Don't You Think That A Physical Relationship And Sexual Chemistry Are A Big Part Of A Relationship Too?

How do you feel about living with someone before you're married?

Well…I think it’s really..dangerous. Like, I’ve decided that I’m not gonna have sex before marriage. And living ALONE, TOGETHER, with someone makes it reeeeeeeally easy to have sex with them. Basically, if I were living with my boyfriend, I’m pretty sure we’d have sex. I know my limitations, and I definitely don’t trust myself that much. So I wouldn’t do it. :P I’m staying faaaaarrrr away from that line.

Thank for the question! Peace and love! -Katherine

do you think there's a such thing as "overdoing the labels"? qwq I feel like I could be an aroflux demi-lithro-bisexual--"likes 'features' of feminines and masculines, but gets uncomfortable at the thought of someone having or feeling sexual thoughts towards me unless we're partners" but is that too confusing/kinda ridiculous? qwq

Personally, as someone who works with words, I think that if people come up with a word that didn't exist before, it's generally meant to describe a reality that needed to be defined in some way and wasn't before, and therefore it IS needed. So no. I don't think there's such a thing as "overdoing the labels", or "underdoing" them either for that matter. I don't think either is ridiculous. It's a matter of how one wants to define themselves which comes down to a lot of personal self-observation and self-affirmation, and since it's everyone's call, I don't think there's a wrong way to do it (well, except if you're a bigot misusing words to hurt or diminish other groups, but we don't talk about those here... Except to warn against them ig. Anyway. I hope you get my point TwT That's not you're case at all so you're all good)

"Being a Christian doesn't mean you're perfect, it just means you're forgiven."

You know, sometimes I think we miss the whole point of GRACE. It’s not a one-time thing (thank God), like we become a Christian and we pray that prayer, and then in that moment, everything in our past is wiped away, and then we have to be perfect form that point on. Like all our past mistakes are forgiven but we’re not allowed to make any more.

See, I have this weird complex-type thing where I’m almost convinced that I have to be absolutely perfect and I can’t handle it if I’m not. And I think that among my peers, there are more people like me than I thought. So let’s all stop, take a breath, and accept the fact that we will fail. Let’s stop hating on ourselves because “I’m not patient enough”, “I don’t have enough faith”, “I doubt God”, “I’m a terrible person”. The last one isn’t even true, for anybody. And the rest of those flaws are not the end of the world.

Because, grace means that it’s OKAY that we aren’t perfect! That is the very reason why Jesus died. The blood he shed for us covers every time we slip. I KNOW I’m not good enough! So did Jesus. That’s why He gave us His Holy Spirit to live in us and complete us, to fill the areas where we are lacking, to give us the spirit of Christ, to adopt us into His family, and give us eternal life. In my weakness, His strength is revealed. I am not enough, but He lives in me, and He is. THAT is grace.

Grace means it’s okay to be human. GRACE is what distinguishes Christianity from any religion, because it means that we don’t have to be good enough. Thank God, I don’t have to be good enough, because I never could.

This is a journal entry of mine slash a letter I wrote to my friend from a couple years ago:

“March 5, 2011

That perfect girl I want to be…she doesn’t exist. That’s the truth. Let the truth set you free. Jesus knows us. He knows that our hearts are deceitful and wicked and betray our best intentions. He knows we’re gonna screw up daily..many times a day in fact. He knows that we haven’t the faintest glimmer of hope of being the person we think we’re supposed to be, but He doesn’t want us to be that person. He just wants us to be us and let Him use us. He just wants us to choose to give Him EVERYTHING, the good and the bad to Him, because He made us, and He doesn’t make anything He can’t use. That’s when our weakness is replaced by God’s strength.

If we were perfect, what would we need Jesus for? We could get to Heaven on our own then! But that’s not the point. We are accutely aware of our own inadequacies and failings and it is because of that that we can truly appreciate the magnitude of His infinite love and GRACE, and what He did for us on the cross.

So yes, don’t be comfortable with your mistakes. By all means, try your best to be the best you can be, but don’t hate yourself when you make a mistake, or when you feel like your character is flawed beyond repair. Instead, embrace the redeeming power of Jesus’ blood.”

One of my favourite quotes is from a song by Lecrae, called Background. The lyrics say “Cause if I do this by myself I’m scared that I’ll succeed, and no longer trust in you, cause I only trust in me.”

We are nothing without Christ. So why do we try so hard to be something without Him, and why are we so surprised and dismayed when we fail time after time? Embrace being imperfect, and embrace the grace that says it’s okay.

Does the Pentecostal church allow gay marriage ?

Hi there :) 

***[I know a simple yes or no would suffice, but this is gonna be another long answer. I have, as usual, bolded important sentences for those who would rather skim.]*** 

This is going to be difficult for me to tell you, but I’m afraid that the Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada, with which the Pentecostal Assemblies of Newfoundland are affiliated - and therefore under which my own church exists - do not sanction gay marriage. Here is the “Statement of Fundamental and Essential Truths”. You will find homosexuality is addressed in section 5.9.1, “Marriage and the Family”. Here are a couple key quotes from that section:

"Marriage is a provision of God wherein one man and one woman to the exclusion of all others enter into a lifelong relationship through a marriage ceremony that is recognized by the church and legally sanctioned by the state."

