"What we have to do, then is to go back in time and piece together what Baha'u'llah wrote on the subject and how He envisioned it, especially in regard to the issue of infallibility and the scope thereof, then how Abdu'l-Baha expanded the scope and how He envisioned the role of the House with a living Guardian, etc."
Dear Ahang, Your argument seems to be that since one element of the function of the Universal House of Justice which Abdu'l-Baha added to Baha'u'llah's vision is missing, then all of those all of what He added are no longer operative and therefore we go back only to what Baha'u'llah explicitly revealed in this regard, minus Abdu'l-Baha's elucidations. I don't see that this is warranted given the fact that *nowhere* does Abdu'l-Baha suggest that either the scope or the infalliblity of the Universal House of Justice was derivative of the Guardian's own functions and infallibility. As for what Baha'u'llah said on this subject, as I mentioned He says very little about the infallibility of *any* of His successors, including Abdu'l-Baha. Whether we are talking about Abdu'l-Baha, the Guardian or the House of Justice we depend on Abdu'l-Baha's own word in this regard. > Universal House of Justice in consultation are recipients of unfailing Divine > Guidance." > (Messages, p. 157) "Yes, but exact same thing is stated in regard to all Spiritual Assemblies. That is, in consultation, they are all recipient of Divine Guidance." I don't recall the term 'unfailing' being used in connection with other elected institutions. Could you post a quotation which applies that terminology for us? "I'm not saying that the infallibility of the House is *dependent* upon service of a living Guardian. I'm saying that the scope of it *might* be impacted." Why would they even be connected, Ahang? As I said, if the Guardian believed interpreting things involving the Obligatory Prayers was within his own scope he would have ruled on it himself, without delaying it for a decision of the Universal House of Justice. He doesn't need them to intepret. "And how to do square the statement above, which admittedly is very broad, with Baha'u'llah specific instruction for the House of Justice not to get involved with issues that had to do with "acts of worship"?" But is that what He is saying? Or is He merely saying that these things should be done according to the Book? "Again, in my very fallible view, this is different than what Baha'u'llah stated. It is an expansion of the scope given in 8th Bisharat. The reason that Abdu'l-Baha was able to expand this scope was because He added a Guardian to the House to serve as its permanent member and head." And it couldn't just be that both the Guardianship and His elucidations of the scope of the authority of the Universal House of Justice constituted authoritative interpretations of Baha'u'llah's intentions? 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
