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The Project Gutenberg EBook of Some Answered Questions by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at http://www.guten- berg.org/license This is a copyrighted Project Gutenberg eBook, details below. Please follow the copyright guidelines in this file. Title: Some Answered Questions Author: ‘Abdu’l-Bahá Release Date: September 2006 [Ebook 19289] Language: English ***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SOME ANSWERED QUESTIONS*** Some Answered Questions by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá Edition 1, (September 2006) Baha'i Terms of Use You have permission to freely make and use copies of the text and any other information ("Content") available on this Site including printing, emailing, posting, distributing, copying, downloading, uploading, transmitting, displaying the Content in whole or in part subject to the following: 1. Our copyright notice and the source reference must be attached to the Content; 2. The Content may not be modified or altered in any way except to change the font or appearance; 3. The Content must be used solely for a non-commercial purpose. Although this blanket permission to reproduce the Content is given freely such that no special permission is required, the Bahá’í International Community retains full copyright protection for all Content included at this Site under all applicable national and international laws. For permission to publish, transmit, display or otherwise use the Content for any commercial purpose, please contact us (http://reference.bahai.org/en/contact.html). Contents Baha'i Terms of Use . v Part One: ON THE INFLUENCE OF THE PROPHETS IN THE EVOLUTION OF HUMANITY . 1 1: NATURE IS GOVERNED BY ONE UNIVERSAL LAW . 3 2: PROOFS AND EVIDENCES OF THE EXIS- TENCE OF GOD . 5 3: THE NEED OF AN EDUCATOR . 7 4: ABRAHAM . 13 5: MOSES . 15 6: CHRIST . 17 7: MUHAMMAD . 19 8: THE BÁB . 27 9: BAHÁ’U’LLÁH . 29 10: TRADITIONAL PROOFS EXEMPLIFIED FROM THE BOOK OF DANIEL . 39 11: COMMENTARY ON THE ELEVENTH CHAP- TER OF THE REVELATION OF ST. JOHN . 47 12: COMMENTARY ON THE ELEVENTH CHAP- TER OF ISAIAH . 63 13: COMMENTARY ON THE TWELFTH CHAP- TER OF THE REVELATION OF ST. JOHN . 67 14: SPIRITUAL PROOFS . 73 15: TRUE WEALTH . 79 Part Two: SOME CHRISTIAN SUBJECTS . 83 16: OUTWARD FORMS AND SYMBOLS MUST BE USED TO CONVEY INTELLECTUAL CON- CEPTIONS . 85 17: THE BIRTH OF CHRIST . 89 viii Some Answered Questions 18: THE GREATNESS OF CHRIST IS DUE TO HIS PERFECTIONS . 91 19: THE BAPTISM OF CHRIST . 93 20: THE NECESSITY OF BAPTISM . 95 21: THE SYMBOLISM OF THE BREAD AND THE WINE . 99 22: MIRACLES . 103 23: THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST . 107 24: THE DESCENT OF THE HOLY SPIRIT UPON THE APOSTLES . 109 25: THE HOLY SPIRIT . 111 26: THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST AND THE DAY OF JUDGMENT . 113 27: THE TRINITY . 117 28: EXPLANATION OF VERSE FIVE, CHAPTER SEVENTEEN, OF THE GOSPEL OF ST. JOHN 121 29: EXPLANATION OF VERSE TWENTY-TWO, CHAPTER FIFTEEN, OF THE FIRST EPIS- TLE OF ST. PAUL TO THE CORINTHIANS . 123 30: ADAM AND EVE . 127 31: EXPLANATION OF BLASPHEMY AGAINST THE HOLY SPIRIT . 133 32: EXPLANATION OF THE VERSE “FOR MANY ARE CALLED BUT FEW ARE CHOSEN” ... 135 33: THE “RETURN” SPOKEN OF BY THE PROPHETS . 139 34: PETER’S CONFESSION OF FAITH . 143 35: PREDESTINATION . 147 Part Three: ON THE POWERS AND CONDITIONS OF THE MANIFESTATIONS OF GOD . 149 36: THE FIVE ASPECTS OF SPIRIT . 151 37: THE DIVINITY CAN ONLY BE COMPRE- HENDED THROUGH THE DIVINE MANI- FESTATIONS . 155 Baha'i Terms of Use ix 38: THE THREE STATIONS OF THE DIVINE MANIFESTATIONS . 161 39: THE HUMAN CONDITION AND THE SPIRI- TUAL CONDITION OF THE DIVINE MANI- FESTATIONS . 165 40: THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE DIVINE MANI- FESTATIONS . 169 41: THE UNIVERSAL CYCLES . 171 42: THE POWER AND INFLUENCE OF THE DI- VINE MANIFESTATIONS . 173 43: THE TWO CLASSES OF PROPHETS . 175 44: EXPLANATION OF THE REBUKES AD- DRESSED BY GOD TO THE PROPHETS . 179 45: EXPLANATION OF THE VERSE OF THE KITÁB-I-AQDAS, “THERE IS NO PARTNER FOR HIM WHO IS THE DAYSPRING OF REVELATION IN HIS MOST GREAT INFAL- LIBILITY” .................... 183 Part Four: ON THE ORIGIN, POWERS AND CONDI- TIONS OF MAN . 187 46: MODIFICATION OF SPECIES . 189 47: THE UNIVERSE IS WITHOUT BEGINNING; THE ORIGIN OF MAN . 193 48: THE DIFFERENCE EXISTING BETWEEN MAN AND ANIMAL . 199 49: THE GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE HUMAN RACE . 205 50: SPIRITUAL PROOFS OF THE ORIGIN OF MAN 209 51: THE SPIRIT AND MIND OF MAN HAVE EX- ISTED FROM THE BEGINNING . 213 52: THE APPEARING OF THE SPIRIT IN THE BODY215 53: THE RELATION BETWEEN GOD AND THE CREATURE . 