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When you're into Reggae Music, sooner or later you
will be confronted with the phenomena called
"slackness". This term could be used to
describe the pornographic lyrics and video-clips,
that often accompany especially Dancehall works.
Now, some would say that every song about sex
is to be seen as slackness, but I disagree with
that. I mean, didn't Jah Himself create sex for a
man and a woman to enjoy holy marriage? So why
shouldn't there be songs about it?
But then, we all know that most slackness tunes
will not be about that at all. It will be about,
well, what you see: wickedness and
immorality.
For people who have true faith in Jah
Rastafari, whether they are Rastafarian or
Christian or both, practicing slackness is a thing
to avoid. That's a fact. Now sure, we can argue
about just what is a marriage and all of that, but
we all know that slackness is about fornication
and so on.
So then, how does one who is a Christian, like
me, deal with this fact? The brother in the
discussion I referred to, removed himself from the
scene. The reason for that was, as said, that he
couldn't stand the temptation. And in his
individual case, that could very well be the
solution.
That's not the point.
The point is, that many people claim that when
you are a Christian, you should do that.
You should remove yourself from the scene,
you should create your own little
subculture or industry.
But when I read in the Bible, I see that
generally spoken we should not do such a thing at
all!
When Yesus Kristos prayed to the Father about
us, people who would believe in Him, He asked:
I pray not that thou shouldest take them out
of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them
from the evil. (John 17:15)
And Paul, the apostle, said it this way:
I wrote unto you in an epistle not to company
with fornicators: Yet not altogether with the
fornicators of this world, or with the covetous,
or extortioners, or with idolaters; for then
must ye needs go out of the world. (1
Corinthians 5:9,10)
It's clear: Jah does not want us to remove
ourselves from the scene at all. Otherwise He
would have prayed it to the Father. And Paul said
very clearly, that you should avoid dealing with
fornicators who claim they are Christian, but not
at all with those who don't claim to be a
Christian.
Yesus Himself gave the good example in this.
But the result was, that He was called a drunkard
and a visitor of prostitutes Himself. The Pharisees
and other religious fascists removed themselves
from the scene, so to speak, and started to judge
everyone who was (still) communicating and dealing
with the "slackness people" of the day.
Now, I don't want to say anything about the
person in the discussion I refer to in this
column. For the apostle Paul also said very
clearly that when fornication is a temptation you
should avoid that temptation yourself.
In fact, it is the only sin from where the
Bible says we have to "flee". It is the
only sin that has to do directly with our body.
Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth
is without the body; but he that committeth
fornication sinneth against his own body. (1
Corinthians 6:8)
But that is a personal situation.
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