In late August of 1996, the author, while following the heterodox Bahá'í newsgroup soc.religion.bahai, came across a posting that out-of-hand rejected the arguments of those of us who oppose the heterodox Bahá'í position. The posting stated that the arguments of those who opposed their organization were illogical. Also, it was said those who opposed their Faith did not employ the writings as proof. As a result of that posting, I decided to challenge the expressed viewpoint, and on August 30, 1996, I posted a series of syllogisms with the newsgroup, at the end of which I challenged the heterodox Bahá'ís to provide a series of syllogisms of their own that employed the writings to support their position. No heterodox Bahá'í attempted to meet the challenge. Instead, those within the newsgroup were urged by its heterodox Bahá'í members not to read the syllogisms, denouncing the writer of the syllogisms as a "Covenant-breaker."
Recognizing that I am not a logician, I knew that my syllogisms would not meet the strict criteria that logicians would demand in the development of syllogisms. At the same time, though, I think that any reader who has studied the Faith and who objectively evaluates my syllogisms will recognize that they do properly employ the writings of the Faith and they do accurately utilize the historical facts related to the continuing Guardianship of the Faith. Therefore, the syllogisms should be of value to anyone who is interested in the differences found in the majority and minority organizations and particularly in realizing the views of those of us who, at present, call ourselves Orthodox Bahá'ís.
These, then, are the syllogisms that I offered to the newsgroup and which are still in the archives of soc.religion.bahai under the subject "Proofs of the Orthodox Bahá'í":
Premise One: In Shoghi Effendi's ministry the Guardian of the Faith alone could cast individuals from the Faith for Covenant-breaking activities.
Premise Two: Shoghi Effendi did not give anyone else the right to identify a person as a Covenant-breaker.
CONCLUSION: The Hands of the Faith, following Shoghi Effendi's passing, assumed the right to label individuals as Covenant-breakers on their own recognizance.
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Premise One: "Bahá'u'lláh hath made the Center of the Covenant the Interpreter of His Word" and He stated of 'Abdu'l-Bahá that "They who deprive themselves of the shadow of the Branch, are lost in the wilderness of error..."
Premise Two: 'Abdu'l-Bahá in His own Will and Testament states that the Guardian is the "sacred head" of the Universal House of Justice.
CONCLUSION: That institution which is formed without the Guardian as its "sacred head" and calling itself a Universal House of Justice is not the institution established by 'Abdu'l-Bahá in His Will and Testament and its followers may be in jeopardy of having left the shade of the Branch.
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Premise One: 'Abdu'l-Bahá was empowered by Bahá'u'lláh to direct the affairs of the Cause: "When the ocean of My presence hath ebbed and the Book of My Revelation is ended, turn your faces toward Him Whom God hath purposed..." "We have made Thee a shelter for all mankind."
Premise Two: 'Abdu'l-Bahá wrote in His Will and Testament that it was incumbent upon the Guardian of the Cause "to appoint in his own life-time him that shall become his successor, that differences may not appear after his passing."
CONCLUSION: 'Abdu'l-Bahá was empowered to provide sufficient alternatives to make it possible for the Guardian of the Faith to appoint his successor.
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Premise One: 'Abdu'l-Bahá was identified by Bahá'u'lláh to be the Interpreter following Bahá'u'lláh's passing.
Premise Two: 'Abdu'l-Bahá, in turn, stated in His Will and Testament that Shoghi Effendi was the "expounder of the words of God," and thus identified him as the Interpreter after 'Abdu'l-Bahá's passing.
CONCLUSION: When Shoghi Effendi provided the English translation of the Will and Testament of 'Abdu'l-Bahá to the believers, that version of the Will became Shoghi Effendi's interpretation, and those persons who argue that a different text is closer to the truth are opposing Shoghi Effendi's interpretation.
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Premise One: In His Will and Testament 'Abdu'l-Bahá identifies the interpolation and falsification of the words and verses of the Sacred Text as a Covenant-breaking offense.
Premise Two: In His Will and Testament 'Abdu'l-Bahá enjoins those who read His Will to peruse the confession of Badi'u'lláh, a document in which Badi'u'lláh describes the falsification of the Holy Text.
CONCLUSION: The believers need to know what 'Abdu'l-Bahá considered as a violation of the Covenant.
