Use the drop-down boxes above to navigate through the Website  
Return to Reasoning List
 

Here is a link to this page:
http://www.jah-rastafari.com/forum/message-view.asp?message_group=7203&start_row=31


How do I&I read the bible?

1 - 1011 - 2021 - 3031 - 4041 - 5051 - 6061 - 7071 - 74
Time Zone: EST (New York, Toronto)
Messenger: Ignorant/Wise Rasta Youth Sent: 1/28/2021 8:49:47 AM
Reply

Bless up

One thing I don't overstand is why Rasta burns the New Testament and lives by the Old, yet most rastas use Revelation to allude to Haile Selassie and the fall of Babylon. And Revelation is the last chapter of the New Testament.

Give Thanks


Messenger: Cedric Sent: 1/28/2021 3:11:09 PM
Reply

Blessed Love Idren

Ignorant/Wise Rasta Youth, not all Rasta burn the New Testament. As the I states, InI look to Revelation to see the title of Christ in his Kingly character, HIM Haile Selassie I, King of Kings, Lord of Lords, Conquering Lion of the Tribe of Judah.

When I read the New Testament carefully, I can see examples in the text showing that the character they call Jesus was a living man and not a fantasy sky god. I injoyed reading the New Testament to see a more realistic version of what the Christ stood for, and who the Christ is. I think InI that look to the bible for guidance and education should also be familiar with the contents of the New Testament as well as the Old Testament. I think InI that make the comparison of HIM Haile Selassie I to the Christ should be familiar with the New Testament. I find many similarities between the living Christ from the New Testament and Haile Selassie I. Probably because they are one and the same.

HIM HAILE SELASSIE I BLESS




Messenger: King Jam Sent: 1/28/2021 8:01:47 PM
Reply

Rasta who bun the new testament is hypocrisy, likes the I say, Rasta look to revelation and see the prophecy.

how can rasta bun what the head Rastafari did declare to be true.

Selassie Live forIver.




Messenger: Ignorant/Wise Rasta Youth Sent: 3/11/2021 5:56:10 PM
Reply

I don't view it as hypocrisy

Haile Selassie also promoted the Bible as a guide to salvation for the people, but we still have rastas burning the bible. Haile Selassie was also a Christian. Not a Rasta. Should all Rasta be Christians? How is it hypocrisy?


Messenger: IPXninja Sent: 4/6/2021 12:35:52 PM
Reply

@Rasta Youth

You are asking good questions. Respect.


I would like to offer you a compromise between both positions, as someone who has thoroughly studied both testaments.


1. The "Bible"

The Bible is a library of books. When you call everything "the bible" you are pushing the notion that every book in the library has equal value. For Yeshua and every other Jewish character in the NT, their only "bible" was the "Hebrew Bible". This is called the TNK (TaNaKh) which stands for T (Torah), N (Nevi'im), K (Ketuvim). This makes up the "Old Testament". Even calling it the Old Testament is a little problematic, as I will explain.

As always, anything I say you can look up for yourself.

So if you want to use the same bible Yeshua (Jesus) used then only use the OT as your "BIBLE". However, that's not to say you shouldn't read the NT. Calling it the NT fits into the agenda of Christianity and NO, you should NOT be a Christian, and I'll explain the reason for that too.

Testament is another word for Covenant. It is a promise/agreement. The Hebrews believed that Jah had a covenant with their ancestors and if they followed Torah (The Law) then they would be covered under the same promise. This was the promise by which Jah agreed to be their God and Father and they agreed to be his children and live by his rules. A new covenant was promised in the future and Christians think the NT is a fulfillment of that prophecy. It is not. And this is the same reason why Judaism does not recognize Yeshua (Jesus) as the prophesied Messiah.

The problem with the NT is that there was an agenda which created conflicts of interests. The Israelites were under Roman occupation and had to pay heavy taxes. It was like their whole nation was a single slave of Rome but instead of working for individual Romans, they were all working as one and paying these tax collectors. Tax collectors, like Zacchaeus, were hated as a result.

The promised messiah was foretold to bring world peace and establish Israel as the dominant world power. But Israel was fractured by this point and split into 2 kingdoms. It is therefore reasonable to assume that the Israelites believed that only a new messiah (anointed king of Israel) would be able to unite the 12 tribes and fight against Rome for their independence. Therefore, there were agents trying to make this happen. Judas was likely one such agent; embedded with the disciples in order to see if Yeshua could be used for this purpose. And while it does seem like Yeshua wanted to become this king and talked about what he and his disciples would do in his (earthly/Israel) kingdom, he was sold out to Rome as a rebel leader; guilty of sedition.

