Raspects to all on this board. Gjithë dashuri nga Zoti... loosely translated... all Love from Jah! As a newcomer and seeker of the truth always striving in my humble way to learn the ways of Jah almighty InI am always impressed by the deep reasonings on this board. InI not here to defend Nicholas (he seems to be doing a good job on his own), but am wondering why all the fire & brimstone rainin' down on him? The I don't think he 's tryin' to convert (as he said), he just expressin' his beliefs and reasoning. As (sista or brother...don't know which... sorry) Makeda said I-self "RASTA blends a whole heap of spiritual thinking from many faiths. That's what makes it I-niversal." then in the same breath "LOVE IT OR LEAVE IT" ??? Does't sound very I-niversal to InI.

Truth seen... this IS a RASTA board (and no one should be here tryin to CONVERT or preach in-your-face, but it seems to InI that Rasta is a wonderful, loving and I-niversal faith (the I hesitate to even call it religion), and one of the BEST things about it that it is open to new ideas, reasonings and from that how we can all learn from one another. No faith can exhist stagnating and in a vacuum while life goes on around it. It seems to me Rastas had to deal with H.I.M. leaving the physical world somehow and InI believe they have .

As Messian Dread so correctly points out in his post Born Again Rasta "Since Haile Selassie has left the visible spectrum, some say he died and others say he didn't, the movement of Rastafari is divided into two main streams. Two streams divided by a difference in meditation about the person(ality) of His Imperial Majesty, Haile Selassie I. And it's a difference which, in a growing degree, grows further and further away from that definition of Rasta I gave earlier. (Rastafari is a movement of people who worship Haile Selassie as God). Where most Rastas used to believe in His Majesty as the return of Christ, or simply as God, Selassie's disappearance did cause many to re-define their ways. Simply put, there are now two, or three, mainstreams within Rastafari." He goes on and speaks of what seems to exhist today and makes good reasoning, check it out. Anyway.... InI think my point is Raspect and tolerance.

Haille Selassie I-self said "Knowing that material and spiritual progress are essential to man, we must ceaselessly work for the equal attainment of both. Only then shall we be able to acquire that absolute inner-calm, so necessary to our well-being. Whenever conflict arises between material and spiritual values, the conscience plays an important role and anyone who suffers from a guilty conscience is never really free from this problem until he makes peace with himself and his conscience. Discipline of the mind is a basic ingredient of genuine morality and therefore of spiritual strength. Spiritual power is the eternal guide, in this life and the life after, for man ranks supreme among all creatures. Led forward by spiritual power, man can reach the summit destined for him by the Great Creator. Since nobody can interfere in the realm of God WE SHOULDTOLERATE AND LIVE SIDE BY SIDE WITH THOSE OF OTHER FAITHS. In the mystic traditions of the different religions we have a remarkable unity of spirit. Whatever religion they may profess, they are spiritual kinsmen. While the different religions in their historic forms bind us to limited groups and militate against the development of loyalty to the WORLD COMMUNITY, the mystics have already stood for the fellowship of humanity...in harmony with the spirit of the mystics of ages gone by.
No one should question the faith of others, for NO HUMAN BEING CAN JUDGE THE WAYS OF GOD!"
H.I.M. Emperor Haile Selassie I

InI have beliefs and put them foward even though the I fear that some brethren & sistren will wish fire down upon the InI: Jah the Father is the one and only God almighty, creator of all things, Iyesus Kristos is the Son.. God of the flesh and the Holy Spirit is the God of the soul. H.I.M. believed these things also (to InI knowledge, if the I wrong please feel free to correct the I, as InI said most humbly, the I still learning... always will be... the day we stop learning is the day we die) and supported these beliefs many times in his speaches. I believe H.I.M. was Christ-like (a true Christian) and that is NO SMALL THING... TO BE CHRIST-LIKE. He is as close to Christ as a human can come. Very few people in the I-story of womb-man/mankind can have that said about them!!! H.I.M. brought many closer to Jah (like I-self) but never said he WAS Jah... as a matter of fact He denied it many times.

Lastly, our thoughts and beliefs are not as scattered as they appear to be on the surface. They have got themselves crystallized around a few nuclei in the form of the great world religions and living faiths that guide and motivate the lives of billions that inhabit this earth. It is our duty, if we have the ideal WORLD CITIZENSHIP, to make a little attempt to know the great religions and system of philosophy that have ruled womb-man/mankind for eternity.

"That until that day
The dream of lasting peace,
World citizenship
Rule of international morality
Will remain in but a fleeting illusion to be pursued,
But never attained"

HONORABLE Robert Nesta Marley (prophet & Jah guide)

Një Dashuri, Një Fat.
One Love, One Destiny.

Ras Bardhylis