It is a vital and urgent duty of the Assemblies, both
National and Local, not only to apply the Laws of Bahá'u'lláh with justice and
firmness, but to increase the believers' understanding of and devotion to these
Laws. In this way they will obey them not through fear of punishment but out of
love for Bahá'u'lláh and because their whole lives have been transformed and
re-oriented in the Way of God.
- The Universal House of Justice (From a letter to the National Spiritual Assembly of the United States, October 11, 1965; United States Supplement to Bahá'í News, No. 97, March 1966; compilation: ‘Lights
of Guidance’)