Can God Call Me To Be An Exotic Dancer?

This is a really super cool project to make awesome leggings and make the world a better place! Totally worth supporting!

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

Many people have said to have spiritual enlightenment in the form of visions of Jesus or saints hearing God's voice etc. what do you think about such claims? Do you think the majority of the people who make these claims are embellishing the truth? Crazy? Or do you think God has come to them, and if so have you ever felt any jealously with regards to that?

Hey there! 

I grew up in a church and a religion that is saturated by belief in the Holy Spirit and His workings. I’m Pentecostal, and we don’t actually have saints, so I’ve never heard of someone who had a vision from a saint. However, we do belief in the nine gifts of the spirit described by Paul in 1 Corinthians 12 (which are separate from the fruits of the spirit, and from the baptism of the spirit): 1. Wisdom: understanding what to do in difficult situations, or receiving the solution to a seemingly unsolvable problem. 

2. Knowledge: spontaneously knowing a fact about someone or their life without ever having been told by a human. 

3. Faith: the supernatural ability to act on a belief that has not yet been tangibly validated.

4. Healing: self-explanatory. 

5. Miracles (aside from healing): anything that is divinely supernatural (meaning of God). 

6. Prophecy: foretelling the future, often in a very specific way. 

7. Discernment: that basically means calling bullshit on stuff that people say is of God, but that you know is probably of the devil. 

8. Tongues: the gift bestowed upon you when you first receive your baptism of the Holy Spirit; it’s a special “prayer” language which is unique to each believer and understood only by God. Prophecies or messages from God to the church often manifest themselves in tongues.

9. Interpretation (of tongues): When God gives someone a message for the church in tongues, he usually gives someone else the interpretation in english (or the default language of the church). 

I’ve also heard of plenty of visions, usually containing imagery that lines up the bible. The interaction of our brains with God is really really cool. For the most part, I don’t think these visions or prophecies or messages or whatever are lies or symptoms of psychosis. Granted, there have been and there are and there always will be people who know how to fake God’s presence with fancy words and a few psalms, but the work of the Spirit is genuine, supernatural and inimitable. You can usually tell when it’s a “God thing”. 

As for jealousy…I can’t say I’ve ever been jealous, per se. Being used for these gifts has everything to do with your availability. So if I’m not being used for these gifts, I know that it’s because I’m distracted, or afraid, or just shut down to being used. I’m a serious overthinker, and that usually gets in the way of me being sensitive to the Spirit. I know my shortcomings, so any negative emotions I might feel in association with the gifts is directed at myself, not others. 

Thanks for your question! :)Peace and love! -Katherine

how do you feel about sex before marriage? where do you draw the line? i'm struggling myself in a new relationship. I don't know what's ok before marriage and what isn't for me. what are your opinions.

Okay, so…given my lifestyle in 2014, it would be hypocritical and counterproductive for me to tell you, “you can’t do anything! nothing at all! hands off! this is a kissing-only zone!”. Not only because that is not representative of all of my experiences, but also because it doesn’t really help you arrive at any kind of real conclusion for yourself. If you are a Christian like me and believe the Bible, you would agree that God is pretty clear about the “no sex before marriage” thing. What sometimes gets debated depending on people’s interpretation of the Bible is what actually, *teeeeeeechnically* constitutes sex. Mainly I think that this is because we tend to look for loopholes so that we can do the stuff we want to do without having to feel guilty about it because it’s “not technically sinning”. So you’ll see different definitions from different people. Some would say that “real sex” is only the insertional kind, that is, the kind when the penis enters the vagina. So not only is that super heteronormative and binarist, it’s also a very conveniently technical definition, which ignores how very nuanced the situation is. Some would tell you that the only thing you’re allowed to do before marriage is kissing. Some would say it’s not even that. One of my friends has a definition of sex that dictates that all parties involved must have an orgasm for it to be sex, which essentially disqualifies a lot of heterosexual encounters. I have a broader definition. I personally think that anything involving the genitals qualifies as sex. Whether it’s hands or mouth down there, or even if there’s layers of fabric in between, I think it still counts. This definition has not been formed based on theoretical morals or a sense of superiority. It reflects my personal experiences. And based on this definition, I’m not really uptight about wandering hands, as long as they avoid the crotch. That right there is a stance that’s quite a bit more liberal than some people. 

