Latest Posts by depressionanddeconstruction - Page 8

Why worry about pleasing "God" and living your life to his standards instead of living for yourself and fulfilling your dreams and desires? I can't imagine living by someone else's rules and standards for a spot in an afterlife that i'm not even sure exists. I understand how strong faith can be, but why live by God's standards for a potential afterlife instead of living by your own standards now in the definite life you've been given.

As a Christian english geek, I am severely suspicious of your use of quotation marks. Because your entire question, in fact your entire world view, can be summed up by your usage of quotation marks in that question.

First up, do you know this “God” that you condemn to dubious ideology with your intellectually patronizing punctuation? Is “God” a lie or a fairytale to you? Is He a made-up story you tell kids, like Santa Claus or the Easter bunny?

Is He a vague, nebulous idea, filed away in your repertoire of knowledge, to pull off the shelf in time of crisis for some warm fuzzy feelings, like Love, Peace and Destiny? Because if you call Him “God”, it’s no wonder that you “can’t imagine living by someone else’s rules and standards for a spot in an afterlife that [you’re] not even sure exists.” Let me tell you about God. GOD cannot be contained to a cute little pair of quotation marks. GOD cannot be banished to history books and fairy-tales by academic snobs. He’s not just an idea made-up by people to control other people’s behavior. He’s not a historical figure in a book written thousands of years ago. He’s not a story or a religious figure or a symbol of the power in all of us, or a name for the forces of good and evil conflicting in the universe. And He’s not even just “someone else”. See, I don’t worry about pleasing “God”. I have the immense, undeserved blessing of knowing GOD:The architect of space and time. The composer of the stars’ song and the choreographer of the planets’ dance.The sovereign ruler of all that was and is and is to come. The infinite, almighty, omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent, transcendent orchestrator of the universe. He who wove strands of DNA into a person. He who breathes life into our bodies.He who supplies our very power of thought. He who commands the winds and waves to fall silent and they obey. He who can stop the earth spinning on its axis and start it again. He who said “Let there be light” and there was.Because He is light. He is life.He is love. Before you were, or I was, before Jacob was, before Isaac was, before Abraham was, God IS. He always was. Always is. Always will be.All of what we know exists in the mortal world sprang from His imagination.  So I know who He is. And I know that He loves me. Wait…what? He loves me? He loves me! He loves me!!!! I know that He loves me in a crazy, scandalous, outrageous, incomprehensible, all-consuming, unconditional, inclusive, tidal-wave kinda way. Not only that, but as one person out of 7 billion on a planet that is only one millionth the size of the sun. The sun is only a small star among billions of stars in the Milky Way. And the Milky Way is one of hundreds of billions of galaxies in the universe. Okay, so just take a second to grasp the scope of how massive that universe must be. And then stop and try to grasp that the God who created that universe out of His head knows me and you personally. He knows the number of hairs that are on our heads. He pays very particular and very close attention to our lives and knows the intimate details of our hearts. He saw our unformed bodies before we were even a thought in our parents’ minds. He knit together our unformed bodies in our mothers’ wombs. He knew every single second of every single day of our whole entire lives before we were conceived. That’s how important and precious we are to Him. Okay, so not only do I know WHO He is, and HOW MUCH He loves me, I know what He DID. He died. He stepped out of heaven, out of paradise, out of light and love and perfection…into the dirt and dust and disgustingness of our world. Into the rape and the murder and the genocide and the abuse and the poverty and the injustice and the pain and the shame and the guilt and the ugliness and the wretchedness. Why? For all those reasons. For all the crap and the gunk. For all my mistakes. For every time I hurt someone I cared about. For every time I hurt myself. For every time someone else hurt me. For every single careless word we wish we could take back. For every sleepless night ending in shame and guilt and fear. For every panicked feeling of helplessness. For all the bitterness. For all the anger. For all the feelings of worthlessness. For “every daughter whose innocence was stolen by every son who couldn’t help himself” (Jason Gray). For all the fathers, brothers, uncles, cousins and friends who betrayed the trust of a young girl and left her despoiled, abandoned, feeling like garbage. For every affair that shattered a marriage into painful, jagged shards. For every child who was left on the streets because their parents died of AIDS, sniffing an oil-soaked rag to numb the hunger pangs in their stomach. For every child who was abducted in the middle of the night, had addictive opiates ground into cuts on their arms, handed a gun and told to shoot their mothers and brothers and sisters. For every child who was packed into a shipping crate and sent across the ocean like worthless cargo to a brothel where they were assigned a number and put on a menu for people to choose from for their perverse desires. For the thousands tortured and killed in the most inhumane ways by people who thought they superior beings. For every scar on my friend’s arm. For my friends porn addiction. For my friend’s eating disorder. For my pride and arrogance. For your broken heart. GOD, the architect of space and time, transcendent, perfect being, who need not even concern Himself with us, stepped right smack dab into the middle of our colossal mess. And He allowed us to mock Him, whip Him, put a crown of thorns on His head, nail Him to a tree, and let Him suffocate under His own body weight, when He grew too exhausted to lift Himself up to inhale. He could have commanded angels to rescue Him, but He didn’t. He suffered a humiliating, barbaric death and the complete human experience when God the Father turned His back on His son and dumped ALL our sin on His shoulders. So you know that huge list of terrible things I listed back there? That was ALL dumped on Jesus. He felt it ALL. Generations upon generations of pain and hatred and hurt and shame of all humans since the beginning of time and until the end of time stacked on top of each other. More psychological and emotional agony than you or I will experience in an entire lifetime, or even billions of lifetimes. All of it, on Him. Can you imagine the immensity of that soul-wracking Hell on earth? Nope. None of us can. By that point, Jesus was probably BEGGING for that physically-excruciating death. Whose fault is it? Who put Him there? We did. We didn’t mean to. We’re just trying our best. But we don’t really know what we’re doing and we screw up a lot. And we’ve messed up our world, so we can’t go to heaven when we die cause heaven’s perfect and we’re imperfect. But God is like “I know a way. It hurts and it’s terrible and awful and painful but it’s the only way to save these pitiful human creatures that we love so much for no reason other than that we created them.” And Jesus is like “whatever you say, I’ll do it. I love them. I love Katherine and Rebecca and Joshua and Anna and Daniel and Rachel and Kate and Laura and Jessica and Emily and Jonathan and Adam and….” …and all of them. Every person who every existed. Even for a second. Even if they didn’t make it past their mother’s womb. Even if they had no human name, all of our names are written on the palm of His hand. The same hands that took the nails. And so, instead of being bitter or blaming us on that cross, He remembered the names on His hands and He remembered what the nails were for. And He said “Father, forgive them, for they know now what they do.” THEN, not only that! But He went to Hell. Heck yeah, He went to Hell. This is like the Disney Hercules movie for goodness sake! He went to the Devil’s turf, his territory, his playground. And HE TOOK THE FREAKING KEY! He took the key to death. He went and trashed the place! He stole victory from the devil. He conquered life AND death. He broke every chain the devil ever had on us. Then He came back, and now we can live forever with Him in Heaven. My point is that if you’re still putting God in quotation marks, you DON’T understand “how strong faith can be” because you don’t even know what my faith is in. 

If you’re still putting God in quotation marks, you don’t know God. And now that I’ve tried to explain who He is and what He did, it has NOTHING TO DO with “[living] by God’s standards for a potential afterlife instead of living by [my] own standards now in the definite life [I’ve] been given.” I live a life of complete surrender and worship to the God who made me and saved my soul because it’s the ONLY LOGICAL COURSE OF ACTION. If you knew what I know, you would live your life the way I do too. Once I understand what He did for me, I can’t help but pour my whole entire life out as a living sacrifice of praise. Every breath I take, every move I make, every thought I think, every word I say, is only by the grace of God and I am aware of that. I’m just trying to give back all that I can for a debt that I can NEVER EVER repay. So yeah, that’s why I “worry” about pleasing “God”. Ha. Because He’s the only thing in the whole world that matters. Also, the bible says that what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal (2 Corinthians 4:18) so I would say that the afterlife is more definite than this one. If I accept that God is real, I accept that heaven is real, and I accept that He loves me and died for me. Therefore, worship is the natural, instinctive response of this wretched human heart responding to His love and grace. On a side note, from a purely human point of view, living by God’s standards sure as heck hurts myself and other people a lot less. It gives me a moral code that saves me from addiction and heartache. It makes me a kinder, more generous, more compassionate, more loving person. It gives me empathy and a passion for helping the less fortunate. It gives me hope and peace. And it has been scientifically proven to improve my health and extend my life. Why the heck wouldn’t you live life by these standards? They’re awesome! If everybody actually lived by these standards (instead of twisting them through their own corrupt worldview, ahem WBC…), this world would be a beautiful place, and not the terrible place it is today. Jus’ sayin’. ;) To wrap this up, if He was just “God”, I wouldn’t bother trying to please Him either. So I can’t really blame you for your question. But your misunderstanding comes from a place of ignorance. I hope you understand a little better what I believe now. He’s NOT just “God”. I know I may have sounded vicious in this post, but I’m not mad, just passionate. Always, Peace and love!-Katherine 

If you could ask God one question what would it be?

