The Universal House of Justice has received you letter … and has instructed us to convey to you the following reply:
The House of Justice is very sorry to learn in some parts of Europe the friends have been arguing about the station of Bahá'u'lláh. In the time of Bahá'u'lláh Himself such difference of opinion arose among the friends and there is a Tablet in which He referred to this. He explains that there are differences in the levels of understanding of individuals. Some see the reflection of the Essence of God Himself in the temple of His Manifestation; others see the Manifestation as the Revealer of God and regard His commands and prohibitions to be identical with the ordinances of God. Both views, Bahá'u'lláh says, are acceptable, but if believers in expounding their points of view engage in contention and disputation, they would be rejected by God, inasmuch as the purpose of the Manifestation of God and the aim of His Teaching are to attract souls, create fellowship among men and promulgate the Cause of God. Argument and conflict about such matters can lead to nothing but the ruin of the Cause and thus those who engage in it would fall into perdition even though they may claim to be expounding the highest level of true understanding.
As to drawing distinctions between the Manifestations of God, the believers can study the Kitáb-i-Íqán where Bahá'u'lláh explains the varying intensities of the Revelations sent by God and elucidates the apparently contradictory statements about the nature of the Manifestations contained in the Scriptures of past Dispensations. They are surely also familiar with the statement of Bahá'u'lláh that appears as section XXIV of "Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh":
"Beware, O believers in the Unity of God, lest ye be tempted to make any distinction between any of the Manifestations of His Cause, or to discriminate against the signs that have accompanied and proclaimed their Revelation. This indeed is the true meaning of Divine Unity, if ye be of them that apprehend and believe this truth. Be ye assured, moreover, that the works and acts of each and every one of these Manifestations of God, nay whatever pertaineth unto them, and whatsoever they may manifest in the future, are all ordained by God, and are a reflection of His Will and Purpose. Whoso maketh the slightest possible difference between their persons, their words, their messages, their acts and manners, hath indeed disbelieved in God, hath repudiated His signs, and betrayed the Cause of His Messengers."
How impossible it is for one human being to understand the reality of another human soul; how much more inconceivable is it that any man could comprehend the nature of a Manifestation of God or correctly appraise the manifold and mysterious relationships that exist between the Manifestations in Their work as the Bearers of the Word of God to mankind. One aspect, however, is made abundantly clear by Shoghi Effendi in "The Dispensation of Bahá'u'lláh":
"That Bahá'u'lláh should, notwithstanding the overwhelming intensity of His Revelation, be regarded as essentially one of these Manifestations of God, never to be identified with that invisible Reality, the Essence of Divinity itself, is one of the major beliefs of our Faith — a belief which should never be obscured and the integrity of which no one of its followers should allow to be compromised."
Indeed, for the elucidation of all these problems, the House of Justice feels that you could do no better than urge the friends to study the ‘The Dispensation of Bahá'u'lláh’, the Guardian's exposition of the essential verities of the Faith — a document which, as he himself pointed out, is an invaluable supplement to Bahá'u'lláh's Kitáb-i-‘Ahd, and ‘Abdu'l-Bahá's Will and Testament.
Above all, in the teaching work, in a continent where the traditional religion has been Christianity, the utmost wisdom must be used, so that hearts which have been filled with love for Jesus may also be filled with love for Bahá'u'lláh. Thus the followers of Christ may embrace the Faith of Bahá'u'lláh and arise to serve His Cause. Any assertions which seem to downgrade Jesus, besides being contrary to Bahá'í Teachings, could constitute a serious obstacle in the path of Christians accepting the Faith.
(Published in Bahá'í Journal, May 15, 1991; Baha’i Library
Online)