Now, all that being said, my personally-held belief is that God tells us not to have sex before marriage to protect us, and to preserve the sacred bond of matrimony. Lots of people use sex as an easy high (like I used to) but its real purpose (besides reproduction) is to strengthen interpersonal bonds. Sex causes the release of the hormone oxytocin, colloquially dubbed “the cuddle hormone” which gives you all the warm and fuzzy feelings and makes you feel attached to the person you had sex with. That’s why casual sex has the potential to be really emotionally and psychologically damaging if someone doesn’t know what to do with those feelings. But sex has been God-ordained to build intimacy between you and the person you choose to spend the rest of your life with. 

So the first question you really need to ask yourself is “when do my actions cross the line from fun, playful and affirming, into intimacy-building territory?” And you will know. That oxytocin is powerful stuff, man. The level of trust and vulnerability you need to be intimate with another human is no trifling thing and you will know when you feel like you’re building bonds with this person that might need to be saved for a later time and a more cemented relationship. You will also know when you’ve achieved a level of intimacy with someone that you weren’t ready for. My hope for you is that you never experience that, because it kinda sucks. So you need to figure out where your own line is for you. I’ve told you what my definition is. That being said, have I always and do I always adhere strictly to my own boundaries? No. Because once you’ve crossed the line, you become desensitized, and it’s hard to go back. So the best piece of advice I can give you is to be proactive and figure out where your line is before you cross it by accident, cause it’s a lot harder to cross back to the other side of the line. In saying that, I must caution you that the line is in different places for different people, and you may be less desensitized that I am, so just be careful to figure out where your line really is. And your line might be different from your person’s line, and then it comes down to not causing other people to stumble. So it’s important to know where your line is and where your partner’s is, so that you both can feel safe and comfortable and at peace with the physical aspect of your relationship. 

The second question you need to ask yourself is “how close do I want to get to the line?” That translates to, “where are wandering hands allowed to go?”, or “in what situations will we allow ourselves to experience that closeness?” (hint: in bed in an empty house is a bad idea if you’re not so great in the self control area) and “are clothes coming off or staying on?” It can be a really slippery slope, and the more “breathing room” you give yourself, the happier it will be. If you go aaaaall the way right up to the line the very first time, you’ve put yourself in a very precarious position because one little slip up could be disastrous. If you start off far away from the line, a little slip up is like “oh okay, still not a big deal because we still haven’t totally crossed the line.” 

I do not want you to experience the guilt and shame that I experienced, the stuff that comes with moving too fast and not caring enough. So like, go you for asking this question and for giving it some thought. I know it can be really tricky. I encourage you to think long and hard about it so that you can be proactive and so that you know what choice you’re making. I am not a huge believer in like “oh it just happened! it was an accident!” I think you need to know what you’re doing and you need to own it. 

Finally, be gracious with yourself. I know you’re gonna work really hard at this, but we are not perfect people, and if human nature is any indication, you’re probably going to make mistakes. You are not damaged goods. You are not ruined. A friend of mine once told me that grace is not a once had, once lost kind of thing, and neither is purity. Yeah, sexual sin is given a fair amount of screen time in the Bible, and I believe that is because of the repercussions that sexual promiscuity can have for us in this lifetime. But all sin is equal in the sight of God, which means that yes all sin is equally transgressive but also all sin is equally forgivable. Do not permanently condemn yourself for anything, because God doesn’t do that and neither should we. 

And of course, the best advice is to keep God at the centre of your relationship and pray about your relationship. If your ultimate goal is to foster a God-honouring relationship, it’s a lot harder to disobey him in that relationship. 

Good luck! If you know me in real life you’re more than welcome to contact me through any medium to chat more. If not, you can always ask me more questions here. 

Peace and love! 

- Katherine

The Friend Zone  Four-part Rant of the Day part 2

kinda super proud of this braid today 

The anti-refugee stance is closer to collaborating with ISIS than standing up to it.

Dave Pell (via blakebaggott)

THIS IS WHAT IM SAYING

I have an issue with this.

Okay so, recently I watched a video that is a spoken word detailing the difference between false religion and true Christianity. It’s fabulous. It’s a concise, articulate, theologically sound (including references to the old testament) poem which explains what we really believe, and I love it. It talks about not judging and good stuff like that.

