Why Humans Will Go Extinct

As humans we have lost our ability to be strong; physically and mentally. A lot of people feel like that “Rub a little dirt on it,” mentality belongs in the past and has no place in modern society. But crude as it is, it certainly made us stronger.

          Today, human beings are weak! And this is mainly caused by this age’s obsession with nursing our ailments, mental illnesses, sickness and disorders in the name of embracing who ‘we are.’

          Why should you be defined by your weaknesses? Why should that be your identifier? “I’m OCD, I’m bipolar…” people say casually as though it’s a good thing. No one is talking about suppressing negative feelings or being in denial. But why is that the thing to embrace as a part of you instead of seeing it as a problem in dire need of fixing, and strive to fix it?

          Anxiety, for instance, is something I have struggled with my entire adult life. But do I embrace it and name it a part of my existence, no! I instead pull back and analyze my life and environment to dissect where the anxiety is coming from. And virtually all the time, I can trace it to the source. And once I do, I do all I can to deal with it.

          The dichotomy of this era is; we are obsessed with labels that tie into our identities, whilst claiming we don’t want to be labeled. This generation, especially, is obsessed with the minutiae and would do and identify with almost anything in the name of ‘belonging.’

There is too much indulgence in self these days for us to progress any sort of way, except to micro-manage our weaknesses. As the world settles into the information age, there is too much jargon out there for us to find more identifiers; I’m vegan, I’m gluten intolerant, etc. Can you imagine having such discussions with our ancestors?

We are weak, and getting weaker by the day. Everybody is all concerned with political correctness, which started as a good thing but has now dissolved into cuddling people’s egos and feelings and identities and political views. In the past, teasing and light hazing were seen as a rite of passage, now everyone is so sensitive about every single thing. We have become so myopic, focusing on the mundane when the world is crashing down around us. We are so focused on our hashtags, and making political statements, and trending, when the harsh reality is, these things don’t make lasting change… most of the time, they don’t even make significant change.

   And this cuddling of self is now passed on to our children, the next generation, with participation trophies and lack of exposure to the workings of the real world. Instead of letting them build their strength, mentally and emotionally, and discover their own limitations, we instead shelter them from perceived negative feelings, even though these are the very things that prepare us for the harsh world ahead.

Of course the human race will go extinct. We’ve become so weak, we can’t possibly fight off any sort of catastrophic attack. It’s always funny to me how in all these doom’s day, end of the world as we know it, movies, Africa always dies out first. I’ve heard it said that it’s because Africa doesn’t have enough food and resources, so if there’s starvation or any sort of plague, she’ll go first. Really? Who is more likely to die in a food shortage, the person used to eating three square meals a day or the one used to eating every once in a while? Who is more likely to survive hardship, the one born into it or the one that is suddenly thrust into it?

Even you, weirdo, with your basement full of canned foods CANNOT and will NOT survive an apocalypse. You are used to living in a house, having ample shelter from the elements and from wild animals, and with all the technology we surround ourselves with… and before you say ‘I own no technology that the government can use to spy on me…’ your camping gas is technology, your hunting rifle and fishing rods are technology. Your niceties like your furniture, and comforts like your bed, things that even your great, great, great grandparents were used to, has made you soft over the years, believe it or not. You are not prepared to face that kind of hardship.

Face it, humans are several millennial away from the stereotypical caveman (except for those still living rudimentary, nomadic lifestyles, and for those, who unfortunately, are still living in abject poverty). For the rest of us, several years of adaptation to comforts will prevent us from actually surviving anything catastrophic.

The irony is; we, the world at large, look ‘fitter’ than we’ve ever been, with a lot of people gyming nonstop, eating healthy etc. But, we are also weaker than we’ve ever been; physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. Belief in a higher power took a lot of our fears in the past, but now as the spiritual is becoming a smaller and smaller part of our lives, we’re now carrying the problems we used to lay at the feet of our Gods, and we’re surprised there is a worldwide rise in anxiety and depression especially. 

We’ve lost our tenacity. Men are taught to be emotionally weak these days. Too busy focusing on the sensual and ignoring years of evolution. Yes toxic masculinity is a thing but masculinity in and of itself isn’t inherently toxic. It is necessary for the preservation of the species.

With the rise of technology we are all losing our physical strength for labor and endurance of the outdoors. We might say that emotional maturity is more important; even so, will our self-awareness help us out run our pursuers? Be them aliens from outer space; our science is not nearly advanced to withstand them, and instead of working tirelessly to rectify that, we’re sending cars to outer space, adding to the debris already there. What’s that going to achieve?

Will our political correctness help us fight off a zombie attack, for instance? Instead the sad reality is, with the legalization of recreational drugs, instead of dealing with our problems head on, we’re too busy escaping them and drowning out our “sorrows.” We’re rapidly becoming the zombies we once feared.

Everywhere corners are being cut with climate change, the food industry, energy. And instead of focusing on the big problems like pollution from mega factories, or massive deforestation still taking place, we instead think our tiny ecofriendly mandates like recycling and not using straws will solve the greater problems at hand. Meanwhile for generations, the third world steadily crumbles under abject poverty, exploitation, war, famine, disease… But hey, we saved some whales today! The “progress” is almost laughable. It’s like putting a band aid over a bleeding wound that needs stiches.

          The saddest truth of all for me the writer of this piece, is; I am included in this human weakness, this epidemic eroding our world. This is just an epiphany I had and wanted to share with you so that together we can start to build ourselves back up and be truly prepared for when a major disaster finally plagues our world, one that forces us out of our homes and the comforts we’re used to. Will we rise up to the challenge like the heroes in those apocalyptic movies we like to watch, or will we crumble and die and truly become extinct? The ball is in your court.

          Then again, here’s another radical thought: keep living your life the exact same way you currently are living it, and when doom’s day comes, sit back, relax and skip the survival stress by being amongst the first to die. At least it will be swift and your sorrows will indeed be over. YOLO, right?

The Underachiever

          In our world today, youth is glamourized more than anything. People are starting to make history at very young ages: the youngest professor in the world – nine years old, the youngest author – five years old, the youngest artist – eleven months old and so forth. Tech geniuses are practically in diapers these days, people are becoming billionaires in their early 20s… All this makes for a depressing world for the thirty something year old still hustling and striving to make it in this world.

There is this trend currently circulating our universe: ‘anything is possible and achievable with the right mindset.’ And in this social media era, it’s constantly thrown into our feed: rise up early, eat clean, think positively, manifest, and the world is your oyster.

          I’m no stranger to this phenomenon. My perceived perfect day goes as follows: Wake up before the sunrise, have my devotion and pray, do yoga with the rising sun, use the restroom and shower, eat a nutritious breakfast, read some poetry to prepare my soul for the day, then write for hours on my nonfictional works, take a lunch break where I’d eat something light and healthy. Then I’ll resume writing, fiction this time, until evening. Go for a jog, take another shower, eat a healthy dinner whilst watching a good movie or TV show. Then I’ll settle into a good book and read until my early bedtime. Say a little prayer, go to bed and sleep promptly.

