed wouldstthou be, and to
this I bear witness.
So as far as the next life goes we are all stuck wit Paul's admonition:
O SON OF BEING! How couldst thou forget thine own faults and busythyself with
the faults of others? Whoso doeth this is accursed of Me.O SON OF MAN! Breathe
not the sins of others so long as thouart thyself a sinner. Shouldst thou
transgress this command, accursed wouldstthou be, and to this I bear witness.
So as far as the next life goes we are all stuck wit Paul's admonition:
Philippians2:12 So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not asin
my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvationwith
fear and trembling;
-----Original Message-----
From: Stephen Kent Gray <skg_z...@yahoo.com>
To: Baha'i Studies <bahai-st@list.jccc.edu>
Sent: Sun, Feb 10, 2013 2:37 pm
Subject: Re: First Person Grammar
The Baha'i Studies Listserv
Technically, it depends on the use of pronoun tense (1, 2, or 3).
He makes lots of use of vague pronouns which leaves a window of interpretation.
Baha'i bloggers use sense 3 a lot like I've noted earlier.
In reference to Baha'u'llah, a blogger (I forget which one cause there are just
so many), says that humanity should and must accept His laws, His faith, and
His institutions. The blogger imposes divine duty on people, but never suggest
it's the duty of Baha'is to force people to comply with this duty. Just that
God may deal with non-Bahai's in the afterlife in a not so good way.
It depends on what His means. Does His means God's, Manifestation's (Moses's,
Jesus's, Muhammad's, Bab's, Baha'u'llah's, Zoroaster's, Krishna's, Buddha's),
or just Baha'u'llah's?
A pronoun is a word used instead of a noun as a time saving device. But,
sometimes this can lead to ambiguity to what the pronouns is referring to.
1.God
2.Manifestation
3.Baha'ullah
These above are the three sense I referred to earlier. 1 and 2 are splitting
hairs basically. 3 is a subset of 2, but excludes the rest of 2 that is not 3.
The topic is first person grammar, but can include third person grammar for
indirect quotes rather than direct quotes.
Sent from my iPad
On Feb 10, 2013, at 15:04, Hasan Elías <hasanel...@yahoo.com> wrote:
The Baha'i Studies Listserv
Hi,
It is better to recognize God (through Bahá'u'lláh), but we should not force
anybody. Where Bahá'u'lláh says that everybody "must" become bahá'í?
Hasan
>I have seen Baha'i blogs where a sense 3 usage of Baha'ullah's writings
>combined with promoting >independent investigation of truth leads to imply
>that every man, woman, and child in the world should and must >become Baha'i
>because Baha'ullah says so. The status of Jews, Christians, Muslims, Bayanis,
>Zoroastrians, Hindus, and >Buddhists depends on the sense you use as well.
>This is despite Baha'is criticizing Christians doing the same thing with >the
>Bible and converting the world to Christianity because Jesus/Bible says so.
http://www.wilmetteinstitute.org/projects/affirmations.html
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