Have You Ever Experienced Or Witnessed A Miracle?

Also in regards to Paul, there are many who believe that he was either a widower or divorced (perhaps his wife left him when he became a Christian). He speaks to older widows and says they shouldn't get married but stay like him, which many take to imply that he had been married but chose not to remarry. Also being married may have been a requirement to be on the Jewish council. Anyway, I loved your response, but I just wanted to address those two things. Have a blessed day :)

Hmmm…that’s really cool! I’d never even heard of that theory until now! I will definitely be doing some digging. This then, is a good example of why fact checking is important. I think I’ll see if I can make some edits to the earlier response to correct that misinformation. Regardless, do you still agree that a celibate marriage is probably not so much a great idea? Haha :) Thank you very much, I’m so glad you took the time to message me! It’s always great to get input from people smarter and wiser than I am haha. Also, thanks and I hope you have an awesome day too :)-Katherine 

Dearest,

Look at the scars on your wrists. Now look at the scars on mine. On my wrists, on my head, on my back. Look at the blade in your hand. Now, do you see the thorns?  Do you see the whip? Do you see the nails? Look at your own blood you spilled. Now look at mine running down the rugged wooden tree.

Do you know how much I love you?

When you feel worthless, remember that I love you individually and personally. Every part of you is familiar to Me and I love you deeply no matter what. You are the apple of My eye. You are priceless to Me. You are so valuable to Me that if you were the only person ever in the entire world, I would have suffered every horror of the cross just the same. I died for you.

When you feel like a mistake, remember that I made you. I do not make mistakes. You are perfect exactly the way you are. You are My masterpiece. When I look at you, I see My wonderful creation, and I see your soul shining through. I see a beautiful vessel of My Spirit which I placed in you, a spirit of freedom, a spirit of victory, a spirit of power.

When you feel like nothing good could ever come of you, remember that when I created you, I had a specific purpose in mind, and a glorious plan for you life. I will use you to impact lives and to change the world in your own special way and I equipped you with the exact right skills, passions, talents and experiences to do it.

Again I ask you, do you know how much I love you?

Every pain you feel, ever drop you bleed, every tear you cry, I wish you did not have to. That’s why I went to the cross. I took every single heartbreak, every single addiction, every single mistake, every single negative thought about yourself on my shoulders on the cross. I felt everything you feel…

…So that you wouldn’t have to.

I was crucified in the most inhumane way possible. Unendurable agony for 6 hours. And then, God the father turned His back on me. Every sin of this world was laid on my shoulders and I was completely alone. All that you feel multiplied 6 billion times.

My child, I took all of your pain. I conquered all your addictions, all your self-hate and self-harm. I am Lord of life and death. I went down into the depths of Hell and came back. I won the victory on the cross, I bought your freedom. I went through it so that you don’t have to. You are free.

That’s how much I love you.

I want to give you LIFE  and life more abundantly! I want to wrap my arms of love around you and never let go. I want to blow your mind with the amazing plans that I have for you. I want to fill you so full of peace and hope and love and joy that you’re overflowing. Will you let me?

-Jesus

P. S. Put down the blade. I say you’re better than that.

The strength of your faith is so awesome. I might not understand it, or have the same beliefs as you but i think it's SO cool that you can fully trust in your God and have no doubts about his love. Personally i'm not a religious person, i guess i'm somewhat spiritual but i don't consider it a big part of my life. But in certain situations i feel a compulsion to pray, because if i don't and the outcome is bad i'm always going to wonder "what if i had prayed?". Is that wrong?

No, I don’t think it’s wrong.

I feel like you believe that God exists in a vague, nebulous entity kinda way, and of course when one has even a faint idea that such a divine being exists, of course one would be curious and slightly awed. Especially in situations that feel overwhelming or impossible, it only makes perfect sense to turn to someone greater than ourselves. 

Furthermore, God is straight-up thrilled when you pray. The bible emphasizes repeatedly that God is attentive to His children. He hears your prayers and heeds them. In fact, He LOVES to hear your voice! His day is made when He hears that little voice go, “God? It’s me.” Just picture this: 

A very stressed-out looking angel is holding a clipboard and saying “God, we really need to deal with the Holy fountain of eternal chocolate in quadrant 6.” And God’s like “Wait wait wait wait. Shhhhh. Hear that? That’s Lauren! Listen! That’s my daughter Lauren talking to me!” And then He flings out His arms and yells, “QUIET EVERYONE!” The hustle of activity stops and everyone stares at Him. “Lauren’s talking!” He says. So all of heaven comes to a standstill to listen to Lauren talk to God. 

I just picked Lauren as a random name, but insert your own in that little story. Obviously, that’s hyperbole because although I dearly hope so, there might not actually be a holy fountain of eternal chocolate in heaven. That story was, however, a pretty accurate representation of how highly God thinks of you and your prayers. 

I just want to let you know that as big and humongous and powerful God is, He is still a very personal God. He knows you inside out and He delights in you. He thinks you’re the most amazing and fantastic thing in the world. And He wants to have a real relationship with you. Nothing would please Him more than to listen to you tell Him about your day every day. So it doesn’t have to be certain situations. It can be whenever, for any reason. 

