…consider what a difference and distinction is there between
the material civilization and the Divine civilization! The natural civilization
prevents men from doing harm and wrong through force and punishment and thus
withholds them from committing crimes. But the Divine civilization so trains
men that the human individuals avoid sins without having any fear from
(material) punishment; and the very sin itself becomes unto them as the
severest punishment. And they will engage in acquiring human virtues, gaining
that by which mankind will be uplifted and that which will enlighten the human
world with the utmost zeal and fervor.
- ‘Abdu’l-Baha (From a Tablet,
Star of the West, vol. 2, no. 3, April 28, 1911)
