I'm Pretty Unexceptional Looking...

"I'm Not Like Other Girls"

Katherine rants about why the above statement is problematic. 

I WAS LITERALLY ABOUT TO REBLOG THIS WHEN I SAW THAT YOU TAGGED ME THIS IS SO TRUE AND I GET SO MAD ABOUT IT

dudes in their 20s who try to talk to high school girls are losers

A PSA for all the white, straight, cisgendered, able-bodied, neurotypical peeps.

You are privileged. 

If you are all of the things listed in that title, then you are VERY privileged. 

If you are not aware of your privilege, it’s because that’s how privilege works. You don’t see the disadvantages other people face because those disadvantages don’t exist for you. You don’t see social inequalities because society was designed for you to move through it with ease. Society was built by people like you for people like you. That’s privilege. 

But also, if you’re not aware of your privilege, or - even worse - if you willfully deny the existence of said privilege, you’re either blind or selfish or some arrogant, ignorant combination of the two. 

FURTHERMORE. When someone tells you that you are privileged, that is not a personal affront?? Nobody is attacking you by telling you that you’re privileged. They’re just stating a fact. E.g. Me saying “you are privileged.” is not an attack. Me saying “you’re either blind or selfish or some arrogant, ignorant combination of the two.” is an attack. You see the difference? Good. I regret nothing. Moving on. 

I understand that being privileged can feel uncomfortable because it’s like daily, societal survivor’s guilt. I understand that you don’t want to talk about how life is easier for you than for your friend/coworker/family member because of the colour of your skin, or your gender identity, or your sexual orientation, or your genetics. Nobody has any control over that. And yeah, I get it. You’re a good person. You would never oppress anybody because of any of those things. 

STOP BEING AN OVERLY SENSITIVE BABY. This. Is. Not. About. You. Suck it up and face the facts: we live in a deeply unjust society, and you’re on the benefitting side of that injustice. Getting offended about it when someone points out your privilege doesn’t help. Denying your privilege doesn’t help. Making up some stupid reverse kind of discrimination doesn’t help. Claiming that you can’t be privileged because your life sucks doesn’t help. Feeling guilty about it doesn’t help. 

Literally the only appropriate response to your own privilege is to acknowledge it, acknowledge that other people are not so privileged, use your privilege to draw attention to the fact that not everyone is privileged, and work to correct social inequalities. That’s it. Do that. Instead of getting blustery and defensive when someone tells you that you’re privileged, just go do that. ffs. 

“I wondered if that was why God hated sin, because of the destruction it caused. For a moment I felt awe for a God who loved me enough to hate the things that hurt me without hating me for causing them.”

—

Susan E. Isaacs (via everfleeting)

so much feels

(via forevermessiah)

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! 

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

Thinkin' 'bout International Women's Day

I think it's super cool that we have a day to celebrate women, because any time there is time set aside and designated for a topic, it brings the topic to the forefront of people's minds. And I love celebrating International Women's Day by listening to Nicki and Bey and talking about feminism. A lot of the content I see is rather american-centric, i.e. It deals with feminism in the context of a western society. On *International* Women's Day, I think it's suuuuuuper important to also discuss a broader spectrum of feminism. There are still parts of the world where Female Genital Mutilation is a thing. There are parts of the world where girls are married off to middle aged men in their preteen and early teen years. There are parts of the world where women have chemical burns from acid thrown on them by abusive husbands. There are parts of the world where women cannot go to school. To me, that's what feminism is about. That's what International Women's Day is about. Check out The Girl Effect for more info. They're a cool crowd.

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 

The greater good is exactly the size of a single human life. The greater good is no greater than the well-being of the lowest member of society. To sacrifice any human for the greater good is to sacrifice the greater good itself.

Shrinking Women - Lily Myers