I Know How Hard It Is To Talk About Jesus. It’s The Most Awkward Conversation You’ll Ever Have. If

Thinkin' 'bout International Women's Day

I think it's super cool that we have a day to celebrate women, because any time there is time set aside and designated for a topic, it brings the topic to the forefront of people's minds. And I love celebrating International Women's Day by listening to Nicki and Bey and talking about feminism. A lot of the content I see is rather american-centric, i.e. It deals with feminism in the context of a western society. On *International* Women's Day, I think it's suuuuuuper important to also discuss a broader spectrum of feminism. There are still parts of the world where Female Genital Mutilation is a thing. There are parts of the world where girls are married off to middle aged men in their preteen and early teen years. There are parts of the world where women have chemical burns from acid thrown on them by abusive husbands. There are parts of the world where women cannot go to school. To me, that's what feminism is about. That's what International Women's Day is about. Check out The Girl Effect for more info. They're a cool crowd.

Not because he and I are one, but because we are opposites, I take to me the services which thou hast done to him. For I and he are of such different kinds that no service which is vile can be done to me, and none which is not vile can be done to him. Therefore if any man swear by Tash and keep his oath for the oath’s sake, it is by me that he had truly sworn, though he know it not, and it is I who reward him. And if any man do a cruelty in my name, then, though he says the name Aslan, it is Tash whom he serves and by Tash his deed is accepted.

The Last Battle, C.S.Lewis // in which Aslan represents God and Tash represents the devil.

Okay so. I'm what one might call an evangelical christian. God is my reality - the foundation upon which my life and my identity is built. And it's pure love and joy.

But sometimes, being a christian really sucks. I feel guilty, like all the time. I feel guilty for stuff i do. For stuff i don't do. For stuff i've done. For stuff i haven't done. For who i am. For who i'm not. Sometimes i just feel guilty, just like, in general? No reason. I'm just chillin and feeling guilty without any idea why. I think that is due, in no small part, to my christian upbringing.

And it really fuckin sucks. the story of God's love for humanity is all about redemption and freedom and perfect unity with God themself. but humans' interpretation of that story is like, "wow, we are shitty. we are all so shitty. we're, like, the worst. we have to feel very bad about this and hate ourselves and punish ourselves for this until we die." Like, way to miss the point!?

And then, kids like me grow up in that environment and end up feeling guilty all the time for no reason! It fuckin sucks!!

Thanks for the follow. Blessings!

No prob bro! Thanks for stopping by :) 

Okay I'm real salty here tonight. I AM SO NOT HERE for that weird form of judgment that sounds like pity. You know the one I'm talking about? "Oh, that poor 16 year old girl out drinking with her friends on a Wednesday night. So sad." Yeah, it's freaking heartbreaking. But not when you say it like that! When you say it like that it sounds self-righteous and preachy. It's the same tone you use for those black-baby-poverty-porn commercials. "Tsk tsk, so sad." And you shake your head and go back to your obviously perfect life. My friend, I'm not about that. You know people could have said about me? "Oh that poor girl failed all her courses this semester. So sad." "Oh that poor girl has hooked up with three guys in the span of a month. So sad." And sure, I was going through it. But that superiority-complex pity you're dishing was not gonna help me one bit. That's a way to separate yourself from the person. GRACE DOES NOT ALLOW US TO SEPARATE OURSELVES FROM PEOPLE. Grace puts us face to face with our fellow man and says, "this could be you." And when we see our brothers and sisters stumbling, our reaction should not be "so sad." It should be "hey, how's it going?" Because we have to be there for each other. We have to recognize that when our girls are out drinking and partying and having sex, it's because they feel empty and unloved. It's because no one cared enough about them to tell that they're worth more than that! It's because they don't know that feeling numb isn't actually better than feeling their emotions. Guess who could have told them that? We could have! When our children are struggling, it is because of our failure as a community to care for them. And it is our responsibility to be there for them in whatever they're going through, and to offer them a hand when they trip. Not to stand back and say "so sad."

A Pragmatic and surprisingly comforting perspective about the Trump 2nd Presidency from the ACLU

***Apologies if this is how you found out the 2024 election results***

Blacked out part is my name.

I’m not going to let this make me give up. It’s disheartening, and today I will wallow, probably tomorrow too

AND

I will continue to do my part in my community to spread the activism and promote change for the world I want to live in. I want to change the world AND help with the dishes.

And I won’t let an orange pit stain be what stops me from trying to be better.

