Bob Marley

[Monica child of God 1]

Today is the 25th anniversary of the repose of Robert Nesta Marley. Many people do not know that before his death, Bob embraced the Ethiopian Orthodox Faith and was baptized with the name Berhane Selassie.

Gleaner Interview
In a newspaper interview with Archbishop Abuna Yesehaq done by Barbara Blake Hannah,November 25, 1984, in the Gleaner's Sunday Magazine (pages 2,3,11), titled 'Abuna Yesehaq Looks Back on 14 Years of Ministry in Jamaica' the following was said about Bob Marley's baptism.

"Bob was really a good brother, a child of God, regardless of how people looked at him. He had a desire to be baptised long ago, but there were people close to him who controlled him and who were aligned to a different aspect of Rastafari . But he came to Church regularly. I remember once while I was conducting the Mass, I looked at Bob and tears were streaming down his face...When he toured Los Angeles and New York and England, he preached the Orthodox faith, and many members in those cities came to the Church because of Bob. Many people think he was baptised because he knew he was dying, but that is not so...he did it when there was no longer any pressure on him, and when he was baptised, he hugged his family and wept, they all wept together for about half an hour."

JBCTV Interview
In an Interview the following year (9th July, 1995) on the JBCTV (now called TVJ) program "Profile" he was asked by host Ian Boyne about the bapistim of Bob Marley. Below is a clip from that interview

Ian: You baptized Bob Marley?
Yesehaq: I did baptize Bob Marley in the presence of his wife Rita Marley and his children. Only the family, because he was not so willing to have it officially, it was difficult for him...which I don't want to describe.

The story of how this came about is fascinating and involves the faithful action of His Emperial Majesty Haile Selassie.


But I post this to ask for prayer on his behalf.





M.


PS: Of course I know that he was in fact Non Chalcedonian. But the Ethiopian Orthodox Church was the one doing the work of converting Rastafarians at that time in Jamaica. It certainly was a huge leap for him to take from Rastafari to Ethiopian Orthodox.

 

[ClementofRome]

I am a huge fan of Bob Marley's music. It gladdens my heart to know that he converted at the end.

 

[Eusebios]

May his memory be eternal. I have an abiding love and respect for Nesta. His image graces a place at the top of my stairway. I always believed he was a true seeker, and was overjoyed when I learned of his return home to the Church.
It seems to me that Ziggy may be on a similar path, and I thinl it prudent to also keep him and all of Bob's children and grandchildren in prayer.
Thanks for the post Monica!
Christ is risen!
Eusbios.

 

[repentant]

I never knew that about him. I do love his his music, as almost all of it had a Christian tone to it. I knew there was something about him...

 

[ufonium2]

I just wrote a ginormous paper about reggae, Rastafarianisms, Ethiopia, and the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. It's a fascinating socio-religious study.

The Rastafarian community tries to cover it up, but Marley's conversion wasn't a death bed thing. His wife and kids converted years before, he had been attending services and communicating regularly with the bishop, and it was out of fear (at some points, for his life) that Marley waited until he was in America to be baptized. In fact, his baptism was on like the fifth try, because he kept having to move it.

The really weird part about the Rastas denying that his baptism happened is that he had a giant funeral (Rastas don't believe in funerals, because they don't acknowledge death) and that it was Orthodox.

Have you ever heard the Abyssinians? They're a reggae group from around the same era as Marley and the Wailers, but were Orthodox all along. They even had ties to an EO monastery, I think.

 

[Prawnik]

I just wrote a ginormous paper about reggae, Rastafarianisms, Ethiopia, and the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. It's a fascinating socio-religious study.

The Rastafarian community tries to cover it up, but Marley's conversion wasn't a death bed thing. His wife and kids converted years before, he had been attending services and communicating regularly with the bishop, and it was out of fear (at some points, for his life) that Marley waited until he was in America to be baptized. In fact, his baptism was on like the fifth try, because he kept having to move it.

The really weird part about the Rastas denying that his baptism happened is that he had a giant funeral (Rastas don't believe in funerals, because they don't acknowledge death) and that it was Orthodox.

Have you ever heard the Abyssinians? They're a reggae group from around the same era as Marley and the Wailers, but were Orthodox all along. They even had ties to an EO monastery, I think.

Ufonium:

Can you shoot me a copy of that paper? I find roots reggae fascinating and am always looking for information.

 

[ClementofRome]

Ufonium,

I would love to read your paper too! I am somewhat studied in Rastafarianism, but as a college prof, many of my students use a claim to be Rasta as an excuse to smoke weed. I try to convince them that weed is peripheral to the religious belief system of Rastafarianism....but alas, young white kids with dreadlocks who want to smoke weed can justify it any way that they want.