The gospel story was then told after he died.

It is very likely this story was politically motivated and circulated in order to create a mythological martyr version of this Jewish Rabbi that could inspire people to fight. But since Paul was involved, and he was educated in Rome, he was able to use their pagan theology to his benefit. I don't know if this is the reason why Yeshua was reported as performing miracles or whether that came from a different faction of pro-Israelite zealots that really didn't include Paul and may have even hated Paul. But you also have to remember, that according to Paul, his name was Saul and he used to hunt down and inform on followers of Yeshua. At some point he stopped; or was he simply ordered to stop? Because at some point the Roman emporer stopped going after "Christians" because this new belief system was affecting too many Romans which was gaining power. So before it hit a tipping point, Constantine "converted" but at the same time he was basically the one who created Christianity.

And it bears his "mark" on it, as well as the "mark" of Rome (The Beast) because Constantine was a sun worshiper and he successfully merged Christianity in with paganism. That's the real reason Christians celebrate pagan holy days (they call holi-days) and pretend like they have something to do with Jesus.

So the whole NT is very questionable and it was twisted in order to support new pagan theology like the Trinity. The Trinity is the central doctrine Christianity created to differentiate itself as a new religion instead of a new sect of Judaism. There should be no question that the only reason to create a new religion instead of a new sect or branch of the existing religion Yeshua was a part of, is because the people who started Christianity wanted full power and control in the hands of the gentiles. If they were under Judaism then they would have been under the authority of the Jews. Creating their own religion allowed them to do their own thing.

The Roman form of Christianity influenced the Ethiopian church that Haile Selassie I was raised in, but it didn't have control over the Ethiopian Church. So if the Roman church went further and further off the deep end they were independent enough not to follow.

Eventually, the zealots got the fight they wanted; that they weren't ready for. They were slaughtered in 70 AD as a result. So Yeshua was used by them, but it didn't work and then Yeshua (as "Jesus") was later used by Christianity to support and promote pagan theology. Outside of being used by groups who claimed to follow him, I believe there was a real man who existed; who was a Jewish rabbi, possibly from the same sect and possibly a student of John the Baptist. But how much of the gospels are actually true and not just propaganda? That, I think, is impossible to know.

Therefore, as long as you understand the NT as a collection of myths and propaganda then you should be okay, because there are good teachings in the NT that are profitable for wisdom and understanding. The NT is probably the closest they came to real spirituality. It's the reason why many people follow laws but don't really understand them. The Hebrews in Yeshua's time were doing the same thing. And so many people actually gave up trying to keep the law, also because the Pharisees added more onto it. That's called Legalism. But the teachings of Yeshua weren't new. They were just well taught by a person that people wanted to use for their agenda. And maybe he did want to king but in the end he was hung as an example, to further break the spirits of The Israelites so they would stay under Roman occupation; which they did. Yeshua was not "THE" Messiah, The Christ, or whatever. He was a good teacher; a master teacher. And he is someone I still follow, love, and respect. But the NT shouldn't be treated as a "bible" or even part of a bible. It should only be treated as rabbinical teachings, lessons(parables), etc.

And as far as being a Christian... by the time Christians were their own new religion, they were no longer following "Christ" but rather other gentile Christians. This is how Christianity fell into idolatry.


Messenger: Jahcub I Sent: 4/7/2021 9:48:57 PM
Reply

The Ible is one. The New Testament is a fulfillment of the Old Testament. What is in the new can be found in the old. As King Solomon say "The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun."

Yes I, Christ a Jew, Selassie a Christian, and InI a RastafarI.

The band Culture has a song, the chorus goes "They never love, they never love, the Lord and the prophets in such times. How do you expect them to love, InI, JAH RasTafarI in these times?"

Haile Selassie (Power of the Trinity) speaks of His love for the Ible in it's fullness, both the Old and the New Testaments. He is The Root of David. He is The Light of the World. His titles are from both the Old and New Testaments, seen? For JAH is One.

Yes there are those who burn the bible. And there are also those who find refuge in the Ible as the rally point for all humanity; sighting the life and teachings of His Majesty.

Some sight it as hypocrisy to call oneself RastafarI while at the same time burning what RasTafarI Himself taught.

