The Baha'i Studies Listserv
On Feb 4, 2009, at 12:25 AM, David Friedman wrote:
> I'm interested as to how those who believe this prophecy has
> already been fulfilled interpret "All men will adhere to one
> religion, will have one common faith." Shoghi Effendi said that
> would happen in the twentieth century. To argue that this has
> happened obviously requires a very unliteral interpretation of
> these words. All people are not members of the same religion now,
> far from it.
>
Shoghi Effendi doesn't say that all men adhering to one religion,
having one common faith would be accomplished in the 20th century.
What he said was, "This is the stage which the world is now
approaching, the stage of world unity, which, as 'Abdu'l-Bahá assures
us, will, in this century, be securely established."
To understand what he is saying, you must understand the meaning of
the word "establish".
1. To make firm or stable; to fix immovably or firmly; to settle,
confirm.
2. To appoint of constitute for permanence, as officers, laws,
regulations, etc; to enact, as a decree; to ordain.
3. To originate and secure the permanent existence of; to found; to
institute; to create and regulate; - said of a state, colony or
institution.
4. To set or secure on a firm basis, as by recognition or favor; as,
to establish a reputation for accuracy; specif.:
a. To prove and cause to be accepted as true; as to establish a fact
b. In systematic biology, to record by publication
5. To set up in business
6. To make a national or state institution of (a church)
Webster's Unabridged commentary states - "Establish" implies the
origination, institution or demonstration of that which is fixed.
Stated slightly differently, "establish" has to do with the
initiation of a process or situation that can not be stopped or over-
thrown. It is not about a process or situation whose potential has
been realized or brought to fruition. It is obvious to me that this
is the way the both Shoghi Effendi and the House of Justice
understand the situation.
Don C
-------------
Understood properly, all man's problems are essentially spiritual in
nature.
__________________________________________________
You are subscribed to Baha'i Studies as: mailto:arch...@mail-archive.com
Unsubscribe: send a blank email to mailto:leave-415764-274...@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...@list.jccc.net
New Public - http://www.mail-archive.com/bahai-st@list.jccc.edu
