A game of contradictions

Show me a Baha\'i teaching or value and I will show you where the leaders have contradicted it

Top of Form

Years ago, I heard a wise man claim: \"There is no statement in the Baha\'i writings except that you will find another statement that contradicts it.\" I am not making such a big claim, but I want to put that statement to the test with the help of the members here. Show me a Baha\'i teaching or value and I will show where it has either been contradicted or blatantly ignored by Baha\'u\'llah, Abdu\'l-Baha, Shoghi or the UHJ. So... let the game begin:

Bottom of Form

Top of Form

1- Baha\'is must become deaf and blind and only hear and listen to Baha\'u\'llah and only take knowledge from him:

“Blind thine eyes, that thou mayest behold My beauty; stop thine ears, that thou mayest hearken unto the sweet melody of My voice; empty thyself of all learning, that thou mayest partake of My knowledge; and sanctify thyself from riches, that thou mayest obtain a lasting share from the ocean of My eternal wealth. Blind thine eyes, that is, to all save My beauty; stop thine ears to all save My word; empty thyself of all learning save the knowledge of Me; that with a clear vision, a pure heart and an attentive ear thou mayest enter the court of My holiness,” Baha’u’llah, The Hidden Words of Baha’u’llah (US Baha’i Publishing Trust, 1985 [reprint]), p. 25.

2- I f someone doesn\'t like Baha\'u\'llah and he brings proof against Baha\'ism from all books, Baha\'is must not only ignore him but must also shun him:

“‘Therefore, it is incumbent upon all the friends of God to shun any person in whom they perceive the emanation of hatred for the Glorious Beauty of Abha, though he may quote all the Heavenly Utterances and cling to all the Books.’ He continues—Glorious be His Name!—‘Protect yourselves with utmost vigilance, lest you be entrapped in the snare of deception and fraud. This is the advice of the Pen of Destiny,’Abdu’l-Baha, Baha’i World Faith—Selected Writings of Baha’u’llah andAbdu’l-Baha (`Abdu’l-Baha’s Section Only), pp. 430–431.

3- If you ask a question to investigate the truth about a matter Baha\'is don\'t like you will not receive an answer but a beating, and then they\'ll slander you and throw all sorts of accusations at you:

One day in the birúní[outer section] of the blessed House of Haifa, He [‘Abdu’l-Bahá] stated, “I have forgotten my handkerchief.” One of the friends who was known as Ustád Muhammad-‘Alí Banná, remarked to this effect, “How is it possible for the manifestation of Truth to forget anything?” Immediately, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá slapped him and stated, “Over forgetting a handkerchief that man puts a hundred souls to test.” (Ahang Rabbani, A Lifetime with `Abdu\'l-Bahá: Reminiscences of Khalíl Shahídí, pp. 100-101)

4- If after independent investigation you reach the conclusion that Baha\'u\'llah or one of his successors is a fraud then you are suffering from spiritual leprosy and you are a hater of light. You will be labelled a covenant breaker and treated like the scum of the earth, all for practicing your right of investigating the truth:

“It is better not to read books by Covenant-breakers because they are haters of the Light, sufferers from a spiritual leprosy, so to speak. But books by well-meaning yet unenlightened enemies of the Cause can be read so as to refute their charges,” Helen Bassett Hornby, Lights of Guidance: A Baha’i Reference File, chap. XII, no. 628.

\"...Covenant-breaking is truly a spiritual disease, and the whole view-point and attitude of a Covenant-breaker is so poisonous that the Master likened it to leprosy, and warned the friends to breathe the same air was dangerous. This should not be taken literally; He meant when you are close enough to breathe the same air you are close enough to contact their corrupting influence. Your sister should never imagine she, loyal and devoted, has become a \'carrier\'.\" (From a letter written on behalf of the Guardian to an individual believer, July 29, 1946, in Lights of Guidance, no. 602)

\"...Thou hadst asked some questions; that why the blessed and spiritual souls, who are firm and steadfast, shun the company of degenerate persons. This is because, that just as the bodily diseases like consumption and cancer are contagious, likewise the spiritual diseases are also infectious. If a consumptive should associate with a thousand safe and healthy persons, the safety and health of these thousand persons would not affect the consumptive and would not cure him of his consumption. But when this consumptive associates with those thousand souls, in a short time the disease of consumption will infect a number of those healthy persons. This is a clear and self-evident question.\" (\'Abdu\'l-Bahá: Tablet to an individual believer, October 1921: Star of the West, Vol. XII, No. 14, p. 233, in Lights of Guidance, no. 603)

5- To help people in their quest for the independent search for truth about Baha\'ism, the vast majority of the scripture is locked up in some archive in Israel where immediate access is given to the public and all text have been translated to all major languages in the world. The translations are neither biased nor based on cherry picked quotes. (sarcasm ends here)

Is that enough?

www.reddit.com

Bottom of Form