Hi Susan,
"Except that is exactly what Shoghi Effendi indicated:"
Well, the House said it was a poison. So maybe it is a poison AND a
disease. But not panic, that's agreed. Maybe we have a poisonous disease,
or a diseased poison in the act of Covenant Breaking.
I do not dispute that there are similarities to being poisoned or diseased
when one actively works to undermine a religion. Or that joining up with
such people is like poisoning oneself, or catching a disease. I am not
disputing that.
What I said was:
"No spiritual diseases have been diagnosed, catalogued, or even
specifically
described."
I wouldn't think that you are now diagnosing the first one, are you? The
one symptom they have in common is having been declared one by the
Universal
House of Justice.
The Writings are clear that Covenant Breakers are afflicted, but not that
Covenant Breaking itself is a specific spiritual disease.
I find it easier to accept that becoming a Covenant Breaker in the Baha'i
Faith by actively seeking to undermine aspects of the religion is more
akin
to taking a poison than it is to catching a disease. I would say being
hypnotized is more like taking a poison than catching a disease too, or
addiction...
But we agree there should be no panic involved in avoiding the poison or
disease.
"Tom said "possible Covenant breakers."
Oh, are we to avoid "possible" Covenant Breakers now?
--Kent
"Susan Maneck" <smaneck@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message
news:s7OdndS1mup7VJbVnZ2dnUVZ_saknZ2d@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
to say that Covenant
> Breaking itself is a specific spiritual disease, I don't think it is.
Dear Kent,
Except that is exactly what Shoghi Effendi indicated:
"...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.
(Compilations, Lights of Guidance, p. 183)
Of course his secretary goes on to add:
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.
(Compilations, Lights of Guidance, p. 183)
>
> It might seem a minor point to you, but I see a difference between
saying
> that becoming a Covenant Breaker is a spiritual disease, and saying that
> those who are Covenant Breakers are afflicted with a spiritual disease,
a
nd
> to me that difference is im****tant.
Yet according to the Guardian our Writings don't make that distinction:
Bahá'u'lláh and the Master in many places and very emphatically have
told us to shun entirely all Covenant-breakers as they are afflicted
with what we might try and define as a contagious spiritual disease;
(Compilations, Lights of Guidance, p. 183)
> We all have spiritual diseases, but we are not all Covenant Breakers.
That much is true. But apparently not all spiritual diseases are
contagious like Covenant breaking is.
> > > Baha'is working in protection (counselors, auxillary board members
a
nd
> > assistants for protection) may be required to contact possible
> > covenant breakers to investigate them for the House.
>
> For what purpose? That seems a strange proposition. The Universal
Hous
e
> of Justice might need to contact people they have told everyone to
avoid?
Tom said "possible Covenant breakers." Counsellors and Board Members
are sometimes asked to investigate whether the person in question
truly is a Covenant breaker or there is something else is going on.
warmest, Susan
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