For the same reason you trust your universal council of Justice. Why if you trust them, do you not trust the second century Christians and their apostolic criteria? Why for instance should Saint Clement or Saint Ignatius be dismissed when they have an apostolic pedigree? If they were proclaiming the corrupted gospel, if they got it wrong, what guarantee is there that you guys have preserved the truth? None as I can see.
Your answer is in your last sentence: “None that I can see”
If you truly wish to see, I would suggest that you commit to study of the accused you wish to hang without the evidence they present in their case. Otherwise, you set yourself up as a judge who admits to refusing to examine the evidence. This is precisely what they do over and over and over again in mock trial after mock trial after mock trial in Iran as a pretext to imprisoning them for 20 years at a stretch. These are real people, with deep and abiding Faith, who refuse to recant their faith in the midst of the most harsh persecution in the history of humanity.
It is not abstract and occasional, but has been consistently going on for 170 years, and to people known to Servant, Arthra, and myself personally - to friends, relatives, etc. We “know” them. They are the cream of the crop of humanity in all instances. That is why they lock them up, for the shining lights must be put out, yet they shine in the prisons under the most harsh conditions such that other prisoners, who have heard lies and propaganda against the Baha’is all their lives see for the first time in their lives the truth.
So if you wish to comfortably keep repeating yourself with such phrases as: “Not that I can see”, that is ok. God is not in need of anything from any of us, “He is above the needs of His creatures”. If, however, “If” you wish to see with your own eyes the vast and comprehensive accumulation of evidence which can be presented easily, just a click or two away in these times, rather than argue the same old arguments, pick up the book “Some Answered Questions” by Abdul Baha. Read the Kitab-i-Iqan (the Book of Certitude - written in two days!! without pause of the pen or reflection - a Book which “unseals” that which was sealed throughout history in all the preceding Scriptures. And for the most comprehensive study of prophecies, I suggest “I Shall Come Again”, by Hushidar Motlagh, who devoted 25 years of remarkable scholarship from the standpoint of a Doctor of Psychology, and accomplished professor. I have met him and spoken with him and knew his brother while in Virginia 30 years ago.
However, if you prefer to echo repeatedly “Not that I can see”, do not take the time, for it will challenge your current beliefs and understanding as have never been challenged before, and if you are fair in the very least trace, and not like the Mullahs who imprison and hang the Baha’is, I strongly suspect that if you but apply the full capacity of your mind with sincere and unbiased effort, you will in fact come back with a deep, deep understanding of the Bab and Baha’u’llah which you presently lack due to simple ignorance of the vast resources of evidence which await you.
. Respectfully, for you do have the capacity, I truly believe, to reverse this position you cling to of “Not that I can see”. For this is precisely the position condemned by Jesus of the Pharisees when He said, “Eyes they have, but see not.” they, too said, “Not that I can see”, whilst a simple fisherman named Peter “saw”
. I am the son of a simple hog farmer, and I can see. Surely you can, if you “want” to. But that is left entirely up to you, whether you arise to meet the challenge or retain a comfort zone which requires nothing further to do.
God bless you, Ignatio. For brother, I believe in you, if only you dare to expose yourself to the Baha’i proofs which await you. I did. Some 35 years ago, dispelling every trace of skepticism from my biased and skeptical mind. It totally, totally… blew me away, what I found. I was incapable of saying: “Not that I can see” anymore, because I accepted the challenge, then changed my tune upon the great realization of Who Baha’u’llah truly is, and why He suffered as He did for forty years, revealing verses which Jesus could have, but did not, because mankind was not yet ready to receive them. Now we are. Are you?
Here are the links.
reference.bahai.org/en/t/ab/SAQ/ To “Some Answered Questions” by Abdul Baha
and also
reference.bahai.org/en/t/b/KI/ki-1.html Kitab-i-Iqan by Baha’u’llah
and “I Shall Come Again” by H Motlagh (whose family was Jewish for 3000 years)
available at this link
amazon.com/Shall-Come-Again-Hushidar-Motlagh/dp/0937661015
It is only $12.95, and if you want, I will pay for it and have it shipped to the address of your choosing, as my gift. But only on your promise to your Faith in Christ that you will in fact read it with an unbiased and enquiring mind.
Deal?
Dale