217 x Some Answered Questions 54: ON THE PROCEEDING OF THE HUMAN SPIRIT FROM GOD . 221 55: SOUL, SPIRIT AND MIND . 225 56: THE PHYSICAL POWERS AND THE INTEL- LECTUAL POWERS . 227 57: THE CAUSES OF THE DIFFERENCES IN THE CHARACTERS OF MEN . 229 58: THE DEGREE OF KNOWLEDGE POSSESSED BY MAN AND THE DIVINE MANIFESTA- TIONS . 233 59: MAN’S KNOWLEDGE OF GOD . 235 60: THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SPIRIT (1) . 239 61: THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SPIRIT (2) . 243 62: PERFECTIONS ARE WITHOUT LIMIT . 247 63: THE PROGRESS OF MAN IN THE OTHER WORLD . 251 64: THE STATE OF MAN AND HIS PROGRESS AFTER DEATH . 253 65: EXPLANATION OF A VERSE IN THE KITÁB- I-AQDAS . 257 66: THE EXISTENCE OF THE RATIONAL SOUL AFTER THE DEATH OF THE BODY . 259 THE IMMORTALITY OF CHILDREN . 261 67: ETERNAL LIFE AND ENTRANCE INTO THE KINGDOM OF GOD . 263 68: FATE . 267 69: THE INFLUENCE OF THE STARS . 269 70: FREE WILL . 273 71: VISIONS AND COMMUNICATION WITH SPIRITS . 277 72: HEALING BY SPIRITUAL MEANS . 281 73: HEALING BY MATERIAL MEANS . 285 Part Five: MISCELLANEOUS SUBJECTS . 287 74: THE NONEXISTENCE OF EVIL . 289 Baha'i Terms of Use xi 75: TWO KINDS OF TORMENT . 291 76: THE JUSTICE AND MERCY OF GOD . 293 77: THE RIGHT METHOD OF TREATING CRIMI- NALS . 295 78: STRIKES . 301 79: THE REALITY OF THE EXTERIOR WORLD . 307 80: REAL PREEXISTENCE . 309 81: REINCARNATION . 311 82: PANTHEISM . 319 83: THE FOUR METHODS OF ACQUIRING KNOWLEDGE . 325 84: THE NECESSITY OF FOLLOWING THE TEACHINGS OF THE DIVINE MANIFESTA- TIONS . 329 Part One: ON THE INFLUENCE OF THE PROPHETS IN THE EVOLUTION OF HUMANITY 1: NATURE IS GOVERNED BY ONE UNIVERSAL LAW Nature is that condition, that reality, which in appearance con- sists in life and death, or, in other words, in the composition and decomposition of all things. This Nature is subjected to an absolute organization, to de- termined laws, to a complete order and a finished design, from which it will never depart—to such a degree, indeed, that if you look carefully and with keen sight, from the smallest invisible atom up to such large bodies of the world of existence as the globe of the sun or the other great stars and luminous spheres, whether you regard their arrangement, their composition, their form or their movement, you will find that all are in the highest degree of organization and are under one law from which they will never depart. But when you look at Nature itself, you see that it has no intelligence, no will. For instance, the nature of fire is to burn; it burns without will or intelligence. The nature of water is fluidity; it flows without will or intelligence. The nature of the sun is radiance; it shines without will or intelligence. The nature of vapor is to ascend; it ascends without will or intelligence. Thus it is clear that the natural movements of all things are compelled; there are no voluntary movements except those of animals and, above all, those of man. Man is able to resist and to oppose Na- ture because he discovers the constitution of things, and through this he commands the forces of Nature; all the inventions he has made are due to his discovery of the constitution of things. For example, he invented the telegraph, which is the means of communication between the East and the West. It is evident, then, that man rules over Nature. Now, when you behold in existence such organizations, ar- rangements and laws, can you say that all these are the effect of 4 Some Answered Questions Nature, though Nature has neither intelligence nor perception? If not, it becomes evident that this Nature, which has neither perception nor intelligence, is in the grasp of Almighty God, Who is the Ruler of the world of Nature; whatever He wishes, He causes Nature to manifest. One of the things which has appeared in the world of exis- tence, and which is one of the requirements of Nature, is human life. Considered from this point of view man is the branch; nature is the root. Then can the will and the intelligence, and the perfections which exist in the branch, be absent in the root? It is said that Nature in its own essence is in the grasp of the power of God, Who is the Eternal Almighty One: He holds Nature within accurate regulations and laws, and rules over it.1 1 On the idea of God, cf. “The Divinity Can Only Be Comprehended through the Divine Manifestations,” p. 146; and “Man’s Knowledge of God,” p. 220. The reader will there see that the Bahá’í Faith has not an anthropomorphic conception of God, and that if it employs a customary terminology, it is careful to explain its symbolic meaning.
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