          The reality is; this has NEVER happened. If I’m lucky in a good day, I’ll achieve only one or two of those goals. The problem usually starts with the fact that I’ve never been able to fall asleep promptly in my life, especially when I go to bed early. If I’m not dog-tired by the time I lie in bed, I’ll spend hours reveling in my head, and therefore be unable to wake up early. And the days I manage to wake up early, I’d be sure to crash for a long afternoon nap, which will render me drowsy and useless for the rest of the day. And if by some miracle I’m able to get to my computer early enough to write, I’d be sure to spend half my writing time day dreaming and zoning out.

          This used to bother me before, (I’d admit, sometimes it still does). I’d chastise myself harshly for not being disciplined enough, or I’d be so angry with myself by how little I was able to accomplish in a day. But now I know it’s okay, I’m not a robot after all, how should I expect myself to live as one?

          I convinced myself for years that my path to success was clean cut: remain laser focused on writing, and as long as I keep on doing that and putting my stuff out there, I’d be successful. Not true, because life is not linear that way. And for some of us, it just doesn’t work out the way we planned. Especially as an artist, there is no memo or tutorial towards achieving your dreams. The muse isn’t always invoked. But unfortunately for us, our lack of success is often perceived as laziness, as not working hard enough. We don’t have “real jobs” after all. When the hard truth is, in our line of work, hard work often doesn’t pay, as rejection is an inevitable part of the process. And after a while, even the toughest amongst us, gets eroded and beaten down.

          Three times I swore I would never return to live with my mother and three times I have been back, either having fallen on hard times, or faced inevitable setbacks or just simply had nowhere else to go. I never thought in a million years that at thirty two, married and with a baby, I’d be back living at home- that my mother would have to convert her double garage into a room and living room for me and my family, foregoing rent and annexing the tiny cottage next door into the garage home to create more space for us.

          I never thought that my father would have to pay for all my hospital bills, adding not just me but my newborn baby to his health insurance. I never thought I wouldn’t be able to buy even the clothes on my baby’s back; that my parents, family friends and close friends would have to contribute. I never thought I’d operate for nearly a year without a kitchen but would have to wash my dishes and my baby’s feeding bottles in a bathroom sink, right next to the toilet…

          If I reflect any harder on this, I’d cry for weeks, I’d give up on being a writer and return to school to study something else, or get my PhD so I can eventually get tenure at a university, (I still might do that). Point is; being where I currently am in life doesn’t mean I haven’t spent the last couple of years working my butt off. It also doesn’t mean I’ll always be this way. The beauty of the future is, no one knows where it’ll go. And as daunting as that is, it also fills me with hope that things WILL get better.

          Being an underachiever is one of the toughest things one can face, especially for someone that has had all the opportunities I have had: a great education, a chance to study and live abroad, having so much purpose and potential in my youth… I have both a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree. I published my first novel at twenty three and the second one at twenty seven; book sales were minimal at best for both books. I have written, directed and produced seven short films and one feature length film. Most of these, I submitted to every festival I could get my hands on, both big and small, (which cost me a small fortune). Nothing stuck.

I have applied to numerous jobs in my field and have gotten nothing other than internships, most of which were unpaid. I have also written several short stories, novellas and poetry, which I have submitted everywhere and this has only granted me petty cash at best, and minimal recognition. No contracts, no publishing deals… yet.

          So, do I give up? Do I throw in the towel and call it a day? No. I recognize that this is just my life right now. It won’t always be this way. This is just the phase I’m in at the present moment. This too shall pass. I have to keep on grinding despite all my past failures, despite all the time I have spent honing and pushing my works. I have to keep trying even though it seems futile right now, because I have even less time to be creative these days, adhering to the needs and demands of my four month old daughter, of whom I’m her primary caregiver. I can’t give up. I just have to keep keeping on.

So I proudly wear the badge of the underachiever, knowing full well that my present condition is not from a lack of trying, it’s just circumstance. Understanding that in a career like mine, many things are out of my control. Rejection doesn’t mean I am bad at what I do; it simply means my time is yet to come. Somebody in the right avenue to help me is yet to appreciate my work. I know that THAT day will come. And when it does, I’ll be a beacon of hope to other underachievers saying, “If it can happen for someone like her, it can happen for me as well.”

In the meantime, I’m doing all I can; blogging mostly whilst working on my next novel. Practicing gratitude for what I do have, and enjoying watching my baby grow – an opportunity many working mothers do not have. I get to take care of her myself and raise her, without fear that she’s being abused or neglected.

As an underachiever, I’m learning to thrive in my lack of a fixed routine. I instead set tiny daily goals that I achieve at my own time. This has helped me to write at my own pace without any added pressure. I have an infant after all, who lives her life without the constraints of time, night and day are all the same to her, and it’s meaningless to her whether I want to write, or be alone to unwind, or sleep. So I can’t be rigid but pliable, achieving the things I can in a day, and not fretting over the ones I’m unable to achieve. There is always tomorrow. And after all, it’s not about how early you wake up or how late you go to bed, it’s about what you’re doing with your time while you’re awake.

WHY I NEED TO LEAVE NIGERIA

10/30/2020

            In light of all the recent protests, violence and absolute chaos in Nigeria, I kept silent for the longest time because I didn’t know what to say. The topic of ‘What’s wrong with Nigeria?’ has been discussed again and again and again. There are numerous blogs and vlogs about it, covering the topic from every angle, so what more could I possibly say?

          The whole point of the current protests was due to the fact that people are sick and tired of the injustice, and they are finally demanding change from governmental corruption, police brutality, the economy, and the current state of the country. But that’s only part of why I need to leave.

          This month marks exactly one year since I’ve been in Nigeria. Granted 2020 hasn’t really been much of a year, it’s been terrible for everyone. BUT here’s why I can’t stay in Nigeria much longer:

1. The Lethargy.

Nigeria is exhausting. The amount of brain energy it takes to function on a daily basis leaves you with nothing else. It leaves you completely depleted. And sometimes, I believe the country is designed to be this way so the people will be too weak to fight back or do anything about their shitty situations.