ONE question? Haha ahhh I have so many. They pass in and out of my head several times a week, and for some reason, I never think to write them down. Okay so here’s how I picture it: Right now, I’m a human, and I’m young human at that. Which means I have a mortal, finite view of space and time, which is by definition extremely limited. On top of that, as my mom says to me, “you can be as smart as you want, but until you have lived as long as I have, you will know nothing.” And it’s true, I’ve lived 19 years in a cute, white-picket-fence, sheltered, caucasion, north-american, privileged life. I know nothing!  So I picture me getting to heaven and it’s like my soul, that right now can only kind of taste the infinite, is completely freed of my brain and my emotions and my body and now I’m infinite, I’m free-floating, outside of space and time and none of the restrictions that bind me here on earth exist anymore. I’m part of infinity, I’m living in infinity and I can see everything. All of space and all of time, and I picture it as one huge “OHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!" moment. Suddenly you can see a gazillion and one connections between seemingly randomly events in your life, and you can see how a butterfly flapping their wings affects the death of a star on the other side of the universe, and you can see how a trivial choice someone made on the other side of the world generations before you affects your life. And you see, woven through everything, is God’s overriding, all-consuming, overwhelming love and grace. You can literally see his fingerprints in the planets and everything just clicks and you’re like “how did I never see this before?” And then I won’t have any of the questions I have now because I won’t be missing the pieces of information that my poor, human head is currently incapable of containing and comprehending. So it’s not like I’m waiting to see God so that I can ask him to explain this one mystery that’s been bugging me my whole life. However, I will share with you the latest mind-bender I was contemplating, just this morning. So there’s a theory that the curse of original sin is passed on through the father. Because Jesus had a human mother, but was conceived through the Holy Spirit. So He didn’t have a human father, and He was perfect and sinless so obviously, He wasn’t affected by the original sin curse like all other humans. And yet He was fully human and fully God. So I’m sitting there musing about this interesting idea and then I’m like, where did the other 23 chromosomes come from??  Like yeah, the immaculate conception was a miracle, but God uses science and nature as His tools, and Jesus was obviously a fully functional human, so He had to have 46 chromosomes…right? So what were they and where did they come from? Hmmmm. And I said to myself, I really will have to get God to explain that to me when I see Him. So there you go! :) Peace and love! -Katherine 

What is your biggest regret? None of that "i don't have any regrets" nonsense. Everyone regrets something.

Haha wow, you’re strict! Alright, I promise, no nonsense. To answer your question, it’s not quite that I don’t have any regrets, but I’m too young to have any serious regrets. I regret things like…dating a guy who was too young for me. (That was my biggest regret for years) For a while, I decided that what I really regretted was breaking up with him before I was ready, and not letting the relationship just run its course. Now I’m back to regretting dating him in the first place. I regret dating a guy who didn’t share my faith. I regret not writing down the phone number a guy gestured to me through an airplane window, cause that would have made a great story, but now it’s just a “what if?” I regret being an immature child who was accidentally insensitive and self-righteous and judgmental at times when I came into contact with people who were hurting. Most recently, I regret not taking University seriously and expecting to get my marks as easily as I did in high school. So you know what I mean, I regret little stuff. Nothing that I’ll carry with me to my dying day and whisper on my deathbed. But I agree with you that everyone regrets something. I don’t subscribe to the “it was exactly what you wanted at the time” or “never regret something that made you smile” mentality. I know I’ve made mistakes. So, so many mistakes. Countless mistakes. And there are lots of times that I know I hurt someone and I would like nothing better than to erase that decision I made so that the person wouldn’t be hurt anymore. But that’s life. My mom told me that no one expects me to be perfect (except me) and when we screw up, all we can do is apologize and keep moving forward, trying to do better everyday. Maybe if I’m lucky, my regrets will always be little, silly stuff like they are now. But if I was a bettin’ woman, I’d wager that someday, I’ll have a really big, really painful regret. But I hope when that day comes that I’ll remember that I can’t hold on to my regrets forever, and that I’ll be able to forgive myself and accept my imperfection and embrace the love and grace that God offers me despite me constant failings. :) Peace and love! -Katherine 

Aww thanks bb! :) 

Self Respect and Slut Shaming Another one of my rants, because you know I can’t resist giving my opinion on a sensitive topic. This one is on video! Yay! *Pixelated some stuff because I’m conservative **Song in the background is Revo by Walk Off The Earth

How do you feel about Westboro Baptist Church and the things they do?

ASJDFGHJKLKJHGFDSTYDERTGVBHYGTF THEY MAKE ME SO ANGRY.LEVITICUS IS NOT THE ONLY BOOK IN THE BIBLE! READ THE NEW TESTAMENT!  

THE GOD YOU CLAIM TO FOLLOW IS NOT A GOD OF HATE! HE IS A GOD OF LOVE! HE LOVES EVERYONE AND HATES NO ONE! Ugh. I must admit, they drive me to violent urges. They infuriate me beyond words because they preach literally the antithesis of EVERYTHING my God is and yet they say that they follow the same God as I do. How is that even possible? How can someone spew hate and vitriol and say that it’s of God? Rest assured, it is not of God. God is love. Overwhelming, unconditional, infinite, scandalous, inclusive, all-consuming, all-effacing, sanctifying, redeeming, love. LOVE is literally the closes thing to the character of God that we have here on earth. Therefore, I ask you, how can someone be so absolutely full of hatred and be in line with God’s will? They cannot. Having said that, it is my personal belief that though they claim to be Christians, they are not Christians. Allow me to share with you one of my favourite quotes: 

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. 

That’s a quote from The Last Battle by C.S. Lewis. Aslan represents God and Tash represents the devil. I think this quote is extremely applicable to our current discussion, and the cruelty committed by the Westboro Baptist Church, though done in God’s name, is not done in the service of God, but in the service of the devil. That goes for all the evil deeds of misguided, blinded churches in the past, including the Spanish inquisition, the Holocaust, etc. It saddens me greatly that the one philosophy which should be completely pure of hatred and dissension - Christianity - is so incredibly corrupted and perverted in so many of its divisions. I maintain that people who truly know and love God are people of love, grace and acceptance, not of hatred and violence. How such abominations of the faith occurred is due entirely to prideful people who filter the word of God through their own (WRONG) worldview. And the saddest part of all this is that God loves the people of the Westboro Baptist Church. He loves them desperately, and He wants them to fully realize and understand the power of His transforming love for them, and for everyone, because when you know, truly know the love of God, you are never the same again. And if they actually knew God, they would not behave the way they do. My hope is that someday they will know the God they claim to serve, and that their acquaintance with Him will change everything. Sooo…there you go. Peace and love! -Katherine 

Self Respect and Slut Shaming Another one of my rants, because you know I can't resist giving my opinion on a sensitive topic. This one is on video! Yay! *Pixelated some stuff because I'm conservative **Song in the background is Revo by Walk Off The Earth

This is the guy who, ignoring the opinions of others, bee-lined toward those whom His culture had identified as sinful. Jesus modeled it for us and He told story after story to make sure we got the message. He desperately wanted us to know that His Father seeks the lost like a shepherd looking for His scrappy sheep. He searches for us like a woman who’s lost a precious coin. He welcomes the very worst sinners with the delight of a father whose son was dead but is now alive. Before He ever suggested, “Go and sin no more,” Jesus first welcomed and received unrepentant sinners.

I share the same respect for Kim, Paris and Snooky as we all should, but they are famous because, well Kim and Paris posted their sex tapes and snooky... is snooky. Are people being imprudent by knowing their weight, bra size and who they slept with or is society just following for their game? On the topic of celebrity gossip, look up: The Sociology of Gossip: Elaine Lui at TEDxVancouver... Food for thought?

Haha I actually watched that video about a month ago and very much enjoyed it! And I can see her point. For those of you who haven’t watched the video, Elaine Liu studies the trends in celerity gossip and can therefore surmise a lot of information about society’s attitudes towards things like gender role and rape culture. I will concede that it’s a very interesting branch of social science, but that’s just one benefit of celerity gossip. It’s not a reason to partake in celebrity gossip. Because there are also many disadvantages to celebrity gossip. As I said, there’s the violation of privacy. There’s also its effects on us to be considered.

I strongly believe that celebrity gossip erodes our empathy. Elaine said that what we gossip about reveals our attitudes. But the fact that we gossip at all also reveals something about our character. As I said, we treat these people like a commodity for our consumption. That’s damaging to us. As soon as we can mentally distance ourselves from any other human being, we lose a bit of that compassion that connects us all. Empathy means feeling someone else’s pain. But it also means that every single other person in the world deserves kindness because they’re just like you. And as soon as we see someone as a product instead of a person, we lose a bit of humanity.

So when you say stuff like “following for their game” or “Snooki…is Snooki”, I get the feeling that you mean that these celebrities are not being hurt by our gossip because it’s what they want. Again, I would ask you to look in the metaphorical mirror and pause for some introspection. How have we even made it possible for Snooki to make a living by “being Snooki”, which I imagine means being outrageous in all aspects of life? Like, if someone has a great voice or sick musical talent, I’ll support that. If someone is a good actor and I enjoy their work, I’ll reward that by watching their movies. That’s talent, and that’s their job. But I can’t help but feel like my brain cells are dying when I watch Jersey Shore. I don’t want to be a part of an industry that exploits the sex, drugs and drinking of someone’s real, every day life. I don’t want to play their game. I don’t like their rules. So yeah, there’s my take on it. It’s an aspect that I didn’t even mention in the post itself, but I think it’s equally important. :P 

Have a great day! Peace and love! -Katherine

On Celebrity Gossip

So I was at the grocery store today, where I work, working. And next to each check-out, there are racks of magazines. And on these racks are magazines such as People, OK, InTouch and Star. And would you like to know the main topic of the cover page headlines on these magazines? It doesn't matter cause I'm gonna tell you anyway.  Kim Kardashian's weight.  I'm serious. I don't know if you've been following this riveting story, but apparently Kim's pregnant with Kanye's baby, and she's eating a lot during her pregnancy and she put on a lot of weight and now Kanye doesn't love her anymore. Oh, and Khloe has been reported to have said "I'm the hot sister now." This is all information that I surmised simply by reading the covers of these magazines while I didn't have any customers! I can't even imagine what awful, sordid details I might find in the pages.  Like honestly, there are so many levels of wrong that I could talk about. So many societal issues that sicken me. But I'll just take one for now. 

