Curiously Kaitlyn

It's mailbag time! Kaitlyn and Mike field your questions about faith and works, why churches sometimes prioritize nursery duty over community outreach, and how to move beyond the "Bible in a Year" grind. They talk salvation as allegiance, children as the church's shared responsibility, and creative ways to stay rooted in Scripture without treating it like a daily vitamin.   0:00 - Theme Song   1:2...

How can we have a personal relationship with God, when we do all the talking? How can Christians talk honestly about heaven and the afterlife without oversimplifying or confusing people? And why does Scripture sometimes show God responding with judgment and other times with surprising mercy? Kaitlyn lets the grown ups have a turn asking their questions, and they don't disappoint! She tackle these...

Jesus cries out, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" How can the Father forsake the Son if they're the same person in the Trinity? Was the Trinity severed? Kaitlyn has thoughts on this important theological debate—and reveals how this debate is part of why she became a theologian!   0:00 - Intro   0:37 - Theme Song   1:20 - Show Starts   2:40 - Kaitlyn's Origin Story   12:50 - Penal Substi...

What if there was no angry innkeeper in the nativity story? Despite what Christmas pageants might suggest, Jesus was likely not born in a stable, and Mary and Joseph were probably not rejected by an innkeeper. Kaitlyn takes a closer look at Luke's nativity account, exploring what Scripture actually says about mangers, guest rooms, animals, and family—and why those details matter. What may seem lik...

Why would God choose such a young woman to be the mother of Jesus? Kaitlyn Schiess reflects on Mary's age, vulnerability, and social position, and why those details matter so much in the Advent story. Drawing from Luke 1, they explore how God consistently works through surprising people, why Mary's response is so different from Zechariah's, and what this teaches us about faith, doubt, and trust. M...

What's the point of Advent in a world that's already been playing Christmas music since October? Kaitlyn digs into the ancient roots of Advent, why the church calendar begins with longing instead of celebration, and how this season teaches us to live in the tension between God's promises and our present reality. When we feel the quiet ache from the Christmas season never quite living up to our exp...

We all know the wise men from our nativity sets, but what's actually going on in this story? Who were the wise men, and why did Matthew include them in his accounting of the birth of Christ? This well-known but undeniably odd part of the nativity story is loaded with meaning that can reorient how we enter Advent. Kaitlyn and Producer Mike follow kids' simple questions about stars, gifts, and trave...

Does prayer make a difference? After all, if God knows everything about us, then why should we bother praying? Kaitlyn helps us understand how prayer is more than listing our requests, but an opportunity to experience relationship with a Father who delights to hear from His kids, reshaping our desires, and drawing us into dependence on Him.   0:00 - Theme Song   0:23 - Sponsor - Dwell - Listen to...

Let's dive into the surprising story behind God revealing Himself as  Yahweh . Why does the Bible sometimes say  God , sometimes  LORD , and why do we almost never see "Yahweh" printed in English translations? Kaitlyn and Mike explore how this ancient name points to God's character, His promise of presence, and why the "philosophical God" and the "personal God" are actually the same God. They also...

What do we do when God feels silent, distant, or forgetful? Kaitlyn and Producer Mike explore how the Bible talks about God "remembering," why Scripture also says He "forgets" our sins, and why it can sometimes feel like God has overlooked us. They walk through stories from Noah to Zachariah, reflect on waiting, disappointment, and hope, and offer a reminder that God's presence—not quick fixes—is...

If Jesus tells us to love our enemies, does that extend all the way to Satan? This week, Kaitlyn and Mike take a surprisingly thoughtful kids' question and use it to explore what Christians mean when we talk about the devil, and what Scripture is actually asking of us when it commands enemy-love. They also revisit the much-maligned phrase  "love the sinner, hate the sin,"   and ask whether it stil...

Why don't Christians talk about the Holy Spirit more often? Have we quietly replaced dependence on God's Spirit with confidence in our own smarts and systems? What starts as a kid's Halloween question about the "Holy Ghost" quickly turns into a bigger conversation about why the church is so divided, whether we'd even notice if the Spirit disappeared from our theology, and how we might learn to let...

Do you have weird dreams? Could they be from God? In the Bible, God sometimes talks to people through dreams. Why did he do that? Does he still do that today? Kaitlyn and Mike talk about prophetic dreams and what they tell us about our relationship to God and to our own minds.   12:10 - Sponsor - Check out the Gracebased Podcast wherever you listen to podcasts or learn more at https://gracebased.c...