          After all, you’re essentially powerless against most of it;  the traffic, the lack of electricity, the lack of water, the constant noise from generators and the busy streets, car horns constantly blasting, the fumes, the dirt, pollution, over population, the heat, the condition of your living spaces, the bad roads, stagnant water, mosquitoes, malaria, typhoid… You are so tired by the end of the day that all you can manage to do is eat, maybe watch some mindless television program like Big Brother or all the silly, overdramatic soap operas on GOTV, and then go to bed. Just to do it again tomorrow, and the day after that, and the day after that…

2. The Lack of Stimulation.

This is especially applicable to the youths. If we’re being honest, there really isn’t much to do in this country on most days, especially if you don’t have money, or a steady/conventional job. If you’re not out on the streets hustling for your daily grind, you’re at home. And because 9 times out of 10, there’s no light and frankly there’s little to do, you’re sleeping, or gisting, or on your phone… point is, you’re not doing anything productive and that’s where the problem lies, it works hand in hand with the lethargy. It’s a cycle; the lack of stimulation leads to no productivity, which leads to lethargy. If you let this go on for too long, you grow fat and lazy, lacking motivation for everything non-pleasure and eventually, even your most precious dreams go out the window.

In the past year that I’ve been here, I’ve spent the bulk of my time in lethargy. I’ve slept more than I’ve ever slept in my entire adult life. I have to wind myself up on a daily basis to do even the things I love. I have to search for energy, daily, to get up and try to achieve at least one thing that day. It’s very depressing. The daily grind, the lack of motivation, the lack of sustainable income because the Naira is so weak and borderline useless, everything you buy is in thousands. So no matter how many hundreds of thousands is in your account, it’s not sustainable unless money is pouring into your account on a frequent basis. And let’s face it; most times in Nigeria the people who’ve got that kind of money are those who stole it, in one form or the other, or extorted it.

The lack of opportunities in this country keeps you down. The lack of money and access to it weighs on you like the whole world on your shoulders. It slowly increases your heart palpitations, constricts your airways, narrowing your mind into tunnel vision, as you slowly realize there’s no love out there for the adult who can’t stand on their own two feet. In Nigeria, there is no governmental aid to fall back on; there’s no welfare, or even a national charity program or organization. There’s no help coming from anywhere if you can’t provide for yourself! With time you convince yourself crime/illegal activity is the only way to make it in this country. All that pressure gradually drives you into a frenzied desperation that ultimately leads you to do anything, and everything, for the money.

It’s been extremely difficult for me to be creative since I’ve been here. It’s hard for me to think, to write, to motivate myself, or even to find the words/ideas in my head because my brain is so exhausted all the time, it wants to sleep all the time to escape my current predicament and to keep me from going insane. This is the main reason I need to leave Nigeria. I fear that one day I’ll wake up and realize I’m 40. Ten years would have gone by and I wouldn’t have achieved a single thing to further my career and life!

The daily grind here leaves you scattered and all over the place, not focused on your actual life or career. It just leaves you in a constant state of anxiety over the future, as worries take over, absolutely crippling you, especially for the young adults who really want to make it in this life. Nigeria just leaves you stressed and confused.

I’m primarily a fiction writer, but how can one write fiction when reality is so intrusive and demanding? So I end up writing about how exhausting Nigeria is, as if we all don’t know that already, and I’m tired of doing that, sick to death of it, in fact.

When I first came out here I was filled with positivity. I had all this righteous energy for change. I had hope. I was an advocate of, “We all can’t leave Nigeria, we must stay and fight, and only then will things improve.” I know better now. Idealism doesn’t work in Nigeria; there’s no room for it because reality is so jarring here, it will suffocate all the hope in you.

Nigeria sucks the life out of you and leaves you an empty shell of your former self. Nigeria is quick sand that traps you, and the more determined you are to fight it, the faster it sucks you in, keeping you down permanently until you lose all hopes of escape and just conform. I can’t let that happen to me. I need to leave before it’s too late.

True change can only happen in this country when the people are ready for it; because despite all the protests and violence, and all that has happened in the last few weeks, Nigerians aren’t truly ready for change yet. If they were, things wouldn’t be back to normal. Our normal:

• One by one government officials have come out of hiding and each of them are spinning their own lies on the situation. (No consequences will befall them despite all the evil they’ve done).
• The police are back and empowered, arresting the ‘culprits’ who destroyed property, and set buildings ablaze.
• People are back to suffering.

          Nothing has changed. If anything, things are even worse now. The prices of everything has sky rocketed and people can’t afford shit. All the facilities that at least were helping us are burned to the ground now or destroyed, and God knows if they will ever be rebuilt. And so what was it all for? The country is still broken; evil and corruption still prevails. What did it all achieve, the massacre, the deaths? Nothing, absolutely nothing!

Many of the greats activists of our history have protested, marched, led revolutions; and one by one they all died and Nigeria remains the same. As much as I respect those people and admire the faith they had in their cause, and their resilience, I cannot be a martyr for Nigeria. She is and will always be my country, yes, and I have love for her, sometimes, but unfortunately she has proven to me, over and over, that she’s not worth the stress and headache. She’s not worth dying for, because if you lose your life over Nigeria, not only will she immediately forget you, she’ll spit on your grave by remaining exactly the same. And your sacrifice would have been for nothing.

‘No condition is permanent,’ it’s a saying we have here. And to be honest, that’s the only hope we have that things won’t always be this way. This is just the phase we are in, one day, things will be different. I honestly believe that. But in the meantime I will move on with my life. At least the only good thing Nigeria has given me is love. I found the love of my life here, after searching for decades abroad, for this I’ll always be grateful. And that’s all I can say to the Nigerian readers of this blog, hold on fast to your loved ones. Never let love go, because at the end of the day, it’s the only tangible thing you have in this country.

We need to love and support each other instead of fighting, it’s what the government wants; to keep us fighting against each other and not to have a united front. That’s the only way they can continue to rule us with their corruption; they don’t have the power, we do! If we can put aside our differences, Hausa, Yoruba, Igbo, Muslim, Christian, old, young, men, women… and just come together as one: Nigerians, we can overcome anything in our path, especially the corruption that has plagued us since this country’s conception.

THE NIGERIAN PARADOX

There is a certain pride that comes with being from a particular country, whatever the country may be. No matter the minutiae or current circumstances surrounding the country, and regardless of its economic status or where it ranks on the world’s list of countries; there is a pride that comes from belonging to a particular place, a sense of belonging to a particular group of people. And it’s no different in Nigeria. It is rich in culture and full of life on so many levels that it would fill up ten blogs just to break it down in detail. Nigerians are generally a happy group of people with a very positive attitude and outlook on life.

          But, the jingoism that takes place in Nigeria is a funny one. ‘Proud to be a Nigerian,’ or ‘Nigeria is a great country!’ And yet we all want to run to every other country on earth, even countries poorer than our own, just to be away from Nigeria. The truth is we know that Nigeria is in a very bad state right now, and that things are not working. Most Nigerians dislike the current climate of the country and the government that rules us, with all its corruption.

Now, Nigerians blame the government for EVERYTHING! And yes, it is true that the government here is very corrupt, this is a known fact that has existed since the 1970s. But the thing is; it’s not just the government that is corrupt. EVERYONE is corrupt in Nigeria, one way or the other. Whether you are a Yahoo boy embezzling millions from innocent victims, or you are the Police (and SARS – the (Special Anti-Robbery Squad) that are worse than the armed robbers they claim to apprehend); you are corrupt because you dupe and cheat people out of their money!