Blazoned across one of the covers, in big yellow letters, were the words, "six months pregnant and already 200 pounds".  Um, excuse me, but in what universe is it okay to broadcast a woman's weight on the cover of a magazine? You and I both know that precious few of us will admit our weight to even our closest confidantes, and yet it's okay to tell the whole world Kim Kardashian's weight? Why? Why is it okay to talk about private matters like health crises, addictions, relationships and such just because these people are actors, or musicians, or royalty, or politicians? Why is it possible for me to pick up a magazine at a doctor's office and find out Kim Kardashian's weight or Jennifer Lawrence's bra size (36C, in case you're wondering)? Why are we so obsessed with these people's lives? Why do we thoughtlessly participate in the violation of their privacy? Why is it that their daily lives are a consumable commodity to us?  WHY DO WE EVEN CARE?  You know what, I don't even know why. I am legitimately asking you. I think it's despicable how much we crave it. We just can't get enough! Oh Angie's jealous because Brad still has feelings for Jen! We eat that crap up! We are so desensitized to the humanity of celebrities that we analyze and judge and ridicule their lives as if it means nothing.  Because of this, I am a fervent boycotter and protester of reality tv. Why is 16 and pregnant even a thing? How did this happen? Or the bachelorette? It is not possible to fall in love that fast! We are taking serious life events, like choosing a partner and having a baby, and turning them into entertainment! That is not okay.  See, these people aren't characters on a show. They seem like it, but they're not. They're not the protagonist or antagonist in your favourite book, movie or show. No one made them up. No one gave them strategic character flaws. No one made them heroes. No one invented a history for them. They're real people. They have lived through situations and circumstances that made them the way they are today. They make choices that affect the rest of their lives. They have feelings and talents and struggles and goals and dreams. They love, they hurt, they fear and they triumph. They experience the same range of emotion you and I do. It still hurts when someone calls them fat. Somewhere in the world right now, they're actually living and breathing. Just because you don't know them personally and they live far away, doesn't mean that they're immune to your criticism and caprice. It is still not fair and not okay to talk about them as if they're invented characters. It's still not okay to pick apart the details of their lives. We've all made really stupid mistakes. We've all messed up badly. But none of our mistakes get published in the tabloids. When we mess up, the whole world doesn't have to know. 

So please, I beg of you, don't be a part of the industry. If you don't watch reality tv, or buy the magazines, or read the websites, that's awesome! Keep doing what you're doing. If you do, pleeease, stop. Have some empathy and compassion for your fellow human beings. Let them live their lives without your commentary. And live your own life instead of reading about someone else's. It's like a reality tv show, except nothing's scripted, and you get to decide how it ends. So much better than normal reality tv, amiright?  Goodnight my darlings! Hope I gave you some food for thought.  Love,  Katherine

Happy Easter!

Just a quick post to remind you the whole reason behind the Easter story. I told it to a bunch of three-year-olds today, and I figure I should tell you too.  It's the same thing I've been preaching since the very beginning. It's really the ONLY thing that mattes. It's the very character of God. It's love. God knew that the curse of mortality we brought upon ourselves separated us from Him, and that broke His heart. So He devised a plan to bridge the gap between us and Him. That was Jesus. Jesus, the incarnation of God in fleshly form, came to earth and lived our miserable, wretched, human life, and then died the most inhumane death possible. Why? Because He loves us.  Oh, you guys, He loves us so much. His love for us is so inclusive, so unconditional, so vast, so immeasurable, so outrageous, so scandalous, that our minds could never fathom its incomprehensible depth. He loves us deeply, intimately, and personally. So much so that if you were the only person who had ever existed in the whole history of the entire world, He would have gone to the cross just the same, to save you.

And when they pounded the nails into His palms, as He grit his teeth in agony, and as even His own lungs became instruments of torture, His thoughts were not on Himself, but on you. As sweat drops of blood dripped down His face, He saw your addictions, your hurt, your self-loathing, your fears, your mistakes, and your regrets. He took it all upon Himself. So that you could be free from all that. 

Because His heart aches for His children. He can't bear to see us along and hurting, cut off from the warmth and comfort of His embrace. He's been drawing us steadily back to Himself, ever since the day we ran away. Because He loves us. So, so, so much.  Like Lilly loved Harry.  Except, way, waaaayyyy more.  Happy Easter, guys. Remember how much you're loved. :) -Katherine

Justice and the Gospel - a spoken word by Propaganda (by VergeNetwork)

Love this. Its about the city and culture. Its AWESOME. I RECCOMMEND YOU LISTEN TO THIS. I love the line where he says,

Our savior wasn’t a commuter. 

Man this is great. PREACH MAN PREACH

What if everyone everywhere woke up this morning,

Feeling collegial?

What if their very first inclination was to trust one another,

And their strivings toward kindness, rather than rage?

Our country has sunk its teeth into rabid defenses

Refusing to yield

Jaws locked around its...

I think it's great to talk about stuff like this because the more uncomfortable you make it, the harder it is to address. This is a great treatment of the lust/porn/masturbation issue, and I wanted to share it with y'all! :)  -Katherine

Editor’s Note: I’ve received countless emails, messages and questions regarding about lust, porn and masturbation. I’ve had my tumblr since November of 2011 and I think it’s time that I write something about this very touchy and sensitive topic. What you’re about to read are things that I’ve learned in the past as I wrestled and struggled with this sin. These are things I’ve learned either from different people, from different books, and from God through His word and His Holy Spirit. I understand that every single guy and gal are on a different journey with this sin. So I’m not saying that what I  write on this entry is what you should do, rather the purpose of this blog entry is to encourage, empower, and enlighten others as to how to face this battle and come out victorious through Jesus Christ. My desire and prayer is that you would find encouragement, wisdom, knowledge and hope that there’s an answer and a solution. I can testify to that for I am a living testimony. There’s victory over this struggle and the answer lies in Jesus Christ and I pray that you would see that through this blog entry. Let’s get started shall we? :)

I was first exposed to porn when I was a little kid. I can’t remember exactly how old I was but I remember I was really young. How? It might’ve been when I was at my friends house and his parents weren’t home and we thought it was a good idea to mess around with his parents movie. I’m not sure how and where exactly I got my eyes exposed to porn but I was young. 

From that point I just started watching porn and it became a routine and I didn’t think it was wrong. I wasn’t a Christian either so I thought it was natural for guys to watch and masturbate. Little did I know that my foolish choices at that time was going to affect me when I became a Christian.

At the age of 15 I gave my life to Christ. I still remember coming home from that youth conference and just feeling so fired up! God now gave me new eyes, new mind, new heart and new life. I knew that any lustful activity just needs to stop because the bible tells me so and it’s wrong. I was on a good streak and I lasted at least 3-6 months of not watching, not doing. But something went wrong. All of a sudden the whole “I’m not suppose to do this because it’s wrong and the bible says it’s wrong” no longer held any weight or power to stop me from succumbing to a lustful heart and this is where my battle with lust started.  I remember hearing a good message and thought to myself, “Man, that message was so convicting, God I will never do go back to those lustful things. I’m done.” Or meet with my accountability partner and have a long “prayer session” and after that I would feel good. Or set up all these rules of do’s and don’ts but at the end of all these things I’ve mentioned, I would end up doing the very same thing I hate doing. Can you relate to my story? I’m sure most of you can if not all.  So what is wrong exactly? What is lust? And if you’re struggling with lust and any other forms of lustful activity how do you fight it? What do you do?

First you have to know that SEXDRIVE and Sexual Desire isn’t the problem nor the issue, LUST is. SEX isn’t the answer or the solution to your LUST problem, Jesus is. God created you and me with sexual desires and drives to be with someone. But the enemy twisted the truth about our sexuality through Lust. Lust is craving sexually what God has forbidden.To Lust is to go beyond attraction, appreciation of beauty or a healthy desire for sex. It is very self-centered and selfish and it makes these desires more important than God.

I mentioned earlier that in the past I’ve failed spectacularly in the area of lust even though I heard a powerful message, or met with my partners or even got rid of ‘stuff’ I found myself going back to the same patterns. Why? mainly because I’ve held the wrong standard for holiness. The wrong source of power to chance. And the wrong motive for fighting sin. My ideas and thoughts about being holy was completely twisted. I thought If I don’t watch/look at porn or masturbate for certain amount of time I’m doing pretty good. I thought I can rely solely on my partners and I’ll be fine. And I thought setting down some strict legalistic rules will help me stay on my toes I was wrong.

