And from you study our history, what about the parts of our history which are in conflict with bible teachings? or the biblical account of history?
Is the Bible always right? / 100% right? You realise most Rasta eve if they dont agree with me, will not claim this?
Seeing as your at War with Muta / Hitler... how about you at least have the chance to see where he is coming from. And just becaus you dont agree you dont have to attack
By: Mutabaruka
This article originally appeared in the recently released 8th annual Reggae Festival Guide.
Is the bible the Word of God? Most reggae musicians - Rastafarian or otherwise - accept that it is. Like any other Jamaicans, we were all taught to believe that there was no teaching of morality or history outside of the bible. In writing this article, I am aware that it might go against the perception of you, the reader. May you keep an open, searching mind as you continue reading my reasonings.
When Rastafarians began the quest to find Self, the only book that was available to us was the bible and so the totality of what we understood to be true was based primarily on interpretation of this book. Even the idea of Haile Selassie as an afrikan God was justified and validated by the bible. We, as afrikan people brought here from afrika under inhumane conditions, were forced to live - even now - without any kind of identity. This was also justified through the bible by the European invaders and those afrikans who sought to rationalize this enslavement by declaring that this was an Act of God. The influence of this book runs deep. Over the years, Rastafarians declare themselves to be Israelites as referred to in the Old Testament, so that words and phrases such as Zion, Promised Land, the wicked Pharaoh and Jah became part of the language of the Rastafarian movement.
What I am really trying to say here, is that our own religious knowledge goes back no further than the 6,000 year history presented by this bible, (from Genesis to the beginning of this century, according to the bible, is 6,000 years). History and archeological evidence prove Ethiopia and Egypt existed thousands of years beyond that - much, much more than a mere 6,000 years.
Rastafarians have been very influential because of our music and cultural practices. For Rastafarians to move forward in this time, we will have to go beyond the bible, we can no longer continue to justify Haile Selassie�;s divinity through the Davidic link. Ethiopia existed thousands of years before Abraham walked out of the Ur of the Chaldees. Even Egypt, which as been demonized by the authors of the Old Testament, existed thousands of years before Israel.
We can not continue to close out other information that is not in line with the bible. The bible is just one set of peoples�; understanding of human behavior and personality. The events recorded in the bible are on the periphery of afrikan knowledge. Stories recorded in the bible have their genesis in other indigenous people�;s folk tales. What we are taking as history is other people�;s mythology.
Life experience
is a journey
and man
keeps evolving.
In Ethiopia, whether by design or accident, the Church has not gone beyond the story of Solomon and Sheba to justify Ethiopia�;s presence in history. We can clearly see that there was a deliberate attempt to erase the feminine representation of Ethiopia�;s personality and this resulted in a rise in a system of patriarchy that was very alien to afrikan culture. One would conclude that Ethiopia�;s religious beginning starts with the union of Makeda and Solomon, but the only information received about Makeda is that she worshiped the sun and that she conceived for Solomon. The significance of the Queen of Sheba�;s visit to Solomon is very important in validating Ethiopia�;s link with a Jewish heritage because this is used to substantiate Ethiopia�;s true monarchy and lso the Godhead linkage.
A return to the feminine principle is very important in the unraveling of our ancient spirituality. What we have professed has helped us so far, but it�;s up to us to now move it further. We can no longer be like Christian fundamentalists - or Islamic fundamentalists for that matter - who are stuck in a history that does not provide them with an understanding of new thoughts and new life styles. We are living in a new era of information - a time when one can travel from London to New York in three hours, when one can click a switch and illuminate a stadium filled with thousands of people, a time when a person committing a crime in one part of the world can be viewed instantaneously in another through modern technology. This is the age of information, but inspiration without information sometimes leads to superstition.
Muta performing at the 2002
Sierra Nevada World Music Festival
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