God Does Not Expect You To Be A Wall Street Executive. God Does Not Wish You Were Making Six Figures.

Thanks for the follow. Blessings!

No prob bro! Thanks for stopping by :) 

"I'm Not Like Other Girls"

Katherine rants about why the above statement is problematic. 

Sometimes, I want to take your face in my hands, look you in the eyes, and say this:

You are enough. You don't have to try to be anything more or anything different than exactly who you are. You are worth it. You are worthy of my time and my attention and my love. You have so many good qualities. You can't see them all, but I guarantee you that I can. You are loved. Everyone around you cares about you. You are lovely. You touch and inspire those you come in contact with every day. I really really want you to love yourself because I love you and it makes me sad to see that you don't love yourself. Everything you feel is normal, and it's okay. But I want to tell you that sometimes feelings lie. And if feelings ever tell you that you're anything less than wonderful, and loved, and perfect exactly the way you are, they're lying. You will get through this. You are strong enough. You have people around you. You're gonna be okay. You are okay. You can do this. And last but certainly, not least, I'm very proud of you.  Love,  Me. 

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 

You Are Beautiful - Mike Young

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

May God break every weapon.

Can religion and science co-exist? religious people bash on scientists, yet scientists never claimed to create, be smarter, wiser or greater then god. They just ask questions and get answers based on observations. Scientists call it proof, religion calls it faith. One is based on logic and proof the other we are expected to be wise enough to believe in. Evolution and Adam & Eve, The big bang and the 7 days of creation. How do you justify them, or do you believe just one theory? why mix the two?

Hold up now, I’m getting some serious misconceptions from you here. Some religious people bash on scientists. And some scientists bash on religious people. Unfortunately, I fear that there will always be bad blood between those who view themselves as being driven by the pursuit of pure, rational knowledge, and those who view themselves as being privy to a transcendent, divine message. Many in each camp see the other as polar opposite, but they’re more similar than they know. If you ask me, and you did (mwahaha), science and religion don’t need to look for a way to peacefully coexist, they already cooperate quite beautifully, if only we would see it. Let’s face it, there are some gaps in the proof for the big bang and there’s even some scientific evidence for the truth of the bible. But neither theory can explain everything. They’re both a few pieces short of the full puzzle. You know why? Cause it’s the same puzzle. Evolution is obviously a perfectly respectful theory. Darwin’s finches is an observable phenomenon and I don’t deny the existence of evolution. I find it a tad hard to swallow though, when the simple phenomenon of evolution is stretched so much as to explain how we got from a collision of matter and antimatter and primordial soup to the complex ecosystems and organisms we have today. I accept that there are myriad things we don’t know and probably never will. I am a science enthusiast and a Christian. Are the two mutually exclusive? Of course not. Do I “mix the two”? Well…no. There’s nothing to mix. God, being supernatural, created all the natural world. Science is the explanation of the natural world. That’s not so hard. Some of my most spiritual moments were…1. Grade 12 Biology, DNA unit. 2. Kennedy Space Center, Orlando FL, 2012. The microscopic and the macroscopic get me so fired up cause I’m just squirming in my seat like a little kid, going “God, you are SO COOL!” The more I learn about this world, the more amazed and inspired I am by the God who (to me) obviously made it. His fingerprints are everywhere, and that’s what science is to me. Although, interestingly, I’m also completely in love with the arts, because that’s God’s fingerprints inside of us. Ta-da! The reconciliation of what seem to be conflicting schools of thought. Only the truly close-minded would think that religion and science are mutually exclusive. :) Peace and love! -KatherineP.S. Einstein said that the more he studied the universe, the more he believed in a higher power.  

Is sex before marriage a sin? If so, why? Does the ceremony make a difference to God if you're in a fully committed relationship? Is it a sin to have sex the night before the wedding but not a sin 24 hours later? I've always believed in waiting but now I'm questioning what the difference is to God

In your question I can see that you have already gotten rid of the idea of marriage as a covenant. When you ask “does the ceremony make a difference to God if you’re in a fully committed relationship?” the answer is yes because it’s not a fully committed relationship until the ceremony that symbolizes the covenant relationship between you and your spouse before God. If marriage is just a ceremony or a social contract, then yeah, it wouldn’t make that big of a deal, but it is so much more than that. It is an image of the relationship that Christ has with his bride the Church. 

Marriage is not the small thing that the culture has made it out to be. The call in marriage is to give your life for your spouse, and when people throw their marriages away for nothing then it gives people the idea that marriage really isn’t that big of a deal and that in the end it’s basically just like any other relationship. Once you start thinking that way, then marriage becomes irrelevant. But that’s not what marriage is. It’s a covenant between you your spouse and God, and as such it should be treated with great reverence.

10 Awesome Quotes from C.S. Lewis

“Though our feelings come and go, God’s love for us does not.”

“The Christian does not think God will love us because we are good, but that God will make us good because He loves us.”

“You don’t have a soul. You are a soul. You have a body.”

“I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.”

“Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on; you knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But presently He starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make any sense. What on earth is He up to? The explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of - throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were being made into a decent little cottage: but He is building a palace. He intends to come and live in it Himself.”

“A man can no more diminish God’s glory by refusing to worship Him than a lunatic can put out the sun by scribbling the word ‘darkness’ on the walls of his cell.”

“To be a Christian means to forgive the inexcusable because God has forgiven the inexcusable in you.”

“God can’t give us peace and happiness apart from Himself because there is no such thing.”

“Pain insists upon being attended to. God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our consciences, but shouts in our pains. It is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world.”

“I didn’t go to religion to make me happy. I always knew a bottle of Port would do that. If you want a religion to make you feel really comfortable, I certainly don’t recommend Christianity.”