But the main reason why we pursue holiness and choose to deny lust along with it’s other forms is because of this: God created us for so much more. He designed us to be satisfied with Him and to translate that satisfaction and pleasure to someone through sex in marriage. He isn’t withholding our sex drives by not watching or masturbating, rather He is saving us for a life filled with love, joy, peace and satisfaction. He is saving us for something so much better. Yes it’s not easy and it’s a fight and a sacrifice but in the end it’s worth it.

As Christians we need to remember that nothing that we can do or add to make us justified before Him, Christ did all the justification. Not watching porn, or masturbating isn’t gonna add up a ‘points’ to God, or make us more worthy, rather it’s sanctifying us and leading us towards a life of holiness and purity.

If we understand this truth about how we stand in Christ, all of a sudden our motives and hearts towards lust changes from “I’m not gonna do it coz it’s wrong” to “I’m not gonna do it because I don’t wanna break my Father’s heart.” That’s a huge difference. The other one is motivated by legalism and will power and the other one is motivated by love and grace.  God’s standard of holiness is radical. Ephesians 5:3 says this:

But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality or any kind of impurity.. because these are improper for God’s holy people.

God’s standard of holiness is this: Not even a hint! - That means if you struggle with lust then get rid any kind of triggering factors that encourages you to fall into that sin. If that means you need to get rid of your TV in your room, have your parents/spouse/friends create a password for your computer, throw away any provocative magazines that come to your mail, refrain from any movie that most likely have sensual sin, ANYTHING. Get rid of it, stay away from it, Not even a hint. 

So does that mean we can’t look at the opposite sex coz we fear of committing lust? No. Of course not. Truth is, it is not lust when we find someone to be so attractive, to have a strong desire for sex, to be excited about sex within marriage, to experience sexual temptation. It only becomes lust and sinful when we go past those things I’ve mentioned above. It is important to distinguish these things and to know what’s lust and what’s not. What’s natural and what’s sinful. it’s not about approaching your sin in a legalistic way, but instead it’s about being obedient to God and being good stewards of the life and the body He has given us.  Now what, how do you exactly face and fight this battle? What do you and how do you prepare yourself when Satan comes at you prowling like a lion ready to deceive you? Identify any lust trigger factors. There are numbers of factors that can trigger you. And when you identify these factors it will help you better equip and prepare yourself.

Time of day- Is it at night, after work, when you’re tired etc.

Locations- could be alone in your room, friends house, etc.

TV- be responsible on what you feed your eyes.

Books/Newspapers/Magazines- Be radical about what your read.

Music- Be mindful about the songs you listen to.

Internet - this is obvious.

People/relationship- are you in a healthy & godly relationship or not?

Now that you have your list, pray and ask God to give you solid brothers/sisters to help you in this fight. People who would be genuine about your struggle and will faithfully strengthen and build you up. You can have all these lists but unless you genuinely repent from this sin and have strong hatred towards this sin and a strong and burning desire to be victorious in this area, nothing will happen. Unless you  seek friend and get someone to keep you accountable and really take action, you will only find yourself stumbling over and over again. You weren’t meant to fight your battles all by yourself. Jesus sent his disciples always in pairs that means we are meant to work with people and encourage others in our walk.

I have to say one thing though, accountability is great but you have to set your mind and heart on the right place with this. In the past I’m afraid to act on my sin because I don’t wanna disappoint my partner or I want to have a ‘good thing’ to say whenever we meet. This is a wrong mindset. Accountability isn’t meant for that. It’s about partnering, walking, and encouraging the other person not relying. At the end of the day you rely on Jesus’ grace & love and His Spirit to empower you and strengthen you daily. 

In my own experience and walk, here’s some really practical ways to develop and cultivate a godly lifestyle:

Spend time with God through prayer, reading His word and worship. - Pick a book in the bible. Start your day with prayer and asking God to give you a hunger for his word daily. Read one chapter a day and journal your thoughts and what God has revealed to you that day. Make it a habit to memorize a short passage. Pursue intimacy with Jesus and make it your priority.

Be in community. Serve in your local church & community. - by doing this you are being proactive and getting out of the house and cultivating a healthy godly lifestyle. Talk with other Christians and just get out there instead of staying home.

Cultivate godly habits. - Read books that encourages you to love and go deeper with God. Listen to songs that encourages you to fall in love more with Jesus. Whenever you’re at a store, coffeeshop, etc, ask for the Holy Spirit to give you opportunities to minister to people either through praying for them, encouraging them with simple words or buying them lunch or coffee. The pleasures that you get from these things are priceless.

i’ll close with this one. There is no condemnation to those who are in Christ. You’ve probably failed in the past but I know deep down inside your heart you’re disappointed but you’re not close to giving up. There’s still a part of you that wants to strive for victory and there is coz God is working in your heart already as you read this. So even after you read this blog and still find yourself stumbling, get up and start all over again. Godliness and Holiness isn’t an overnight fix, it’s a lifetime and it’s a process. The last thing you want to do is give up. Don’t listen to the enemy, and grab onto Jesus right away. He loves you and will never give up on you. Ever. As long as you’re alive and breathing, you have a chance to change, and repent. His grace is sufficient for you are His child and He’s got his grip on you and will never let you go because He has called you to be a vessel and instrument to this perverse world. 

If you want to cultivate a lifestyle of walking in purity and holiness, then you need to abide in Jesus Christ. In John 15 Jesus talks about us abiding in him coz apart from him, we can’t bear any fruit. Apostle Paul talks about how God can’t be deceived, what we sow either in the Spirit or flesh, then that’s what we will reap. You can’t expect to bear fruits of the Spirit or come close to victory over porn, lust and masturbation if you’re daily sowing in the things of the flesh instead of the things of the Spirit. But If you abide in Christ, set and fill your minds with godly things, and ask the Holy Spirit to fill you with His presence everyday, I promise you, and it may even surprise you but the urge, desires and cravings of lust will slowly and eventually start to fade away because it will be replaced with the Fruits of the Spirit. We will bear the fruits of Christ and the fruits of godliness and holiness but that’s only possible if we abide in Christ daily. Look to Jesus, He is greater and powerful  than any of your present trials and struggles. 

Grace and Love in Christ, Mark Muldez.

Do you think God or Jesus would get mad if someone had sex before they got married?

No, I absolutely do not think that God would get mad. Because, you see, God is very consistent, and all sin is equal to God. Sex before marriage is just as bad as murder, but also just as bad as saying hurtful words. And you don’t see God smiting me with lightning every time I lose my temper. Thank goodness for that!God loves us. He knows that we’re going to screw up. And yes, our screw-ups separate us from His perfection and His glory, but He didn’t want that, so He made a way for us to be close to Him even though we’re imperfect and corrupt. That was the cross. God’s grace is infinite! It’s like a tidal wave that crashes over you and snatches you up in the inexorable current and tumbles you head over heels in it’s wake. It submerges you completely, until you don’t even know which way is up anymore. But that’s okay, because unlike real life water, God’s living water makes you feel like you can finally breathe again, and that there’s no weight pushing down on you at all. It makes you feel like you can fly, like you’re soaring high up in the atmosphere, weaving in and out of clouds, and you haven’t a care in the world! God’s grace is vast enough to handle our mistakes. He will not get mad at us for having sex before marriage. He wouldn’t necessarily be delighted with us, but I picture Him as the father who’s all like “I’m not mad…I’m disappointed." I know, that kind of makes me want to crawl into a dark hole and never come out again. BUT! Here’s the really big, gigantic, ginormous, massive, humongous BUT! When we go to God and we’re like "I know I screwed up, and I’m sorry. Please forgive me and make me all perfect and beautiful and spotless again." He does! The bible says that He will throw our sins into the "sea of forgetfulness" - that expression comes from Micah 7:19: 

 19 

You will again have compassion on us;    you will tread our sins underfoot    and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea.

The bible also says that He has removed our sin from us as far as the east is from the west in Psalm 103:12: 

12 He has removed our sins as far from us    as the east is from the west.

So basically, never be afraid of God if you feel like you’ve done something He wouldn’t like. Because the minute you approach Him in contrition, He is so ready to hug you and say “It’s okay, I forgive you and I love you.” That applies to any and every sin out there! Peace and love! -Katherine 

I'm not attacking your beliefs, i'm just playing devils advocate. Why do you believe in Christianity? There's no proof of any reality to the bible.

Here :)

Why I Believe What I Believe (because it was far too long to put all of it in an answer)

 I started out being a Christian because I was essentially born and raised in the church. However, make no mistake : it was my own personal decision to begin the journey of faith in Jesus. But it might be more effective for me to explain to you why I STILL believe in Christianity. I am far past the age where I had to stop coasting on the momentum of my parents’ beliefs and step up and own my faith. If you’re only lukewarm and you don’t really believe this stuff, you won’t remain convicted and active in your faith.

First off, I flatter myself that I am a critical thinker. I’m currently doing a science degree in university and I like to think that I’m inquisitive and smart. And I will fiercely deny any accusations of brainwashing or the like. I sometimes have moments where I literally question everything about my existence and I just wonder, “what if everything I’ve ever believed isn’t true?” and when I was in my early teens I asked myself, how do I know God is real? I attended small groups at my church and I read books and I really started investigating. A great book is called A Case for a Creator, by Lee Strobel, if you’re interested.  Here are the reasons I believe in God:

1. Personal Experience.

It’s pretty easy to believe in something when you see it with your own eyes, and hear first-hand accounts all the time from people who were witnesses to the miraculous. For example, the Holy Spirit is probably the most versatile form of God and He’s the form of God here on earth. He lives in us and works through us as we invite Him to do so. So basically, when we open ourselves up to God, He will come and visit. And the effects of the presence and the glory of God are varied and remarkable.

