Re: Scope of the House of Justice

[Smaneck]

In a message dated 1/30/2005 12:29:19 P.M. Central Standard Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: What evidence is there that he envisioned a living Guardian? Dear Gilberto,   Abdu'l-Baha talks about the Guardian being the head of the Universal House of Justice for life in the Will and Testament. "And if so, and he was just totally wrong on this point, what does that mean in terms of infallibility?"   It wasn't prophecy, Gilberto, it was His Will and Testament that this be the case. However, that Will and Testament also placed certain conditions on how future Guardians could be selected, conditions which as it turned out could not be met after Shoghi Effendi died. What the Remeyite do is ignore those conditions in order to have another Guardian. What the rest of the Baha'i community did was go back to what Baha'u'llah said was to happen if His lineage ran out before the election of the Universal House of Justice. This was stated in the Aqdas:   "Endowments dedicated to charity revert to God, the Revealer of Signs. None hath the right to dispose of them without leave from Him Who is the Dawning-place of Revelation. After Him, this authority shall pass to the Aghsán, and after them to the House of Justice--should it be established in the world by then--that they may use these endowments for the benefit of the Places which have been exalted in this Cause, and for whatsoever hath been enjoined upon them by Him Who is the God of might and power. Otherwise, the endowments shall revert to the people of Bahá who speak not except by His leave and judge not save in accordance with what God hath decreed in this Tablet--lo, they are the champions of victory betwixt heaven and earth--that they may use them in the manner that hath been laid down in the Book by God, the Mighty, the Bountiful."   That is pretty much what we did until the Universal House of Justice was elected in 1963. Note that Baha'u'llah assumes here that the House of Justice can operate without an "Aghsan" (a descendent of Baha'u'llah) which the Will and Testament stipulated a Guardian had to be.   warmest, Susan   __________________________________________________ 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