Your response reminds us all that we have to go back to the writings of Baha'u'llah, Abdu'l-Baha, Shoghi Effendi, and the Universal House of Justice for authority, and what we interpret from them forms our personal understanding, which cannot be imposed on anyone except ourselves...
Khazeh Fananapazir <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Dear John Smith, You ask re" How many, both high and low" __>: *****Does the
primary meaning (based on the words used) of the phrase 'high and low" ,
refer to 'religious leaders and regular people', 'wise people and blind
people', 'spiritual and non-spiritual', 'political leaders and regular
people', 'just high and low', or something else?****<__
Dear John:
The original states: line 7: A'ALII wa ADAANIY
http://reference.bahai.org/fa/t/b/KI/ki-17.html
of course this lowly one cannot interpret the Sacred Verse, but
correlatively speaking it just means every one was expecting whatever their
level or background.
But please recall
** Joh 7:47 Then answered them the Pharisees, Are ye also deceived?
Joh 7:48 Have any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed on him?
Joh 7:49 But this people who knoweth not the law are cursed.**
On the other verse, while we are still at it, let me share something.
Re:
***No man shall attain the shores of the ocean of true understanding except
he be detached from all that is in heaven and on earth. SANCTIFY YOUR
SOULS, O ye peoples of the world,
(Baha'u'llah: The Kitab-i-Iqan, Page: 3)
Consider the past. How many, both high and low, have, at all times,
yearningly awaited the advent of the Manifestations of God in the sanctified
persons of His chosen Ones
(Baha'u'llah: The Kitab-i-Iqan, Page: 4)
This SANCTIFICATION is actually very hard, very difficult. Today nearly 50
million Twelver Shi'ihs still believe that a Child was born on the 15th of
Sha'baan in the year 256 Hejra and that Child is still alive and being
nourished physically:
The following is most typical of hundreds of sites:
http://www.al-shia.com/html/eng/books/history/al_mahdi(a.s.)/35.htm#link70
"When we wish to speak on this to! pic and prove that Mahdi, the Expected one
is alive, receiving his sustenance and living a life just like others until
the time when Allah gives him permission to emerge and establish the truth
and Justice and destroy oppression, we are bound to mention before anything
else, the following preliminaries:
Firstly, it should be possible for man to live hundreds or rather thousands
of years and just as you are aware, science and nature do not repudiate this
possibility."
****However, in Twelver Shi'a, the twelfth Imam, Muhammed al-Mahdi, hid
himself way as a boy when his father, the Imam Hasan al-Askari, died in 874
A.D.. This, in Shi'a, is called the doctrine of "occultation" (ghayba ). He
hid himself in a well within a cave because of the threats to his life by
his enemies, and remained in communication with the "four agents," each
succeeding the other, until 941. This period, in which the Hidden Imam was
in contact with the rest of h! umanity through these agents who passed on the
Imam's messages to the world, is called the Lesser Occultation. However,
starting in 941, the Hidden Imam ceased communicating to humanity through
these agents; this period in which the Hidden Imam, still alive and on
earth, cuts of all communication with humanity is known as the Greater
Occultation. However, at some point, Muhammed al-Mahdi, will return and
reveal himself to humanity and appear again (zuhúr ). With him will return
from the dead all his enemies, and the Imam will lead the forces of
righteousness against the forces of evil in one last battle after which will
follow the Day of Judgement. At that point will return Jesus Christ and all
the saints, prophets, and Imams of history; this, in Shi'a, is called the
doctrine of Return (raj'a ).
http://www.wsu.edu/~dee/GLOSSARY/IMAM.HTM
2] similarly millions and millions more believe Jesus Christ is physically
alive and will com! e with the same physical body...
So when the Sacred Iqan says SANCTIFY YOURSELVES this is a very very
far-reaching divine instruction
http://biblia.com/christ/ascension.htm
The God-Man in Heaven:
Jesus returns to Heaven, to the same place where he is from eternity,
but he returns a little different, as Man-God!, WITH THE SAME BODY, BLOOD,
SOUL AND DIVINITY HE HAD ON EARTH. He ascends to receive the glory due to
Him as a conqueror of sin and death (Phi.2:8-11). To be our Mediator and
advocate to the Father (Heb.9:24). To send the Holy Spirit as he promised in
the Last Supper (Jn.16:7). To prepare a place for us, as he also promised in
the Last supper (Jn.14:2).
Now Jesus is seated at the Father's right hand (Lk.24:19), in the same
place and with the same honour and power he had for eternity, for everything
was created by Him and for Him, and everything is sustained by Him
(Col.1:15-17, Jn.1:1-3)…
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