Ras means head and Tafari stands for Creator. So Rastafari is the Head Creator or Jah Rastafari as commonly referred to by those who practise the faith.
The Holy book is called the Kebrah Nagast, which is about seven hundred years old and gives an account of how King Solomon met the Queen of Sheba as well as teachings close to the Christian faith as well as Ethiopian culture.
There is a fundamental the belief in the power of the Trinity , with Sellasie as the head of the same.
The other fundamental belief (or commandment)is that of PEACE and LOVE. Just as it's written in the Bible that you should love your neighbour, brother and sister. Basically love everyone and co-exist peacefully with all other human beings as well as animals, both domesticated and wild. There is no need to explain these two further they are as clear as a sunshine day.
The other, and probably most crucial is the link between Emperor Haille Sellasie( the late) of Ethiopia and King Solomon. This stipulates that, King Solomon married the Queen of Sheba and had a son whom they named Menelik 1. His Imperial Majesty Haille Sellasie is believed to be the 226th descendant from the lineage of King David. This is also believed to be the same link that can be found in the bible.
There is a deep seated belief that all the above mentioned individuals were of black ancestry. The greater belief here being that Sellasie is Jesus Christ, reincarnated.It's said that Sellasie could draw a picture of a dove on paper and that dove would then fly away. It should be noted that a dove is a symbol of PEACE from the biblical times and the ancient civilisations.
It's also widely held that, he had read and memorised the whole Holy bible in the current form of the King James version.
Marcus Garvey prophesied that, from the East would come a King.(when in Jamaica East is the general direction of Africa).
Rastafarianism as a movement began in 1930, specifically on official literature as the 02/11/1930.
With time this movement became a religion as rules and regulations that the adherents follow were put in place.
Though born out of the pain of slavery and severe mistreatment at the hands of the slave masters, the true Rasta today is a spiritual person who does not condone violence against humans as well as animals: this depicted in the fact that they do not eat meat, except at times fish.
The true followers of the religion espouse a true love for others as also written in the Holy Bible.
Some of today's adherents of the religion have taken it upon themselves to spread ideologies that are contrary to what has been passed down over the years. Unfortunately these elements have a warped comprehension of beliefs and culture promoted by Rasta. They are the bigoted denizens who give Rasta a bad name by spreading vice and vitriol of hate and a lack of tolerance to those who don't share their views.
This is a message to all those who have deviated, Rasta does not lose track,neither is it devoid of the common values of decency, love, peace and a common desire to go back to Africa, the motherland.
Rasta does not spread vitriol or the vice of hate , it espouses virtue.
Rasta does not condone, condemnation of the unenlightened, rather it seeks to teach those.
Rasta does not deny nor denigrate others' right to believe whatever deity, neither does it obscure or obfuscate the opinions of others, in order to appear to hold a higher moral position.
Those who seek to devour because they are knowledge deficient, should open their minds up. Enlightenment and emancipation beckons.
The TRUE RASTA looks on helplessly as some fundamentalist and radical individuals desecrate the positive values that can are taught by the religion.
Even though Sellasie was a dictator, it's not for me to judge another man's belief.
Disclaimer! The views held here do not necessarily form a full and conclusive picture of Rasta as a movement or religion. Where I have in any way misrepresented or misinformed or omitted vital information, this is not intended and I profoundly apologise. This piece is dedicated to all the PEACEFUL RASTA OUT THERE and all the good people of this wonderful world whose greatest desire is to live peacefully with one another.
Tuesday 28 February 2012
Sunday 5 February 2012
SPARE THE ROD,SPOIL THE CHILD!
The honourable MP for Tottenham, David Lammy has a point when he says that discipline by way of physical force should not be overlooked. He obviously, as a man of great intelligence and good skills of persuasion has good reasons as to why he advocates caning as means of keeping the young on the straight and narrow.
Children of all ages in this once great country have lost their moral compass and indiscipline has for so long been left to fester.There are many reasons as to why this is the case but the major one would be, parenting or the lack of.
At the tender age of four children already know about authority as this is a natural devlopmental process.At what point should authority start to be enforced?
There is a general disregard for authority. Teenagers demand respect from their parents, teachers, the police etc.This respect is not earned, to them it is a right of passage. They carry knives to stab(shank as the would call it in slang) one another over flimsy issues that rotate aound respect or a misconceived perception of a lack of it, from others whether known to them or not.
It gets worse every day. The Argentinian familyjust to name but one) that lost a son around the Silver street area of Edmonton were left in utter shock. They could not comprehend how their son could have been caught up in midst of murderous youths who feel nothing over their drug fuelled actions. They have no remorse. To them the rule of law does not apply,only impunity.
For those of us who are lucky to be alive as the second month of the year rolls along, we must thank our lucky stars.These warp-minded killers have a total disregard for the law that is absolutely abhorrent. What are the root causes of their actions.
