Hi, Gilberto, At 06:33 PM 1/1/2005, you wrote: >>Saying that a second Guardian must necessarily satisfy certain literal >>criteria in terms of bloodline or saying that a Manifestation can come no >>sooner than 1000 literal years after Bahaullah said is just as much an >>example of "typing up God's hands" as saying that Muhammad (saaws) was the >>last prophet.<<
The difference, from my Baha'i point of view, is between whether one believes in the continuity of Prophethood or whether one believes, for instance, that the Prophets ended with Malachi or Muhammad. Progressive Revelation occurs not only from one Prophet to the next but within Prophetic Dispensations, as well. So, the Revelation of Baha'u'llah will continue to unfold and become clarified until the next Prophet appears (and, perhaps, in a broader sense, for the next 1/2 million years). I prefer to take a much very broad view of divine Revelation than many others. As I see it, and I am only expressing my own perspective, folks like Meher Baba and Ramakrishna could be termed "inspired seers." I can even accept Meher Baba's claim to be an avatar. However, here, I would take his use of "avatar" to be merely a nominal designation for what I would call a "seer." Moreover, Meher Baba, Ramakrishna, Rev. Moon, Aleister Crowley, Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, etc. would, in the context of their own narrative, paradigm, or taxonomy, be prophets, messiahs, and avatars. With regards, Mark A. Foster * 15 Sites: http://markfoster.net "Sacred cows make the tastiest hamburger" -- Abbie Hoffman __________________________________________________ You are subscribed to Baha'i Studies as: mailto:archive@mail-archive.com To unsubscribe, send a blank email to mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] To subscribe, use subscribe bahai-st in the message body to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Baha'i Studies is available through the following: Mail - mailto:bahai-st@list.jccc.edu Web - http://list.jccc.edu/read/?forum=bahai-st News - news://list.jccc.edu/bahai-st Public - http://www.escribe.com/religion/bahaist Old Public - http://www.mail-archive.com/bahai-st@list.jccc.net New Public - http://www.mail-archive.com/bahai-st@list.jccc.edu