…

"Marriage can only be broken by porneia, which is understood as marital unfaithfulness involving adultery, homosexuality, or incest. While the Scriptures give evidence that the marriage vow and "one-flesh" union are broken by such acts and therefore recognize the breaking of the marriage relationship, the Scriptures do recommend that the most desirable option would be reconciliation."

I imagine this is an affront to you, and I can understand why. I would like to justify the church’s stance, but I won’t. This decision is for two reasons: 

Firstly, because if what you want is for the Pentecostal church to allow gay marriage, then nothing I say will soothe your offended sensibilities. 

Secondly, because these practices apply only to members of the Pentecostal church: people who have actively chosen to participate in this institution, and whom evidently understand and are satisfied with the beliefs and practices. 

However, I will offer some of my own thoughts to supplement the information I’ve just given you.

[] 

Katherine’s thoughts: 

1. The Pentecostal church is part of the “private” sector, by which I mean that we are a non-profit organization and we are not affiliated with the government, be it federal, provincial, etc. Therefore, we do not attempt to extend our beliefs to anybody outside of our members. People who choose to become a member of the church (which, in case you’re wondering, is an official process involving an application and an interview) choose to abide by the practices set forth by the church, and that’s why those people chose to become a member in the first place. Therefore, the church will not corporately try to influence legislation involving gay marriage. How the church’s members vote is their individual decision, and in my experience, my church has never even discussed politics, let alone tried to influence my personal political beliefs. 

2. I am completely sure that while a person who is married to someone else of the same sex and/or gender may not choose to be a member of our church, NO ONE will discourage them from attending the services or benefiting from the various programs we offer. Being a member is a very official thing, and even though I’ve attended the church since birth, I’m still not a member. Membership involves stuff like voting for pastoral staff and board members and attending annual business meetings and boring stuff like that. So you could totally come on Sundays and chill with us and we won’t say anything to you. You could attend and volunteer and participate at Bethesda for 50 years and never be a member, so there’s that loophole. 

3. [THIS ONE IS SUPER IMPORTANT] Christianity is, above all, about a very personal, very intimate relationship with God. If you do not currently have an acquaintance with God, I would strongly encourage you to get to know Him. And if you want to, don’t let anybody or anything, including the church, including your sexual orientation, including the people in your life, dissuade you from doing so. Don’t ever let anybody tell you that there’s anything separating you from God, or that you have to change something about yourself before you get to know Him. He is waiting for you, exactly as you are, right here, right now, and He loves you exactly as you are, and nothing you do could ever make Him love you less….or more.

"For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”- Romans 8:38-39

We as the church, are attempting to function as the “body” of Christ, that is to say, the mortal manifestation of His divine love here in the natural world. We are not God, and we cannot judge you or tell you what to do. Only He can do that. And if you have some questions about your lifestyle, I suggest you take it up with Him, not me. I don’t know anything. 

4. [This one is a little more complex and not quite fully formed so bear with me.] Pentecostals are what one might call “orthodox” Christians, which means that we believe firmly in the Bible as the complete and absolute truth. We cannot deny that the New Testament states that practicing homosexuality is not a lifestyle officially condoned by the Christian church. That’s why it’s part of the official Pentecostal statutes. As Christians, we must trust that God is a divine being infinitely more wise and more powerful than us, and that His word is truth, and that the Bible is the inspired word of God, due to its historical credibility, internal consistency and enduring influence. As such, we must trust that His plan for our lifestyle is a good one. If this is due singularly to the biology of His creation, and the fact that babies generally occur from heterosexual sex, then I guess I can see how that kinda makes sense. But in reality, I can’t actually see how anything makes any sense ever, because I’m a finite human (which is redundant, because there is no such thing as an infinite human, but I really wanted to drive the point home). I just go through life trusting in a higher power than myself (with good reasons to do so, I might add. Please see here). That means that I trust Him despite my personal opinions and despite what’s going on around me. This puts us in a rather difficult situation when it comes to formulating an opinion on homosexuality because I genuinely do think that it’s not a choice. 

5. For this reason, I have taken this as my official personal stance on homosexuality and Christianity: "Love is my ultimate answer to any question, because God is Love and Love is as close to the divine as you will get in this life. I adhere to two inalienable truths - God loves you and I love you. This love is unconditional, and has nothing to do with whether or not we agree on…anything, really. My purpose and goal in life is to show you that God loves you. I attempt to do this by loving you. And I really really want you to experience this radical, world-changing, earth-shattering, mind-blowing, paradigm-shifting love of God for yourself because it will literally change your life. And I believe that you can experience this love no matter what. No conditions apply. None. I will never tell you how to live your life, and if you have questions about your lifestyle, talk to God, not me." 

6. [Last one, finally!] Like I said, Christianity means a relationship with God, not belonging to a church. However, I strongly advocate for finding a group of believers to offer support and solidarity and encouragement in your faith. So I recommend finding a church where you feel safe and comfortable. If that’s not a Pentecostal church, that’s okay. But above all, I want you to know God. 

