“If Remey was the “infallible” Guardian in all matters pertaining to the faith then why did he make not one, but two, errors in appointing a successor?”
If Shoghi Effendi was infallible why didn’t he (according to the official line) leave a will and testament? Moreover why is there a need for elections if the body institutions are inffallible and divinely guided? Azal
Also, George?…thanks so much for all your blog listings. A great resource.
I guess I’ll have to comment on the reference to “arcane explanations”. Well, I just posted something to that effect above referring to how Baha’u’llah says Himself that His Revelation is “abstruse” which I think is synonymous with “arcane” as well as the idea of being “mysterious” or “esoteric”. It is explained in the writings that there are two levels of reality when it comes to the Revelations of God. One is outward or apparent and the other is esoteric or “arcane” and this pattern of communicating with His Creation through this method of both the apparent and the “arcane” will continue as long as there is life on this planet. If you read the Babi and Baha’i histories, you don’t find the things that occured and the events and the turmoil and the disputes and the martyrdoms and everything that has happened in the last 150 years “arcane” or just your everyday hum drum apparently nice religion? The events that occured are “sorely trying and highly perplexing” and so they wil continue to be to continue to test His servants to see who will cleave to the Spirit or who will whither away as they cut themselves off by putting the blinders of materialism on and put out their third spiritual eye to see the exact same patterns happening over and over again.
Oh, also about the 99 and 44/100ths…what’s left to me sounds like a mere handful of people…..
XCII. The Book of God is wide open, and His Word is summoning mankind unto Him. No more than a mere handful, however, hath been found willing to cleave to His Cause, or to become the instruments for its promotion.
(Baha’u’llah, Gleanings from the Writings of Baha’u’llah, p. 183)
The Cause of God is to usher in a great peaceful World civilization centererd around the knowledge and love of God which is given to us in a great Promise also called a Covenant and this Covenant is the same Covenant that has existed for six thousand years. The Center of this Covenant is the Guardianship that is the focal point of unity as proclaimed in the writings. The Guardianship is the continuation of the line of David through Baha’u’llah and is the manifestation of the words of Christ: Thy Kingdom come, Thy Will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”
Victor
Ok, fair enough…no dodge ball here, but hopefully my written explanation will be understood to convey my knowledge as best I can. For one, we’re talking about the Baha’i Faith here. The Revelation of Baha’u’llah is not a simple street-corner religion where you go to for one hour every week. Baha’u’llah says His Revelation is
“Verily Our Word is abstruse, bewilderingly abstruse.” In another instance, it is said: “Our Cause is sorely trying, highly perplexing; none can bear it except a favorite of heaven, or an inspired Prophet, or he whose faith God hath tested.”
(Baha’u’llah, The Kitab-i-Iqan, p. 82)
Baha’u’llah also says:
But inasmuch as the divine Purpose hath decreed that the true should be known from the false, and the sun from the shadow, He hath, therefore, in every season sent down upon mankind the showers of tests from His realm of glory.
(Baha’u’llah, The Kitab-i-Iqan, p. 51)
To answer your question in this context, Mason continued the test of the Guardianship to see who would go by the criteria of being a son, or who would as it says “turn on their heels, afrighted **** fleeing from a lion.” This has always been the test. Mason wasn’t making an error in appointing these people, in as much as Baha’u’llah wasn’t making an error when, in His Will, He appointed Muhammad-Ali to succeed after Abdu’l-Baha, knowing full well that Muhammad-Ali would break the Covenant. But, also, just as the body (UHJ) cannot live without a head (Guardian) the head cannot live without a body as this is where the true line of infallibility comes from when, as it says in the W&T,
“The legislative body must reinforce the executive, the executive must aid and assist the legislative body so that through the close union and harmony of these two forces, the foundation of fairness and justice may become firm and strong, that all the regions of the world may become even as Paradise itself.”
(Abdu’l-Baha, The Will and Testament, p. 14)
So you see it isn’t until these “two forces” are brought together that there infallibility. The Guardians must function within the confines of being one member of the legislative body with a vote of one and no veto power. The job of the Guardian is to execute the decisions of the body, thus “executive head”. Juctice does not come from one person telling everybody what to do, this is tyranny and dictatorship. Baha’u’llah brought justice.
I hope that answers your question to a degree. If not, just ask me to clarify.
Victor
I’m a Baha’i blogger. As such I have come to enjoy over the years the rich fare to be found online in the thousands of posts by other Baha’i bloggers that reflect their Baha’i life.
To reiterate a point I made earlier in this string, another proof of God is that something grows and lasts over time. Arcane explanations, of which this comment string is replete, do not, in themselves, constitute proof. Does the community associated with the Faith of Baha’u’llah, acting in accordance with the Holy Writings, grow and maintain its unity throughout the process of its growth. Does it become a mass movement that touches every corner of the globe? Can you extrapolate on the work it is doing in the present and see it as having the capacity to bring unity to a disunified and suffering world in the future?
