Memorandum
28 May 2002
The Research Department has studied the email message of 2 January 2002 to the Universal House of Justice from Mr. ___ in which he asks for assistance in reconciling various statements from the Writings that seem to contradict each other. He states his awareness that "many times the reconciliation of seeming contradictions produces a new spark of truth" and draws attention to two or more apparently contradictory quotations on six different subjects. He offers his thoughts about how each of the apparent contradictions might be resolved, and asks for further clarification. The following is our response.
General Comments
It seems to the Research Department that before addressing
Mr. __'s specific concerns it might be useful to offer the following comments:
In a letter of 19 March 1946 written on his behalf, Shoghi Effendi offers the following guidance about apparently contradictory statements:
“We must take the teachings as a great, balanced whole, not seek out and oppose to each other two strong statements that have different meanings; somewhere in between, there are links uniting the two. That is what makes our Faith so flexible and well balanced. For instance there are calamities for testing and for punishment--there are also accidents, plain cause and effect!”
The elucidations of both 'Abdu'l-Bahá and Shoghi Effendi and the clarifications provided by the Universal House of Justice are often not intended to be a comprehensive treatment of a subject but were written as responses to specific queries of believers.
In attempting to resolve a seeming contradiction between two statements, it is often illuminating to consider each statement in the context in which it appears. It is also important to consider the reliability of the translations. With the obvious exception of translations of the Guardian, early translations may be inaccurate and misleading.