A link to donate to the ACLU if able and inclined. I know I am

action.aclu.org

The ACLU is Fighting Back Against Trump

As the Trump administration moves toward the White House, the stakes could never be higher. But the ACLU is ready to fight back! As Presi

Terrorism is terrorism is terrorism is terrorism. Hate is hate is hate. There is no variation in form of terrorism or hate. They exist as independent phenomena - free floating entities. They are darkness and evil and depravity. They cannot have any religious affiliation, because no religion deals in hate. Anyone who truly believes in a higher power also believes in love and grace and compassion and altruism. Terrorists and hate groups worship the powers of hell, not of heaven. So whether it’s Hitler, the KKK, the Westboro Baptist Church, or ISIS, they are not religious organizations. They are hate groups. They are terrorist groups. But never religious organizations.

How do you feel about mormons?

Hello my darling! Please accept my sincerest apologies for the extreme tardiness of this answer. I will not bore you with excuses. Suffice to say, I’m sorry :( Incidentally, I am incredibly inspired to answer this question when I’m supposed to be writing an Ecology essay. Funny how that works, isn’t it? 

Now, to start off: The important thing to remember is that I am approaching this with a completely open mind, as unbiased an attitude as I can get, and an academic curiosity. Whatever your beliefs on the topic of theism, I think that’s just dandy and I find it very interesting. One of my best friends is Muslim, and many of my good friends and atheists, and I’m a Christian and it doesn’t matter. I talked to some Mormons in my research for this answer, and they were super nice! I’m not judging, condemning or criticizing. 

All that being said, obviously, since I’ve chosen Christianity, I think that’s the right choice. That’s the last I’m gonna say about it though. 

Okay, here we go. 

The first question to address when talking about Mormonism is this: are Mormons christians? 

I’m gonna have to go with”no” on that one. :S All the Mormon sources I read said they were, and all the Christian sources I read said they weren’t. Go figure, right? I really wanted an unbiased opinion on this one, so I went to good ol’ BBC. They didn’t really pick a stance. But they did give me an overview of the Mormon articles of faith. Here is some of the stuff I found: -Mormons believe that God is an exalted, perfect man. -Mormons believe that there is more than one God. -Mormons believe that human beings have the potential to become like God.

Right there, right off the bat, if you know anything about Christians and about the Bible they build their doctrine on, you’re gonna see some red flags.

God is not an exalted man. God is God. He always was, and always will be. He is eternal, was never created, and never changes in His nature. 

Hebrews 13:8 - “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever.” John 1:1 - “In the beginning was The Word, and The Word was with God and The Word was with God.” Genesis 1:1 - “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” John 8:58 - “Jesus answered, ‘I tell you the truth - before Abraham was, I AM.’” 1 Corinthians 1:25 - “This foolish plan of God is wiser than the wisest of human plans, and God’s weakness is stronger than the greatest of human strength.” Isaiah 40:28 - “Have you never heard? Have you never understood? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of all the earth. He never grows weak or weary. No one can measure the depths of his understanding.”Psalm 90:2 - “Before the mountains were born, before you gave birth to the earth and the world, from beginning to end, you are God.”

There’s only one God. 

Isaiah 46:9 - “Remember the former things of old; for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me.” Deuteronomy 4:39 - “ Know therefore today, and lay it to your heart, that the Lord is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath; there is no other.” Ephesians 4:6 - “One God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.”2 Samuel 7:22 - “Therefore you are great, O Lord God. For there is none like you, and there is no God besides you, according to all that we have heard with our ears.” Revelation 22:13 - “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.”Humans cannot become like God. We are created by God, for God, and - yes - are made in the image of God, but that simply means that we have souls of spirit, and can go to heaven when we die, but we will never be like the one, the true, the omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent, eternal, infinite God. 

Genesis 2:7 - “Then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.”Ecclesiastes 12:7 - “And the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.”Ephesians 2:8-9 - “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” 

Okay, so don’t you think it’s weird that a religion which claims to be a branch of Christianity possesses a doctrine which in some parts, is in direct opposition of the book which defines Christianity? Especially in some of the most fundamental parts of the faith - the nature of God and the nature of man. There is literally nothing else more integral to the Christian worldview than those two things. 