Baha’u’llah didn’t come to the world for the purpose of creating esoteric, odd-ball, and stagnant communities devoted to grinding out arcane arguments to explain why the world has passed them by. He came to unite the world into one vibrant community of selfless servants who are interested in the betterment of entire neighborhood through the promotion of moral education for children, the adoption of spiritual practices that includes personal and community devotions and study of the essence of the holy texts, and a vigorous collective effort to eradicate social injustices.
Of those people who call themselves Baha’is in this world, “99 and 44/100ths” of them are members of the International Baha’i Community. The activities of these members are themselves provide proof of the power of the Covenant of Baha’u’llah to bring blessings not only upon the Baha’is themselves but on the larger communities within which they reside. These Baha’is are the leven in the loaf of the world.
Baha’is have the Minor Plan of God to carry out. God’s Major Plan proceeds mysteriously. What better way to see the proof that God is guiding the efforts of those who have His Minor Plan to carry out than to look in on the lives of individual Baha’is through reading their personal blogs. George
I asked specific questions which you utterly failed to answer. If Remey was the “infallible” Guardian in all matters pertaining to the faith then why did he make not one, but two, errors in appointing a successor? Didn’t he know the rules? Quinn
Number one, Mason did not authorize the council to take any such action and when he found out that this is what they had done, he told them to “cease and disist”, to not do anything more with the lawsuit, and thus the lawsuit that was instigated by the members of Mason’s sIBC was never persued and it went into default and the Baha’is of Wilmette counter sued and had an injunction placed in 1966.
As far as Mason’s appointments, Mason knew all along that the only candidate for his successor was his son, and if there is only one son left at the Guardian’s passing, the Guardianship passes to them. In the Will & Testament, Abdu’l-Baha never says that the succeeding Guardian has to accept his position, but that he can appoint someone to sit in his place. This is exactly what Pepe did. Pepe wrote letters where he states very emphatically that if the multitude of the Baha’is were to come to him and ask him to be their Guardian, he would do it and ackowledged that the Aghsan lineage continued through him. Pepe then, in the same style and manner that Abdu’l-Baha adopted Mason, Pepe adopted Neal Chase in letters written to him and other beleivers to be his successor. This is the “Mystery of the Kingdom” that is spoken of both in the bible and in the Baha’i Writings. The “Mystery of the Kingdom” the bible explains, is that the “Gentiles will inherit the kingdom” and this would be called the “times of the Gentiles” when the lineage of David would be grafted into by the Gentiles, i.e. a non-physical descendant of David.(Read Romans Chp. 11 as well as Abdu’l-Baha’s last Tablet to America where he mentions this same grafting in of the tree from “another branch”.) Baha’u’llah called Abdu’l-Baha “The Mystery of God” because Abdu’l-Baha chose a gentile to inherit the kingdom by adopting him as his son and appointing him. It is then prophesied in both the bible and the Baha’i writings that another “natural branch” would be grafted back into the tree which is another natural, blood-line descendant of David and collateral descendant through the male line of Baha’u’llah. This is Neal Chase ben Joseph Aghsan who is a Jew who is descended from the male line through the collateral descendants of Baha’u’llah who moved from Tabaristan to Russia. The natural blood-line of Baha’u’llah and the Aghsan lineage has been grafted back once again and thus the “times fo the Gentiles” is over. Read in the bible about what happens after this, it is very, very interesting.
AS far as the “sane” “insane” aspect of people feeling as if they are the ones who can decide of another’s mental capacity, it doesn’t nake any difference. Pepe wrote in a letter that even if the Guardian goes “gaga” that is no reason to abandon him and deny him and even more, try to usurp from him. The Guadianship issue is very simple; two criteria: he has to be a son “Aghsan” and he has to be appointed. Any other criteria that others try to add like he has to be young or old or knowledgeable or handsome or he has to accept it and proclaim his acceptance or anything, is not the identifying criteria. By this simple two-part criteria, the lineage of David has continued unbroken for over three thousand years.
Neal Chase is the only survivng natural branch who was appointed by the previous Guardian and who has compiled the Genealogy of Baha’u’llah as well as written inumerable tablets and epistles enumerating the history of the Baha’i Faith and how this history relates to the history of the ancients and the proofs contained therein as well as his research into the mathematical evidence contained throughout the world and its verying cultures and beliefs and continuous contact with the BUPC throughout the world. To see the first Fireside given by the Guardian Neal Chase Ben Joseph Aghsan and hear some of these explanations by him youself, go here:
www.bahaifireside.org
Victor
Please take 10 minutes to read about the protecting power of the covenant.
Lorenzo
Victor Woods wrote:
But, is the Catholic Church the buildings and the grounds or is it the institution of the Pope and the Catholic Heirarchy? The test for the believers 50 years ago was that the Baha’i Faith cannot exist without a Guardian. The Test that Mason gave was you have to know who is the right candidate for the job.
