Depressionanddeconstruction - Unlearning And Relearning

What is your opinion on purity rings?

Teehee, guess what…I wear a purity ring. 

I wear it on my wedding finger and everything. It says “Purity” on one side and “Matthew 5:8” on the other. I ordered it online from c28.com. 

I’ve heard a lot of differing opinions on the topic of purity rings. Some people think it’s really corny and stupid and seem to associate it with the image of a really sheltered, socially inept, uber-religious freak. One woman wrote a blog post that I read about how she stopped wearing hers because it said “True Love Waits” and she felt that it was indicative of her attitude of expectancy. Like she kept asking God to send her a husband and she realized that she was too hung up on it and wanted to find her worth and fulfillment in God instead of waiting for a man. 

I would like to think that I don’t belong to either of those categories. I KNOW for certain that I’m not pining away for a man. I can barely last 4 months in a relationship; I just love being single. And I have a whole bunch of plans for my life that don’t really require a husband. So I’m fairly secure in the knowledge that that’s not the reason I wear it. And although my decision to remain celibate until marriage is old-fashioned and prudish to a lot of people, I don’t think I’m out of touch with reality or brainwashed or crazy or anything. So the ring doesn’t have to be tied to that image. 

The reason that I wear it is that I like to wear my heart on my sleeve. I love outward expressions of my convictions. I have tshirts that advertise everything from my identity as a newfoundlander to my religious beliefs to my opinions on human trafficking and dating. And I like the idea of a tangible symbol of my decision to save sex for marriage. That’s all there is to it. 

Purity rings are generally harmless and innocent in and of themselves. Whether you decide to wear one or not is a personal decision and, I would venture to say, not even a very important one. It has no bearing on the validity of your decision, and it has no control over your actions. It’s just a symbol. Also, it is not, as one of my friends thought, a promise ring. No one gave me my purity ring and said “save yourself for me”. That’d be weird. 

Okay, that’s all I have to say! hahaThanks for the question :)Peace and love! -Katherine 

Everything feels awful right now but it isn't really. We still don't officially have a winner, but regardless of how the presidential election ends up, I wanted to take a minute and find what lights I can in the 3 a.m. darkness. Here's what I know:

* Kentucky overwhelmingly rejected an attempt to undermine the public education system by offering private school vouchers:

Louisville Public Media

Kentucky rejects Amendment 2 to allow private education funding, passes Amendment 1

Amendment 2 to allow public funds to go to private and charter school education was rejected universally in Kentucky counties when the Assoc

* Delaware has elected a transgender woman to the House of Representatives, the first out trans person of any gender ever elected to congress:

the Guardian

Sarah McBride becomes first out trans person elected to US House

McBride wins Delaware’s at-large House seat against Republican candidate John Whalen III, a former state police officer

* For the first time in history, two Black women will be serving in the senate at the same time, and they are only the fourth and fifth Black women ever elected to the senate:

the Guardian

US will have two Black women serving as senators for first time in history

Democrats Lisa Blunt Rochester from Delaware and Angela Alsobrooks of Maryland both saw victories

* New York State has passed a constitutional amendment enshrining the rights of pregnant people (including the right to an abortion), LGBTQIA+ people, the disabled, immigrants regardless of legal status, and other at-risk groups:

Gothamist

New York voters pass Prop 1, enshrine abortion rights into state constitution

The constitutional amendment faced a tougher-than-expected fight after a right-wing campaign against anti-discrimination protections.

* Democrat Josh Stein has beaten self-avowed Nazi Mark Robinson to become governor of North Carolina:

NPR

North Carolina’s Josh Stein wins race for governor over Mark Robinson

 Stein is the current attorney general and he noted his work winning opioid settlements. But it was controversy over Robinson’s inflammatory

That's everything I know off the top of my head. It's not many bright spots, but it's not zero. I'm going to try to find more and I'll add them to the post. It's the only thing I can think of to do that isn't sobbing and throwing up or looking up Canadian immigration rules.

If you know more good news, I encourage you to add it in reblogs.

“People often think of Christianity as a kind of bargain in which God says, ‘If you keep a lot of rules I’ll reward you, and if you don’t, I’ll do the other thing.’ I do not think that is the best way of looking at it. I would much rather say that every time you make a choice, you are turning the central part of you, the part of you that chooses, into something a little different from what is was before. And taking your life as a whole, with all your innumerable choices, all your life long you are slowly turning this central thing either into a heavenly creature or a hellish creature: either into a creature that is at harmony with God, and with other creatures, and with itself, or else into one that is in a state of war and hatred with God, and with its fellow creatures, and with itself.”