Let me list some symptoms of being in God’s presence:  -Speaking in a unique language, known only to God and not to any human -Crying uncontrollably -Laughing hysterically -Falling over randomly

I’ve seen all of those symptoms in an average church service haha. That’s why they call us Pentecostal, we’re defined by our belief in the Holy Spirit. The name is derived from the day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit first visited the disciples of the early church. *Note: there was a cool study done by a student at the University of Pennsylvania who did MRI scans on people while they were speaking in tongues, and discovered that the frontal lobe was not involved the way you’d think it would be, and that neurologically, the data corroborates the Christians testimony, that we hear ourselves but have no blessed clue what we’re saying. Cool, huh? 

Also, the Holy Spirit gives “gifts” wherein He gives you power for a moment to do something humanly impossible, in order to help someone. Those gifts include… -Healing -Miracles -Prophesy -Knowledge (knowing something about someone’s life that you could never have known if God didn’t tell you)  -Faith (more like a leap of faith, It’s when you step out and do something that could not possibly work if God didn’t intervene) -Wisdom (God granting you the answer to what seemed like an unsolvable puzzle) -Interpretation (being able to understand the freaky Holy Spirit language someone is speaking in and translating it) -Discernment (knowing that something is a lie because God told you)

Obviously, it’s difficult to quantify stuff like Faith, Knowledge, Wisdom and Discernment. Usually things like that happen between the gift deliverer and the gift receiver. However, I have personally borne witness to Prophecy and Interpretation, and have heard many firsthand accounts of miraculous healings. When I stop and think about it, I’ve definitely been present at an event where healings took place, but I didn’t know the individual or the specific situation.

The very people in my life are evidence that God exists. There is a biblical concept called The Fruits of The Holy Spirit (NOT the same as the gifts) which are essentially characteristics of God which increase in a person’s life the more contact they have with God. They are… -Love -Joy -Peace -Patience -Gentleness -Faithfulness -Meekness -Self-control

I’ve met so many amazing people in my life, some who are Christian and some who are not. But it happens every now and then when you meet someone and you just KNOW that they are close to God, and you admire them for it. Because they could not possibly possess such fortitude in the face of adversity, such steadfastness in the face of uncertainty, such grace when dealing with people from all walks of life, or such a passion for loving the unlovely, were it not for God’s influence in their lives.

I’ve had a personal relationship with Jesus for 14 years. And I’ve seen Him heal my friend of an addiction to cutting. I’ve seen Him take away her cravings for alcohol, in the middle of a party, because I asked Him to (yeah that was pretty awesome). I’ve seen a young girl who prayed for a friend in her school who had similar beliefs to her, and literally 30 seconds later (I am honestly not exaggerating), met a girl who fit those exact qualifications. Wild stuff happens everyday and I’m used to it! Because God is a constant in my life. 2. It just….makes sense. 

Nothing else has ever come along that seemed more logical to me than God. I’ve heard the theory of the Big Bang and evolution, and it’s not a flawless theory. There are holes in it. And the odds of the things occurring that they say occurred are…ahem, not great. I can only say that I find it very difficult to swallow that at the beginning of our galaxy, matter and antimatter collided and there was a massive explosion and the residual stardust formed a planet (WHICH just happens to be exactly the right distance from the sun so that we don’t burn up or freeze, and has the right gasses in its atmosphere to make breathable air - oh how convenient!) . And then that on that planet there was some kind of primordial soup with organic molecules swimming around in it like carbon, nitrogen and oxygen. And then, randomly, through some unknown energy source, such molecules magically arranged themselves into a single-celled organism (WHICH are suuuuuuper complex when you think about it. I mean, come on, there are sugars, phosphate groups and nitrogenous groups in a single nucleotide of DNA, arranged in such a complicated pattern. Those DNA nucleotides code for proteins, which bunch together to make organelles, which all function in harmony to create a living, working cell? How does that even happen from elements swimming around in a soup struck by lightning??). And THEN, over millions and millions of years, such teeeeny tiny single-celled organisms evolved into multicellular, microscopic organisms, then into little paleozoic shrimp-like creatures, then into bugs and fish and birds and mammals and monkeys and eventually humans. And ALL the vast variety of life on this planet COME ON! How do we get bumblebees (whom science says shouldn’t even be able to fly) and platypii (egg-laying mammals with venomous feet) and humans (who are animals so highly “evolved” that they’re capable of emotion and altruism and philosophy and music and all this crazy stuff) and all the way back to the single-celled organisms we still have when they ALL evolved from a single-celled organism?? There also exists a theory that the universe is a closed, contained, self-propagating system in which EVERYTHING that happens is a result of something else happening and therefore everything is just one huge, continuous web of interconnected webs of things happening and blades of grass affect the movement of stars and EVERYTHING in the whole universe is linked to EVERYTHING else in the universe and so everything is a product and a piece in the giant working machine of….existence. You following? So the freakyest question in that theory is…how did the universe create a tool with which to know itself? That tool is us. Because if the universe is just one big automatic machine, it has no consciousness. But we have consciousness. But we’re part of the universe, so we were made by the universe and have a role in the universe and yet we’re aware of being a screw in this massive machine? Whoah…my head’s exploding. See, theories like that make no sense to me because they’re entirely circular. And how did this big universe even get started on its Roop Goldberg chain-of-events existence anyway? Excellent question! Yeah, I think it was God.  Everything is just so…perfect. Albert Einstein said that the more he studied the stars, the more he believed in a higher power. I want you to know that I don’t think science and religion are mutually exclusive at all. I am deeply religious, and I love science. And the more science I learn, the stronger my belief becomes. This universe, and this life, leaves me absolutely speechless in awe of the one who designed it. The patterns of life are too complex, too intricate to be the product of mere accident. The universe is so vast, and the cell is so small, and yet each is so complex that it is worthy of millions of years of study to understand it, and we still don’t understand it completely! The planet is the perfect distance from the sun. The atmosphere is perfect for us. The food webs are all so magnificently interconnected. Our bodies literally have a mechanism for every possible necessary function that I didn’t even know was possible. Have you ever studied our bodies? THEY’RE FRICKIN INCREDIBLE! No one could dream up a world like this one, ever in their wildest fantasies. It’s just too amazing and wonderful and mysterious. I CANNOT believe that this was all the product of random chance. I think that it MUST have been the beautiful design of a brilliant and very creative, infinite, craftsman. The bible says that the skies declare the glory of the Lord, and I think that’s so accurate. The skies, the trees, the land. Everything. It’s all just so absolutely, magnificently, breathtakingly gorgeous. I think that He is such an artist. Man, I’m actually blown away by the colours and the textures and the patterns and the lines and curves and visual splendor of Nature. And then I think, “how could something so beautiful not be made by God?”  Because God is…everything. He’s beauty, He’s thought, He’s life, He’s love, He’s music. He is absolutely the purest, most perfect (although there are no degrees of affection), most holy, most wonderful, most lovely, most amazing….essence. He’s not a person or a thing. He’s…everything. And everything is Him. That doesn’t even make, sense, I know. I’m not some new age hippy that believes in the organic energy or everything, or in people’s auras, or that we are all God within ourselves. Don’t get me wrong, I am a very socially conservative (probably politically too), traditional, orthodox, bible-believing Christian. But think about it: Nothing can exist apart from God. We can’t breath or blink or think without Him. He sustains our very existence. He sustains our very universe. It all arose from Him when He said “Let there be light” and there was light. He breathed everything into existence and therefore nothing is possible without Him. God is definitely the most beautiful thing I ever have or ever will encounter.  There is even evidence for the existence of God within ourselves. You cannot deny that everybody is constantly searching….for…something. We instinctively, inherently, detest the shallow, vain creatures we’ve become. We crave something of substance, something of value, in our lives. Everyone tries to be “deep”, you know? With quotes, and song lyrics, and photography, and poetry, and reading, and music, and science, and relationships. I don’t mean that as a bad thing, I just mean that it’s the way we’re wired. We want meaning in our lives. We want to make sense of that crazy, spinning mess we find ourselves in. We want to understand ourselves and each other. We want something…more. Something transcendent. Something ephemeral. Something intangible. Something spiritual. Something eternal. Every human being has a deeply spiritual need, and if you ignore that part of you, you will be unhappy and unfulfilled. And, call me crazy, but I think I have the answer to that craving. That’s called a soul. It’s who you are. Its your entire identity. And I think that it is still connected to it’s creator, Who is a being of spirit, like us. We really are, you know. We’re spirit creators. We just happen to be incredibly limited by the mortal forms we’re confined to at the moment. Anyway, your soul is crying out to be in communion, and in contact with God. It’s what we were made for!  Also, cool science fact of the day! The protein in our bodies, the one that is made to be the intercellular “glue”, the protein that literally holds our bodies together, is shaped like a cross. And there’s a verse in the bible that says that Jesus “holds all things together”

115 Christ is the visible image of the invisible God.     He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation,[a] 116 for through him God created everything     in the heavenly realms and on earth. He made the things we can see     and the things we can’t see— such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world.     Everything was created through him and for him. 117 He existed before anything else,     and he holds all creation together.

(Colossians 1:15-17). Search it up: Laminin. There is ALSO a galaxy out there in the shape of a cross. Coincidence? Mwahaha, I think not! God, you so sneaky! 

