Messages to Canada
Author: Shoghi Effendi
Source: Bahá’í Canada Publications
Pages: 276
Pages 91-92   

Letter of 7 April 1947

7 April 1947

To an individual believer

Dear Bahá’í Sister:
Your letter dated March 10th has been received, and our beloved Guardian has instructed me to answer it on his behalf.
He quite understands how you feel, and you must have been shocked to find something in the teachings you love so dearly which savoured of church fines! But he assures you this is due to a misapprehension caused by a very bad translation of the Aqdas.
The fines specified by Bahá’u’lláh are very much the same in principle as those applied by common law as a punishment for breaking the law. No one can possibly associate these necessary checks on law-breaking with a church fine of any sort.
If you study the Bahá’í teachings deeply you will see that the laws of the Aqdas, as they will be applied in future, are really the protective framework of the New World Order, and have nothing to do with the ecclesiastical practices of the past.
He will pray that you may become an able and gifted teacher and promoter of our beloved Faith.

With warm greetings,

R. Rabbani

[From the Guardian:]

Assuring you of my loving prayers for your spiritual advancement, and the success of every effort you exert for the promotion and consolidation of our beloved Faith,

Your true brother,

Shoghi
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