Student of Life

Marriage is Overrated

This is one those can’t win blogs because I’m single I don’t have “weight” to say this statement and if I was married it would seem like a contradiction. If these are the reasons I can’t win then they affirm the title of this blog “Marriage is Overrated”. But let’s put this in proper perspective before we go further I’m not saying marriage is a bad thing because that’s not the definition of the word overrated. The word Overrated is “to rate or appraise too highly” which is what has happened with marriage, we have turn a good thing into an ultimate thing.

Why do I believe so is because of the way Married Christians have treated Single Christians.

1. Being made to feel you not a complete man or woman if you’re not married

2. Being asked why aren’t you married by now

3. Being told your domestic habit will improve with marriage

4. Being told true sanctification is found in marriage

Having to hear these things you can begin to think I need to get married to make me the best Christian I can possible be. Which is not true and distorts the Gospel. The Gospel shows us that Christ is the one who redeems mankind and through the work of the Spirit as we trust and believe in the finish work of Christ we will be Sanctified or set apart of God’s purposes.

Please don’t get the idea I’m anti-marriage because Marriage is a good and Godly thing and can be a means for us to progress in maturity as Christians but it’s not the only way. If marriage is the arrival point we have created a class system where singleness is 2^nd class, which removes the idea we have equal value in Christ. There are various reasons a person may be single sometimes we make choosing a spouse difficult but if someone is single God wants them to be single, how long? Only the Lord knows. But that doesn’t mean we push people into marriage unless you have people in relationships dragging their feet. Christians single or married should encourage the proper stewardship of time with relationship regardless what kind.

Marriage is not our final destination it won’t even exist in Heaven “When the dead rise, they will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven” (Mark 12:25). So what’s the proper view of marriage then? Ideally marriage is temporal covenant (covenant meaning promise or agreement) between husband and wife that is to reflect the Love Christ has for the Church, the Church not meaning a building but a people God has called out and gave the life of His son for, so they can have eternal life and fellowship with Him. So that means marriage is lifelong commitment to learn how to give and receive unconditional love between one another, interesting enough we can learn this without marriage but difference is the level of commitment and you just can’t chuck deuces we things don’t go your way, Cause Christ doesn’t leave His Bride and God’s chosen people can’t leave him. Side note: this should make you not take marriage lightly and don’t Idolize.

Look at Jesus Christ he’s was the most fully human person better put he was human perfection and He was not married. So if God the Son can partake in this world and be infinitely whole without marriage then those of us who are single should strive to follow the footsteps of our master and Find our wholeness in Him.

Lyrical Commentary: Still Shining

Here’s my Commentary on my song “Still Shining” off “Learn to Live” available at shanekidd.bandcamp.com

You can read my train of thought behind the song at Rapgenius.com and if you what a good commentary on the video read Chicanschoice.com Shout out to Chican George.

Here are some quick fun facts 

1. It’s the 2nd song I wrote for the Ep I was originally goin to drop it in 2011 as free single nothing more but kept writing songs. At first was going to be a mixtape for the Summer called “Summer School” (yes I like the student theme). But as you see that aint happen. 

2. Wes Pendelton was going to do the hook but did have the time find something he liked. So in comes Lucius who used to go to my church Before he moved to Gary, IN later that year.

3. I was originally going to shoot the video in Philly and have Phanatik Play the role that show played in the video of the Wise Emcee who remembers being on campus striving to see his dreams right. True story both Sho and Phanatik have encouraged my pursuit to do more than just rapper and encourage others to do the same.

4. The Last 4 bars of each verse has shine rhyme scheme I wanted to do my best to do 4 to 5 multi-syllabe rhyme schemes for those who like the technical side of rap. 

Hope you enjoyed and feel free to ask questions.

Learn 2 Live

My Faith Has Color

Last week I did a Blog explaining how Christianity is not a White man’s religion, and this week I decided talk about, why is important to me to know Blacks that contribute to Christianity.  The obvious reason comes from what I mentioned in a previous blog how 5 percenters and the Nation of Islam attempt make Christianity into the White man’s religion. But that’s not true if you know History and Geography Christianity come out of a Jewish sect that was in the Middle East. Obviously there’s nothing White about Christianity.