My issue is completely separate, but is related to it indirectly. It stems from the fact that one of my friends shared this on Facebook, one whose lifestyle does not reflect a relationship with Christ. So when he shared this video on Facebook, one gets the impression that he feels that this video justifies his point of view. In fact, it does not. Yes, religious people have no right to condemn anybody because none of us are perfect and Jesus loves everybody and so should we. But there’s a difference between loving you and agreeing with you. Ever heard the expression “love the sinner, hate the sin”? Well, loving people is not people-pleasing. So we can hate religion all we want, because religion refers to hypocritical and self-righteous traditions all designed to create the illusion of someone who is “holier than thou.” But that doesn’t change the fact that there are some things that are not okay. Not drunkenness, or taking the Lord’s name in vain, or sex before marriage, or pornography, or lying, or cheating, or jealousy, or pride. I don’t discriminate, I have a problem with all sin equally. And I struggle with some of those. And yes, the grace of God covers all sin, but there’s a verse that says “so should we keep sinning so that God’s grace can just keep multiplying?” The answer is a resounding “NO!” That’s holy inflation. That’s cheapening God’s mercy and compassion, taking it entirely for granted and reducing it to having no value. In fact, God’s mercy is something so valuable, it should knock us on our faces in complete awe and submission of the Lord who saves our sorry souls. It should make us acutely aware of our own inadequacy and of the infinitely generous gift that God is giving us. See it all comes down to a sermon by Pastor Glen Newman that I heard over the summer: You can’t have grace without truth, and vice versa. Because the truth is that WE’RE NOT GOOD ENOUGH. And truth alone will make you hopeless and bitter, facing a lifetime of futile strife trying to live up to an impossible standard. But the grace part says THAT’S OKAY, I AM ENOUGH. And grace alone will make us complacent, feeling secure in the knowledge that Jesus loves us so we don’t have to try. It’s a very delicate balance between accepting God’s love and living according to the lifestyle He requires of us. Soemthing else I heard over the summer was by Brad Noel and he said that “Jesus can only be your savior if He is your Lord.” Which means that salvation is not a one-moment thing, it’s a way of life that involves completely dying to the old you and turning your back on everything you once were so God can transform you into something new and beautiful, in His likeness.

I guess my point is that, if we hate religion and love Jesus, how do we show that we really love Jesus? How do we show that we’re 100% sold-out, on fire, passionately in love with the God who rescued us from ourselves? Do we just update our Facebook status?

Thoughts in the aftermath of the Paris attacks

I question how we could have gotten to this point. When was there such a breakdown in humanity that we are capable of committing such atrocities? Was it imperialism and colonialism? Was it the tower of Babel? Was it when Eve ate the apple? And more worryingly, I question how I became desensitized to it. I’m not gonna lie, the first thought I had when I heard about Paris was “I’m not even surprised.” And the more I think about it, the more horrifying that is. I can’t fathom how someone could hold so much hatred in their heart that they would commit such evil against their fellow human beings. 

But here’s the thing: I’ve seen more widespread and more insidious hatred on social media in the past three days than in Paris on Friday. I am dismayed at the tragedies in Paris and Lebanon, and I am disgusted and many people’s reactions. 

ISIS seeks to divide us along fabricated lines of religion, and to sow fear and hatred. When someone says that this is the reason we shouldn’t be letting refugees into Canada, they are dividing us along the fabricated lines of ethnicity, and they are sowing fear and hatred. It reveals extreme xenophobia, and profound racial prejudice, and - quite frankly - willful stupidity (otherwise known as ignorance). When I see inane posts about closing Canadian borders being propagated on social media, I honestly judge those people for being shallow and stupid. If you think critically about the reasons people seek refuge in Canada, you would know that to attempt to deny them that refuge because you’re scared of terrorism is absolutely absurd. 

Not only that, but we are so horrified by ISIS because they presume to make themselves masters of others fate. They take the power of life and death into their hands, and judge other human beings. Do you realize that to let children die at sea is the same thing? Just because we didn’t pull the trigger doesn’t mean that our hatred didn’t kill them. 

Did you know that the bible says that anyone who hates a brother or sister is a murderer? (1 John 3:15) Refugees are your brothers and sisters. Your hatred for them is both metaphorically and literally their death sentence. 

If you dare to say that we should deny refugees entrance into Canada because of your racial prejudice, you are just as bad as ISIS. 

The first funny bitch was Cain, who straight up lied to God after killing his brother.