FURTHERMORE!  The bible, which was written, like, forever ago (okay 2000-3000 years) contains some very uncannily accurate science facts! Which were most definitely unbeknownst to the writers of that time. Here is a lovely table for you viewing pleasure: 

I think it was C.S. Lewis who said, “I believe in God the way I believe in the sun. Not because I can see it, but because by it I can see everything else.” He also points out that arguing against God is a completely pointless endeavor because the faculties with which you reason out your arguments were given to you by God so you’re reasoning…against reason. That’s awkward. Classy guy, that C.S. Lewis. Another excellent book I highly recommend is by him, and it’s called Mere Christianity. He started writing it as an exhortation against Christianity. He set out to disprove it but in the process of attempting to do so, found that he could not and was thus converted. His fundamental issue was that all humans have an innate code of ethics. He goes into this in detail in the book, but I’ll do my best to summarize for you. Basically, we all have this standard of right and wrong in us, which is, surprisingly, not bred into us by society. It has nothing to do with societal pressures and is ingrained in our psyche from the time we’re created. 

What was the sense in saying the enemy were in the wrong unless Right is a real thing which the Nazis at bottom knew as as we did and ought to have practised? If they had had no notion of what we mean by right, then, though we might still have had to fight them, we could no more have blamed them for that than for the colour of their hair. 

Where did this standard come from? How could that exist if we were just the product of chance? And how do we even know what’s good and bad? It`s a fascinating read. 

If anyone will take the trouble to compare the moral teachings of the ancient Egyptians, Babylonians, Hindus, Chinese, Greeks and Romans, what will really strike him will be how very like they are to each other and to our own...Think of a country where people were admired for running away in battle, or where a man felt proud of double-crossing all the people who had been kindest to him. You might just as well try to imagine a country where two and two made five. 

The answer is that there must be some greater standard of good, outside ourselves, that we measure by. That’s God. 

If there was a controlling power outside the universe, it could not show itself to us as one of the facts inside the universe - no more than the architect of a house could actually be a wall or staircase or fireplace in that house. The only way in which we could expect it to show itself would be inside ourselves as an influence or command trying to get us to behave in a certain way. And that is just what we do find inside ourselves.

3. There actually is a great deal of historical credibility to the bible I know you said that there's "no proof of any reality to the bible", but the truth is that if we measured the bible by the same standards with which we measure historical documents, it would far exceed all other authoritative historical manuscripts in authenticity and credibility.  Historical manuscripts are judged on three criteria:  1) The number of existing manuscripts.  There are about 56000 existing original manuscripts which were part of the bible.  2) The Dating of the manuscripts. There's only like a couple centuries between the earliest manuscript and the first copy. In fact, here's a lovely chart I found when doing my research: 

3) The number of variant readings, i.e. the number of discrepancies between multiple versions of the original text. 

99.5 % of the bible is in agreement on theology, and 85% has perfect agreement even in spelling and punctuation! Which is incredible for a text having so many surviving manuscripts. 

Also, and just a side note on number 3 there, with such a vast number of surviving manuscripts, it is important to note also that it was transcribed by 40 different writers, in 3 different continents, over a period of 1600 years, in 3 different languages...and STILL has 99.5% accuracy! I just don't think that's humanly possible.  And finally, there is a staggering amount of prophetical evidence for the bible's veracity. It confirms itself by the prophecies in the old testament, say...Isaiah, being corroborated by the first-hand accounts in the new testament, such as Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. FOR EXAMPLE, in the fifth century B.C., a prophet name Zechariah predicted that Jesus would be sold for thirty pieces of silver, which would be used to purchase "a potter's field". 

12 And I said to them, “If you like, give me my wages, whatever I am worth; but only if you want to.” So they counted out for my wages thirty pieces of silver.

13 And the Lord said to me, “Throw it to the potter[a]”—this magnificent sum at which they valued me! So I took the thirty coins and threw them to the potter in the Temple of the Lord.

Matthew's account of Jesus' betrayal, written around 60-65 A.D, confirms this: 

3 When Judas, who had betrayed him, realized that Jesus had been condemned to die, he was filled with remorse. So he took the thirty pieces of silver back to the leading priests and the elders. 4 “I have sinned,” he declared, “for I have betrayed an innocent man.”

“What do we care?” they retorted. “That’s your problem.”

5 Then Judas threw the silver coins down in the Temple and went out and hanged himself.

6 The leading priests picked up the coins. “It wouldn’t be right to put this money in the Temple treasury,” they said, “since it was payment for murder.”[a] 7 After some discussion they finally decided to buy the potter’s field, and they made it into a cemetery for foreigners. 8 That is why the field is still called the Field of Blood. 9 This fulfilled the prophecy of Jeremiah that says,

“They took[b] the thirty pieces of silver—     the price at which he was valued by the people of Israel, 10 and purchased the potter’s field,     as the Lord directed.[c]”

Science tells us that the chances of that being a coincidence are 1 in 10^11....1 in 100 000 000 000. 

Alrighty, so there you go, my three reasons for believing in Christianity. Again, I'm not trying to convince you that I'm right, but I am trying to show you that I am a smart, educated, critically-thinking person who is not brainwashed. I'm a little bit defensive on the topic because my grade 10 chem teacher, although I dearly loved him, used to say that religious people were all like sheep being led off a cliff, and he compared belief in God to belief in garden fairies, which I highly resented.  I hope this has enlightened you, or interested you, or at least amused you! Til next time,  -Katherine

Jesus is Loving Barrabas Interlude

You say you're a virgin, so what's your definition of virginity?

(For your convenience, I have gotten into the habit of bolding the sentences that summarize my opinions, so you don’t have to read it all if you don’t want to.) So my friend was telling me this super awkward story today and the punchline was basically “and then he went to Australia!” -The intended joke being that Australia is…the land down under. So let’s go with this: My definition of virginity is someone who has never been to Australia! Or, by extension, I guess, someone who has never let someone else go to their Australia?? HahaOkay metaphor over. We all know the typical definition of sex that most people carry around in their heads: what might also be called “intercourse” - you know, penis in vagina, pretty straightforward. But then there’s “other stuff”. Anal sex, oral sex, and then stuff like fingering, and a handjob (What do you even call that? “Manual sex?”). I’ve heard people say “I’ve never had sex but I’ve done pretty much everything else.” Oh, story time! So I have these jeans that are made by the brand name Lucky. And when you unzip them, it says, RIGHT INSIDE THE ZIPPER, “Lucky you” which I think is hilarious! So I was telling my friend about them once and he goes “maybe I’ll be the first to see it” and I was like “uh, sure, if you wanna put a ring on my finger…….” and he was like “you can still have fun without a ring.” No. No you can’t. Not that kind of fun, anyway. I dunno, that’s just me. When someone says they’re “technically” a virgin, I don’t think they’re *actually* a virgin. You see, sexual health professionals consider all the “other stuff” real sex too, not just intercourse. Actually, I’ve read articles that say that masturbating is real sex too. I personally think that’s taking it a bit far. Sure, from a biological standpoint, when looking at arousal and orgasm and stuff like that - if that’s how you define sex - then yeah, masturbating is sex. But I define sex by the intimacy shared with another human being. And having someone’s hands or mouth down there is pretty much just as intimate as having a guy’s penis down there. You just can’t get pregnant. If it helps you understand it my definition a little better, I have rules for physical boundaries in dating:1) Don’t touch me anywhere that would be covered by a bikini. 2) No clothes are coming off.Pretty simple, but effective in preventing me from getting anywhere near sex. Like, even if someone breaks rule 1, when we come to our senses and stop it, there’s really not much harm done. But once you break rule 2, you’re a pretty slippery slope. I guess I just don’t really like living on the edge. I like to stay faaaaarr away from that line. I probably just wrote waaayy more than necessary. I’m sorry I’m so wordy! Haha yeah soooo….basically anything involving the below-the-belt area is sex, and anyone who has had sex is not a virgin, ergo anyone who has participated in below-the-belt activities is not a virgin. Again, a reminder, that’s *MY* definition of virginity. I would not be arrogant enough to tell anyone else what to do or what not to do. Peace and love! -KatherineP.S. The link to my blog is on facebook and the other day my mom mentioned something to me about something I had posted here. So, hi mom… :P (actually, mama Milly is pretty blunt, and wouldn’t even bat an eyelid reading this post.) 

Can you please watch the video "rapping for Jesus" and tell me your opinion on it? Thank you!

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA just watched it, and I have to say that I always get a kick out of painfully awkward Christian videos. I make fun of myself all the time, because we can be a pretty ridiculous bunch. For example, I love the "Sh*tuff Christian Girls Say" video and quote it aaaaaalll the time hahaha.. "God is love, enough said. Hashtag, BOOM." There was one problem with the "Rappin' for Jesus" video, though. They kept saying that Jesus is their "n****"!! I think it was a misguided attempt to emulate rap culture and slang but really ended up being pretty disrespectful. I would personally NEVER EVER EVER EVER say that word! I know some people who say it, and they're like "I'm just joking" and I'm like "that's not funny." It's made sooo much worse by the fact that they are just. so. white. haha So..yeah. I honestly didn't take it very seriously and therefore found nothing excessively good or excessively bad about it. Except the n-word thing. That's not cool. What did you think of it? :P  Peace and love! -Katherine 

Why I Hate Religion, but Love Jesus

Do you think there are any situations in which abortions are an acceptable option?