Bless Up Idren
JAH Love and Guidance



Messenger: Jahcub I Sent: 4/7/2021 10:51:35 PM
Reply

In Selassie's own words: "I have the highest respect for the Bible as a whole. We also recognise the rightful name the Bible bears. We find that in all the periods of the Old Testament, in the time of Patriarchs, Kings, and Prophets, great miracles were done. On the other hand, the time in which Our Lord HIM-self gave the command to go to all the world and to preach is also of high value. Then, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John,- the four gospels in which the sayings of our Lord are recorded- are pillars for all men on the earth. Therefore the Bible should not be cut into portions."




Messenger: IPXninja Sent: 4/9/2021 10:59:58 AM
Reply

Certainly, the influence of Christianity has led many of us to justify everything the NT says and treat it as having the same weight of the Hebrew Bible.

Hopefully, I explained enough for a reasonable person to reject this religious institutional influence and go back to the Scripture in order to judge what is scripture.

Go back to the prophecies to judge what is the fulfillment of prophecy.



Let me give you an example...


Many beleive that "Jesus" (the European version of the Jewish rabbi named Yeshua) was a fulfillment of the messianic prophecy because he "born of a virgin".

Everyone has heard this. There is all this talk in Christianity that Mary was a virgin and therefore she was impregnated by God the same way Zeus impregnated human women. So this idea already existed in European mythology and therefore it was easy to accept and cross over.

note: This is NO DIFFERENT to how musicians often cross genres to appeal to a wider audience.

But ask Jews if they believe Miriam (Mary) was actually a "virgin" the way Europeans understand it. They will say no and that YHWH does not do sh-t like that.

So why the difference? Why can't Judaism agree with Christianity?


You have to go back to the original prophecy.

The prophecy they are refering to is one where "almah" (translated to English as "virgin") simply means YOUNG WOMAN. New wives were often YOUNG women because culturally they were able to marry women who were very young (too young). This is somewhat similar to one of the wives of the 'prophet' Muhammad; Aisha.

The Europeans did NOT study the OT. When they tried to it often ended in disaster and if you don't believe me then please Google "Marcion of Sinope"

quick overview from wikipedia - Marcion of Sinope was an important figure in early Christianity. Marcion preached that the God who sent Jesus into the world was a different, higher deity than the creator god of Judaism.

Marcion went further than this and actually ripped out the OT from his bible.

My Moreh(teacher), Hebrew Israelite, at the time, I remember when he ripped out his NT as he came to the conclusion that "Jesus" was not the messiah.

This is a conclusion MANY students of the OT come to when understanding through a Hebrew mindset and cultural context.

If you CHERRY PICK you can easily say "Jesus" fulfilled x,y,z and WHEN HE COMES BACK... then he will fulfill the rest.

This idea does NOT exist in Hebrew thought. It was an idea the Europeans brought in because they wanted to worship "Jesus" as God.

But that should have also been the clue for all Hebrew minds, that they were not to be followed or trusted with biblical understanding.

You simply CANNOT say "oh yes he only fulfilled this much but he's going to come back from the dead and finish the rest". What that really says is HE DID NOT FULFILL THE PROPHECY. You can't fulfill only pieces of a prophecy. Prophecy doesn't work like that. Otherwise, everyone born under similar circumstances could claim to be a messiah.

Furthermore, Yeshua was, according to the NT, hyper-aware of the prophecy and was intentionally using it as a roadmap, believing himself to be the messiah and therefore seeking to fulfill the very prophecies that were supposed to prove it.

If I said, without looking at any weather forecasts, "tomorrow it's going to rain"

If it doesn't rain in your area I could just say "oh but it rained somewhere else. Come and see."

That doesn't mean I'm a prophet. I'm simply tricking you based on the likelihood of it raining somewhere this time of year.

I could also say "Monday I'm going to work" and as long as I go to work that day that statement would be true. Does it make me a prophet? No. I was already planning to go to work and since I said it there's very little chance I wouldn't do it."

When it comes to fulfilling someone else's prophecy, if all I have to do is ride a donkey, me ordering my disciples to get me a donkey to ride into Jerusalem on, doesn't mean I'm fulfilling the prophecy. That doesn't make you "THE ONE". Christianity trying to make everyone Christians is their own way of fulfilling such a prophecy but how long do they get to have? They also took part in the very exact opposite of world peace by killing millions of people so how do we keep justifying this? How long will we keep justifying war by saying we want to bring peace?

People want fulfillment of the OT because after thousands of years it becomes harder to believe when you feel like you have been "left hanging" so to speak and God isn't actively participating in Earth's timeline as he seemed to in the OT.

This makes people "cast" and "project" God into the present and future. They'll say that God sent such and such storm, flood, hurricane, tornado, etc. because they want to believe, even though it is destructive and doesn't make sense, they simply want to support their own faith. The more desperate you are the more you're willing to and the more your mind will deceive you into "seeing God" where no God exists. That's part of superstition.