I know for many blacks and me when it comes to finding heroes that look like us them seem to be in the minority. American history if full of White faces and when February comes along then we learn that black did make contributions. In American Christianity it seems the same we don’t see in Church history it wasn’t just Europeans that made contributions to the faith, but also people who look like me gave biblical sound contributions.

Know historical figures like Athanasius bring a since of pride knowing Adoni has use people of various completions to bring the doctrines we hold to today. Seem like today in Christian Culture because American is White culture dominant some Blacks and many whites don’t know of Jupiter Hammon and Lemuel Haynes. The view of color is even absent when we look in the scriptures not that the Bible does show us skin tones but we sometime miss is it. An example being in Acts 21 when the Apostle Paul is mistaken for being an Egyptian which show there was some color to Paul he probably wasn’t dark skinned more middle brown but the Bible see the need for cultural to be addressed.

Contextualizing to cultural is important while it’s not the only effective means of reaching people, the bible don’t demean culture except when it promote things contrary to the standards of the Most High. An example of of how contextualizing can serve towards a neglect culture is seen in Acts 6 when the Hellenistic Jew were being neglected and the Apostle establish deacons, when we look at the name we see Greek names meaning they were of the Hellenistic culture even Paul using his Greek name that was him of contextualizing to the gentiles. Culture isn’t meant to be ignored but to be embraced and redeemed through the good new of Jesus seeing all men made differently but all equally valuable in the sight of God. 

Not seeing color is not how we make change but understanding God has created man in different ethnicities and that they are equally important is how we foster change. God made us different for a reason so we would work to glorify Him as one, oneness being having the same goal to make Jesus be known before men. If you would like to learn more of about various Black men that contribute to Christianity read “Preaching with Sacred Fire” use some discernment on a some of the sermons not saying they were perfect but its worth the read.

Learn 2 Live

Not The White Man’s Religion

Hip hop culture while it may seem sacrilegious actually has had religious leaning in some aspect. I remember in the 90’s groups like X-Clan and Poor Righteous Teacher rapping spiritual jargon but it wasn’t Christian it was the 5 percent Nation of Gods and Earths (5 percenters for short). Now in the day of Google you can learn more on the 5 Percenters on your own but the abridge version: they believe the Black man is God, White man is the Devil, 85% of the world is in ignorance, the 10% is keeping the 85 in deception, and the 5% are the enlightened ones. One thing about them and others I can vividly remember, mainly Krs-one was bashing Christianity as a White man’s religion.

While it’s an easy to say that and believe that when all you’ve learned is mostly White faces in history  but can you say that it’s fact? Historical, it’s not true first off Christianity began with Jesus a Jew and his disciples who were Jewish too and lived in the Middle East; Christianity spread into the Northern Parts of Africa and the rest of the Roman Empire. In the Book of Acts in Chapter 8 verses 27-40 mentions an Ethiopian coming to faith and Mark, the writer of the gospel bearing his name, was influential in the formation of the Church in Egypt. With these two cases this already establishes that before European Christian or even Middle Eastern Muslim missionaries came, there was a Christian present in Africa.

I do wish to highlight one very significant Black man in Church history, Athanasius he was the Bishop of Alexandria in Egypt. He’s known for forming the Doctrine of the Trinity, which explains the simultaneous of The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit being God. He faced opposition from Arius who believed Jesus did not always eternally exist since he was begotten he was not of the same essence as the Father. For Athanasius, understood this as a grave danger to the doctrine of salvation since is assumes the hypostatic union i.e. the dual nature of Christ 100% God and 100% human he said “Those who maintain ‘There was a time when the Son was not’ rob God of his Word, like plunderers.” Eventually in 325 A.D. 1,800 bishops convened for Council of Nicea they concluded Arius doctrine was false and Athanasius was hailed as “the noble champion of Christ”.

There are others I could highlight such as Tertullian know as the “father of Latin Christianity” or bring us forward into early America with Jupiter Hammon and Lemuel Haynes. But I hope reading this you begin to see that Blacks have had a hand in the Christian faith. I think as a Black Christians I should have heroes of the faith I can relate to and not have Church History white-washed. So the next time I run into any other trying to make Christianity into the White man’s religion, I’ll unashamedly show them the truth.

Learn 2 Live