All persons are invited to attend the OBF's monthly fireside, a safe place to learn about the Orthodox Baha'i Faith, meet some of the believers, and ask any questions you like. This is a conference call in the United States.
For more information:
http://truebahaifiresides.blogspot.com/
Jeffrey
And yet what do we see in the sans-Guardian, Heterodox Bahá'í organization? We observe Shoghi Effendi's words (teachings) falling to the earth, one after another after another after another, again and again and again and again. In such case, if his words were in reality failing thus, how could Shoghi Effendi be considered greater than either John the immerser or Samuel, none of whose sayings fell to the earth?
Look at this:
In his spiritual testament, The Dispensation of Bahá'u'lláh, Shoghi Effendi, infallibly and in considerable detail, identified the two sacred Institutions, the Guardianship of the Bahá'í Faith and the Universal House of Justice, to be the "twin pillars" of the Administration of the New World Order of Bahá'u'lláh.
In the current sans-Guardian administration of Haifa/Wilmette those words of Shoghi Effendi have fallen to the earth. That Heterodox Bahá'í organization has no "twin pillars".
In his spiritual testament, The Dispensation of Bahá'u'lláh, Shoghi Effendi, infallibly taught that the Guardians of the Bahá'í Faith would be voting as living members of legitimate Universal House of Justice bodies, stating concerning such Guardians: "He cannot override
the decision of the majority of his fellow members..."
In the current sans-Guardian administration of Haifa/Wilmette those words of Shoghi Effendi have fallen to the earth. That Heterodox Bahá'í organization has no Guardian voting as a living member of their body.
By Ross Campbell
The teaching committee of the Orthodox Baha'is of the United States has announced the first-ever telephonic fireside, which is open to all sincere seekers, for the discussion of the teachings of the Orthodox Baha'i Faith.
For more information, go here: http://truebahaifiresides.blogspot.com/
Jeffrey
It has been made crystal clear in the foregoing writings of Shoghi Effendi that the
Will and Testament of 'Abdu'l-Bahá is a divinely conceived Document, that it is an expression of
the Will of both Bahá'u'lláh and 'Abdu'l-Bahá and that it is a part of the
"explicit Holy Text" being complementary to the Kitáb-i-Aqdas. Shoghi Effendi
emphasises this fact by stating that they "are inseparable parts of one complete unit".
This sacred Document can, therefore, never be altered, amended, or nullified or any of its provisions
declared "BADA" by any person or persons or administrative institution, including the
Universal House of Justice which can only enact laws that form no part of the explicit Holy Text under
the terms of the Will and Testament of 'Abdu'l-Bahá.[FN:5. Notwithstanding Shoghi Effendi's
clear statements concerning the inviolability of the Will and Testament of 'Abdu'l-Bahá, the then
Hands of the Cause following the passing of Shoghi Effendi completely ignored and repudiated the words of
Shoghi Effendi and nullified those provisions of the Will and Testament pertaining to the continuity of
the Guardianship declaring them to be "BADA" (i.e. God had changed His Mind). Thus in one fell
swoop they destroyed all three of the supreme international Institutions of the Faith delineated in the
Will and Testament of 'Abdu'l-Bahá, namely: the guardianship, the Hands of the Cause (appointed
only by the Guardian) and the Universal House of Justice (a complete organ only when presided over by its
"sacred head for life" - the Guardian or, on occasion, by his specifically appointed
representative).]
Joel B. Marangella
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I particularly invite the attention of the Baha’is who hold no office in the sans-Guardian Baha’i Faith and ask them the following:
Do you know what happened after the death of Shoghi Effendi, the first Guardian of the Baha’i Faith?
Do you know about the reprehensible actions and the plotting of the Hands of the Cause following the passing of Shoghi Effendi?
Do you know that the “CUSTODIANS OF THE BAHA’I FAITH” appointed by the Hands of the Cause, following the passing of Shoghji Effendi, was an illegally established body as no such body is prescribed in the Will and Testament of ‘Abdu’l-Baha?
Do you know that you are not following the true Faith as you are adhering to an illegitimate man-made administrative System instead of the divinely-conceived, sacred and immortal Administrative Order bequeathed to us by ‘Abdu’l-Baha in His Will and Testament?
Dr. A Parikh
Hats off to the Chicago Tribune for finally exposing to the public the outrageous legal action by the NSA against a small group of the Orthodox Baha'is who are fighting for their First Amendment freedoms to practice their religion and speak out about it.