Even the little girl on the street selling groundnuts is corrupt, because she knows a cup of groundnuts costs 70 Naira but yet she’ll start the selling price at 100 Naira so you can bargain it down to 70 Naira, if she’s lucky. And you buying the groundnuts are corrupt as well because even though you’ve agreed to pay 70 Naira, you’ll give her only 60 Naira because you “don’t have the sufficient amount” on you. And because she’s young, desperate and hungry she’ll accept the new price. And you go away feeling good about yourself because you got an excellent deal, ripping her off of 10 Naira. And she’ll go away even happier because the groundnuts are actually 50 Naira a cup.

Even the holy men here are corrupt. Pastors, Imams. Many of them embezzle hundreds of thousands from their congregation, they thwart and pervert the holy books they preach, and instead preach lies to their congregation, using every opportunity they have to take advantage of the most vulnerable among their flock.

This is Nigeria’s main problem: every sector, department, person, is corrupt and accepts this corruption as part of the norm. And because the system is broken and nothing is regulated, corruption thrives very well here. The day to day deeds you do lie on you, there is no excuse. Poverty or not, suffering or not, ethics are ethics.

          The funny thing is, the same government we blame and call evil, we voted them in! And have done so every four years, for the last twenty something years. We vote the same recycled people into power because of a few false hopes and promises, and then we lie to ourselves that this one will be better than the last, knowing full well that is never the case. Even the valueless-ness of the Naira alone is enough to tell you otherwise. This country has been on a steady decline with regression, lack of jobs, and inflation, plunging many into poverty in addition to how stressful life here already is.

          But instead of rising up to fight off the powers that oppress us, we lie back and continue to immerse ourselves in the common lies we propagate, like:

“I’ve not eaten since morning.” “I’m sick.” “I no get shinbaing.”

This is ‘begging for money’ 101. It’s the line everybody uses when they want you to pity them and send them money. The funny thing is, when we hear these lines, we know that more times than not, the person is lying. We know that while they sound desperate, the situation is not that dire. Some probably even had better food than you did for breakfast, but somehow we still send them the money and thereby encourage their begging habits further, along with the begging and receiving culture that already exists in the country.

We enjoy wasting each other’s time with “I’m almost there.” “Turn around, you’ll see me soon.” “I’m stuck in traffic.” Meanwhile you are miles away from the proposed destination or haven’t even left the house. Not considering for one moment how you are wasting the other person’s time, how you have no regard for their plans or their affairs. Because nine times out of ten, you didn’t plan ahead to leave early. You’ve relaxed in the fact that ‘African time’ is the way of life here, abi?

And the worst part is, the same mouth you use to lie, cheat and commit all manners of evil is the same mouth that you use to cry out to God in prayer. You call him your father and lay all your complaints and demands to him, and somehow you think he owes you??

          No one does Religion more than Nigerians; faith, fasting, prayer, you name it, we do it and we are very loud about it. (Both Christians and Muslims). And yet ours is one of the most corrupt nations in the world. We sing of the respect we have for our God and for each other and yet human life means nothing here. We rob, kill and hate on each other based on greed, our tribes, and religions, and somehow we think that praying over all our problems, and over Nigeria as a whole, and never lifting a finger to evoke even the tiniest bit of change, will solve anything? Wake up! Calling on God alone won’t help you or anyone, it won’t solve a single problem. Or haven’t you heard: “Heaven helps those who help themselves?”

Does God even love Nigeria? I can’t help but wonder at times. When it comes to the millions of church-going Nigerians, how many actually listen to the word and take in what it says? And yet every Sunday we are all in church, dressed in our Sunday’s best, judging all the ‘heathens’ who don’t go to church. It’s fascinating and sad. Now God can be found almost everywhere, but unless something fundamentally changes soon, I’m unsure he can be found in most Nigerian churches.

And on top of our twisted notions of religion and faith, Nigerians are too superstitious! Beliefs are often spewed out as facts. Them say, them say. Never an eye witness to the things you so strongly believe in. Even though we clearly live in a physical world Nigerians choose to see the spiritual in everything; someone dies, instead of doing an autopsy to determine what killed them. Nah, it’s village people that spiritually attacked them. Someone walks into a forest and doesn’t return, instead of thinking maybe a snake bit him or an animal took him, or perhaps bandits got to him, OR he’s still lost! No, no, no, it was evil spirits that took him. And so on and so forth. It’s borderline psychotic at times.

          One evening, a woman comfortably narrated to me how she ran over her dog on purpose. Apparently, it was a ‘local’ dog and it had a knack for bolting out the gate whenever it was open (as dogs often do), and it would be gone for hours (as local dogs often do). On this day, she drove out the gate and unknowingly to her, the dog had been following her a while. She paused at a red light, and when the light turned green she noticed the dog standing in front of her car. She was about to hit the brakes when a voice said to her, “you will have an accident and die if you hit the brakes.” She realized in that moment, she said, that the dog had been sent to her and that it was either the dog or her. And so she stepped on the accelerator and ran over her own dog.

          I asked her if it didn’t occur to her that the reason the dog followed her was because she was its owner and it knew her. She said, “No, I know what I’m talking about, they had sent that dog to me.” Who’s they? I often wonder. I could see she felt no regret or remorse over what she had done. I could also see it wasn’t her first time sharing the story, she felt justified in what she had done just by her sheer belief.

          I wasn’t even mad at her, I just felt sad, for the dog and for other animals, and people at the mercy of such senseless, unnecessary cruelty. I felt sad for people like her who don’t know any better, despite having received a formal education and being well traveled, in her case. It begs the question, how can you see the world and yet take none of it in you? How can you still remain ‘bush’ after all your life experiences?? It’s very sad to say the least. Especially that such a person prays fervently every day, goes to church every Sunday and believes that they are a good person whom God loves, listens to, and forgives their every sin.

Nigerian culture innately propagates violence. A while back, an ‘older’ man said to me, because I wouldn’t budge to his cajoling and do what he said, he said: “Don’t let me slap you o.” I responded, “O-kay.” Now, I wasn’t upset, angry or even scared of getting slapped, no. Because I know it was just a Nigerian thing to say. “I’ll slap you,” we say in a friendly tone, to a friend or someone we are comfortable with. “I go beat you o.” “Make I no vex slap you.”

          Why?

          How is casually suggesting violence an okay and normal thing? Is it because we expect it? After al,l we are used to being beaten from our childhood, by our parents, by our teachers in school, by our seniors, by strangers etc.