Clement

 

[Epiphanygirl]

One Love!!!!

 

[Monica child of God 1]

Give thanks and praise to the Lord and I will be alright...

M.

 

[ufonium2]

Ufonium,

I would love to read your paper too! I am somewhat studied in Rastafarianism, but as a college prof, many of my students use a claim to be Rasta as an excuse to smoke weed. I try to convince them that weed is peripheral to the religious belief system of Rastafarianism....but alas, young white kids with dreadlocks who want to smoke weed can justify it any way that they want.

I read a journal article by a guy who went into the NYC jail system to investigate the validity of certain "Rastas" and their claims that they shouldn't have to shave, cut their hair, bathe, etc. as required (for obvious reasons) by the jails there. None of the "Rastas" were keeping the dietary laws, or were even aware of them, and several couldn't tell him who Haile Selassie was. I have an aunt who investigates gang and drug activity for the federal prison system, and she says they have more trouble with Rasta "elders" trying to smuggle in drugs to prisoners than with any other religion, or even gang!

Later on this afternoon I'll post the essay somewhere and link to it in this thread. I'd love some input, as I'm thinking of submitting it for a conference later in the Summer.

 

[Epiphanygirl]

Give thanks and praise to the Lord and I will be alright...

M.

It is one of my all time favorite songs! I don't care how bad of a mood I'm in....I hear that song and it just washes all the yuckyness away....It's a gift of a song!

 

[Torah613]

May God grant rest to his soul.

I greatly enjoy his music as well.

Joe Zollars

 

[repentant]

Yeh! Holy Mount Zion;
Holy Mount Zion:
Jah sitteth in Mount Zion
And rules all creation.

Is Jah Jesus or God?

 

[repentant]

I have listened to Bob Marley alot, and I know he had some Christian tones in his music, but sitting here reading lyrics, I'm like wow...

I'n'I nah come to fight flesh and blood,
But spiritual wickedness in 'igh and low places.
So while they fight you down,
Stand firm and give Jah thanks and praises.

 

[Monica child of God 1]

Jah is Yah, short for Yahweh.

"Behold, God is my salvation, I will trust and not be afraid; ‘ For YAH, the LORD, is my strength and song; He also has become my salvation.’” --Isaiah 12:2

 

[Dust and Ashes]

Yeh! Holy Mount Zion;
Holy Mount Zion:
Jah sitteth in Mount Zion
And rules all creation.

Is Jah Jesus or God?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jah

 

[repentant]

Ahh, ok..

 

[Torah613]

Yeh! Holy Mount Zion;
Holy Mount Zion:
Jah sitteth in Mount Zion
And rules all creation.

Is Jah Jesus or God?

Could be a veiled reference to the Ark of the Covenant as it is rumored to be at the compound at a church named after mount Zion. Could also be a corruption of Jehova.

Joe Zollars

 

[Torah613]

ah, so much for my wise thoughts.

Joe Zollars

 

[repentant]

Could be a veiled reference to the Ark of the Covenant as it is rumored to be at the compound at a church named after mount Zion. Could also be a corruption of Jehova.

Joe Zollars

Well Mt. Zion is used alot in the OT as a place where God dwells, or possibly Paradise or Heaven.

Isaiah 18:7
At that time gifts will be brought to the LORD Almighty from a people tall and smooth-skinned, from a people feared far and wide, an aggressive nation of strange speech, whose land is divided by rivers— the gifts will be brought to Mount Zion, the place of the Name of the LORD Almighty.

Isaiah 8:18
Here am I, and the children the LORD has given me. We are signs and symbols in Israel from the LORD Almighty, who dwells on Mount Zion.

Obadiah 1:17
But on Mount Zion will be deliverance; it will be holy, and the house of Jacob will possess its inheritance.

Obadiah 1:21
Deliverers will go up on Mount Zion to govern the mountains of Esau. And the kingdom will be the LORD's.

Micah 4:2
Many nations will come and say, "Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths." The law will go out from Zion, the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.

Micah 4:7
I will make the lame a remnant, those driven away a strong nation. The LORD will rule over them in Mount Zion from that day and forever.

Zechariah 8:3
This is what the LORD says: "I will return to Zion and dwell in Jerusalem. Then Jerusalem will be called the City of Truth, and the mountain of the LORD Almighty will be called the Holy Mountain."

Also in NT

Hebrews 12:22
But you have come to Mount Zion, to the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly,

Revelation 14:1
[ The Lamb and the 144,000 ] Then I looked, and there before me was the Lamb, standing on Mount Zion, and with him 144,000 who had his name and his Father's name written on their foreheads.