Why is gun crime such a crucial problem? How can a man own six gun licences? The answer- he's a gun enthusiast! The alternative it would appear to be, he is a potential killer, hiding behind legal ownership of firearms.
Gun crime we shall tackle another day, even though it's part of the problem.
Am not the greatest advocate of whipping the child but i do know from my experience growing up that it never did us any harm. It did not leave any psychological scars,but i cknowledge the that there is a difference in cultures or is this a cross-cultural issue?
Children need to understand and respect authority and light smacking can do no harm if the parents do it in moderation and within reason. i can understand this can be relative from one family to another.Those of us who believe that Lammy was wrong i beg to differ. Am lending my previlege to scribe to the cause in total and unequivocal support to discipline.He still had a great point. People of Afican and Afro-Carribbean descent will attest to having been disciplined in this way. At school, home, by elderly neighbours, the extended family. The list is endless. There was, and still exists in some communities a collective responsibility fo the leaders of tomorrow- today's children.
We should stimulate and not stifle meaningful debate about the issue rather than brandish and lambast MP Lammy with unsavoury names.Teachers should be handed back the authority to run classrooms. There should a co-ordinated effort from all quarters of society. This is an emergency! Cameron and his government should wakeup to this social timebomb. There seems to exist a lack of goodwill on the government side, for how can one explain suggestions of fathers having less rights to their children? A report commisioned on behalf of the current government tended to be of that negative conclussion.Ludicrous every each way. We should pressure those in power to put into place considerations that will ameliorate this disastrous discourse,before we lose all our children.
It's our hope and prayer that fewer families will mourn the lose of their loved ones to needless,senseless and unrelenting murder that is informed by ignorance of basic principles of human decency.
NB: I DEDICATE THIS ARTICLE TO ALL THOSE FAMILIES WHO HAVE LOST THEIR YOUNG ONES TO GUN AND KNIFE CRIME. GOD BLESS YOU!
i
Children of all ages in this once great country have lost their moral compass and indiscipline has for so long been left to fester.There are many reasons as to why this is the case but the major one would be, parenting or the lack of.
At the tender age of four children already know about authority as this is a natural devlopmental process.At what point should authority start to be enforced?
There is a general disregard for authority. Teenagers demand respect from their parents, teachers, the police etc.This respect is not earned, to them it is a right of passage. They carry knives to stab(shank as the would call it in slang) one another over flimsy issues that rotate aound respect or a misconceived perception of a lack of it, from others whether known to them or not.
It gets worse every day. The Argentinian familyjust to name but one) that lost a son around the Silver street area of Edmonton were left in utter shock. They could not comprehend how their son could have been caught up in midst of murderous youths who feel nothing over their drug fuelled actions. They have no remorse. To them the rule of law does not apply,only impunity.
For those of us who are lucky to be alive as the second month of the year rolls along, we must thank our lucky stars.These warp-minded killers have a total disregard for the law that is absolutely abhorrent. What are the root causes of their actions.
Why is gun crime such a crucial problem? How can a man own six gun licences? The answer- he's a gun enthusiast! The alternative it would appear to be, he is a potential killer, hiding behind legal ownership of firearms.
Gun crime we shall tackle another day, even though it's part of the problem.
Am not the greatest advocate of whipping the child but i do know from my experience growing up that it never did us any harm. It did not leave any psychological scars,but i cknowledge the that there is a difference in cultures or is this a cross-cultural issue?
Children need to understand and respect authority and light smacking can do no harm if the parents do it in moderation and within reason. i can understand this can be relative from one family to another.Those of us who believe that Lammy was wrong i beg to differ. Am lending my previlege to scribe to the cause in total and unequivocal support to discipline.He still had a great point. People of Afican and Afro-Carribbean descent will attest to having been disciplined in this way. At school, home, by elderly neighbours, the extended family. The list is endless. There was, and still exists in some communities a collective responsibility fo the leaders of tomorrow- today's children.
We should stimulate and not stifle meaningful debate about the issue rather than brandish and lambast MP Lammy with unsavoury names.Teachers should be handed back the authority to run classrooms. There should a co-ordinated effort from all quarters of society. This is an emergency! Cameron and his government should wakeup to this social timebomb. There seems to exist a lack of goodwill on the government side, for how can one explain suggestions of fathers having less rights to their children? A report commisioned on behalf of the current government tended to be of that negative conclussion.Ludicrous every each way. We should pressure those in power to put into place considerations that will ameliorate this disastrous discourse,before we lose all our children.
It's our hope and prayer that fewer families will mourn the lose of their loved ones to needless,senseless and unrelenting murder that is informed by ignorance of basic principles of human decency.
NB: I DEDICATE THIS ARTICLE TO ALL THOSE FAMILIES WHO HAVE LOST THEIR YOUNG ONES TO GUN AND KNIFE CRIME. GOD BLESS YOU!
i
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