Re: No ambiguity

Hi Susan,

I found the statement from Shoghi Effendi that Larry quoted. I could not
find it in Promised Day Has Come, but here it is:

"The fundamental principle enunciated by Bahá'u'lláh, the followers of His
Faith firmly believe, is that Religious truth is not absolute but relative,
that Divine Revelation is a continuous and progressive process, that all the
great religions of the world are divine in origin, that their basic
principles are in complete harmony, that their aims and purposes are one and
the same, that their teachings are but facets of one truth, that their
functions are complementary, that they differ only in the non-essential
aspects of their doctrines and that their missions represent successive
stages in the spiritual evolution of human society.
(Shoghi Effendi, Summary Statement - 1947, Special UN Committee on
Palestine)"

I understand that you believe it is a reference to Progressive Revelation
and that this revelation is not to be considered relative until the next
revelation comes along. But I do not see that in the text. If you see
something here I am missing I would appreciate you pointing it out.

Thanks, --Kent


"Susan Maneck" <smaneck@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:690c00970606150949l28c0f1a6rb92c323b8d965ee1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
On 6/15/06, Kent Johnson <kent@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Wow, Larry. You impress. This post should be required reading.



Dear Kent,

It seems to me that Larry has once again completely misunderstood what the
Guardian was saying. Let's look at the passage again.

The fundamental principle enunciated by Bahá'u'lláh ... is that
religious truth is not absolute but relative, that Divine Revelation is
a continuous and progressive process, that all the great religions of
the world are divine in origin, that their basic principles are in
complete harmony, that their aims and purposes are one and the same,
that their teachings are but facets of one truth, that their functions
are complementary, that they differ only in the nonessential aspects of
their doctrines, and that their missions represent successive stages in
the spiritual evolution of human society....

(Shoghi Effendi, The Promised Day is Come)

Here is Larry's take on it:


It is hard to accept that your beliefs are relative and not absolute
because it puts the onus on oneself to sort the "nonessential aspects"
of the doctrines of ones own religion, including the Baha'i faith,

The point of the Guardian's statement is not at all to put the onus on the
individual to decide on what are the 'nonessential aspects' of their
religion, presumably to disregard them as they wish. By 'nonessential' the
Guardian does not mean unimportant or disposable, he means those aspects
which change with time as opposed to the 'essence' which does not. The means
by which they change is not by the individual deciding for themselves that
something is not essential but by means of Progressive Revelation wherein
the Manifestation Himself tells us what is or is not binding in the age in
which we live. Anything other than that is to make the individual absolute
whereas in the final analysis only God is.

warmest, Susan

.

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