>>So are you saying that nothing above and beyond what the Manifestations >>reveal exists in man's mind, heart, or his environment to manifest signs of >>and lessons on, goodness? In other words, God has no interaction with man >>outside of the interaction between man and the Manifestation.<<
Well, I would want to separate out those ideas: First, yes, I do *not* think that goodness is, from a Baha'i perspective, a valid concept apart from the Revelation of a Prophet. However, anyone is obviously free to define goodness in any fashion they please. (Goodness *is* nothing but categorization.) Second, your statement would appear to assume something like natural theology, a common approach among religious and ethical humanists, which I do not accept. Third, I believe that God can have interaction with anyone, especially through prayer and meditation. However, as `Abdu'l-Baha said, personal intuitions and visions can easily be confused with imagination and are, therefore, untrustworthy. >>If goodness is only the product of the Pen and Tongue of the Manifestation, >>then animal behavior cannot be bad or good, since the animal cannot >>understand the Manifestation.<< I would agree that animals are neither good nor bad - except in relation to human values. >>A snake biting and poisoning a rabbit, for example, cannot be described as >>'bad' or 'murder'. Likewise, since man cannot understand God, just as a dog >>cannot understand Baha'u'llah, we cannot know, and we cannot understand, what >>goodness or badness is to God except as manifested through His >>Manifestations.<< I think so, yes. Regards, Mark A. Foster • http://markfoster.net • [EMAIL PROTECTED] "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
