It was Baha’u’llah Himself Who endowed Abdul-Baha with authority and certitude. Whoso turns to Abdul-Baha, Baha’u’llah states here, has turned towards God. That is a clear bestowal of conferred certitude from Baha’u’llah.
There hath branched from the Sadratu’l-Muntahá this sacred and glorious Being, this Branch of Holiness; well is it with him that hath sought His shelter and abideth beneath His shadow. Verily the Limb of the Law of God hath sprung forth from this Root which God hath firmly implanted in the Ground of His Will, and Whose Branch hath been so uplifted as to encompass the whole of creation. Magnified be He, therefore, for this sublime, this blessed, this mighty, this exalted Handiwork!… A Word hath, as a token of Our grace, gone forth from the Most Great Tablet—a Word which God hath adorned with the ornament of His own Self, and made it sovereign over the earth and all that is therein, and a sign of His greatness and power among its people …Render thanks unto God, O people, for His appearance; for verily He is the most great Favor unto you, the most perfect bounty upon you; and through Him every mouldering bone is quickened. Whoso turneth towards Him hath turned towards God, and whoso turneth away from Him hath turned away from My beauty, hath repudiated My Proof, and transgressed against Me. He is the Trust of God amongst you, His charge within you, His manifestation unto you and His appearance among His favored servants… We have sent Him down in the form of a human temple. Blest and sanctified be God Who createth whatsoever He willeth through His inviolable, His infallible decree. They who deprive themselves of the shadow of the Branch, are lost in the wilderness of error, are consumed by the heat of worldly desires, and are of those who will assuredly perish.
Baha’u’llah - Tablet of the Branch cited in The Dispensation of Baha’u’llah, paragraph 78
Thanks for the reference. I understand your position that as a Baha’i you are required to accept the UHJ’s determination that Abdul-Baha was endowed with Divine Certitude. You could not be a member of the Baha’i Faith otherwise. And I might add here that Abdul-Baha was a great and very holy man who was essential in the formation of the Baha’i Faith.
However, I ask you to understand my position as well. As a Christian, and also as someone who believes in the edicts of Baha’u’llah, I believe in the correctness of the Gospels as written. Our Lord’s body vanished from inside of His sealed and guarded tomb. In this age of science and technology we even have proof that this event actually happened.
Therefore how would you expect me to sign off on the Baha’i postulation that Jesus’s body is buried in the earth? It is not buried anymore than the bodies of Enoch or Elijah are buried.
I did not notice the words “bestowal of divine certitude” in your quote, but I certainly can understand how someone could read that into it.
I previously noted various Prophets who made mistakes: Adam, Jonah, Moses, Muhammed, etc. (I would include St. Paul, but this is a Catholic site so I’m not allowed.)
Is Abdul-Baha greater than them?
I think at this point, WC, that we just have to agree to disagree and move on from there.
We are not going to change each other’s minds, so there is no point of dragging this out ad infinitum.
**Was ever any man found blameless in the presence of God,
or faultless in the presence of his Maker?
In His own servants, God puts no trust,
and even with His angels He has fault to find.
Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone.**
