The Baha'i Studies Listserv
"not enforcing" can be the best thing:
In the Taurat there are ten commandments concerning the murderer. Is it
possible to carry these out? Can these ten ordinances, concerning the
treatment of murderers, be enforced?
Modern times are such that even the question of capital punishment - -
the one form which some nations have decided to enforce in relation to a
murderer - - is a mooted question. *Wise men are consulting *as to its
feasibility or otherwise.
So *everything that is valid is only valid for the time being*. The
exigency of that time demanded that if a man committed theft to the extent
of a dollar they would chop off his hand, but now you cannot cut off a
man's hand for a thousand dollars. You cannot do it; it is impossible. This
is true, for it was useful for that time, but *things are useful in
accordance with the exigencies of the time. Time changes, and when time
changes the laws have to change*. But remember, these are not of
importance; they are the accidentals of religion.
(Talk at the Temple Emanuel, in Star of the West Vol. 3, No. 13, p. 3,
corresponds to The Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 365. There are notes
in Mahmud’s diary from p 299 of vol 1, which closely reflect the Star of
the West version)
__________________________________________________
You are subscribed to Baha'i Studies as: mailto:arch...@mail-archive.com
Unsubscribe: send a blank email to
mailto:leave-697376-27401.54f46e81b66496c9909bcdc2f7987...@list.jccc.edu
Subscribe: send subscribe bahai-st in the message body to ly...@list.jccc.edu
Or subscribe: http://list.jccc.edu:8080/read/all_forums/subscribe?name=bahai-st
Baha'i Studies is available through the following:
Mail - mailto:bahai-st@list.jccc.edu
Web - http://list.jccc.edu:8080/read/?forum=bahai-st
News (on-campus only) - news://list.jccc.edu/bahai-st
Old Public - http://www.mail-archive.com/bahai-st@list.jccc.net
New Public - http://www.mail-archive.com/bahai-st@list.jccc.edu
