Imagine this: One "declares" himself a Baha'i while in high school. He is active in the local community, then goes away to university where he redoubles his efforts to teach "the faith" by hosting firesides, and manning an information table at the university...for 7 years.
After graduation, said individual "pioneers" to Mexico...where he teaches hundreds of seekers, and helps to establish new assemblies.
In the course of the next 15 years, this believer sacrifices all he owns and cherishes to "raise the standard". He is renowned as a teacher...and travels to more than 50 countries as "travel Teacher" and pioneer. He "opens" an area of Northwestern Russia, the size of Germany and France put together, to the faith.
He pays his "huququllah".
He sings in the choir at the "world congress", in 1992. Only then, does he begin to wonder at certain improprieties and secretive decisions which are made in committee and have affected his life for years.
He is admonished to "desist" from making further inquiry into allegations.
He is barred from attending community events.
He is stripped of "voting rights", because he dares question authority.
He resigns from "the faith", to pursue, "independent investigation of Truth", as was taught by the faith's founder.
He embraces what he considers to be the TRUEST form of his faith...only to be informed that the "NSA", and "House of Just Us" has declared him a covenant breaker.
As a result, the hundreds of people he taught and brought into this faith are ordered to shun him.
He is now, persona-non-grata around the world. His years of sacrifice and painstaking travel teaching are erased. ("Let the name Moses be erased from all public buildings." Pharoh Ramses in The Ten Commandments)
Is this not, then, a Cult?
"The Universal House of Justice has confirmed that Mr. Michael Zargarov should be considered a Covenant-breaker. By his own repeated admissions, Mr. Zargarov has become an active member of the group formed by Mr. Joel Marangella and calling itself the "Orthodox Baha'i Faith." Mr. Marangella is an active Covenant-breaker and one of the several former followers of Charles Mason Remey who have laid claims of their own to the Guardianship. Although Mr. Zargarov has been living outside the country, he has resided in the Houston, Texas, area and periodically returns to the United States."
ReplyDeleteProve me from Baha'i Writings that Universal House of Justice "Alone - independently" has rights to declare someone as "Covenant Breaker".
DeleteAnyone interested in seeing the clear authority of the Universal House of Justice as outlined in the Baha'i writings is welcome to start here:
ReplyDeletehttp://covenantstudy.org/questions/authority-of-universal-house-of-justice/
This has been replied here :
Deletehttp://dalehusband.com/2008/09/07/the-fatal-flaw-in-bahai-authority/
More proof that Mason Remey's claims of being a "Second Guardian" are incoherent:
ReplyDeletehttp://bahai-covenant.blogspot.com/2009/03/one-of-traits-of-head-of-bahai-faith-is.html
Dear Brent, This has been replied by Dale Husband
ReplyDeletehttp://dalehusband.com/2008/09/07/the-fatal-flaw-in-bahai-authority/
I'm not Brent. He just has written some very cogent web pages on this topic.
ReplyDeleteHow does Dale Husband's post strengthen the covenant-breaker claims of Mason Remey and his many, squabbling "successors" in any way? It does not.
It's just an attack on the Baha'i Faith itself and completely denies the very idea of the Baha'i covenant, and its statements have been rebutted many times.
Baha'i Covenant is Holey !
Delete"Yeah I never understood the splinter groups obsession with continuing the guardianship." Just finished reading William Garlington's The Baha'i Faith in America, it explains a lot about this obsession. For Mason Remey, and many other Baha'is, it was inconceivable, unimaginable, that there not be a living hereditary guardian because a living hereditary guardian had been specifically mentioned by Abdu'l-Baha' in his W&T as an integral part of the future Baha'i administrative order as permanent head of the UHJ. And Abdu'l-Baha' being infallible couldn't have erred in this, couldn't have been wrong, could he? For some it became obvious that for the Guardianship to end would mean that they would as well have to admit to, accept, Abdu'l-Baha's humanity, Abdu'l-Baha's fallibility, some Baha'is couldn't go there, most are still in denial. As well in several places in Shoghi Effendi's writings the existence of a future Guardian is clearly stated, Shoghi Effendi couldn't have been wrong, couldn't have been fallible, could he? Thus Mason who was a pillar of the Baha'i community, a Hand of the Cause, a favourite of Abdu'l-Baha's, appointed by Shoghi Effendi to head The International Baha'i Council, could not fathom that god had changed his mind (bada) in regards to an ongoing Guardianship, couldn't accept that Abdu'l-Baha's W&T was flawed. Mason was intellectually honest enough to understand what the implications were of the W&T of Abdu'l-Baha' being shown to be imperfect, shown to be a merely human document in no way perfectly, 'infallibly', divine. Thus the Hands decided to take control over the affairs of the Baha'i Faith even though they had no authority to proceed in that manner. What these Baha'i elites did was behave as religious elites usually do, ignore the masses of believers and do what they personally choose to do without consulting with those masses. A more democratic, dare I say more spiritual way to proceed would have been to go to the greater Baha'i community itself and see what Baha'is themselves thought, what Baha'is themselves believed. Obviously these religious elites didn't trust the masses of Baha'i believers, didn't feel that they were capable or worthy of collectively deciding for themselves the direction their religion should take.
By Larry Rowe
Larry Rowe's comment is opposition for the sake of opposition.
DeleteIn the absence of the Guardian, the Hands arranged for the election of the Universal House of Justice, which was called for in the Writings of Baha'u'llah, Abdu'l-Baha and Shoghi Effendi, as the designated leadership of the Baha'i Community.
Which House is, of course, elected by the greater Baha'i community itself.
No! This answer was not expected. Start the discussion of "God Changing His mind (BADA)."
Delete