          It doesn’t make it okay though. Because even though we laugh about it, and our culture teaches us to down play it, believe it or not, it affects us all in one way or another, trickling down to even our animals. (Dogs in Nigeria (and other third world countries to be honest) are generally more aggressive than dogs in the first world, the U.S. for example). That’s simply because over there, there is a general dog culture. Dogs over there are used to taking walks and interacting with other humans, dogs and pets, generally.

          While here, they are often chained up, treated as ‘guard dogs’, they typically see no one except the family they guard and their few close friends that come over to the house. And, they are often maltreated, unloved, underfed, and no one in the household typically plays with them. All these build up aggression in the animal and eventually leads to violence. Dogs also learn from people and if the people around them are violent… well, the rest is history.

          If we shun all types of violence, starting with our speech, it would do the country as a whole, better in the long run. We are too aggressive, even casually. We talk to each other anyhow and for a country that’s very showy on the great respect we have for our elders, we have zero respect for each other, in the way we treat each other and the way we talk to each other, especially when the person is perceived to be ‘beneath us,’ like beggars for example. It especially breaks my heart when I see how the poor ‘helpers’ e.g. house helps, gate men etc. are treated by their bosses. It’s just plain awful. It’s inhuman at times.

The reason it’s like this sometimes is because most Nigerians live for the show and for appearances. They put too much emphasis on it. “It’s all about packaging,” they say. I may not have eaten today because I don’t have a Kobo in my bank account but I’ll be damned if I don’t wear my snazziest outfit just to walk down the street to buy a loaf of bread.

Packaging. It’s part of what’s killing us. Now I’m not saying you should live and look like a pauper (even if you are one), no. But tell me now, what’s the wisdom in dashing a gate man, who has a job (you don’t), 200 Naira when you only have 300 Naira and part of it is your transport? Or how can you squander 300K in less than a month, when there were no emergencies or pressing issues, and say, “That’s money, it always goes.” No it doesn’t, if you spend it well. Eating meals or buying drinks of 10-15K in one sitting, when you’re not earning anything is spending your money uselessly. There is zero wisdom to a lot of the things young people, especially, do.

Why do we care so much about physical appearances and nothing more? We all want to be big men and women with all the wealth and power in the world, without even wanting to lift a finger in an attempt to change anything. But instead we complain day and night and lazily do nothing about anything. While we drive big cars we can’t afford, or wear clothes we have literally emptied our bank accounts to buy, and walk through the streets in the latest designer shoes that instantly get buried in mud or soaked up in stagnant rain water because the roads are so run down and lack serious maintenance.

Where exactly is the sense in any of this? What is your flashiness for? Just to show that you are doing well when in actuality you are far from it. Can’t you see that it’s utter rubbish?!

  “I want to enjoy my life,” so you order a chicken of 2,500 Naira that you know you don’t have in your bank account, but it’s no problem, your entitled self will just expect the friend you are with, or whoever, to pay for you, without any thought of what might be in their own back account, and this is absolutely normal to you? In your mind, you have arrived, you’ve gone out and eaten beta chicken and drank malt, and shamelessly eaten to your fill on somebody else’s bank account and budget. And some people think this is their birthright. They fight you when you speak out against it, they call you greedy and selfish (aka-gum) without seeing that they themselves are leeches.

Who are you deceiving? You’re just being delusional. Cut your coat according to your size. It’s not hard. Stop leeching off of others; it gives you no self-respect!

And I swear to God I will blow my top off, if another woman pushes her “You should buy a girdle” or “You should buy a wig,” agenda on me. You don’t need those things to be beautiful! You are beautiful the way you are, with your God given African hair! You don’t need Eurocentric ideologies to be beautiful, this is 2020 for crying out loud. And if you don’t have a flat tummy, you don’t have a flat tummy, embrace yourself and flaunt it. You don’t owe anyone shit! Be happy with the way you are, and if you’re not, then do something about it!

Now, I understand that because of the bad state of the economy the country has turned people into hungry hustlers, who will get their fill from anywhere, any source. But the reason we are too money hungry is due to our need to appear perfect all the time. It is due to our entitlement. The average Nigerian is so fucking entitled and it’s sick!

The world should empathize with Nigeria though, and here is why: In Nigeria the suffering is so intense, unfathomable and incomprehensible, it is no wonder Nigerians run away to other countries, it is no wonder they engage in crime and corruption. When you live in a country where your government does absolutely nothing for you, and you weren’t born with even a metal spoon in your mouth, you do whatever you can to get the money, you do what you can to hustle and survive. Yes, it doesn’t justify bad behavior but it most definitely explains its existence.

Most Nigerians long for the day they get another country’s citizenship. Even if it’s a tiny country that most haven’t heard about. A country far poorer than Nigeria itself. The reason is, Nigeria has such a bad rep in most countries around the world and it’s heartbreaking for all the upright people who have done nothing to contribute to that reputation. And because Nigerians travel a lot, they have such a definite presence around the world which is one that often draws negative attention to itself. And, as foreigners in most countries, Nigerians have more than filled up their quota.

Many Nigerians would just love to slip in under the radar and live the authentic life that they crave, in a stable environment that allows their talents to thrive. An environment that encourages and brings forth their creativity, and appreciates them for who they are on the inside. Most Nigerians don’t know what that’s like because this country suppresses you, frustrates you, and kills your dreams. And most times the only options of truly making it is either to leave Nigeria or to descend into the murk of crime and corruption, and most Nigerians choose the former, or some, a crass combination of the two.

Now, I do not write all these to mock my fellow citizens, to condemn my country as a whole or because I delight in airing out Nigeria’s dirty laundry. No. I write with such passion because I care. I know we can do better as a nation. This country is too rich, too educated, too enlightened to still be in the dark ages. (Seriously, how is electricity still a problem in this era?) We just need to believe in ourselves and in the power of unity. And most importantly, we need to shed off all the aforementioned things that hold us back and contribute to why our nation remains this way.

The pressure to make it, at all costs, is the driving force of most Nigerians; it’s the paradox we all have to live with, I know. But this does not always have to define us. We can each strive to be better. I know the bad in the country is overwhelming at times and most have no idea where to start fixing the numerous problems this country has.

Start with YOU. You cannot change your country as it is alone, you cannot change the minds of your fellow citizens, but you can change yourself and the thread of corruption that was sown in you. You may not be able to fix all the bad roads, for instance, but you can fix the road on your street. And if everybody thought and did like this, before you know it, the entire country wouldn’t look so bad. After all, like the great Nigerian writer, Ken Tsaro-Wiwa, said in the last stanza of his poem, ‘Little:’

Little deeds of kindness

Little words of love

Make this earth an Eden

Like the heaven above.

SOMETIMES, I HATE MY IDENTITY

          Most of the time I feel small, tiny, insignificant, because of my race, gender, culture and especially because of the country I was born into, the continent on which my birth took place. Sometimes I resent my parents for birthing me here. And yet I know it’s no one’s fault, except maybe the ‘creators’ of the world as it is. Those who created the ‘rules,’ and exploited others to make themselves great, the veto powers, the makers and enforcers of international laws. It’s all bullshit!        