So someone asked a veerrryy similar question to this one, so I sort of answered it already, but I’ll talk a leeetle bit more. To be brief: For me, personally, um…no. Haha I know that’s super blunt and you might wonder how I can answer so definitively. I can answer confidently, unequivocally “no” because my personal view of the subject is that abortion is murder, and I don’t murder. Ergo, I would not be able to kill the child inside of me (hypothetically). People think different things and make different decisions based on what they think. Someone might read this and say “Katherine, you’re WRONG.” Okay, well, if you think something other than what I think, obviously you’re gonna make different decisions than me, right? :P SO, because of that, I am literally incapable of  telling any other person on the planet what is acceptable for them. I know what is acceptable for me, based on my opinions and beliefs, but I don’t know everyone else’s opinions and beliefs. And I know that there are soooo many complicated, complex situations that could possibly arise out there in this big messed up world. But I do know, that for me, abortion is never an option. I personally believe that in an situation, God is able to help me out if I don’t know what to do (Because if you believe that God exists, you have to believe that He is big enough to handle your problems, and to do the impossible). So…yeah. There you go, my very black and white beliefs, haha :PPeace and love! -Katherine 

What is your opinion on abortion? Especially in cases where consummation was due to rape?

Basically, “a person’s a person, no matter how small.” - Horton Hears A Who, Dr. Seuss. 

If you’re super curious, you can read this blog post by someone I admire greatly, pastor and theologian John Piper. I think that through some miracle, as soon as the sperm unites with the egg, no matter how you break it down to the molecular level, that’s a new person. I don’t think that it’s part of the mother’s body, because each new cell being formed contains a full complement of DNA that is made up of DNA that comes from two separate people and not just from the mother. The DNA in each of those cells codes for a hair colour, an eye colour, a height and a gender. It’s the unique DNA of a person who is an entity unto themselves. And as a Christian, I don’t believe that any human has the right to decide when any other human should die. To me, that child inside of me (hypothetically) is a human. God makes each and every single one of us special and beautiful and He loves us individually. There are verses in the bible that tell us that He knows us before we’re born, that His eyes saw our unformed bodies (Psalm  139:16). Like I said before, if God said it, that’s a good enough reason for me. In the ‘traditional’ (for lack of a better word) case, the sex was consensual but unprotected, resulting in an unwanted pregnancy. Let’s use suspension of disbelief and operate in a theoretical world for a minute here.  In such a case, some might say that it’s the woman’s “choice” to have an abortion. You know what I think is a choice? Having sex. Even past that, you know what else is a choice? Using a condom. In today’s western society, there is NO EXCUSE for an unwanted pregnancy. We have the technology and we have the education. If you don’t want to get pregnant, you don’t have to. Any kid can waltz into planned parenthood and get birth control without their parents even knowing. HOW!? I ask you, do people still manage to get pregnant “accidentally”? So for me, once you’re pregnant, you’ve already made your choice, and now you have to face the consequences. Okay, now we have to face the situation where sex was not a choice, and conception was due to rape. Obviously, I have never been in this situation and hopefully never will, but you never know. That’s why I’ve already decided that abortion is never an option for me. I don’t care what you say, I honestly can’t even consider the thought of killing the baby inside of me (hypothetically). It’s not even just an intellectual, religious standpoint. Whether this adds to the validity or not, it’s also a highly emotional standpoint. I CANNOT think of killing that child. Cause here’s the thing. It’s not the child’s fault. And if we’re still operating on the assumption that that’s a real PERSON, we can’t kill him or her for someone else’s crime. Also, just so you know, many women who have been raped, gotten pregnant and had an abortion, said that the abortion was more invasive and traumatic than the rape. AND many women who have been raped, gotten pregnant and had the baby, said that having the baby was cathartic in a way, and helped them see something positive that came from such a negative experience, and thereby helped with the healing process. I’ve heard girls say that they would never have an abortion unless they were raped. And I’m like “hold up now,” cause is that like it’s murder most of the time, unless you were raped, then it’s not murder? Like, whut? See to me, abortion is either always wrong, or not. And to me, it’s always wrong. To reiterate, this is my opinion. And I’m working with abstract ideas and concepts here. That’s how I think best. I’m just trying to give you an idea of my worldview as it pertains to a philosophical issue. As I’ve said before, and will say again, no decision you have ever made, whether it be different from my decisions or not, will change my opinion of you. 

 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. 

^That’s like my mantra of life, you guys. And nothing changes it. If you are reading this, and you are someone who has had an abortion, obviously I’m not in your shoes, I don’t have your life, and I don’t know your situation. And I will NEVER EVER judge you. I’m just talking about my choices, which are a completely personal thing. Peace and love! -KatherineP.S. I’m answering all these questions on the assumption that they come from good-natured curiosity, and that you genuinely want to know what I think. I don’t want to spark debates, and I definitely don’t want to participate in them. I’m not into arguing about my faith. P.P.S If I ever offend you or hurt you by something I write, please let me know. I know that I sometimes speak (or write) without thinking. I’m trying to be honest, but gracious, and I might accidentally say something dumb sometime. If I do, let me know and I will definitely apologize and do my best to repair any damage. I’m gonna put my email address in the blog description so you can contact me privately if you want. 

You Are Beautiful - Mike Young

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! 

Insignificant?

I know you didn’t just apply that word to yourself. Seriously? Insignificant? If you only knew.

I composed the melody of the universe and choregraphed the dance of the stars. I am the architect of the cosmos, the weaver of the fabric of time and space, the maker of heaven and earth. I am the surpreme master of the universe, I tell the stars where to go. I can stop and start the orbit of the earth at a whim. My whispered commands brought forth the blazing supernova of the sun’s power, and the sun is just a small star. Imagine the immense power in my very breath. In my very thought. And yet. And yet, I care if a sparrow falls from a tree. My child, how much more do I care about you? Do you know how much I care about you?

I know how many grains of sand cover the earth, how many droplets of water make up the ocean, and how many stars are in the sky. I don’t even have to count, I just know. Guess what else I know. I know exactly how many hairs are on your head right now, and that number changes constantly. In fact, I know everything about you. Because I care about you. I know what your handwriting looks like, I know what you got on your last math test, and every math test before that. I know your favourite food. Do you know how much I care about you?

Through my will, the pattern and rhythm of the universe is sustained, and yet with all these astronomical duties, you are NEVER beneath my notice. A sparrow is not. And how much more do I care for you, my child? I am the God of the Universe, and I love you. You have inifinite worth. I’ve loved you intimately, passionately, deeply, personally, since eternity and will do so for all eternity. You are worth more than the world to me. More than words can express. More than your finite brain can possibly understand. More than your frail human heart could possible contain. More than life itself. Insignificant? No. You are of divine significance. You matter. Very much. You matter infinitely to ME.

-God

So if you feel insignificant, stop and really think about it. Do you feel insignificant because of what people think of you? WHO FLIPPING CARES what people think? What do they know? The CREATOR, MASTER AND RULER OF THE UNIVERSE cares about you! He thinks you’re so important and precious and special! That trumps what people think, without a doubt.

Insignificant? Erase the word from your vacabulary.

What's your opinion on homosexuality?

(If you don’t wanna read all those words, just skip to the bottom where it says “Moral of the story”)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. Moving on…I cannot confidently give you an opinion on Nature vs Nurture. If science has yet to confirm the varying influences of these conflicting forces, I will not presume to attempt to do so. I have a basic knowledge of the bible (as in, I’ve read it and journaled about it lol) and limited knowledge of the research behind the genetic role in homosexuality. Therefore, I am not qualified to give you my opinion in that area.  Interestingly, I recently read a novel for my English course called Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson, which is both her debut novel and an autobiographical novel (while not actually being an autobiography). It’s about a girl who grows up in a Pentecostal household (which happens to be my denomination) in northern England in the 60s and turns out to be a lesbian. Which, I’m sure you can guess, causes all sorts of conflict in her family and in her church community. The religious characters in the novel condemned her, saying that it was a malicious act of will on her part. They said stuff like “You made an immoral proposition that cannot be countenanced.” and “Never trust a sinner.” Those quotes made me pretty angry because they demonstrate a fundamental misunderstanding of the nature of God and sin. About halfway through the novel, in the margin of the page, I penciled the words “Byes don’t know the bible.” (I’m from Newfoundland. We say byes.) Because EVERYONE’S A SINNER! And the very nature or sin has nothing to do with willpower. You can’t magically wish yourself holy. You know? The people in the book seem to think that if one wants to be a ‘good’ person, to be perfect and righteous, you just have to choose to do so. Which is crap! People are not good. We are physically incapable of being good, by nature of the fact that we are born in to sin and we suffer from what is called “the human condition” (which just means being mortal and making mistakes). I’m not sure how that relates to homosexuality, but I hope that gives you some insight into my view of humanity and perfection in general. Finally, like I said in my last answer, I think that EVERYBODY NEEDS JESUS! As aforementioned, Jesus loves you and desperately wants a relationship with you. And I personally believe that you would benefit greatly from a relationship with Him. Everybody. Heterosexual, Homosexual, Transsexual, Bisexual, Asexual! EVERYBODY, no matter who you are, what you look like, where you come from, what you’ve done, where you’ve been, what you’ve been through. He loves you RIGHT HERE RIGHT NOW! And He wants to have a relationship with you exactly how you are right here right now. To wrap this up, if Jesus thinks there’s something in your life you need to change…whether it be pride, laziness, gossip, lust, whatever….He’ll tell you. And I will try to focus on what He’s trying to tell ME! And I’ll keep trying to work on my issues and not presume to discern what He wants to tell you. Moral of the story: My job is to love, not judge.  

