The Covenant is absolutely crystal-
> clear, in
> explicit verses. Not only Baha'u'llah's written Covenant to turn
> to the
> Master; and the Master's Covenant to turn to the House and the
> Guardian; but
> in addition Baha'u'llah's Covenant regarding the appearance of the
> next
> Manifestation. The thousand years could not be more explicit.
> (WOB 132)
Dear Brent,
I agree. However, the Covenant was also crystal clear about a
continuing line of Guardians, so I don't think that really addresses
Hasan's question about badaa.
> It should also be noted that the guidance is not that a
> Manifestation will
> come in a thousand years. We do not know the time; only that it
> will be
> "not less" than a thousand years. Maybe it will be five or ten
> thousand
> years.
Or peharps 1511 or 2001. ;-}
>
> The Master promised in His Will that both Manifestations guide the
> House of
> Justice. I don't think the Master is saying that the
> Manifestations will
> stop guiding it in 1000 years.
I think this is another way of His
> saying
> that when the new Manifestation comes, He or She will have all
> power, and
> the reference to the thousand years is not to a time, but to an
> event, the
> coming of the new Manifestation, whenever it occurs.
Yes, I agree. It refers to an event. But it nonetheless seem from what
Abdu'l-Baha said that the House of Justice will no longer have
absolute authority one She appears:
"The substance is, that prior to the completion of a thousand years,
no individual may presume to breathe a word. All must consider
themselves to be of the order of subjects, submissive and obedient to
the commandments of God and the laws of the House of Justice. Should
any deviate by so much as a needle's point from the decrees of the
Universal House of Justice, or falter in his compliance therewith,
then is he of the outcast and rejected."
The House
> itself says
> in its Constitution that it is the Writings themselves that are
> guaranteed
> authority until the next Manifestation; and by implication, the
> same is true
> of the House.
I don't think anyone was implying anything else.
>
> The thing is that it is my understanding that the Guardian said
> that there
> will always be a Universal House of Justice.
To my knowledge he didn't say that in any of his writings. And as far
as his pilgrim's notes go, they presumed that the day would not be
followed by night because a future Guardian could not fail to
recognize the next Manifestation!
This is not a
> temporary
> measure set up solely during the Dispensation of Baha'u'llah; but
> rather, a
> permanent feature in the world, a permanent part of the
> "machinery" brought
> by Baha'u'llah for the entire future of the world:
>
> "After Bahá'u'lláh many Prophets will, no doubt, appear, but they
> will be
> all under His shadow. Although they may abrogate the laws of the
> Dispensation, in accordance with the needs and requirements of the
> age in
> which they appear, they nevertheless draw their spiritual force
> from this
> mighty Revelation.
Brent, the above passage says nothing about the Universal House of
Justice being a permanant feature.
Whatever progress may be
> achieved in the
> later ages-after the unification of the whole human race is
> achieved -- will
> be but improvements in the machinery of the world. For the
> machinery itself
> has already been created by Bahá'u'lláh.
But the Guardian doesn't say the 'machinery' is the House of Justice.
So our conjectures that the
> new
> Prophet would appear, and at His or Her appearance the rug is
> automatically
> pulled out from under the House of Justice, which is then blind to
> the new
> Manifestation -- is sheer conjecture based more on doubt than on
> faith.
Conjecture is conjecture whether it is based on faith or doubt. And it
strikes me that your thesis is just as much conjecture as any other.
Is
> not the purpose of God to bring all people under the pale of His
> Faith?
What's the relevance of that statement?
Has
> God not, for the first time, left the Cause in divinely-guided
> human hands?
> Why do we assume even the possibility that the spirit animating
> the House
> would be cut off?
I wouldn't assume one way or the other.
I hope this doesn't offend you, Brent, but your argument bears an
eerie resemblance to that of the Remeyites who insist that "how can
there *not* be a continuing line of Guardians?"
As history has shown, stuff happens.
warmest, Susan
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