Local Publicity

Is All for the Best?

By John Taylor; 2008 Jan 26, 8 Sultan, 164 BE

Dunnville has a small airport that was used to train fighter pilots in yellow Harvards and Yales during the Second World War. Our library has a Yale trainer prominently impaled on a cement post just outside its doors. When we moved here ten years ago the huge hangers of the old airport were being used as coops for a turkey farm, but soon some local businesspersons reopened it as an airport. Lately, a Chinese company opened up a flight school to train civilian airline pilots. It seems that aviation outside the military in China is non-existent. So our little town has been inundated by young, strong men, many of whom are skilled in pingpong at a level beyond my wildest dreams. This week a new contingent of four guys came in; one is a very good player, the best I have ever played. They asked me for help in locating an apartment, since they speak little English, so last night I bought a copy of the Dunnville Chronicle and cut out the classified "apartment for rent" section and gave it to four of them for their search.

 Looking over the remaining parts of the paper that I had bought, I was pleased to see that there were no fewer than three articles of interest mentioning the Baha'i Faith. The first was a report of Ron Speer's pilgrimage to Haifa, the third of three weekly installments, no less. You can read it online at:

 “Pilgrimage to Israel; Chronicle Columnist Ron Speer Reports from Israel,”

 <http://www.dunnvillechronicle.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=870373&auth=Speer%2c+Ron>

 The second article was a report of our local World Religion Day celebration last Sunday called, "World faiths united in protecting the Earth," written by the paper's reporter.

 http://www.dunnvillechronicle.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=870377&auth=KAREN+BEST

 The online version does not have the lovely pictures that you find in the printed edition. This meeting was ably hosted by Jim Millington (illustrious Badi' blog reader), and the Baha'i section was presented by his son, Jared.

 The third article was written by Betty Frost, a report of the talk and discussion that Peter Gardner and I presented this month on the proofs of deity. This can be read at:

 http://www.dunnvillechronicle.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=870371&auth=Betty+Frost

 Since there is no way of knowing how long this article will remain available online, I include the full text below, followed by some comments.

 

 IS THERE A GOD, OR WHAT? By Betty Frost

 This intriguing question which has been before mankind since its earliest beginnings, was bravely tackled by two members of the Baha'i Faith - John Taylor of Dunnville and Peter Gardner of Wainfleet at the recent meeting held in the Garfield Disher Room of Dunnville's library. We were informed that the idea of an almighty Being, an infinite and supreme God is perhaps the most pervasive in the history of ideas. Mortimer Adler, an Aristotelian philosopher, wrote an introduction to the Encyclopedia Britannica's "Great Books" series about "The Great Ideas". It was a survey of the main thoughts of the greatest minds of Western science and philosophy. His conclusion was that God was the one concept that he had run into the most often.

 Taylor stated that as science has progressed over the past few centuries, the belief in God has been challenged. However, on a world-wide level, belief in God is by far the most frequently held conviction - well over 90 percent of human beings accept some kind of Supreme Being. This figure changes in wealthy, developed nations where lack of belief is more rampant. In fact a spate by of books by atheists has climbed the bestseller lists spawning many responses from defenders of theism. The speaker said that the belief in God seems to be in decline.

 The most damaging criticisms leveled by theists against religion is their claim that it is reactionary, anti-modernist and refuses to change in response to modern realities. In a book written by Baha'u'llah, Founder of the Baha'i Faith, entitled "The Book of Certitude", He speaks of how the Founders of religion have revealed laws and concepts progressively more advanced as man is able to accept them and put them into practice. It is called progressive revelation and shows how the major faiths are not mutually exclusive.

 `Abdu'l-Baha, son of Baha'u'llah travelled in Europe and America interpreting His Father's teachings, offering what could be called the `principle proofs" of the existence of God. One such principle is the search for truth. Each individual has a sacred duty to seek the truth for herself. Even though God is unknowable in any direct sense, He gives us virtual knowledge through His Manifestations (Founders of world religions).

 Another principle, the oneness of humanity, is the principle of God's love and kindness towards all. He created us and sustains us, and we have a duty to do the same for one another. When we seek truth, this is the first thing we discover, that we all are one, we find His Face in each other. We thus prove that God exists when we act upon a world level to help and nurture one another; we deny God when we neglect that.

 Some other fundamental principles urged by Baha'u'llah in this enlightened age are: the equality of men and women, the elimination of all types of prejudice, the promotion of universal education, the harmony between science and religion and a need for universal action in promoting peace.

 Towards the end of the evening John posed the following question to each member of the audience: "Is this the best of all possible worlds?" (Voltaire) Thinking of the terrible things which are happening in the world, no doubt, most answered "no". One replied -"yes, potentially". In thinking about it afterwards this writer felt that the answer should be "yes". If we were in charge of creating a human being, how could we improve upon what are certainly the innate qualities placed within every human being - the spiritual capacities of love, forgiveness, understanding, etc.; the perceptiveness and creativity of the mind so that man can build civilizations, discover the qualities which are hidden in the earth - - and how would we change for the better this incredibly complex creation, the earth?

 To those who claim that such creations are simply nature, one must say that nature is a captive to itself. The sun has to move in a certain way. Man overcomes nature's so-called "laws", for example, by flying. Those who are agnostics or atheists will often say "If there is God, why does He allow evil things to happen?"

 The only logical response is, I believe, that we have been given free will. It is a great gift and without it, we would simply be puppets. But free will is just that. We either have it or we don't. We can use our intelligence for the good of humanity or to destroy it. Either way, it demands the existence of intelligence and this presupposes that whatever is the cause of this creation is Intelligence itself - or the Creator, God.

 One further evidence is found in a book by C.S. Lewis (author of the Narnia tales). He refers to an accepted "moral code" which is within all of us. If we are accused of anger, for example, we know it is wrong; but we justify it: "He, she, makes me furious." Even criminals accept the idea of justice. In splitting the loot after a robbery, if it is not fairly distributed, the criminal will certainly take action. Where did this innate sense of a moral code spring from and why, when we don't do the right thing, do we try to justify our actions? Again, it must be pointed out that this is unseen guidance and it surely must come from God.

 Note from JET: It is my fault since this was given to me to proofread, but of course it was not Voltaire who put forward the "best of all possible worlds" thesis, it was G.W. von Leibniz (1646-1716); Voltaire, a deist, mocked Leibniz's idea incessantly. In the eyes of Europe, Leibniz articulated this but of course, as somebody at a Philosopher's Cafe I attended a few months ago pointed out to me, everybody who has ever believed in God accepts this implicitly. I plan to write at length about the "all is for the best in the best of all possible worlds" idea in a future essay, or essays.