^^If you don't believe in God you dont believe in Rastafari?
I will answer this seeing as stilllooking is no longer a member (as far as Eye know)
I, Garveys Africa, RastaMan from creation; don't believe in God....
Two important words here the first 'Believe' I'm sure you have heard the line of reasoning that goes with Knowledge over Belief. To 'believe' in something is to accept an element of doubt or uncertainty.
Belief synonyms (from Websters): think, be of the opinion that, think it likely that, have an idea that, imagine, feel, have a feeling, hold, maintain, suspect, suppose, assume, presume, conjecture, surmise, postulate that, theorize that, conclude, come to the conclusion that, deduce; More....
Thats simple enough and an age-old argument. Belief vs to KNOW. Knowledge of self. and so on.
The next word is God. God comes from the German root Gutt/ Gott from the 17th/18th century. That is where God comes from. Before this there was no God. Nobody in the scriptures alive at the time was talking about 'God.' God is based on the German understanding of a GrecoRoman concept of that which cannot be explained. So literally God = Germans deciding upon a rigid definition of the GrecoRoman understanding of a creative life force. No thAnkhs! When Rasta 'Burn God' this is what we are burning. Rasta don't usually use words like God. I can overstand Jah, Eloheim or Igzee'abihier more than God.
But thats only the surface.
The undercurrent is also with the fact GOD (or Jah or Eloheim or Yahweh etc for this last reasoning) has become synonymous with the characterstics of the God described in the Bible / God of Israel (and his different biblical personalities). From an indigenous African perspective - this is a foreign and modern concept of a deity. We generally don't do 'Gods' without wives; and indigenous peoples across the world have been revising their own interpretations of 'God(/s)' for an eternity before God of Israel turned up on the scene slaughtering those who don't proclaim him and his teachings; the people of Canaan a prime example.
This may be a difficult concept to overstand for ones who are ignorant of other cultures and belief systems throughout world history; outside of the biblical context.
Similar with the word Athiest. Comes from the word Atheos. Theos = Greek word for God. To be an Athiest is to not Believe in the Greek God. I've heard Rasta / conscious people (who DO believe in a higher creative power or life essence or that which cannot be explained...... or Allah, or Amen Ra or whatever) that will claim Athiesm or that they 'Dont believe in God' based off of these principles.
Semantics? Maybe. But I see the logics still:
Full rejection of GrecoRoman / Babylon / Western corrupted and historically inferior interpretations of that which is divine. We do not need anybody else to define things for us; especially things of that nature.
Haile, Free Up.
Seek Rastafari with a spirit of Liberation and Revolution.
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