It is part of the reason I feel most awful when I travel; the passport I carry means I get to be discriminated against. And not the kind of discrimination that an Alt Right might show a person of color, but the subtle ‘these are just our rules,’ ‘this is just the way we do things’ type of discrimination. It is all very offensive.

          I’ve always been the type of person who notices small things, insignificant things, like how whenever I’m travelling to an African country, my gate is always located at the shitty parts of the airport. I notice how I am treated when I hand over my passport. Suddenly the rules change and I am scrutinized, more often than not. I don’t want to care or analyze these things but I can’t help it. I get angry and upset and deeply unhappy.

          There comes a time in every foreigner’s life when they decide, enough of the bullshit, I know my self-worth and cannot continue to endure these circumstances. They become homesick and long for a simpler time in their lives when they didn’t have to worry about visas and navigating worlds that aren’t your home, a time when they didn’t need to speak slowly or explain themselves or even break down their very name into pronounceable syllables so others can comprehend their very being. They are sick and tired of being the ‘other.’ And so they return home for some peace of mind and for the comfort of the familiar.

          The first couple of weeks are fun and exciting as you indulge in all the foods and joys your country has to offer. As you re-assimilate yourself with your culture, or at least try to.

          A while back I learned of a term, Third Country National (TCN). It’s a person who lives and works in a country that isn’t their home country. (In my case, even my ‘home country’ isn’t my country of birth). The term can also be used to refer to a person who hasn’t lived in their own country for so long that when they return they no longer fit in. It is also especially difficult for the individual because they can never fully belong, not to the country they have been living in, by the share fact that they are a foreigner there, and not to their country of birth because they have been gone for so long that they no longer remember/accept their culture as normal, and they cannot slide back in. So they now belong nowhere, like a person without a shadow of their former self.

          As the weeks stretch to months, you remember why you left in the first place. You are from a third world country after all, so goodbye to all the comforts and conveniences you have become accustomed to. Your new found accent that used to delight others only now highlights how much you’ve changed and how much farther the country has moved on without you. No matter how experienced you think you are, you are now a novice, someone to be cheated, someone who needs to be protected from harm and evil. And you resent it all; your culture, your traditions, the way of life your ‘people’ choose to live every single day. For they don’t hear the things you say, they don’t see your reason. All they say is, ‘things like that can’t work here,’ or ‘go back to where you came from for peace of mind.’

Nigeria is my country of birth, and I have love and empathy for it for many reasons but especially because of the amount of suffering that exists within its borders. And even though sometimes I even feel a tiny bit of pride for Nigeria in some particular areas, I actually don’t like Nigeria. The longer I live here, I realize I actually do not like my country of birth. Sometimes so much so that I feel like needles are pricking my skin and I want to flee with the wind, out of here as soon as possible.

This country is designed to be pathetic, so that all who are able and willing to, will leave, and no one of substance, who can evoke change, will remain here. And through all the brokenness evil and corruption will prevail as usual; the rich will keep getting richer through fraudulent means, politicians can continue their sickness and lies without no one ever challenging them, ever! And disorder and disarray can continue to erode at whatever beauty and purity is left, as things continue to degenerate until God knows when.

I don’t like our culture, our way of life, our mindset, our jingoism despite the country being shit, our self-worth found in religion, our self-righteousness. I find it all very irritating. But before you close this page, I urge you to suppress that surge of anger you feel, put aside your pride and that “Nigeria is the best country” attitude, and hear me out. Don’t you see that this is our fundamental problem? If you like something too much and hold onto it, nothing will ever change. So why do we praise this country to the skies and yet complain and complain and complain about its shortcomings.

When they say one about Nigeria, you’ll say ten in her defense and argue with your life about how great Nigeria is, and yet you don’t have a job, or your job pays you next to nothing, you haven’t had light in weeks or your light is very unstable; and, you have been fetching water for months now. You are stressed, forced to squeeze yourself into stuffy, grossly over-crowded buses, stuck in traffic for hours in the terrible heat of this country. And yet you defend this country to the tooth and nail.

If a Nigerian wakes up one morning and without any prompting or backing facts, decides that Murtala Muhammed Airport is the best international airport on the planet, even if they’ve never left the country or seen pictures of other international airports, they will die on that topic and it’s the most ridiculous thing. Many Nigerians just love to argue pointlessly, and many are loud and irritating about it. It only just highlights the person’s ignorance.

Don’t you understand? By not defending Nigeria blindly, you’ll be able to see more clearly that a lot of the daily occurrences in your life are wrong, and should not be happening, especially in a country as rich and as educated as ours. Think about it.

Nigerians love enjoyment but at their core, they don’t value ‘the good life’ that’s why bare necessities like electricity and water are still a problem. If they valued having it, they would have it. Nigerians are too used to hardship, it’s what’s crippling us. People don’t care, they just do what works for them without thinking for a moment what it does to others.

Nigeria sucks the life out of you. It is extremely difficult to remain hopeful here or to achieve things; the country doesn’t let you. It instead frustrates the life out of you, and especially does all it can to keep you down until you’re utterly defeated with no hopes of achieving your dreams. So you either give up or resign yourself to God and/or fate, or you run away to another country that will value you and your talents. Or, you resort to evil and corruption so you can achieve those dreams.

For the vast majority in current Nigeria, it is near impossible to be successful legally, and it’s impossible to be filthy rich without getting your hands a little dirty. Quote me on that.

And you would think, with all these, change must be inevitable. Except that Nigeria changing is inconceivable because people here are too disorganized to unite and make sustainable change, or demand it from the government. Most cannot even come together on tiny things like fixing the giant potholes that riddle their neighborhood street. They would rather complain daily and wait for the government that we all know doesn’t give two shits about even the major problems, much less the hole in your street.

They’ll rather ‘rely’ on these people than take a little money out of their pockets to try and fix the problem. Yes, it’s not our job but it is a necessity. Unless of course, it really doesn’t matter to them and they are secretly okay damaging their cars daily, and kissing goodbye to peace of mind and sanity by continuously dodging potholes every single day, for the rest of their waking days.

The amount of time and brain energy it takes you to function daily in Nigeria, is enough to exhaust you for a lifetime. Once you spend a day going through traffic, in the heat, returning home to no electricity, or water, to mosquitoes biting your flesh, and to the constant noisiness of the country… the amount of stress that comes upon you; being unable to shower, or flush the toilet after use, or wash the dirty dishes in the sink. It demoralizes you. You won’t be able to focus on your art or calling and be creative, because you are way too stressed to function.

It is impossible to emulate the life you had abroad here, even just a little bit. (Unless you are filthy rich). Nigeria is so stressful and merciless that only the strong and ferocious can survive here, in Lagos especially, or it will chew and spit you out.