The same goes for people believing God sent coronavirus or that he will protect them from it. Ridiculous.

Israel was in a desperate situation under Roman occupation. Many Israelites wanted to fight in order to free themselves from the Roman empire. That's why they needed a messiah (King) to lead them.

But did Yeshua ever become King of Israel? Not in his lifetime so the answer is NO.

But Europeans don't have any issues appropriating another culture. And when they appropriate it they have no issues changing it to suit their own needs and desires. So for Christians "Christ" no longer meant the same thing "Mashiach" (Messiah) did. Where Messiah means anointed because KINGS of Israel were anointed... "Christ" which comes from the same basic idea of "anointed" evolved into meaning something more along the lines of "savior". But he wasn't a savior of Israel as the Hebrew prophecies were about, but a savior of the world.

But wait...

Doesn't the Hebrew prophecy of "THE messiah" involve saving the world?

There were many messiahs in Israel's history because there were many kings. However, "THE" messiah refers to a prophecy of a dynasty that would rule the world and bring about world peace.

Understand, it is the thought process of every empire (including the fictional one in star wars) to bring about total and global peace through fighting. This is a contradiction in terms and is the reason why it never happened because the question is "WHO gets to control this 'peace'". When one empire rises it builds resistance from everyone else. But in order to pay for the massive army it would take to force everyone else to submit costs massive amounts of money. And to get that money you have to tax the people you conquer. This breeds unrest and rebellion.

Also revolutions.

This is why world peace has never been realized through this means. The closest we can seem to come is when the military forces of one empire, state, or allied force are successfully countered by others. Checks and balances. Total control requires dominance over those who don't want to be dominated. Because the dominant force will almost always choose to favor their own just like we have seen in white supremacy.

In order for equality to reign supreme, you need checks and balances on power with equal representation.

This was not the idea of the biblical prophecy because these forms of government hadn't really been imagined yet. Instead, they thought that a JUST king would be fair to everyone and could rule the entire earth. However, this is naive thinking. A king has to handle all the problems in their domain. The larger the domain the more you have to rely on local regents the same way that Moses was counseled by Jethro to install judges because there were too many people.

So please understand... These problems were ancient. But as time progresses, our ideas evolve. New ideas are good. That's why you should read the NT. However, New Ideas aren't necessarily a fulfillment of old prophecies or a continuation of old doctrines.


Messenger: IPXninja Sent: 4/9/2021 11:25:09 AM
Reply

@Jahcub

Jahcub: Africa is the ORIgin of story, seen? Roots and culture.
The Bible is one of many stories, and One from many, yet one still as truth always Itinues, as the truth is Iternal.

Well if one doesn't know the history then the truth of the Bible will remain a mystery. So may we have the real eyes to see and realise the real lies that we have been told.

Selassie I



These words above are more true than most realize. Again... this is why I tried to explain. You have to go back to the original... to the ROOT... to the culture...

It is the only way to separate facts from fiction.

Europeans have European roots. Christianity has EUROPEAN roots because it did NOT becomes its own religion until more than three hundred years after Yeshua died. And because they were establishing their own roots they created their own doctrine to differentiate themselves from the Hebrew roots of the Hebrew Bible.

The writings in the NT may have been written by Hebrews but all Hebrew writings are not doctrine, nor are they all scripture. The reason Europeans count them as scripture is because they have twisted the words of the NT to support their own ROOTS. They weren't trying to "Itenue" the ROOTS and CULTURE of the Hebrews. If they were they would have adopted the view point of Yeshua, that gentiles could be "grafted in" to the NATION of Yisrael, they believed to be chosen by God.

Not a "church", but a nation.

They would have continued the religion of Yeshua (Judaism) and been members and practitioners of the same sect Yeshua was a part of. But they can't even tell you which sect he was part of with any certainty. They would have continued keeping Shabbat (the Sabbath) as a holy day; as the NT said was the custom of Yeshua.

But again, they continued not in these things because they sought their own power. And that is what created Christianity; European (Roman) power.


Messenger: Jahcub I Sent: 4/9/2021 2:21:15 PM
Reply

Christianity is African, Ifrican. Mary gave birth to Iyesus Kristos in a cave in Ithiopia. Ithiopia was Christian before Rome. The oldest Ible is also in Ithiopia. Ifrican roots.



1 - 1011 - 2021 - 3031 - 4041 - 5051 - 6061 - 7071 - 74

Return to Reasoning List




RastafarI
 
Haile Selassie I