Peace and love!-Katherine  

My Manifesto

I am a Christian. That means that I have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. He is there for me every hour of every day, He listens to me and comforts me, guides me, helps me, inspires me, empowers me, restores me, heals me, blesses me and walks with me through the bad times. He gives me life, peace, hope, joy and freedom. Most importantly He LOVES me. No matter how screwed up I am. He is my teacher, healer, redeemer, my best friend, my king and my Lord. He is my Savior.

 I believe in the one true God, the omniscient, omnipresent and omnipotent creator and supreme ruler of the universe. I believe he sprinkled the stars in the sky and hung the sun in the vast expanse of space. I believe He created us with love and a purpose, and made the entire Earth just right for us. And He is threefold: He is at once The Father, The Son and The Holy Spirit. I believe that Jesus Christ was fully God and fully man. That the infinite was contained within the confines of space and time and that GOD dwelt among us in a human frame. And I believe that Jesus, the one who was absolutely wholly pure and perfect, was crucified in the most inhumane way possible to take the penalty for every time we screw up. I believe He died and three days later, rose again. He conquered the grave. He is the Lord of life and of death so that NOTHING, not even the powers of Hell can separate us from His love.

 That means that we are free. Free from the bondages of addiction, depression and self-harm. Free from cutting, from drugs, and from all the pain and hurt. Free from anorexia and bulimia. Free from porn. Free from the lie that says we have to fit in and wear the right clothes, be a size double 0 and have perfect hair, skin and teeth. Free from every time someone told us we aren't good enough. Free from all the times we say that to ourselves. Free from hatred. Jesus conquered all that stuff when the nails pierced his hands and blood ran down the rugged wooden cross.

 You know why? Because He loves us. We are his children, the apple of His eye, His treasure. More precious than any other of His myriad creations. Priceless. He created us in love with free will to be our own people and to do our own thing and He let us choose Him. And some of us didn't. But He longs to have a relationship with us. He created us to be His companions, in His image in fact, with a soul and a spirit that instinctively seeks to be close to Him. He created us to live forever, in paradise with Him.

 But we have alienated ourselves. God's justice demands that we pay the penalty for the mistakes we make. That's fair right? We screw up, we take the consequences. Is it still fair when the consequences for our sinful nature is that we can't go to Heaven and live forever, that we die? Well yeah. And God's name, YAHWEH, means "I Am that I Am." He will not go against His own nature and elude justice by not letting us pay the price for our sin. So that means we're all going to die.

 Because we all make mistakes. Come one now, you can't tell me you've never felt like you would do anything at all to take back that one day, or week or month. That you've never felt unworthy to live and you've hated yourself? I have. We are nowhere near perfect and we hurt ourselves and we hurt other people. In the depths of our hearts, we hold hatred for other people. And hating someone is such a terrible emotion that it's tantamount to murdering them in our heads. And our sin, the evil poisoning our hearts and minds, is killing us.

 That sucks though. We don't want to die. God doesn't want us to die either. But where is all this Karmic, Cosmic debt gonna go? What happens with all the mistakes we make? What about all this pain I've caused? It can't just disappear. SOMEONE has to take the consequences. Someone has to pay the debt. But it can't be anyone human, we're all in debt. It had to be God. It had to be someone who had never done anything wrong and who had no sin. And humans were the ones in need of saving so it had to be a human. So God stepped into our galaxy. He was incarnated in the body of a tiny baby boy in a lowly stable in Bethlehem, Judea. And He grew up, never did a thing wrong, but hated by the people He came to save. And they killed Him, all according to the plan designed by God. Then He came back. See how this works?

 Now, some ask, how can there be a loving God when there is so much bad stuff in the world? How can He love me so much if He lets me go through all this stuff? He could very easily make this world a perfect world. And He could remove murder, rape, adultery, divorce, war, terrorism, racism, slavery, oppression, starvation and poverty. But let's stop and think about how He would go about that. All those things are entirely out fault. It's not fate, it's not the devil, it's not random, this messed up world is messed up by the people living in it. So how would He get rid of all that stuff? Get rid of us? Or change us? Change the way we think? Would He have to go all the way deep down into the very fabric of our souls, the motives of our hearts and the patterns of our thoughts? Because we are human, and to get rid of bad stuff would be to either obliterate all of us or to remove our free will. He could make it so that we never have a single bad thought. But we'd all be robots. If we're all perfect, that means we're all the same. What's the point?

 No, He made us with a choice. We can choose Him. And He gave us this world and we messed it up. And we walked away from Him. But our souls long to be united with Him again. We don't know what we're missing but we know that something is. We are all trying to ease the pain, to fill the void, to make sense of this life. We search for meaning and significance and fulfillment in friends, family, relationships, travel, food, sex, drugs, career, politics, literature, money, possesions, music and religion. But none of those things will ever cut it.

 Hold on now, you say, you just listed religion. Aren't you preaching Christianity? Isn't that a religion? And you just said that religion's not gonna cut it. No no, religion is rules and traditions. Christianity is a personal relationship with Jesus. Totally different. Don't get caught up in the "Don't do this, don't do that." Don't get confused by Catholic vs. Pentecostal. Those are denominations, but I don't like defining myself by a denomination.

 I am a Christian. I love Jesus and Jesus loves me. And I screw up but He forgives me. And when I step from this world to the next, He will be waiting for me and I will party up in Heaven with Jesus for all eternity. 

So judging from your first question, Some people clearly don't respect your views or share the same passion for god. My question to you then is: The people who don't know god the way you do, are they weak in a bliss of confusion, incapable of hearing God's call?

Hmmm...."weak in a bliss of confusion, incapable of hearing God's call?" that is a very interesting way of wording it, and definitely one that I had never considered before. So I think I can confidently say no, that's not at all what I think about people who aren't as crazy for God as I am. Okay, you know when you discover this awesome video on the internet that's just hilarious, or an amazing song, and you wanna show it to your friend right away because you'll KNOW they'll love it as much as you do? That's kinda what it's like for me. Like, I love everybody no matter what their opinion on God is, but at the same time, I do live my daily life operating on the assumption that everyone needs Jesus. I need Jesus desperately and the difference He's made in my life is incredible. So I guess I view people who aren't, y'know, "God-crazy" like me as people who just haven't discovered Him yet. Like either they haven't been told about the youtube video, or they were told and haven't watched it, so they don't know how awesome it is. Totally not incapable of hearing His call, not by any stretch. God works and speaks and moves in mindblowing ways, and sometimes people who seem super "far" from God hear His voice super clear while others who seem super "close" aren't even listening, haha :P And there you go! Peace and Love! -Katherine 

My Testimony

My testimony is, simply put, the story of how I became a Christian and what God has done in my life. When I was five years old, I decided that I wanted to have a relationship with Christ so I prayed with my mom and invited God to become a part of my life. Ever since then I’ve had a relationship with God, and I’ve tried to live every day as He would want me to live. That was 12 years ago and I’m so thankful that 5-year-old me made that choice. God has taught me some amazing truths over the years.

No matter what I’m going through, He is always there for me. Whether it’s conflicts with my friends or worries about the future, I can talk about it to him and I’m not worried about it anymore. As a result, I’m a pretty happy person most of the time because I don’t have all these trivial little cares weighing me down.

One of the most amazing things I’ve learned sounds very simple but is actually mind-blowing: God loves me. The creator of the universe…loves me. The one who made the sun and the stars loves me! He knows me. He knows everything about me, and He still loves me! I feel so special, so important, so loved.

I know that God has a plan for my life and that He is going to use me to do amazing things. I am living every day according to the purpose He has given me. I don’t have to live to please people, I don’t have to be popular, I don’t have to fit in because my significance is in Christ.

I can tell you that I am a teenager who is happy, secure, confident, and I have significance and purpose. I don’t need drugs or alcohol or sex to make me feel alive or fulfilled. A teenager who can say that is so rare in today’s society. And it’s all because I have God!

I am so thankful that God has given me people in my life who have taught me these wonderful truths, and now I want to tell others about them because they’ve made such a great difference in my life.

Can God call me to be an exotic dancer?

Dancing is an absolutely beautiful art form which can totally be used for ministry. HOWEVER imma go ahead and assume that when you say "exotic dancer" you mean it as a euphemism for "stripper". I wanna be all saucy and brush you off but...Here's the thing.God is so not into disrespecting yourself and your body. You do realize that He made you right? That He "knit you together in your mother's womb" (Psalm 139:13). He twisted together chains of deoxyribose nucleic acid with his bare fingers. He personally designed every physical trait you have. Your body is His masterpiece. And He is so not down with you using your body to incite lust. He is so not down with random men undressing you with their eyes because you're so much more than that! You're beautiful and perfect and made in the image of God! So....haha no. I don't think God's gonna call you to be an exotic dancer. I know you were just being a sauce-pan but it's not a topic I take lightly. So I am taking this opportunity to remind you, and everyone, to love and respect yourself and your body. And on a sidenote, I do not appreciate your attempts to twist my words and trap me into saying something I'll regret. That is very pharisee-esque of you. As in when the pharisees were trying to get dirt on Jesus so they could arrest him. And boy did they get BURNED! Food for thought. (Don't make me turn off the anon option!) Peace and love!-Katherine