PM NEWS
Grammy-winning gospel artiste Kirk Franklin has criticized the way Western Christianity has weaponized concepts such as marriage, giving, and sexuality.
Speaking on the ‘Funky Friday’ podcast, Franklin expressed concern that these concepts have been distorted, leading many to follow human-made doctrines rather than divine will.
Franklin noted that the misuse of these concepts has led to issues such as the exclusion of single individuals from church ministries based on their marital status.
He revealed how societal and familial pressures often make people feel that being single or childless diminishes their value and identity.
Reflecting on cultural expectations, Franklin stated,
“Any woman listening to this can attest in our culture: ‘Don’t be no 30, 35 single black woman and go to the family reunion.’ All the older women are going to look at you and be like, ‘Why are you not married?’
“It’s like a prerequisite for identity and value. If you don’t have a man or kids, then something about you is broken. Do you understand how dysfunctional these messages are and how we superficialise these messages?
He also criticized the church for enforcing marital status as a prerequisite for ministry roles, causing some to rush into marriage in an attempt to meet perceived religious requirements.
“[Apostle] Paul said that marriage is a necessary distraction. I have many friends that were in ministries in church, and the churches told them, ‘If you’re going to be in ministry, you can’t be single.’ So what people do is, that they quickly get married thinking that they’re fulfilling God’s will for their lives but they’re fulfilling man’s dogma.
