Ask Kait stuff!

[Miss Friendship]

Do you believe Jesus existed?

[kait]

Favorite YouTube channel?

Are your parents still Christians? (If you don't mind me asking)

I don't watch a whole lot of YouTube regularly, and what I do watch is usually makeup tutorials. So on that note, one of my favs is Wayne Goss. His makeup channel is Gossmakeupartist. I also enjoy some of the humor channels like How It Should Have Ended, Bad Lip Readings, etc.

Both my parents still believe in the existence of God (whatever that happens to look like for them personally), but they are not Christians.

Do you believe Jesus existed?

I do.


(ETA: YAY! PAGE TWO! )

[Mandy]

You believe He existed but you don't believe He is God?

What is your favorite color?

What is your favorite animal?

[kait]

You believe He existed but you don't believe He is God?

What is your favorite color?

What is your favorite animal?

Correct. I believe he existed in the same way I believe many other historical figures existed.

Purple!

Probably owls. I love owls.

[Dream Big]

Would you consider yourself to be better off not being a Christian?
Would you consider going back to Christianity at some point or are you completely against that idea?
How would you describe your relationship with God when you were a Christian?
What are some of your favorite websites?
What's your favorite type of candy?
Which celebrity would you like to meet?
What motivates you?
Are you an introvert or an extrovert?

[kait]

Would you consider yourself to be better off not being a Christian?
Would you consider going back to Christianity at some point or are you completely against that idea?
How would you describe your relationship with God when you were a Christian?
What are some of your favorite websites?
What's your favorite type of candy?
Which celebrity would you like to meet?
What motivates you?
Are you an introvert or an extrovert?

--For me personally, yes. I am a happier person, a more fulfilled person, a more open and accepting person and an all-around better person than I was before. Obviously, some of that is just growing up but I do think a vast majority of my self and life improvements have been a result of leaving Christianity.

ETA:
I feel like I'm somehow implying Christianity made me a horrible person or something when that isn't want I mean at all. I was reminded of a parable I learned when I took a class on Buddhism in college (I minored in religious studies).
It goes as follows:

The basic story is this: A man traveling along a path came to a great expanse of water. As he stood on the shore, he realized there were dangers and discomforts all about. But the other shore appeared safe and inviting.

The man looked for a boat or a bridge and found neither. But with great effort he gathered grass, twigs and branches and tied them all together to make a simple raft. Relying on the raft to keep himself afloat, the man paddled with his hands and feet and reached the safety of the other shore. He could continue his journey on dry land.

Now, what would he do with his makeshift raft? Would he drag it along with him or leave it behind? He would leave it, the Buddha said.

The idea is that sometimes, for some people, there are beliefs that are useful for a time but then must be left behind. This particular parable has some other more specific meanings within Buddhism, but in general the idea is one I really identified with when it comes to my personal journey because I struggled for a long time feeling like I'd just wasted my whole life believing in something I no longer held on to. I couldn't figure out the POINT of it all, if in the end I'd discovered it wasn't for me. So this parable came at a good time because it showed me something: Christianity was my raft for awhile. I built it. I worked hard on it. It floated me and carried me and lifted me across a raging river. But then, I got to the other side and found my raft was no longer useful in my journey. And so, yes, I feel like I am better off having left the raft behind on my personal journey. It would have been useless and burdensome for me to continue to carry it around.

And obviously, for others, Christianity is more like the Chitty Chitty Bang Bang of rafts. It's useful for forever because it flies, drives AND floats! All-terrain!

--I am not completely against the idea in general — I am not "completely" against many ideas, really — but at this point in my life would not see myself going back to Christianity. Many, many, many, many things would have to take place for that to happen and the probability is very low any of them would.

--I would describe my relationship with God as having been passionate, strong and personal. I am not the kind of person to believe or do anything half-heartedly. I am not "lukewarm" by nature. I honestly believe I was more zealous and all-in with God than the average Christian I meet on a day-to-day basis. My entire life, worldview, belief system and way of living my daily life centered around my relationship with God.

-- everydayfeminism.com, npr.org, kongregate.com and of course social media sites like Tumblr, Twitter and Facebook.

--If we are talking non-chocolate candy: Sweetarts!

--Josh Groban. He retweeted me once. Best day of my life. (<-- that last bit is hyperbole.)

--Myself. Or more specifically, the goals I have for myself.

--Definitely an introvert.

[sing]

Yay! Another Josh Groban fan!

What us your favorite song by him? I'm currently obsessed with brave.

[Emma]

Yay! Another Josh Groban fan!

*sighs* Have you ever heard him sing "All I ask of You"? *swoons* Amazing.

[kait]

Yay! Another Josh Groban fan!

What us your favorite song by him? I'm currently obsessed with brave.

"Remember When it Rained" and "February Song" are always classic go-tos. Honestly his "Illuminations" album is probably my favorite that he's done and I like almost every song on there. I definitely don't have a single favorite, though. Haha!

Yay! Another Josh Groban fan!

*sighs* Have you ever heard him sing "All I ask of You"? *swoons* Amazing.

I have! With Kelly Clarkson. I really loved his latest album because I've been waiting for a showtunes collection from him for forever. And that was 100 percent the best song on the album. So perfect.

[Miss Friendship]

Why kait and not "Kate"?

What denomination of Christian were you before you left it?

What is your favorite thing about living in the west?