It's a miracle! Kaitlyn's here to talk about miracles. They seem to be all over the Bible, so Christians obviously believe they happened—but do miracles still happen? What does that say about God?   0:00 - Theme Song   4:00 - Do Miracles Still Happen?   12:15 - Sponsor - Blueland - For 15% off first order of Blueland cleaning products, go to this link: https://www.blueland.com/CURIOUSLY   13:35 -...

Will we have ferocious sports rivalries in heaven? Will we have tantrums over lost card games? Will we play? This week, Kaitlyn and Producer Mike answer the question - Will we have competition in heaven? Along the way, they discuss questions about how we categorize effects of the fall v. natural human limitations, what we can and cannot know about life in eternity, and how our work in this world c...

This week, Kaitlyn tackle a kid's big question:  "I know there's one true God, but are there little gods beneath him?"  From Psalm 82 to Job and Paul, the Bible's language about gods, angels, demons, and spiritual powers is stranger than most of us realize. Kaitlyn unpacks what these passages mean, why scripture sometimes blurs the line between human rulers and spiritual beings, and how it all poi...

Most of us imagine heaven as somewhere "up there." We look to the sky when we pray, talk about loved ones "looking down" on us, and even build churches to lift our eyes heavenward. Yet, Scripture's vision is far richer. In this episode, Kaitlyn explains why heaven isn't simply a place above the clouds, but wherever God's reign is made real. Both in the world to come, and even in our lives today.  ...

Producer Mike joins Kaitlyn again to discuss a seemingly easy but surprisingly tricky question: did Jesus get sick? Mike and Kaitlyn talk about the meaning of the incarnation: What does it mean that Jesus was (and is!) really, truly human, but did not sin? If Jeus was without sin, does that mean he was without illness? Did Jesus get especially tempted when he got a cold? What does it mean for us i...

Most of us don't give sidewalks a second thought. They're ordinary, unremarkable, and everywhere. But Kaitlyn Schiess explains why even something as plain as a sidewalk can reveal profound truths about God and humanity. Responding to this week's child's question,  If God made everything, why did people make sidewalks?  Kaitlyn explores the Christian belief that God created the world out of nothing...

Kaitlyn and Producer Mike tackle not one, but four kid questions in this week's episode! They explore what it means to be made in God's image, why creation itself longs for redemption, how Christians have understood original sin, whether the serpent in Genesis was really Satan, and why Jesus calls even grown-ups "little children." 0:00 - Theme Song   1:04 - Can Really Smart Animals Become Christia...

Theologian and pastor Dr. Barry Jones joins Kaitlyn to tackle a tricky question that leads us to some of the most beautiful passages in Scripture. Why does God allow evil things to happen in the world when he is sad about them? Dr. Jones explains how sin grieves God, and how God's sadness at our suffering can be a comfort to us. He also shows us how we can trust God even as we await answers to som...

Theologian Dr. Christa McKirland joins Kaitlyn to answer a question on the podcast that she has already answered before bedtime from one of her own children: why do we call each other brothers and sisters? Dr. McKirland gives us a picture of the people of God as a family, shows us what Scripture says about our relationship to each other as siblings, and points us back to our true identity as child...

Theologian and pastor Dr. Mika Edmondson joins Kaitlyn today to tackle a pretty challenging question: Why doesn't God answer my prayers? Dr. Edmondson describes what prayer is, walks us through some of the different answers God gives to our prayers, and shows us how Jesus models trusting God in the midst of suffering.   0:00 - Episode Starts   0:58 - Theme Song   1:50 - Why Does God Not Answer My...

This is an exclusive episode of Getting Schooled from Holy Post Plus! Lots of us do Bible-in-a-year reading plans, for good reason—but how much do we retain? Are we treating the Bible like a vitamin supplement? Kaitlyn and Skye break down the history, pros, and cons of daily Bible reading plans.   0:28 - Theme Song   3:14 - History of "Bible in a Year" Plans   10:32 - Treating the Bible like a Vit...

God loves everyone, right? Well, what about people who use their power to hurt others? Kaitlyn Schiess has thought a lot about this and is here to explain what a dictator is, how God talks about them in scripture and what that requires of us as Christians.   0:00 - Theme Song   0:37 - Does God Love Dictators?   2:05 - Does God Still Love Dictators?   4:05 - The Fall and Authority   7:55 - Sponsor...