Greetings Walrus,
The quote was not used to make a literal point, but rather show how the Bahá'í Writings can naturally be read and interpreted in a literal context over time. What can be easily missed here is how future perceptions will change entire understandings that currently exist today.
Very few languages can survive a thousand years in their original form. Indeed the English language is a hybrid of a number of languages, in particular the language of the Angles, Saxons and Jutes, that came from what is now known as Denmark and north-west Germany. The English language is broken into three types, Old English (450-1100), Middle English (1100-1500) and Modern English. Modern English is also split into Early Modern English (1500-1800) and Late Modern English (1800 to the present). So in reality the English language, as we know it today, has only been in existence for around 200 years. So it stands to reason why material produced over 100 years ago is not as easy to understand as we might think. In addition to this Arabic and Persian have changed by degrees too. This is why some people naturally have issues with the way the Bahá'í Writings remain translated today. It has nothing to do with objecting to religious authority or the notion of authoritative translations, but rather with the way meanings becoming distorted due to the natural evolution of language.
Any future generation of people, especially those that might have no living memory of ice in the Poles, cannot possibly read the cited Tablet like we do now. We cannot easily reason with this because we are living in the Formative Age. This is somewhat akin to living in the historical period than Christian society referred to as the Middle Ages. Namely the Heroic Age has already passed and the Golden Age is not with us yet. People can describe the Formative Age many ways, but I tend to think they are generally far too romanticised.
Wishing you well.
Earth
PS. On a different topic, a family member has asked me to pass a parody link onto the “Gamer of Bahá’í Forums”. I think this might be a reference to you. If it is, you should enjoy watching a few episodes from Epic NPC Man. Here is one to get you started.
The quote was not used to make a literal point, but rather show how the Bahá'í Writings can naturally be read and interpreted in a literal context over time. What can be easily missed here is how future perceptions will change entire understandings that currently exist today.
Very few languages can survive a thousand years in their original form. Indeed the English language is a hybrid of a number of languages, in particular the language of the Angles, Saxons and Jutes, that came from what is now known as Denmark and north-west Germany. The English language is broken into three types, Old English (450-1100), Middle English (1100-1500) and Modern English. Modern English is also split into Early Modern English (1500-1800) and Late Modern English (1800 to the present). So in reality the English language, as we know it today, has only been in existence for around 200 years. So it stands to reason why material produced over 100 years ago is not as easy to understand as we might think. In addition to this Arabic and Persian have changed by degrees too. This is why some people naturally have issues with the way the Bahá'í Writings remain translated today. It has nothing to do with objecting to religious authority or the notion of authoritative translations, but rather with the way meanings becoming distorted due to the natural evolution of language.
Any future generation of people, especially those that might have no living memory of ice in the Poles, cannot possibly read the cited Tablet like we do now. We cannot easily reason with this because we are living in the Formative Age. This is somewhat akin to living in the historical period than Christian society referred to as the Middle Ages. Namely the Heroic Age has already passed and the Golden Age is not with us yet. People can describe the Formative Age many ways, but I tend to think they are generally far too romanticised.
Wishing you well.
Earth
PS. On a different topic, a family member has asked me to pass a parody link onto the “Gamer of Bahá’í Forums”. I think this might be a reference to you. If it is, you should enjoy watching a few episodes from Epic NPC Man. Here is one to get you started.
