From a Letter Written on Behalf of the Universal House of Justice
The statement which you quote7 in the second paragraph of your letter is taken from a Tablet of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá which was addressed by Him to the friends in Ṭihrán at a time when, without the knowledge and permission of the Spiritual Assembly and contrary to government regulations, one of the friends undertook to print the Kitáb-i-Aqdas. The instructions of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá which you quote were issued on that occasion and in that context.
The Universal House of Justice has pointed out that when Shoghi Effendi enumerates the functions of a Local Spiritual Assembly in “Bahá’í Administration” page 37, he indicates that the local matters to be referred to the Local Spiritual Assembly are those “pertaining to the Cause”. This does not mean, of course, that personal problems may not be referred to Bahá’í Assemblies. The Local Spiritual Assembly, however, is not the only institution or agency to which the friends may turn for consultation on personal matters. Such consultation could be held with members of one’s family, with friends, or with experts. For example in one of His Tablets ‘Abdu’l-Bahá envisages the possibility of experts in one profession conferring together.