Baha'i faith on evolution

THERE we see man, at the apex of creation. But in spite of the evolution of spirit through the phenomenal worlds there is no justification for the idea that man was once a monkey, a rubber tree or a piece of sulphur. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá clearly states that man is, and always was, a distinct species.

(The Missing Link By David Hofman - Published in World Order - Volume 2 - Issue 8, November 1936)

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"While there are many complexities surrounding the biological issues pertaining to sex and the social issues pertaining to gender"

The Universal House of Justice declares that:

"While there are many complexities surrounding the biological issues pertaining to sex and the social issues pertaining to gender, the Bahá’í writings affirm the generally held perspective that there are two sexes, male and female. This, of course, is not in conformity with some recent social theories that divide gender into multiple types."

(Extracts from three letters from 2017 and 2018, with updated or "additional" guidance on gender and sex-change operations. Compilation attached to a letter from the House dated 2021 February 4.)

https://bahai-library.com/compilation_uhj_transsexuality

also check

https://www.reddit.com/r/OnThisDateInBahai/comments/1ajhew1/february_6_on_this_date_in_1973_the_uhj_wrote_but/

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According to Baha'u'llah, Who is a learned person and who is an illiterate?

Consider, how can he that faileth in the day of God’s Revelation to attain unto the grace of the “Divine Presence” and to recognize His Manifestation, be justly called learned, though he may have spent aeons in the pursuit of knowledge, and acquired all the limited and material learning of men? It is surely evident that he can in no wise be regarded as possessed of true knowledge. Whereas, the most unlettered of all men, if he be honoured with this supreme distinction, he verily is accounted as one of those divinely-learned men whose knowledge is of God; for such a man hath attained the acme of knowledge, and hath reached the furthermost summit of learning.

(“The Kitáb-i-Íqán” (Wilmette: Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 1983), pp. 145–146)

https://reference.bahai.org/en/t/c/SCH/sch-11.html

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Weigh not the Book of God with... sciences

Weigh not the Book of God with such standards and sciences as are current amongst you, for the Book itself is the unerring Balance established amongst men. In this most perfect Balance whatsoever the peoples and kindreds of the earth possess must be weighed, while the measure of its weight should be tested according to its own standard, did ye but know it.

(Kitab-i-Aqdas, 99)

(Loyalty to the Covenant and Critical Thought by Udo Schaefer)

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Not allowing women in the House of Justice is a superstition.

God has endowed man with intelligence and reason... If religious beliefs and opinions are found contrary to the standards of science, they are mere superstitions and imagination... If religious belief and doctrine is at variance with reason, it proceeds from the limited mind of man and not from God; therefore, it is unworthy of belief and not deserving of attention... How can man believe that which he knows to be opposed to reason?... Can the heart accept that which reason denies? 

Loyalty to the Covenant and Critical Thought - A Commentary by Udo Schaefer

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Baha'u'llah and Shoghi Effendi about philosophy

One important discipline that helps our dialogue with academics is philosophy. One encounters repeatedly the misunderstanding that Baha'u'llah has called philosophy a science that "begins with words and ends with words". This is absolutely wrong, as Shoghi Effendi has encouraged us to study philosophy...

(Loyalty to the Covenant and Critical Thought by Udo Schaefer)

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Former-UHJ member discouraging young Baha'is from seeking a college education because "the Revelation of Baha'u'llah" contains "all knowledge."

According to Peter Khan (a Pakistani-Australian engineer who was elected to the Universal House of Justice in 1987), world-denying fundamentalists go to the extreme of discouraging young Baha'is from seeking a college education because "the Revelation of Baha'u'llah" contains "all knowledge." He adds that in this view

The physical sciences are stigmatized as being incorrect because they take no account of the spiritual dimension of creation. Psychology is condemned because most theories appear not to take account of the spiritual nature of man. Economics is dismissed as appearing not to accommodate a spiritual solution to economic problems. Evolution and the Darwinian perspective are condemned as being contrary to the belief in God. (Khan 1999:46-47).

The presence of such views in the US during the 1960s is confirmed by an old-time Baha'i, who said his parents were "always warning me about those wacko Baha'is who thought that you only needed to read the Writings and nothing else. And there was a good deal of tension over whether one ought, as a Baha'i, to go to university-wouldn't it be better to go pioneering [move abroad to do missionizing]?" (Pers. Comm., 17 June 2000).

(Fundamentalism in the Contemporary U.S. Baha'i Community, Juan R. I. Cole, Review of Religious Research, Vol. 43, No. 3 (Mar., 2002), pp. 195-217 (23 pages))

https://www.jstor.org/stable/3512329?seq=1

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Baha'u'llah's source of knowledge

"We purposed to read some of his works. Although We never felt disposed to peruse other peoples’ writings, yet as some had questioned Us concerning him, We felt it necessary to refer to his books, in order that We might answer Our questioners with knowledge and understanding. His works, in the Arabic tongue, were, however, not available . . . We sent for the book, and kept it with Us a few days. It was probably referred to twice,”

(Baha’u’llah, The Kitab-i-Iqan, pp. 184–186.)

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During Abdul Baha's stay in Haifa clean and appropriate baths were not available in the city...

During ‘Abdu'l-Bahá’s stay in Haifa, clean and appropriate baths were not available in the city, so the friends and companions were desirous to construct a bath for the Master. When Ustád Áqá Bálá, the Caucasian builder, came for pilgrimage, Dr. Yúnis Khán and Hájí Mírzá Haydar ‘Alí came up with a plan to ask Ustád Áqá Bálá to beseech ‘Abdu'l-Bahá for permission to construct a bath in the Master’s residence.

Ref. Sweet and Enchanting Stories, Aziz Rohani, Page 80
http://bahai-library.com/pdf/r/rohani_sweet_enchanting_stories.pdf

See also : Abdul Baha would not bathe for months
https://thebahaiinsider.com/2016/06/26/abdul-baha-wouldnt-bathe-for-months-at-a-time-how-bahais-suppressed-this-fact/

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Truly translation is a very difficult job.

Truly translation is very difficult. One has to have the utmost proficiency in science and religion, in divine wisdom, in the current trends of thought in Europe, and in philosophical and scientific terms.

- 'Abdu'l-Bahá

https://bahai-studies.ca/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/2.3-Volker.pdf

Comment : It seems to me that translations are meant to promote the Faith rather than accurately present the Faith. That's why there can be multiple authoritative translations for a single text and subsequently revised from time to time by the same author. It's all about promoting the Faith...period.

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Spontaneous generation

“Know that the creatures are of many kinds . . . some are created in wombs others [are created] by spontaneous regeneration (khalq al-sa'a) and come into existence by themselves, such as the animals that are created in fruits, and a group are created in eggs. These are the types of creation of [living] things,”

(Abdul-Baha, Makatib, vol. 2, p. 24)

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Copper transmutes into Gold after 70 years

“For instance, consider the substance of copper. Were it to be protected in its own mine from becoming solidified, it would, within the space of seventy years, attain to the state of gold,”

(Baha’u’llah, The Kitab-i-Iqan, p. 157)

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