So if a religion is the institutions then why was the original lawsuit brought by Remey all about trying to grab the Wilmette Temple and control of the voluntary financial donations mainstream believers give? Why have all the historic campaigns by splinter groups or individuals been about power and property and money?
As for Remey – are you saying that he screwed up in appointing Harvey and Marangella? Are you saying the “infallible” guardian didn’t know who was the right candidate for the job? How did Remey come to appoint the “wrong” candidate not once but twice? How can a “guardian” fail in that most basic way? As for his “son” (I take it you mean the adopted Pepe) where does it say in the writings that sons AUTOMATICALLY are appointed? Remey never appointed Pepe to anything and Pepe is on record as saying he would have refused if he had.
By the way – do you agree with Marangella that Remey was sane when he appointed Marangella but conveniently insane when he disbanded the body that Marangella headed and appointed Donald Harvey? Or was Remey just plain old wrong? Why, in your opinion, did Remey appoint Harvey or Marangella? And where is the proclamation from Remy appointing anyone else? Quinn
Again, it wasn’t the Orthodox Baha’is that spurned this whole thing on, but the BUPC. The writer of this aritcle doesn’t mention the BUPC because the Law Firm representing the BUPC pro bono declined to comment at this time.
The analogy of the vatican is funny. But, is the Catholic Church the buildings and the grounds or is it the institution of the Pope and the Catholic Heirarchy? The test for the believers 50 years ago was that the Baha’i Faith cannot exist without a Guardian. The Test that Mason gave was you have to know who is the right candidate for the job. Yes, he appointed several to be his successor, but he only had one son and according to the laws of primogeniture, the successorship goes to the son, the Aghsan, as stated in the Will, not anybody who just decides they are the one. Doesn’t work. The lineage of David through Baha’u’llah is preserved as it has been through the last three thousand years, with not any hiccups. Well….maybe a hiccup or two, but the line is unbroken and adheres to every dot and tittle of the Will & Testament of Abdu’l-Baha.
The truth is easily arrived at if you are willing to accept the truth. The truth is easy to discern, that is, as Jesus says, if you have the eyes to see and the ears to hear and the heart to understand and accept what your intellect is telling you. The will states that the Guardian has to be an Aghsan – a male Heir of Baha’u’llah. Mason was the only Aghsan left that hadn’t broken the Covenant. He was Aghsan as he was adopted by Abdu’l-Baha, but an adopted son has all the rights and priveledges of a natural son, including the laws on inheritence. Joel Marnegella, although a very distinguished and spiritual man, is not an Aghsan. Donald Harvey is not an Aghsan. Only Mason Remey was proclaimed to the whole Baha’i World that he was Abdu’l-Baha’s “Aghsan”. Shoghi Effendi acknowledged this by according to Mason Abdu’l-Baha’s inheitence to him as “Abdu’l-Baha’s ‘Dear Son'”. Shoghi put Mason at the head of that institution of the IBC for the very fact that there were no other Aghsan to fulfill that position. The IBC was the UHJ just in its infant form that was to evolve through a four stage process, the next stage from the IBC being the Baha’i World Court that was the goal for 1963, not that it would become the UHJ in 1963, but that it would become the World Religious Court for the Baha’is in Israel by 1963. Then in 1959 the “Hands” disbanded the IBC Shoghi Effendi set up (going against Shoghi Effendi) and set up another and completely bypassed the World Court stage saying In ‘Baha’i World Vol. XIII, that “due to the secularization of religious courts in this part of the world, the Baha’i world court may not be realized.” Which is total bunk as the Druze set up their religious court in Israel in 1963. The reason the “Hands” didn’t want the Baha’i Court set up in Israel is that it would have had Mason at its head and this would have only cemented his position as Guardian with the Israeli Government, so they did away with it, and this is why Mason had to come out with a proclamation.
For those who have the eyes to see and the ears to hear,
Victor
Goash, what a lazy piece of journalism. Quite how the writer can get the orthodox Baha’is taking the mainstream Bahai’s to court in the 60s the other way round is staggering. It is that original court decision the mainstream group is asking to be adhered to.
Why wait so long – the internet. Quite apart from being big bad bullies, the mainstream group were were happy to leave the 40 or so breakways to themselves until suddenly they started posting pictures of the mainstream groups buildings and appropriated the name of the UHJ. Imagine a group of 300 or so people from around the World breaking away and, with one man declaring himself the “true” Pope, putting up a website with a picture of the Vatican claiming all sorts of weird beliefs as though that building, and the religion itself belonged to this tiny group.
You don’t thnk the Catholic Church might step in?
As for Joel Marangella, he was so infuriated that Mason Remey had appointed someone else as his successor (Donald Harvey) and disbanded the set-up Marangella was head of that he (Marangella) declared Remey to be insane (without prioducing a single shred of medical evidence) and declared himnself “guardian” while Remey was yet still living.
What a shame this journalist put together such a poorly informed and (non) researched piece. Quinn