The worst fate is to have left Nigeria for so long without having other options outside of Nigeria, but being forced to return to the putrid mess you thought you had left behind, the disarray you were sure you’d never ever return to. And now you’re forced to confront this painful reality and call it home.

I’m only in love with Nigeria from the luxury of being far away. Nigeria is black water that sucks you in. The suffering, the pain, the mess is all too much! Sometimes you feel like if you don’t numb yourself to it all, you’ll run mad or die. So you create a haven for yourself, your niche, and fill it with nice and pretty things. You surround yourself with people you love and people who distract you from the emptiness and meaninglessness of this life we are all living.

And we survive, and we go on, and we keep on keeping on. And all the while nothing ever changes, positively. Our country continues to degenerate. And we cry out louder to God to reach down from heaven and save us. But that’s not how God works. Or haven’t you heard: ‘Heaven helps those who help themselves?’ Which I used to think meant, if God sees your efforts, He helps you. Now it seems more like, ‘If you truly, truly want help. Help yourself!

The only thing that keeps me going here on most days, no matter how disappointed in my country I am, is that the sky is the same everywhere. It looks the same and feels the same, and that is very comforting. Even though down below is filled with filth, abject poverty, and all manners of evil, high up above there is beauty, calmness, peace and serenity, there is hope for a brighter tomorrow. And that grounds me when I feel myself slipping away, when I feel the bounds of sanity escaping me. I remember that nothing is forever, even the current terrible state of Nigeria.

Modern Day Unorthodox Christianity

“God is the same, yesterday, today and forever. He never changes,” the old adage says. True. And yet somehow he created a world that is full of constant change. If we are created in the image of God, after his likeness, and we are designed to change, right from our birth till the day we die of old age (hopefully), the only constant in our lives is change, so how can we think that the way God relates to us will not change?

One of the privileges of travelling around the world is seeing the differences between people; their culture, traditions, way of life, and yes, religion. Christianity to be specific, for those that practice it. For instance, if a culture believes that wearing trousers is strictly men’s clothing and not women’s, then it is also enforced in the church. If wearing hats or head ties are a part of a culture, it exists in the church (regardless of what the Bible says about it). If the culture literally doesn’t care about the distinction in clothing, well neither will the church members of that culture. So at the end of the day, who is right and who is wrong?

Absolutely no one! We are all just doing what we’re doing according to our perspective; the lenses through which we see the world. That is why there are so many different Christian denominations: Catholic, Baptist, Pentecostal, Church of Christ, Mormon, Jehovah’s Witness etc. Even though these denominations are vastly different from each other, somehow they all claim to read the exact same Bible (or something close to it) and profess the same faith.

Even within the same denomination, churches within it vary; like in the Baptist denomination for example, there are evangelical Baptist churches, radical Baptist church, new age Baptist churches etc. all preaching from the same Bible, believing in the same God.

Do we ever wonder what God thinks? Many of us don’t feel like we need to wonder because we think we already know. “The Bible says…” we declare, but do we really know? As in really, really know??

I will remind you that the Bible has so many different translations, King James, New King James, NIV, Good News… and more modern translations like The Message and Word on the Street etc. Not to mention that the Bible exists in virtually every language on the planet. And believe me, each of these translations are quite different from each other. Yes, we can claim that they mean the exact same thing, but do they really? Read again, like really read between the lines without panel beating anything, and tell me honestly, are they saying the same things?

No, they are not. Because language changes over time. The same way nobody now speaks Shakespearean or Elizabethan English, is the same way, 300 years from now, no one will be speaking the way we do. I bet you, they will barely even understand us and our literature and way of life. So how can we truly expect Biblical things not to change in application to this day and age?

Yes, some principles the Bible teaches can still apply to modern day living, principles that speak to general morality; don’t lie, don’t steal, be kind to the poor etc. But if we’re being honest with ourselves, the more nuance parts of the Bible, a lot of it doesn’t exactly apply anymore. For example, we can apply everything God said to the Israelites to us today, but guess what, it’s not applicable because he wasn’t talking to us. He was speaking to a specific group of people at a particular time, in a particular place of their lives, so why do we preach it in churches and claim it still applies?

Now, the main problem is, the Bible isn’t one book, it’s a collection of 66 books, written by 44 different people, over a period of about 10,000 years, and because of this, it contradicts itself more than once. And that is understandable.

Just a few years ago, for instance, we were taught that eating too much eggs can cause high cholesterol, and now we are told, it does not, because it’s good cholesterol that can’t harm us. Now, were they wrong back then? Yes and no. Yes, because now with science and technology we can test things better and prove things further. No, because at that time they honestly, genuinely thought they were right.

The same goes for the Bible, humanity changed over the period of time it took for the books to be written, gathered, printed and reprinted. And because of this, it begs the question, how relevant today is a lot of the written word and how much of it should we apply to our lives today, as opposed to just seeing it as speaking to a specific people at a specific time, and not to humanity as a whole?

For instance most ‘Christian’ men, especially, LOVE quoting passages like 1 Timothy 2:12 that says that women must be silent in humility and not have authority over men. Men like these love these passages, heck, churches like the Church of Christ denomination was founded on such principles, whereby men do everything at their churches and women do nothing. They don’t lead prayers or the singing, they can’t serve as ushers at the door, or collect the offering, or even hold any sort of office in the such like Secretary or Account (even if that’s their job in real life). Women can’t do any single thing at their churches, not because they’re not spiritual qualified or equipped to, no, no, no, it’s just because they don’t have an appendage dangling between their legs. For such denominations, even if the man is the worse sinner behind closed doors, it doesn’t matter, he is a man and so by just that mere fact he is above the women.

This passage has been misquoted and misused, over and over and over again for the abuse and suppression of women, in their homes and in their churches. God who created us, men and women, from the same substance, who gave us the same brain and everything that entails to function and live as a human being on this earth somehow made women lower? Where in the Bible does Jesus say that women are lower than men??

Paul, who wrote 13 books in the Bible, went on to say it is because the woman sinned first… well, Adam was right there with Eve when she ate the forbidden fruit, he didn’t stop her. He also ate it as soon as she did, so he wasn’t that much wiser either, or else he won’t have eaten it at all. And God in his infinite wisdom punished them both.

Right here, you might feel the immediate urge to quote Genesis 3:16 which outline’s Eve’s curse, part of it states that ‘the woman will be subjected to her husband,’ in the GNB version. But check this out, the terms grow progressively harsher in some translations: ‘He must rule over you’ (TLV), ‘He shall be your master’ (TLB), ‘He shall be Lord over thee’ (WYC), ‘He will dominate you’ (ISV)…

And check this, the terms are even softer in other translations: ‘He will be responsible for you’ (AMP), ‘You will want to please your husband but he will lord it over you’ (The Message)… So as you can see, depending on your version of the Bible, you can use it to justify the degree at which women are dominated and subjected by their husbands, right?