The article is here:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-bahai-18-may18,0,6239589.story
The article fails to mention that the Wilmette NSA lost its case against the Orthodox Baha'is and has it under appeal. It incorrectly implies that the OBF accept Mason Remey because Shoghi Effendi called him son. That is not OBF belief. Rather, the OBF believe that Shoghi Effendi appointed Mason Remey as second Guardian when he named him the "President" of the then embryonic Universal House of Justice called the International Baha'i Council. Also, the last sentence of the article was falsely attributed to Mr. Stockman when that statement was made by me. I was the one who said that: "It's not our desire to convert people. It's our desire to put our material out there for people to know what the truth is and decide themselves."
The article does make it clear to the world what the NSA is trying to do against the OBF, so I am thankful for that.
Regardless of how one stands on the controversy between the Orthodox Baha'is and the "mainstream" ones, most people cannot understand why the NSA with its "millions" of members cannot tolerate a small group of people who identify themselves as and sincerely believe they are Baha'is, by using the term "Orthodox Baha'is" to distinguish themselves from the "mainstream" group.
The truth is that this is an outrageous court aggression against the Orthodox Baha'is.
Jeffrey
True consultation is difficult because it requires fearless courage and egoless effort. But the collective wisdom that emerges from true consultation is the truth itself. True problem solving and true dispute resolution is achieved with the tool of consultation.
This makes me wonder what might have happened after the death of Shoghi Effendi, had the Bahá'í world engaged in true consultation and openly discussed the question of the successorship of the Guardian. Would not the collective wisdom of the Bahá'ís reach the truth? Even the Hands, by all accounts, failed to consult over the question of the Guardianship. In fact, the decision there would be no Guardian was railroaded through that body, which secretly voted to end the Guardianship and then secretly went about the business of electing a headless UHJ completely contrary to the requirements set forth in `Abdu'l-Bahá's Will and Testament. Refusing to consult over the question thereafter and prohibiting any discussion by anyone on the question of the continuing Guardianship, the illicit body of the Hands, calling itself the "Custodians" went forth with the greatest violation of the Covenant ever committed. (I realize that the heterodox "UHJ" supposedly consulted on this question, yet there was never the prerequisite consultation over whether this body was legitimate or properly constituted. It is clearly obvious that it was not.)
To this day, the Bahá'í world refuses to consult over this question, despite the pleas set forth by the Orthodox Bahá'ís to reconsider and to come back under the Covenant in obedience to the living Guardian. Bahá'u'lláh did not say consult on some things, He said to consult in all matters.
By Jeffrey Goldberg
In Pilgrim’s Notes, in discussing the importance of the year Nine, Shoghi Effendi discussed the cable sent to America which appeared in the Bahá'í News where he likened the “Tree” to an “Olive Tree.” He said the tree of 6,000 years started with Adam, the last of many Adams. It grew in Abraham, Moses, Jesus and Muhammad. The tree, like an olive tree, yielded its fruit in the Báb. In His martyrdom it was crushed by the mill of adversity. The oil from this crushed fruit made the light which appeared 10 years later in the Síyáh-Chál. It ignited a flame in the darkest dungeon. It was clouded over for 10 years, and when it reached the land of mystery, Adrionople, it became more radiant, it became a crystal. For 40 years it only showed its light in 10 countries. After that it spread to the West.
By David Maxwell
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POSTED ON BEHALF OF THE GUARDIAN OF THE BAHA'I FAITH
"THE BEDROCK ON WHICH THIS ADMINISTRATIVE ORDER IS FOUNDED IS GOD¹S IMMUTABLE PURPOSE FOR MANKIND IN THIS DAY." -- Shoghi Effendi
The Administrative Order referred to by Shoghi Effendi above is undeniably the one delineated in the divinely-conceived, sacred and immutable Will and Testament of 'Abdu'l-Baha.
Yet, in clear defiance of "God's immutable Purpose," the sacred provisions of that Will and Testament have been violated and nefariously repudiated by a body in Haifa erroneously calling itself the Universal House of Justice of the Baha'i Faith, for it has been illicitly established without the Guardian of the Faith presiding as its irreplaceable "SACRED HEAD" as required under the provisions of 'Abdu'l-Baha's Will.
That body has inexcusably failed to recognize that Shoghi Effendi faithfully fulfilled his obligation to appoint his successor, seven years before his passing in 1957, when he issued the one and only Proclamation of his ministry proclaiming the formation of the embryonic Universal House of Justice and subsequently identified its appointed irremovable President as Mason Remey who could be none other than the second Guardian-to-be.