Okay all done! 

Thanks for your question :) As always, tip next time, 

Peace and love! -Katherine

Thy will be done.

This is my prayer. At all times and in every situation, I pray, "thy will be done."

If my prayers have the power to move the hearts of world leaders, then let their hearts be moved.

If my prayers have power to end a genocide, then let the bloodshed cease.

If my prayers have the power to heal illnesses, then let all infirmities be cured.

If my prayers have the power to throw a mountain into an ocean, then let Everest find itself at the bottom of the Pacific.

If my prayers have the power to make me brave, then let me have the boldness of a lion.

And if there is anything you would ask of me, Lord, then let me do it.

In the world. In the very earth and water and air. In all nations. In the hearts of humanity. In the bodies and minds of every person. In me. In my life. In my words and my deeds.

Thy will be done.

Jesus is Loving Barrabas Interlude

I am lying here thinking about how I literally cannot fathom that we live in a world that actually makes people feel bad about who they are. Like, this actually boggles my mind. That with 7 billion humans on this planet, some humans tell other humans that they’re being a human wrong. There is no wrong way to be a human. Sometimes, when I take a moment to come up for air, and I have this brief shining clarity, I am overwhelmed with outrage. Because how is it possibly acceptable for someone to feel inferior due to the traits that make them unique? Someone please try and explain this to me. I dare you to try and make this make sense. Out of all the glorious diversity of human life, some traits were labelled “right” and some were labelled “wrong”, and due to these completely arbitrary and 100% fake standards, humans give themselves the right to discriminate against other humans. Are you hearing this? Are you understanding the sheer absurdity of the world we live in? The worst part is that it’s not even anything these people have a choice about. It’s not like they did someone really shitty to deserve some kind of negative reaction. No no, this is literally how they were born and they have no control over it. And our world now somehow works in such a way that they are made to feel that that’s bad somehow?! Stuff like skin colour or gender or sexual orientation? That stuff is the stuff that condemns you?! All things that - really - at the end of the day, don’t matter. Things that are used to divide people because we’ve created these false barriers between one another. This is literally insane! This is complete and utter madness! This makes zero sense at all! The world is so messed up! How the heck did we manage to created a world wherein people actually feel like they cannot be who they truly are? What have we done?! WE MESSED UP! Oh my gosh I hate this world so much.

I'm pretty unexceptional looking...

And I'm about to tell you why that statement means absolutely nothing.

Most people would not describe their appearance as special or extraordinary. If someone were to ask you if you're attractive, you'd either say no, or you'd proceed to give a vague, equivocating description of your mediocre beauty. Even supermodels and movie stars have acute and sever insecurities. There's not a single person in this world who legitimately views themselves as head-turning attractive. In fact, I think we're all too comfortable with the idea of looking "average". We style our hair the way everyone else is doing it. We wear the same clothes every one else does. We all just want to blend in and not draw undue attention to our person. Our fondest wish is to look like everyone else. Do you deny it? 

HOWEVER, not one of us believes that we really are actually like everyone else. Whether you think that's a good thing or a bad thing is not for me to decide, but you know that you're unique. You know you're different from every single other person around you. If you do think that's a bad thing, I'm here to tell you that it's not. You have interests, skills, talents and passions that are unique and entirely your own. And that's awesome and super cool and you are special and amazing specifically because you are not like any single other human on the planet. 

But here's my point. Judging by appearances is literally the dumbest thing ever because the outward appearance gives absolutely no indication of who someone is. Too often we get too caught up in the outward appearance and it consumes us. We narrow our minds to the here and now, the tangible and touchable. Even though the physical body is present and right in front of us right now, it is a meagre representation of the person inside. Every single person is exceptional and extraordinary. People who look perfectly average and even might look "boring" have entire galaxies inside their heads. They have unwritten novels and unheard music and unknown inventions inside of them. They have love stories and ancient histories and imagined eternities in their hearts. So even though we spend most of our time trying to blend into our surroundings, our characters make us stand out from the crowd because of our various vibrant and dynamic personalities. 

That was definitely not as deep as I thought it was. I wish I could impress upon you how incredibly important this is to me. I don't even know if that made sense, I just really really wanted to tell you all my thoughts on this topic. 

Peace and love!  -Katherine

WHy do you go to a non-demoninational public university. Why dont you go to a Private Christian school? Like Liberty university or something?

I'm still seriously wondering how you know where I do or do not go to school. :S Anyway, it's just kind of that I never even considered Liberty U, or similar schools, as options. Cause I wanna be a doctor. Also, I live in Newfoundland, Canada. And people who love on Newfoundland who want to go to bible college go to one of two universities: Tyndale, in Ontario, or Vanguard, in Alberta. Since I don't want to be a pastor, I don't really see the point in going to either one of those schools, or any school at all other than Memorial University. It's the only university in Newfoundland and it's suuuuuper cheap, and I can live at home and all that good stuff, and it's a relatively good quality school where I can get a science degree before I go to med school. Sooooo....yeah, it was just a really easy decision to make. Almost not even a decision at all. That's all :)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