In
considering the whole field of divinely conferred "infallibility" one
must be careful to avoid the literal understanding and petty-mindedness that
has so often characterised discussions of this matter in the Christian world.
The Manifestation of God (and, to a lesser degree, 'Abdu'l-Bahá and Shoghi
Effendi,) has to convey tremendous concepts covering the whole field of human
life and activity to people whose present knowledge and degree of understanding
are far below His. He must use the limited medium of human language against the
limited and often erroneous background of His audience's traditional knowledge
and current understanding to raise them to a wholly new level of awareness and
behaviour. It is a human tendency, against which the Manifestation warns us, to
measure His statements against the inaccurate standard of the acquired
knowledge of mankind. We tend to take them and place them within one or other
of the existing categories of human philosophy or science while, in reality,
they transcend these and will, if properly understood, open new and vast horizons
to our understanding.
(From
a letter dated 3 June 1982 written on behalf of the Universal House of Justice
to an individual believer)
