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is my meditation, that Haile Selassie
himself has taught us about the relationship
between Rastafari and Christianity. Being
the subject of the movement, as well as our
Brother in Christ and a very wise man gifted
by Jah, I think it is very important to see
what His Majesty had to say about the
movement of Rastafari.
Yes, that seems fair. Let Ras Tafari
speak about Rastafari !
First he said, "I have met certain
Rastafarians, I have told them clearly that
I am a mortal man, and man should not
worship man.[1]"
Selassie knew that the Rastafarian
movement did not only consist of those
worshipping him as God , he said
"certain Rastafarians".
As an article from Dub Missive ,
re-published online in The Dubroom[2],
shows, Haile Selassie tried to lead the
movement of Rastafari into the Ethiopian
Orthodox Church (EOC), of which he as
Ethiopian King was the Head, but a
requirement for baptism in this church was
and is that one renounces the believe in His
Majesty as Christ.
I also have checked this personally by
asking questions to priests of the Ethiopian
Church . Selassie did not want to be
worshipped as Christ as he denied that he
was Christ.
On the other hand, I believe that he also
gave a clear message to the Christian world,
a message unfortunately not overstood by
many, but a clear message anyway: "Who
am I to deny their faith?[3] ",
Selassie answered when asked about
Rastafarians who worshipped him as God.
At first sight this looks contradictory,
but it is not.
It is actually a crucial remark, a key to
a closer overstanding[4] of this complex
matter. Let me tell you what I think
Selassie meant, for it is very important in
this reasoning.
It is obvious that Selassie didn’t want
to be worshipped as Christ . I believe it is
the teachings of His Majesty , that if you
believe that Selassie is Christ, you are
worshipping God wrong, for Kristos has not
returned yet and Selassie, according to his
own words as well, is not a part of the
Divine Trinity.
But that is just one part. And something
different then to “deny the faith” of
these, as Selassie called them, “certain
Rastafarians” . Because regardless whether
Selassie is Christ returned or not, the fact
remains that the faith is aimed at Yesus ,
at JAH.
Even though Selassie is not Jah, people
who worship him do that because they believe
him to be JAH. So the faith is directed at
JAH only it comes out at the wrong person,
according to this person himself.
In essence, could we be speaking here
about Christians who believe that the
Saviour has already come back ?
I also know a lot of Christians who
believe Yesus returned around the year 70 in
Jerusalem, when the Roman soldiers of
Babylon destroyed the temple[5].
Now, I know that the Saviour hasn't
returned yet, and I reason with my brethren
and sistren over this I-tinually, whether
they are Rasta or not.
But when you believe that the Saviour has
come back and you want to worship the
Saviour, would you be worshipping a wrong
God, instead of worshipping God wrong ?
And what to say about those numerous
members of the movement, who do not believe
Selassie to be any Incarnation of JAH?
These are arguments to make someone think
again before denying the faith of “the”
Rastafarians.
Arguments provided by Haile
Selassie himself.
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