Let me tell you a short story about Bob Marley's death. At the later part of his life, he was diagnosed with cancer and while he could be treated, he refused the treatment for cancer. Everyone around him was worried because of course, who would refuse treatment for cancer? But what many failed to understand was the fact that Bob Marley was a Rastafarian.



He was diagnosed with a melanoma in his toe in 1977. Doctors advised Marley, who was a devout Rastafarian, to have the toe amputated. He refused, on grounds that it would possibly interfere with his performing and it was against his Rastafarian beliefs. A few years later, it had spread to his brain. He passed in 1981.

Doctors could have simply stopped the spread of cancer by amputating the toe. But Bob Marley refused, and opted instead for a less invasive solution. The Rastafarian belief is based on The Book of Leviticus 21:5 in the Old Testament and The Torah. “They shall not make baldness upon their heads, neither shall they shave off the corner of their beard, nor make any cuttings in their flesh.”

Compromising your spiritual belief by Nelson Vincent

So while his death very well could have been prevented, Marley went to his grave without compromising his spiritual beliefs.