So I’ll end this off by saying that your attitude is completely normal, and it’s not wrong. But I would encourage you to explore praying more, because it’s good for us, and it will help you understand God a bit better, and the two of you will be closer because of it, which, of course, is pretty frickin awesome :)

Peace and love! -Katherine 

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

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

It still appalls me how so many affirming Christians feel like they don’t need to get involved in LGBTQ issues and take a vocal stand to stop oppression and ignorance. 

I understand that there are a ton of other issues that go on besides LGBTQ issues, but let’s be real. This is the biggest issue in our culture right now. Keeping quiet about issues like these is only self serving at this point.

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

“When you turn your face away from the young lady with severe boils and dry scabs covering every inch of her skin do you feel yourself grow? Do you feel new, with shedding snake skin peeling off of your body, making you vibrant and bright? Do you feel beautiful when you turn the ugly away? When you talk to the twenty six year old man with moderate autism like he is five years old, do you feel grown? When he cannot write the word garbage correctly, do you treat him like trash - discarded and forgotten? Do you feel intelligent with the world on your side, only seeking to understand the average and the normal? When you knock your child around, do you feel big? Do you feel the power coursing through your veins? Do you feel the adrenaline pumping through your body? When he cowers in fear at your words of “USELESS” and “WORTHLESS” do you feel worthy of his attention, of his affection, of his love? When you stand on the other side of homosexuality and send your acid laced words claiming biblical truth to burn their sin away, do you feel righteous? When your hate filled phrases make someone want to kill themselves to “get rid of the gay” do you feel loving? When you split marriage to be between one man and one woman do you feel like an earthquake, dividing the world to fit your standard and letting those you don’t understand fall to the core of the world, so you can walk all over them again? When you send a man to his death, do you feel like God? Do you feel the way mountains long to be moved and women scream to be heard and little boys cry at night because they know they are girls and everyone tells them that they are confused? Tell me, do you feel like God? You are no God, you of weak and little love, your hands did not build ribcages of protection and skeletons of structure. Your back did not bear his burdens when they threatened to crush him. You did not pick the larva out of the wounds of the divine and beg to bathe him. You did not care for her when she had next to nothing, but you cared for yourself when you took her everything. Your hands are not dirty from digging him out of the mud, but clean because you were the one who pushed him in. You did not pick up your cross and crucify yourself with him, you were the one in the crowd shouting, “KILL HIM” Depart from me. Depart from him. Go and find love.”

— Amanda Helm, Depart from Me (via amandaspoetry)

How do you feel about mormons?

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

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

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

Okay, here we go. 

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

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

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

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

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

There’s only one God. 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Okay so….in conclusion!!!

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

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

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

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

 Peace and love! -Katherine 

Are you aware of the process of courting before engagement? It's like hands-off dating until you're engaged and then only hugs and hand-holding until you're married. How do you feel about this, is it something you would do?

Hello! I am indeed aware of such a process! In fact, one of my best friends is Muslim and that’s basically what they do…it’s like hands-off dates with a chaperone. I know it sounds sooo tiresome, but the whole point is to find out whether you are interested in spending the rest of your life with this person. And honestly, it sounds to me like they’re perfected the art of dating.

I am very incredibly interested in what it would be like. I think I really would try it. I don’t think that it’s necessary to remain pure, and I’ve always looked rather askance at the concept of saving your first kiss for your wedding day (simply because I think it’s a tad extreme, and unnecessary). So I don’t exactly think that it’s the right way to do it, but I think it sounds very interesting. It might be a good idea :P

I find that the physical aspect of a relationship has the potential to cloud judgment. Provided I can determine whether or not I’m physically attracted to someone and be aware of it (which I can, I dunno bout you :P) - because physical chemistry still is and always will be a very important part of a relationship - I think that it’s a “smart” way to do dating. You spend your time productively finding out how your values and worldview line up, and discussing thoughts and ideas instead of just, like, macking. :P

Because as important as physical chemistry is, it’s not what holds a marriage together. Mutual respect, appreciation, admiration and commitment is what holds a marriage together. And it’s possible that the way most people do dating focuses too closely on the physical aspect, and doesn’t prepare them for the future. So I think the process of courting *could* potentially produce stronger marriages. 

So in theory, I’m all for it. In practice…….

Honestly, I don’t even know if I could do it :P Well, I guess I could. I probably wouldn’t like it though :P When I’m in a relationship, the mental energy I devote to the physical part is divided evenly between paranoia about PDA and “I can’t wait to kiss him again”. So I think in one way, it’d be best kind! In another, it would annoy me. Thankfully, my love language is not physical touch! It’s words of affirmation, so I think that as long as I got to talk and text, I’d survive. 

Haha that was probably a long of information about me you didn’t need to know. But hopefully, it helps you understand my perspective. :) 

Thanks for the question! Peace and love! -Katherine 

like basically. if you’re not religious how do you deal with being alive. and if you are religious how do you not let the terror of that consume you. really makes u think