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Premise One: Shoghi Effendi is identified in the English version of the Will and Testament of 'Abdu'l-Bahá as the interpreter, i.e., "the expounder of the words of God."
Premise Two: Shoghi Effendi states in his writings that Bahá'u'lláh's Aqdas and the Will and Testament of 'Abdu'l-Bahá are "inseparable parts of one complete unit."
CONCLUSION: The Will and Testament of 'Abdu'l-Bahá must be classified as a part of the Holy Text.
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Premise One: 'Abdu'l-Bahá in His Will and Testament has identified "falsification of the Holy Text" as breaking the Covenant.
Premise Two: The Hands of the Cause in their letter of October 15, 1960, to the National Spiritual Assemblies changed the designation of the Guardian in the Master's Will from "the chosen branch" to "the Chosen Branch," thus implying that the designation must be a reference to the Aghsan (which Shoghi Effendi had interpreted in "God Passes By" to mean a "son" of Bahá'u'lláh).
CONCLUSION: The Hands of the Cause in their October 15, 1960, letter falsified the Holy Text and in so doing committed an act in violation of the Covenant.
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Premise One: 'Abdu'l-Bahá was the duly appointed authority of the Faith.
Premise Two: 'Abdu'l-Bahá, as the duly appointed authority, says in His Will and Testament that "All must seek guidance and turn unto the Center of the Cause and the House of Justice."
CONCLUSION: It does not necessarily follow that "All" can eventually turn only to the House of Justice minus the Center of the Cause nor that the House of Justice can become the Center of the Cause.
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Premise One: Same as Premise One in the foregoing syllogism.
Premise Two: Same as Premise Two in the foregoing syllogism.
CONCLUSION: It does not follow that an individual can be identified by the Hands of the Cause as a Covenant-breaker when such an individual turns to the Guardian of the Faith as some did when they turned to the one they believed the first Guardian had appointed as the second Guardian and rejected the stand of the Hands (who have not been promised infallibility within the Writings and who, at the time, were not looking for a successor to Shoghi Effendi).
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Premise One: Shoghi Effendi in his proclamation of January 9, 1951, identified the International Bahá'í Council as the embryonic Universal House of Justice.
Premise Two: 'Abdu'l-Bahá said that the embryo "possesses from the first all perfections...but they are not visible, and become so only by degrees."
CONCLUSION: The embryonic Universal House of Justice contained all the perfections that that body would have in its final efflorescence, including its embryonic "sacred head."
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Premise One: Shoghi Effendi wrote "The hereditary authority which the Guardian is called upon to exercise, the vital and essential functions which the Universal House of Justice discharges, the specific provisions requiring its democratic election by the representatives of the faithful--these combine to demonstrate the truth that this divinely revealed Order, which can never be identified with any of the standard types of government referred to by Aristotle in his works, embodies and blends with the spiritual verities on which it is based the beneficent elements which are to be found in each one of them. The admitted evils inherent in each of these systems [is] rigidly and permanently excluded..."
Premise Two: The sans-Guardian organization now is minus the "hereditary authority which the Guardian is called upon to exercise."
CONCLUSION: That system which is minus the "hereditary authority" of the Guardian no longer carries with it the promise of the "admitted evils in each of these systems [being] rigidly and permanently excluded" from it.
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Premise One: When the Guardian of the Faith, in his own lifetime, names his successor, the named successor will not become Guardian until the mantle of Guardianship is passed to him; that is, when he is "born" into the position.
Premise Two: While the Guardian of the Faith continues to exercise the functions of his office, the named successor has the potential powers of the Guardian, but those powers are embryonic in form.
CONCLUSION: As the mother/father of the embryonic child do not enter the womb during the gestation period, neither does the Guardian of the Faith place himself within the embryonic institution that he has produced. Hence, Shoghi Effendi did not identify himself as the head of the embryonic Universal House of Justice and take the position of President of the International Bahá'í Council.
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Premise One: The Universal House of Justice has two parts to it, one of which is the democratic element--that part which is elected by the members of the National Houses of Justice.
Premise Two: The second element within the Universal House of Justice comes in the person of the individual "who symbolizes the hereditary principle in this Dispensation...and [who] ceases consequently, by virtue of the actual authority vested in him, to be the figurehead invariably associated with the prevailing systems of constitutional monarchies."
CONCLUSION: When in his message of January 9, 1951, Shoghi Effendi indicated that the International Bahá'í Council would evolve through a series of steps, one of which was "its transformation into a duly elected body," the election would not have included the person who would symbolize "the hereditary principle."