Joel Bray Marangella
Guardian of the Baha'i Faith
REFERENCES FOR STUDY:
"Upon Shoghi Effendi's passing, the Hands convened a conclave in 'Akká less than three weeks later and, as their first act, delegated nine Hands from their number to undertake a search of the safe and files of Shoghi Effendi's office in Haifa, which had previously, upon his death, been carefully sealed and secured. This search was carried out apparently in the expectation of finding a will and testament in which Shoghi Effendi had named a successor, in spite of the clear and unambiguous provision of the Will and Testament of 'Abdu'l-Bahá which states that: "It is incumbent upon the guardian of the Cause of God to appoint in his own life-time him that shall become his successor."
http://www.Bahai-Guardian.com/violation.html
The history of the violation of the Covenant of Baha'u'llah at the World Center of the Faith.
http://www.Bahai-Guardian.com/five.html
SHOGHI EFFENDI INFORMS UNITED NATIONS OF HIS ROLE AS THE "APPOINTED HEAD" OF
FUTURE BAHÁ'Í "WORLD COUNCIL" PRIOR TO ITS FORMATION IN JANUARY, 1951.
http://www.Bahai-Guardian.com/irrefutable.html
PROCLAMATION OF MASON REMEY TO THE BAHÁ¹Í WORLD AT RIDVÁN 1960, setting
forth his rightful claim to the Guardianship on the basis of his appointment by Shoghi Effendi in strict compliance with the terms of the Will and Testament of ŒAbdu¹l-Bahá.
http://www.Bahai-Guardian.com/Mason.proc.html
"EXTRACTS FROM DAILY OBSERVATIONS OF THE BAHÁ¹Í FAITH MADE TO THE HANDS OF
THE FAITH IN THE HOLY LAND" by Mason Remey while serving as a member of the body of nine Hands at the World Center following the passing of Shoghi Effendi.
http://www.Bahai-Guardian.com/daily.observe.html
APPEALS
TO
THE HANDS OF THE FAITH
IN THE HOLY LAND
They had, in effect, shamelessly declared null and void the major provisions of a divinely-conceived, sacred and immutable Will and Testament of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, only thirty-six years after the inception of the Administrative Order to which it had given birth, and a Document that, as explained by Shoghi Effendi, had been actually co-authored by Bahá’u’lláh and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá and therefore expressed "their Will." Moreover, Shoghi Effendi further emphasized the immutability and immortality of this divinely-conceived Document in stating that, the Kitáb-i-Aqdas and the Will and Testament were "not only complementary," but " mutually confirm one another and are inseparable parts of one complete unit." As such, the Will and Testament of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá was therefore undeniably nothing less that a part of the explicit Holy Text, whose sacred and immutable provisions shall endure unchanged for at least a full thousand years.
They had inexcusably ignored or carelessly overlooked the fact that Shoghi Effendi had proclaimed on 9 January 1951 the appointment of the embryonic Universal House of Justice, with the provisional name of International Bahá’í Council, and had identified this "Nascent Institution" in this Proclamation as "this first embryonic International Institution and significantly had appointed Mason Remey the President thereof as the irremovable embryonic Head of this embryonic Institution which he had carefully retained as an inactively functioning body during the remaining years of his ministry, even appointing Rúhíyyih Khánum as his "chosen liaison" thereto, so that only upon his passing it could then be activated and become the instrumentality through which Mason Remey whose appointment he had made, as required "in his own life-time" would then automatically acceded to the Guardianship as his chosen successor, faithfully appointed in accordance with the terms of the Will and Testament of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá which stipulate that the Guardian of the Faith is the "sacred head" of this Institution.
They overlooked the future pre-eminent role that Shoghi Effendi had specifically projected for the International Bahá’í Council— referred to by him, in this instance, as "the Central Body"—in which he had stated that this body would be direcing the National Spiritual Assemblies of the world in the prosecution of their respective assigned goals during the Ten Year Global Crusade, scheduled to commence at Ridván 1953 (message of 23 November 1951)
They flagrantly usurped the rightful supreme role and functions of the International Bahá’í Council, as outlined above, which this body should have been permitted to automatically and rightfully assume upon the passing of Shoghi Effendi and established in its place an illegitimate and superfluous body comprised of nine Hands, completely outside the provisions of the Will and Testament of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, upon which they bestowed the concocted appellation: "Custodians of the Bahá’í World Faith"
By Joel B. Marangella
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