What exactly do you know about Haile Selassie I?
Let me clue you in.
This is something SPIRITUAL. I can show you things in the bible that must be understood spiritually. I've been dealing with people like you my whole life; people who take everything literally and then use it as a sword to judge everyone and everything.
Whenever the Bible is taken literally to the extent you are attempting to use it, this is often a sign of youth or a lack of wisdom that comes with more age and experience. A lot of people don't fully read the bible so they don't understand the purposes for which it was written. I consider Rastafarians to be highly enlightened because there is far less emphasis on the literal word vs using the symbolism to uplift, unite, and empower black liberation.
Black liberation must be mental and spiritual. It cannot simply be physical. The chains that still bind and hold us back are not physical and therefore a lot of European misunderstand us and think we are using victim mentality. However, racism and white supremacy use tools that are hidden from the public view; things that must be rooted out of the system like pulling weeds. When you allow those weeds to grow they multiply and the more of them there are the more they take over and kill any hope of progress. Moderate whites are purposefully shielded so they cannot see these things that more extreme racists know they would disagree with and would fight against the more they were aware.
So back to Haile Selassie I.
Like Yeshua ha Mashiach (Jesus the Christ), Haile Selassie I was more than a man. He was a symbol. And much like JC, many accused Selassie of being God or some godlike embodiment. But like David, Selassie, being a king, being titled King of Kings, added to his legend. But David and other kings were called "elohim (plural)", the same Hebrew word used for God (El-singular). Confusion, on this issue, amongst Christians, led to the false doctrine of the Trinity. The Trinity actually dates back to the ancient deification of the family unit: father, mother, and son. Catholicism blended paganism and Judaism together which is why they deified Miriam (Mary) to take this position in the 'godhead'.
Jesus was not God. He never claimed to be God. But people had such admiration for him that they promoted him to this level, posthumously. And this is, in part, due to cultural confusion between religion vs government because kings and judges were called by the same word because that word "el" means power; so they were confused because it related to the authority of the king. According to NT writers, this is what Yeshua was claiming to be; the next (future) king of Yisrael... NOT GOD.
Of course Christians have turned the story of the bible into mashed potatoes. Why? Because they do not care about God or Jesus. They want to be rich and live forever. This is why they created capitalism, racism, and brought so many slaves to their "new world"; a world that they were merely ignorant of. They took messiah to mean some kind of "savior" when in reality it is the word used for Hebrew kings. But Yeshua was never crowned king, never became king.
This is where Rastafari comes in. Rasta understands the difference between religion vs nationality when it comes to biblical understanding. So Rasta sees Haile Selassie ascending to the literal throne and recognizing that as the throne of David. So it is a fulfillment of a messianic prophecy in that sense; in a way that Yeshua never actually accomplished. And then from that throne, H.I.M defended the kingdom against the colonial powers of white supremacy.
But this also respects history and reality. If you're looking for Rastafari to come on the clouds then you are mistaken and caught up in literal artistry. Haile Selassie was not in agreement with this. He was literally a Christian because that is how he was raised. Yeshua was a Jewish rabbi because that is how he was raised. Judaism, included in its foundation, slavery as a matter of law; allowing people to beat their slaves because it considered that person property/money.
The fact is that this did not come from any god. This came from man. At the same time, religion has often been complex for black people because we often had to hide our own culture and beliefs inside the religion we were forced to have. And to a large extent, the religion we are forced to have is passed down by lineage. Do you think Israelites under Moses were allowed to have Zoroastrian beliefs? If they did, they had to hide their beliefs so that they weren't stoned to death.
And this is what you're attempting to do to me. You, without truly understanding Rastafari, are hoping to cast stones in a way that others will join you. It's clever. But it's been done before. It was by law that Israelites were forced to stone even their own friends and family if they were found guilty. But they could also be found guilty based on false witnesses. And the law said that if a witness was proven false then they would get the same punishment they were trying to put on the person they were falsely accusing. Why? Because people were lying with murderous intent and using others to actually perform the act and get away with it. This is a much more sinister and devious crime than the one the community thought they were prosecuting.
Yeshua put a stop to this particular ritual in one case and almost got stoned himself for the same reason in at least 2 other cases because this was a part of a manmade system that could be exploited. He said he who is without sin cast the first stone. Clearly, you borrow the appearance and pretense of a rastaman, but is that what you really are? No. So instead of having any righteousness to judge me, you are simply cowering behind this community, hoping on the off chance they will murder my character on your behalf. You esteem yourself so highly but you are so transparent. It's no secret that many Rastafarians disagree how much or little of the bible, of even Rastafari himself, to take literally. However, it is the SPIRIT of Rastafari that unites this community. You can try to divide us and make us attack each other, but this isn't new to Rastafari. Rastafari itself isn't dogmatic. Some groups may choose to be but people have a choice to follow those groups or not. Everyone's path is their own.
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