Bob Marley and the Bible

 Okay, so Bob Marley and the Bible. Not 2 things that you would normally put together. Maybe Bob Marley and dreads, but not the Bible, he was a Rastafarian, right? But looking into his life and legacy, he was a man of peace and love. He wanted all people to be equals. We are going to look at some of his famous quotes and how they can relate to what is in the Bible and also we are going to briefly look into Rastafarian"ism".

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 Bob Marley once said, "Don't gain the world and loose your soul, wisdom is better the silver or gold".The first thing I thought of was TobyMac's song: "I don't wanna gain the world just to loose my soul" then I was quickly reminded that it's a verse in the Bible. Was Bob Marley quoting Matthew 16: 25-26  For whoever wants to save his life will loose it, but whoever looses his life for me will find it. What good will it be for a man if he gains the world, yet forfeits his soul? Sounds pretty similar to me.

Another quote he has said is. "When one door is closed, don't you know that many more are open" There's no Bible verse I have found the come out and says it like this, but it is similar to Revelation 3:8 I know your deeds. See, I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut. This thought is taught over and over again in Sunday school. God doesn't shut one door without opening a window, or two! He tries to lead us in the direction he wants us to go. That one closed door wasn't meant for us.

"The greatness of a man is not in how much wealth he acquires, but in his integrity and his ability to affect those around him positively" Bob Marley sums up a few verses in this phrase,
Proverbs 10:2 Ill gotten treasures are of no value, but righteousness delivers from death.  Hebrews 13:16 And do not forget to do good and to share with others. 

 

Our God is love, Jesus is love. Bob Marley says, "Love would never leave us alone" and "There will never be no love at all" He's right!  He loves us unconditionally, he will never leave us or forsake us; Hebrews 13:5 Never will I leave you, never will I forsake you. Deuteronomy 31:6...for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.Therefore, if God is with us always, love would never leave us, and God will always be.Psalm 90: 2 Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God. He was there in the beginning, here is here now and he will always be.

 

 "Overcome the devils with a thing called love" Bob Marley. When he says "devils", he's talking about our struggles, our sins. What the devil uses to get in the way of our relationship with God. The only way to defeat our "devils", is to grow deeper in our relationship with Christ. He alone can defeat our sins. He became sin on the cross when he died. His love for us and our love in return for him is the only way to stop Satan. Satan hates any good, happiness, love. When we love God we obey his commands, we resist temptation and turn from evil. Love is the only way to defeat our "devils".

 

 Another great quote from Bob Marley is "Live for yourself and you will live in vain; live for others, and you will live again". You will find that this is a common message in the Bible. Jesus taught to serve your neighbors, don't be proud or greedy. Jesus called his disciples to leave everything they had to follow him. If we are following Jesus he wants us to serve him by serving others. 

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 So we've just looked at how alot of the things Bob Marley believed in was closely reacted to the Bible, but was Bob Marley a Christian? No. Sadly not. Even though I love his music and (some) of his beliefs, he was a Rastafarian. When I first looked it up I had no idea it was an actual religion, well it is. It has similarities to Christianity and Judaism, though. 

Rastafari--it is a religion and way of life.

*they speak out against poverty, oppression, inequality (religious and global).

It was founded in Jamaica in the 20's and 30's by Marcus Garvey (they think if him as the second John the Baptist). The date generally said to be November 2, 1930, but based off a movement in the 1920's. 1930 was the year that Haile Selassie I was crowned emperor of Ethiopia. 

 

 Rastafarians believe in the Judeo-Christian God, they call him Jah. They believe Jah was manifested on earth as Jesus, who Rastas believe was black. They refer to Haile Selassie as His Imperial Majesty, or H.I.M. They worship him as divine.

Haile Selassie- previous name Ras Tafari Makonnen (he was a devout Christian and rejected

 

TEXTS: Holy Piby- the "Black Man's Bible (a version of the Christian Bible that has been altered to remove all the deliberate distortions that are believed to have been made by white leaders during it's translation into English. The Ethiopian national epic, Kebra Negast, is also respected but less than the Bible.

What do they believe? They honor Old Testament prophets. They do not believe in an afterlife, they call Africa ZION (heaven on earth). They believe they are immortal, physically and spiritually (everliving). Babylon- white power structure of Europe and the Americas. They seek to resist Babylon, they believe it is the white political power structure that has been holding the black race down for centuries. Rasta sees that the shackles of slavery held down blacks physically; now they feel they are being held down through poverty, illiteracy, inequality and trickery by the white man.

Practices/Symbols: probably best known for their use of marijuana. They use it during their Rastafari rituals, they think they have found scriptural support, found in Psalm 104:14, Genesis 3:18, Exodus 10:12 and Proverbs 15:17, that proves that God made "grass" for man. They also use it for medicinal purposes. Wearing their hair in Dreadlocks- symbolizes to them; the biblical command not to cut ones hair (Lev 21:5) the appearance of the lion's mane, rep. strength and the Lion of Judah. Naturalness and simplicity and Rastas roots in Africa. Common colors affiliated with Rasta are red, gold and green. The Lion of Judah represents Haile Selassie as the King of Kings, Africa and strength. Most of them are vegetarians or vegans, they follow a dietary law called Ital. The food is completely natural and eaten as raw as possible. And they reject the use of alcohol.

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 Was Bob Marley a Christian? No. He was a Rastafari, they have some similar beliefs like Christians, they believe in God/Jesus, they believe all people are equal, they want to live according to the rules in the Old Testament. He was a man of peace and love. The kinda that only comes from God. He may have believed in some "questionable" things, but I still believe that God could have used him. But I would not go into the slums of Jamaica; they are holding a grudge that "whites" are holding them down, they probably would not accept us in their home. We could probably follow some of their eating guidelines, they are probably very healthy, no canned items, no bleached sugars, flours, breads. I've never smoked the ganja before so I can't really have an opinion on that. Alot of people say it brings you closer to God. Prayer brings me closer, and pot can get us into too much trouble since it's illegal, so I don't know if it's worth it.

 

In the word's of Bob Marley:

 

*I don't stand for the black man's side, I don' t stand for the white man's side. I stand for God's side.
*My  future is righteousness.
*Open your eyes, look within. Are you satisfied with the life you're living?
*You ain't gonna miss your water until your well runs dry