C.S. Lewis (via jspark3000)

Yes

(via littlestein)

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

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 

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

On the nature of love.

You know how people say that love is powerful? I'm not sure if this is gonna sound really hippy-ish but I wanna talk about love. Love is absolutely, beyond a shadow of a doubt, the most powerful force in existence. This is real love I'm talking about now. Love that *chooses* to be committed to someone despite circumstances, despite emotions, despite personal desires, and despite any mistakes that someone might have made, and any flaws that someone might have. Love that means putting someone else before yourself. I saw the movie Frozen, and *spoiler alert*, the central conflict was thawing Anna's frozen heart, a feat which only true love can accomplish. I greatly appreciated the fact that Anna's heart was thawed not by "true love's kiss" but by her own self sacrifice to save her sister's life. THAT, my friends, is an accurate portrayal of true love. Love is the force that conquers hate and conquers fear and conquers apathy. It is the force that connects and binds all of humankind to one another. It is the force that heals the broken and saves the lost. Love offers truth even when it's hard and grace even when it's harder. Love will never ever ever ever ever ever give up. Love is divine. Love is the closest that humans can get to Godliness. Because God Himself is Love. His essence is entirely love. All love is from Him and is of Him. Any person who has the ability to love someone else can only do so by the power of God and the spirit and soul that God has placed within us. Your love is a piece of God in your life. As long as you know love, you know God. God is great and mighty and all-powerful and vast and crazy amazing and the human mind cannot possible fathom Him, BUT the closest you will ever get to understanding Him is simply to love. Therefore, love is NOT simply warm fuzzy feelings and cute romcoms and sad country music. It's not even an emotion or a relationship. It is a supernatural force. It is the essence of God! Never underestimate the power of God's love for you. It is fierce and it is all-consuming and it is all-encompassing and it conquers every single other thing in all of existence. Never forget that. Never underestimate the power of your love for the people around you. The best thing you can do for this world is to love yourself and to love others, because when we each begin to do that, then this world will know true peace and true joy.

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.”

To all my girls who feel like you don't like the way you look (all of you. every single one.***)

1. There’s nothing wrong with you.

Your body is not a problem to be covered and hidden. There’s nothing shameful or wrong about any part of you. Your body is literally just the vehicle you use to interact with the physical world. It doesn’t have to be anything other than exactly what it is. Often, the parts of our physical appearance that we perceive as flaws are not actually inherently negative. They’re just there, and we’ve somehow developed the idea that they’re bad. (Don’t EVEN get me started on how capitalism is the source of all evil, and how advertising manipulates our self image so we hate ourselves.) They don’t detract from your value.

2. Spring boarding off that first point, you are not obliged to look any which way.

There’s no official rule book for how you “should” present yourself (no matter what the magazines say). I hope that you find joy and creativity in personal expression, instead of pressure to conform. Nobody, not friends, family, movies, music, magazines, advertising, and ESPECIALLY not fabricated societal standards of beauty, can tell you how to look. Many may try, and the societal standards are the WORST, but your appearance is none of their business.

3. If you can, try to consciously avoid comparing yourself to other girls.

There are as many kinds of beautiful as there are people in the world. Her beauty doesn’t cancel out yours. You can celebrate her beauty and your own simultaneously. In fact, celebrating other peoples’ diverse beauty gives you a deeper appreciation for your unique beauty. And you are beautiful, my darling. I hope you can choose to believe that.

4. Wear whatever the heck you want.

Do whatever the heck you want. There is no such thing as like “______ girls shouldn’t wear this” and “girls with _____ shouldn’t wear that.” If you like it, wear it! Because if you like it and you think it’s pretty then you’ll feel good wearing it. And that’s the goal here.

5. This is the most important one: your identity has nothing to do with your appearance.

I mean, I personally believe that your identity has nothing even to do with your body. I am so here for body positivity because heck yes, everybody is beautiful. I affirm that. But you are so much more than your body. And beautiful is not the loftiest goal we should be aiming for. You are so much more than beautiful. You are smart, kind, radiant, and powerful. You are love, you are altruism, you are music. You are the spirit of the divine; your soul does not belong to this world. Only your body does. So don’t waste too much time worrying about a body that only exists in this fragile, temporary world. There are far greater things inside of you. Your body can barely contain them.

***ESPECIALLY trans girls

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.