To ask “if God created the world, who created God?” is almost an oxymoronic question, because if God created the world, I don’t think it’s necessary for someone to have created Him. We fall so often into the trap of thinking about God in terms of our teeny tiny natural existence. We live in a universe defined by space and time, where everything has a beginning and a cause. But that’s because the very fabric of space and time itself was woven by a God who is entirely outside of space and time. Therefore, everything that exists is made by God, is of God, and could not exist without God. The periodic table of elements, the universe, light, heat, thought, existence itself is maintained by God. He. Is. Everything.  So how could you imagine that He previously existed as a man? Or that man could become like Him? Man would not be apart from Him. If you accept the very concept of GOD, you must accept also that He is the original, fundamental being, and that He is not a part of our universe, our universe is a part of Him. Trippy, I know. I’m just saying all this so that you get the scope of how drastically Mormon doctrine differs from what we’ll call “mainstream” Christianity. 

Also, I am severely skeptical of this Joseph Smith guy. 

See, the Book of Mormon happened because Joseph Smith felt that there were too many opposing voices and opinions in the world, and He needed guidance, so he just asked God for guidance, and had a spiritual experience. Now, I am of the belief that even in all things spiritual, one must remain a critical thinker. Here is the first thing I thought about Joseph Smith: “If I am confused about a certain issue and am looking for an answer, the very first place I will go is the Bible”. Come on, are there not equally as many voices and opinions now as there were in 1823? Probably more. And yet, the bible is still relevant and still adequate for any answer I need. So why would I need to go searching for some big ol’ spiritual epiphany when God’s probably just like “I wrote it all down for you! Just read!” ? And spiritual experiences are suuuuuper tricky. I dunno ‘bout you, but when I *think* I hear God’s voice I’m usually like “that’s probably my imagination.” So then I’m like “God, you better hammer this into my head or I’m not gonna believe fosho that it’s you” because I over-think so much. I just think that if this Book of Mormon was legit, it would more widely accepted by biblical scholars.

See, God’s word is unlike any other book you’ve ever encountered. His words have more power than we can imagine. His is the book that has been under attack by dictators for centuries and has never been able to be completely eradicated. It was written in three different languages, on three different continents, by 40 different scribes, over a period of 1600 years and it still has 99% internal consistency on theology and 85% consistency in spelling and punctuation. I think that’s God’s way of showing us that it’s Him. No human could pull that off. And surely a book so old would be lost by now, especially since so many powerful people have tried to destroy all copies. And yet it’s the most widely distributed book in the world. Because it’s unique. It’s divine. It is a supernatural book. And the Book of Mormon just doesn’t measure up. I just feel like if God was really in this, it would be everywhere just like the bible is everywhere, because it would have that same power in its words. But it doesn’t. 

Okay so….in conclusion!!!

I don’t know any mormons personally, but they’re people, so here’s what I know about them for sure: They’re kind and generous and empathetic. They have their strengths and weaknesses. They have their good days and their bad days. They are lovely and God loves them and I love and respect them. 

Here’s what I think about their beliefs: They’re not Christians. I think that they’re something very close, but somewhere it got twisted such that I cannot in good conscience call it Christianity. 

That, however, has no bearing on how I feel about them personally. 

The end! Thanks for tuning into another one of my needlessly-massive answers! 

 Peace and love! -Katherine 

I need to write. I need to breathe again. I'm drowning in my thoughts. Ideas crash like waves over each other, churning in a dizzying vortex of emotion. But how do I start? I can't even tell which way is up anymore. How do I get above the surface? My lungs are filling up with unspoken words and unanswered questions. I need to breathe. But I can't find the air. Is this what they call Writer's Block? Or something else entirely?

What's your opinion on pregnancy outside of marriage?