Wrong! One, it was God’s punishment to her, nowhere does it say it should be enforced by man. Two, it was specifically for Eve and not for women as a whole, because after all, there are countless of unmarried women, some of whom will never get married, who are they ‘subjected’ to then??

Back to Paul, ever wonder that maybe Paul was just a man of his own era with the same perspective that most of the men back then had? Remember, he was a Biblical Jew. And back then, Jewish men didn’t even speak to their wives in public, much less see them as equals, are those really the principles we should be bringing into this day and age?

And maybe, just maybe, Paul was speaking to the specific women at Timothy’s church! After all, he wrote the letter to Timothy, concerning the issues taking place at Timothy’s church. Nothing in the passage suggests that he was talking to any other women outside those New Testament churches.

I had a Pastor who said, when it comes to dealing with things of the Bible, the three most important things to keep in mind are: Context! Context!! CONTEXT!!! The Bible isn’t to be read in parts but as a whole. It is not to be applied to places where it wasn’t written to be applied to.

And even if somehow, someone out there proves my theory wrong, all I know is, Jesus talked to women, he treated them equally and elevated them to heights that people of that era never did. Jesus is God and he came to undo all the curses that sin had brought to our lives, to bridge the gap between God and us, so why on earth do we think the curse of Eve still applies to all women today??

Whatever the meaning is behind passages like these, I am sick to death of men, especially, quoting this scripture to women as a way of suppressing them because they are threatened by them. I am sick of deprecating women, preaching it to themselves and to other women; teaching these wrong messages to young girls and boys and thus continuing the cycle of the inferiority complex based on gender. It’s wrong and frankly disgusting.

Whenever you feel the need to throw such passages at a women why not throw these passages at yourself instead: John 8:7 ‘He who is without sin cast the first stone.’ Or Matthew 7:5 ‘Remove the log from your own eyes before you remove the spec in another person’s eye.’ Or my absolute favorite: Philippians 2:12 ‘Each person should work out their own salvation with fear and trembling.’ (Not other people’s salvation!)

So the next time you feel the need to preach at women and remind them of their place, ‘Biblically’ speaking, remember your own place too: 1 Thessalonians 4:11 ‘Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life and to mind your own business…’ See, any part of the Bible can be isolated, taken out of context and weaponized.

All this does is drive people away from God and repel them from the faith. That’s why Christianity is so polarizing today. Because many Christians are self-righteous, judgmental and frankly very off putting, not an accurate representation of what a Christ follower should be like, which is to be filled with love and acceptance, which was how Christ was when he walked on the earth. He hung out with prostitutes and tax collectors, sinners, people considered the lowest of the low. He dined with them, befriended them and ministered to them, because after all, like he said, ‘It is not the healthy who need the doctor but the sick.’ Mark 2:17. And the world is full of sickness that we need to be healing as opposed to judging and condemning those people.

This is why I can’t stomach conventional Christianity anymore. It breeds hypocrisy because people are held to impossible standards that Jesus never asked any human being to endure. Matthew 11:30 says, ‘My yoke is easy and my burden is light.’ So you that fasts for forty days and forty night(ish), and you that has never fasted a day in your Christian life are the same in the eyes of God. You that gets slain in the spirit and speak in tongues during every single prayer, and you that won’t be caught dead doing all that, are the same in the eyes of God because at the end of the day, he doesn’t care about any of that. All he cares about is that your heart is pure. ‘Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God.’ Matthew 5:8

So for those of you that love to judge and throw up your noses because you don’t wear makeup, or relax and style your hair, and for some crazy reason you think that makes you more ‘Christian’ than those that do, well as you roll your proud eyes and engage in all manner of secret depravity, keep in mind the six things that the Lord hates, and the seven things that are an abomination to him, (Proverbs 6:16-19), and realize that you are doing just that, which will land you in the same hell that you verbally and internally condemn others to.

 God does not care about that stuff. He cares that you love him, believe in him, love your neighbors as you love yourself and be kind to the poor. Nothing more! So if you like, grow your dreadlocks until it sweeps the floor, paint your face until it scares the neighborhood cats, it does not matter in the eyes of God!

Modern Day Unorthodox Christianity is Christianity that recognizes that most of the things associated with the faith at large have very little to do with God or what he expects of us, but a lot to do with the yokes and bondage humanity loves putting on themselves. God does not care about the mundane, he is eternal and outside of time. ‘A thousand years to us are like a day to the Lord’ (2 Peter 3:8), so we can’t expect that he cares if you have no piercings, one tiny piercing on either of your ears, or, 36 piercings! (Piercings aren’t even directly mentioned in the Bible). It’s your life, it’s your choice. It doesn’t matter in the grand scheme of your life and eternity. God does not care!

Understanding these facts fully well, this practice enables the individual to worship and honor God in a way that works for them, without conventional Christian views posing as a hindrance, like ‘you must read your Bible every morning,’ ‘you must pray at least an hour every day,’ ‘you must go to church…’ No, not unless you want to.

Sure, the Bible says Iron sharpens iron. Well if you’ve found said iron, good for you, and if you haven’t, or aren’t in a place to ever find what you need? I’d wager it’s about time you sharpen your own iron.

The Lord made us each to be unique, he fashioned our DNA so specifically that we were designed to be unique. Why do we now think he relates to us all on the same level? After all, the way he related to Abraham, wasn’t the way he related to Moses. The way he related to David was definitely not the same way he related to Jonah. He knows us intimately. He made us specifically. We are his children and he is our father so just like siblings have a different relationship with their parents, that’s the way we each relate to God, differently. We relate to him in the way that works for us, and there is nothing wrong with that.

If you feel more connected to God singing spiritual songs more than you do praying because you can’t concentrate, there is nothing wrong with you or that. Relate to God that way. If you can read the Bible for days but cannot meditate even if you’re paid to, enjoy your reading! God speaks and is always speaking, whether we choose to listen or not. If he wants something made known to you, it will be made known, by a circumstance, by the words of another person etc. It is not only by praying for 2 hours that the Lord will hear you. His ears are wider than the vastest ocean, he can hear you whether you pray out loud or wish it in the depths of your heart. He hears as long as you earnestly speak, however way you can.

Lastly, Modern Day Unorthodox Christianity takes away the stress of ‘Am I going to heaven?’ Have you given your life to Christ? Yes. Do you love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength? Yes. Do you try your best to love your neighbor as you love yourself? Yes. Do you try your absolute best not to sin, like a sheep when it falls into mud, it immediately jumps out and shakes itself off, as opposed to a pig who lies there in the mud and wallows in it?’ Yes. Then you are good to go, heaven goer!

     Shake away all the nonsense we’ve been taught. God doesn’t care about the mundane but about the quality and genuineness of your heart, and your love for him and for humanity.