Ok well my answer is fairly simple for the existence of God. Don't put me into the class of the wise and learned. A child could understand. The only way we could know for sure that there is a God, if He sent Someone to Earth to tell us. Jesus came and claimed to be from God. Of course, how do we know we can believe Jesus? For all we know He is just one of many prophets claiming to know Truth.

Here is the difference. Jesus came with evidence to prove He was from God. To paraphrase He said, "Kill me. Put me in a grave. If I come to life three days later like I'm predicting, everything I said was true. If I stay dead like many before me and after will stay dead, then nothing I said was true."

So, if Jesus really did rise from the dead, we have some amazing evidence for not only the existence of God, but we can know for certain Who knows what Truth is. And yes, from a historical viewpoint there is evidence for the Resurrection.

[kait]

Why kait and not "Kate"?

Because it is short for my full name, which is Kaitlin.

What denomination of Christian were you before you left it?

I usually just tell people I was fundamentalist Christian because that's what a vast majority of my theology boiled down to. Getting into my specific denomination/whathaveyou is usually more complicated.

That said, I started out as Nazarene in my younger years (my mom and her family are like 5th generation Nazarene or something. My grandpa is a Nazarene pastor, etc). We then became Messianic and were Messianic until I left Christianity.

What is your favorite thing about living in the west?

WEST COAST IS THE BEST COAST. Nah, but really the Pacific Northwest is my home (I live in Washington) and I just love it here. I love the people, the weather, the landscape, the culture. I just love it. It feels like home. I've lived all over the U.S., but the good ole PNW is where I want to hang my hat at the end of the day.

Ok well my answer is fairly simple for the existence of God. Don't put me into the class of the wise and learned. A child could understand.

Well children will believe anything they are told, so I'm not sure that is entirely the standard we should be using.

And yes, from a historical viewpoint there is evidence for the Resurrection.

By all means, point me straight to it.

[Blitz]

That quote is a logical fallacy because life is full of many rivers and lakes. Religion isn't just a tool as you know quite well. Religious training also will stay with you for the rest of your life. It isn't something you can or have the ability to just abandon.

[kait]

That quote is a logical fallacy because life is full of many rivers and lakes. Religion isn't just a tool as you know quite well. Religious training also will stay with you for the rest of your life. It isn't something you can or have the ability to just abandon.

It wasn't meant to be a logical argument against religion, lol. It was intended to illustrate how and why religion has worked in MY life. I no longer am religious and at this point it would be counterproductive to go back to being religious. Especially at the point I'm at now. But that isn't to say it wasn't a big part of my life for awhile or that it wasn't useful when it was.

That's all the quote was meant to illustrate. It wasn't supposed to debunk religion or anything lol

And while you can abandon religious beliefs you are correct that not everything goes away right away. I am still undoing 18 years of very harmful teachings that have negatively affected my life, my mental health and my feelings of adequacy and self-worth. So no. I don't have the ability to abandon that willy nilly but you bet your bottom dollar that I'm working hard to do so. And maybe someday I will no longer be impacted by my religious upbringing.

[Miss Friendship]

By all means, point me straight to it.

Well I will have to condense it here. There are four facts that historians, skeptics and Christians alike, agree on. 1. Jesus's burial. 2. The discovery of the empty tomb 3. The postmortem appearancs, and 4. The origin of the disciples belief in the resurrection.

So, to look at the theories that are used to explain away the Resurrection. Someone came up with the "hallucination" theory. Which basically says that the disciples just imagined they saw Jesus. This does not explain the empty tomb however.

Another theory is that the disciples stole Jesus's body from the tomb. This would explain the empty tomb, but it wouldn't explain why the disciples believed in the resurrection so strongly that they endured crazy persecutions and died for it. They would not have died for what they knew to be a lie.

A third proposal is that the Jewish or the Roman authorities stole the body from the tomb and hid it elsewhere. This could explain the disciples belief and the empty tomb, but it doesn't explain why these authorities who desperately wanted to suppress this new religion from the beginning, did not simply produce the body and dispel forever both the resurrection theory and the Christian religion with it.

Well children will believe anything they are told, so I'm not sure that is entirely the standard we should be using.

Just to clarify here, I was in no means suggesting that you were less than a child or anything.

[sing]

What is your favorite thing to bake?

Do you prefer pop, or fruit juice?

Do you do any fiber arts? (sew, crochet, knit,embroider, cross stitch,weave etc.)

[kait]

What is your favorite thing to bake?

Do you prefer pop, or fruit juice?

Do you do any fiber arts? (sew, crochet, knit,embroider, cross stitch,weave etc.)

Probably brownies. I love brownies.

Pop! Although I don't drink a whole lot of either.

I can sew, crochet, knit and cross stitch although I don't do too much crafty stuff these days. Crocheting is what I do most often when I get the hankering.

[Blitz]

What do you the know Marvin is up to know? He's 18

What is your favorite hobby?
Favorite fantasy book!

[kait]

What do you the know Marvin is up to know? He's 18

What is your favorite hobby?
Favorite fantasy book!

Are you related to him? Don't you two have the same last name?
And I do not know what he is up to these days.

I don't have a favorite in particular. Writing poetry, painting, crafting, making cocktails, I also do some amateur tattooing. I'd consider those all hobbies but I do them in fairly equal measure during my free time.

Probably The Hobbit.

[Mandy]

Marvin D. is Blitz's older brother

[kait]

Marvin D. is Blitz's older brother

I thought so. I was asking because I was confused as to why he was asking me about him.