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Premise One: Subsequent to the writing of His Will and Testament, whenever 'Abdu'l-Bahá refers to the Universal House of Justice it is implicit in His words that He is referring to the Universal House of Justice with the Guardian as its "sacred head."
Premise Two: During his entire ministry when Shoghi Effendi refers to the Universal House of Justice it is implicit in his words that he is referring to the Universal House of Justice with the Guardian as its "sacred head."
CONCLUSION: Those who maintain that there are implications in the Writings that the line of continuing Guardians as the head of the Universal House of Justice might end are "sowing the seeds of doubt" about the central institution of the Faith.
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Premise One: The Will and Testament of 'Abdu'l-Bahá says that the "body of the Hands of the Cause of God is under the direction of the guardian of the Cause of God."
Premise Two: The Will and Testament says that the Guardian must "continually urge" the Hands of the Cause.
CONCLUSION: The Guardian's living presence is essential for the Hands of the Cause to act in accordance with the Will and Testament of 'Abdu'l-Bahá.
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Premise One: The Guardian of the Faith is the Center of the Cause.
Premise Two: The Hands of the Cause "must be under his [the Guardian's] shadow and obey his command."
CONCLUSION: The appellation that Shoghi Effendi used to identify the Hands, that is, "the Chief Stewards of Bahá'u'lláh's embryonic World Commonwealth" does not necessarily carry any other meaning than to say the Hands are subject to his-- the Guardian's--commands.
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Premise One: Shoghi Effendi identified the extent to which the International Bahá'í Council--the embryonic Universal House of Justice--would evolve by the end of the 10-year Crusade that was set in motion in 1953 when he said it was "the establishment of a Bahá'í Court in the Holy Land, preliminary to the emergence of the Universal House of Justice."
Premise Two: Shoghi Effendi said that the "formation of the Bahá'í Court" was an "essential prelude to the institution of the Universal House of Justice."
CONCLUSION: To be consistent with Shoghi Effendi's statement, the formation of a Bahá'í Court could not be by-passed and a headless Universal House of Justice established in its stead.
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Premise One: The appointment of the Guardian's successor must be done in the lifetime of the Guardian and, if the Hands of the Cause have elected "from their own number nine persons that shall at all times be occupied in the important services in the work of the guardian of the Cause of God," those nine must ratify the Guardian's appointment by giving "their assent to the choice of the one whom the guardian of the Cause of God hath chosen as his successor."
Premise Two: Shoghi Effendi stated ("Bahá'í News of Feb. 1955, p. 1) that the statement in the Will "does not imply that the Hands of the Cause of God have been given the authority to overrule the Guardian."
CONCLUSION: A will and testament to be opened after the Guardian's passing will not be employed to effect the appointment of the Guardian's successor. Thus, a different means will be used.
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Premise One: Shoghi Effendi knew that he and his wife had no children and that the Aghsan had defected from the Faith, and thus there was no child in his lineage and no Aghsan who could become his successor.
Premise Two: Shoghi Effendi, as late as November of 1954 referred to the construction of future structures on Mount Carmel that would "serve as the administrative seats of such divinely appointed institutions as the Guardianship, the Hands of the Cause, and the Universal House of Justice."
CONCLUSION: Shoghi Effendi was either providing the believers with false hopes concerning the line of continuing Guardians (that is, he was deceiving the believers), or he failed to make an accurate interpretation of 'Abdu'l-Bahá's Will and Testament, or he knew he would be guiding the Faith from the next world, or he felt there were means to continue the line of Guardians and, indeed, had already appointed his successor.
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The posting closed with two paragraphs, the last one stating: "I would be interested in the syllogisms that conclusively establish the validity of the present pattern of the organization now being followed by the majority of the Bahá'ís in the world." The key words, of course, are the words "conclusively establish," for it is impossible for members of the heterodox organization to conclusively establish the validity of the organizational pattern which they now follow. The Will and Testament of 'Abdu'l-Bahá, the Charter of the World Order of Bahá'u'lláh, calls for the Guardian of the Cause to be the "sacred head" of the Universal House of Justice, and their Universal House of Justice was formed without a living Guardian. It is little wonder, therefore, that no heterodox Bahá'ís accepted the challenge to post their logic and proofs in the form of syllogisms.