(To skip all the words, scroll to the bottom where it says “in conclusion”)Let’s start this one straight up. Jesus said to save sex for marriage. That alone is a good enough reason for me, because I think that God prooobably knows what He’s talking about. But that’s just me. However, here are some reasons why I, in my 19-year-old, human, finite wisdom (so much sarcasm) agree with Him:1) Humans are made to be monogamous. It’s true! We’re always looking for ‘that special someone’. If you don’t know Jesus, a meaningful romantic relationship is sometimes the most…spiritual and transcendent experience in your life. And if you do, it’s probably the second-most spiritual and transcendent experience. We have an inherent tendency to be co-dependent, to define ourselves by someone else. Not saying it’s healthy, just saying it’s true. 2) Ergo, there is a lot of psychological and physiological crap that goes along with sex. For example, sex releases oxytocin, known as the “cuddle hormone” which stimulates feelings of well-being and affection for your partner. It strengthens bonds between sexual partners and between mother and breast-feeding child. Besides that, sex is such a high level of intimacy and vulnerability (you are literally surrendering EVERYTHING to the other person) that it has a huuge effect on our psyche. One of my friends had sex with a guy when she was like 15 or 16 and she could not get over the guy for years and years, even though he was an idiot. Up to TWO THIRDS of prostitutes suffer from post traumatic stress disorder! Because we weren’t meant to live like that. I am a firm believer that a girl who has many sexual partners with no meaningful relationships is showing the symptoms of very low self-esteem and a deep and abiding lack of self-respect. 3) And so, I think that such a level of intimacy, that will have such a big effect on your psyche, should only be achieved with someone to whom you have pledge the rest of your life. Because with such a person, you know you trust them. You trust them enough to let them see the real you, all of you, all your strengths and weaknesses. You are already completely vulnerable with them because they see all your flaws and love you anyway, therefore you are free to be physically vulnerable with them as well. And the psychological effects of sex will only strengthen your relationship, which is great! Okay so now we’ve gotten that out of the way. And that’s really the root “issue” here. Not pregnancy per se, but extramarital sex. You only said pregnancy outside of marriage, which is of course NOT synonymous with teen pregnancy, but I’d like to indulge in a little tangent, if you’ll allow me (haha you have no choice :P) and discourse on that subject briefly. Here are a couple more, rather pragmatic reasons why I think teen pregnancy is a bad idea: 1) When you have a baby, you have to care for a whole other entire person! That is a HUUUUGE responsibility, and I’m not saying you’re not ready for it (although I know I’m definitely not), but I am saying that pretty much EVERY SINGLE OTHER THING in your life becomes secondary to this baby. School, work, friends, hobbies, EVERYTHING falls lower on the priority list than this baby. That could really throw a wrench in your future plans. 2) It IS nice for a child to have the stability of two parents whom a) the child actually knows and b) are constant in the child’s life. That would be the ideal case in a perfect world. This world’s far from perfect. I know that’s not always possible. But if it is, I’d suggest that you do that for you child. Try to give them two parents who will always be there for them. Don’t let them wonder who their mommy or daddy is. Don’t let them watch a string of boyfriends or girlfriends go through your life and never stay long enough to form anything more than a superficial relationship with your child. You know that’s gonna haunt them their whole life.Okay moving on! Obvs, I don’t know your life. I don’t know what you’ve been through. I have had a suuuper safe, sheltered life. I’m 19 and still a virgin, and I wear a purity ring which symbolizes my decision to save sex for marriage. Of course, my opinion’s gonna be biased. Furthermore, like I said in my last answer to a question about homosexuality, Jesus loves you! In fact, imma just block quote that whole part of the answer. 

Jesus said that the most important commandment is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength (okay, cool, makes sense) BUUUTTT….the SECOND most important commandment is to love your neighbor as yourself. (Matthew 22:37-39; Mark 12:29-31) And there are entire chapters of the bible devoted entirely to the importance of loving people (1 Corinthians 13) So! Here are the facts: Fact Number 1: Jesus loves you. Like, He really, REALLY loves you. Deeply, passionately, intimately, overwhelmingly. He loves you enough to die for you. He loves you so much that He DESPERATELY wants to have a personal relationship with you - to talk to you, to hear your thoughts and to walk with you through this life. Fact Number 2: I love you. I think that every single person in the world deserves to be loved and deserves to be respected simply due to the fact that you are a person and God made you and loves you. Okay, so now we’ve established that Jesus loves you and I love you, for no other reason than the fact that you’re alive, and no matter what. That cannot be altered, edited, ignored, abated, cancelled out, destroyed or denied. 

So if someone has had sex, or did get pregnant outside of marriage, IN NO WAY does that make them a bad person, or make them unholy, or make God mad at them, or make God (or me) love them any less. You are still a beautiful person, worthy of love! Just because I personally have made different choices in my life than you  does not mean that I disapprove of you or am judging you or think any less or you, or even any differently of you! In fact, if one of my close friends had a baby, I would actually probably be SO happy to be their auntie Katherine. In conclusion, I think sex outside of marriage is a bad idea. But Jesus loves you and I love you even if you have had sex outside of marriage. Peace and love!-KatherineP.S. Just to establish this, I don’t like abortion (since it’s kind of a propos). So now that’s out there. P.P.S. I am loving these questions! Keep them coming!