Some Answered Questions
From Bahai9
Read online at http://bahai-library.com/?file=abdulbaha_some_answered_questions.html
Contents |
Importance of reading
- see 2.C. and 3.A. at [1].
- "I urge you to study the Teachings and particularly `Abdu'l-Bahá's Some Answered Questions and Dr. Esslemont's Bahá'u'lláh and the New Era, two of the outstanding books in our Bahá'í Literature."
- "He feels that the urgent need now is to get out "Some Answered Questions", which is one of the most important books for a proper study of the Faith. When this has been printed, the next publication of the Master's Works can be considered...."
Read Some Answered Questions to find answers on certain theological questions
"The soul or spirit of the individual comes into being with the conception of his physical body.
"The Prophets, unlike us, are pre-existent. The Soul of Christ existed in the spiritual world before His birth in this world. We cannot imagine what that world is like, so words are inadequate to picture His state of being.
"We cannot know God directly, but only through His Prophets. We can pray to Him, realizing that through His Prophets we know Him, or we can address our prayer in thought to Bahá'u'lláh, not as God, but as the Door to our knowing God.
"We find God only through the Intermediary of His Prophet. We see the Perfection of God in His Prophets. Time and space are physical things; God the Creator is not in a 'place' as we conceive of place in physical terms. God is the Infinite Essence, the Creator. We cannot picture Him or His state; if we did, we would be His equals, not His Creatures. God is never flesh, but mirrored in the attributes of His Prophets, we see His Divine characteristics and perfections.
"Shoghi Effendi advises you to study 'Some Answered Questions' and the 'Dispensation of Bahá'u'lláh' which help you to grasp these questions."
- (From a letter written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to an individual believer, October 9, 1947; quoted in Lights of Guidance, no. 1699)
Outlines
Comparison of page numbers in 1981 version vs. previous versions
By Chapter
41
When 'Abdu'l-Bahá states "the earth, every three hundred and sixty-five days, five hours, forty-eight minutes and a fraction, completes a revolution; and then it begins a new cycle--that is to say, the first cycle is again renewed.", this is apparently in reference to the mean tropical year.
84
Bahá'u'lláh argues similarly in Gleanings, sec. 81 on how even materialistic philosophers recognize the wisdom of the Prophets
