16 years old

[snowangel]

hi, i just came on here...im only 16 but the chat boards for teens are empty. i'm dateing the most wonderful guy who is 17. We really love each other and i know he is the one. most people would say we're to young to know this, but we do, and anyone who meets us knows it too.
i grew up in a christian home. i always went to sunday school, church and a youth group. I went through a very bad time in my life about a year ago. i started hanging around people who did weed, drink, and smoke. it all came crashing down when one of my friends got raped at a party. i was so lost i didnt know waht to do.
since then i have no touched weed and have no desire to. i've seen waht it does to people its horrible. i still smoke and i drink on occasion but havent been drunk in a very long time. i just get that buzzed feeling.
my boyfriend has never touched weed. he has no "past". he smokes and he drinks (not terriibly much). he respects me and my parents adore him.
a couple of months ago we desided to have sex.
i've always been told its a sin to have sex before marrage. but i love him so much and we did.
we later desided that it was to much stress for us at our age and we have to much going for us to ruin it(if i get pregnant)
the town i live in is very...two faced.
everyone calls themselves christians but hardly anyone lives like they are. i am one of those. the people you see up in front singing and praising god on sunday morning, they are the same parents you will see at a social, drunk!
i guess when i got to grade 9 i gave up on god.
it happend slowly...from when i was 3 till just a couple years ago i prayed every single day , twice a day, that god would heal me. When i was 3 i got diabetes. i knew god could heal me...but he never did. then i started to see how everyone in my town acts, then i started hanging out with the wrong crowd.
me and my best friend talk about this alot. we both are christians but i guess my question is..
1. I accept christ when i was little, but i no longer live the way i know christians should, am i still going to go to heaven?
2. i had sex before i am married, what will happen to me?

i guess i jsut need some advice for life.
thanks and sorry its so long.

[snowangel]

please, somebody?

[OneJoe]

1. I accept christ when i was little, but i no longer live the way i know christians should, am i still going to go to heaven?
2. i had sex before i am married, what will happen to me?

1. Snowangel, your accepting Christ is not what gets you saved. What gets you saved is God choosing you and forgiving you of your sins. I'm sure you have made sinful decisions as we all have, but their is one who has the power to remove all sin, Jesus Christ our savior. 1Jo 4:10 Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Salvation does not begin with us accepting Christ, but rather with Christ accepting us. The bible does not tell us to accept God, but rather to repent and ask for forgivness.

Luk 18:13 And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner.

2. We have all commited sin at some point. Even if we had not, we are born in sin; therefore, we must suffer the penalty for sin. Rom 6:23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Yes, you have sinned. You have transgressed against and broken the laws of the most high God. But our Father is a merciful God who has much to say for those who hear his word. Can you hear it? Isa 1:18 Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.


Praise be to our Lord and savior, Jesus Christ!



Onejoe

[larry]

Dear little sister in Christ, if you belonged to God before, you still do. He loves you so much He sent His Son to die for you, and now that you belong to Him, He tries to bring you into close fellowship with Him. The consequence of sin in our lives brings us into a feeling of separation from God, and then we don't feel as if we are worthy to approach Him.

He has forgiven you before you even ask, and asking forgiveness rids you of guilt, or clears you conscience to come near unto him again. You know what is right and wrong; God gives us that discernment, so do not look for ways around it such as we were just too much in love. You have made a good decision to stop and look to see if God is still here, but the only to have a life lived for Christ, and have what He wants you to have, you need to turn from sin and follow Him. There's an old hymn that says "Trust and Obey," to be happy in Jesus, trust and obey.

God bless you, and get in here with us and learn. Pick yourself off the floor and stand up for Christ, get into your Bible and learn of Him, and make of your life something you and God will be proud off. WE love to see lives turned right again, and you are special for allowing us to help us in Jesus' name - larry

[kellymarie]

Dear Snowangel,I'm so glad that you came here to tell all of us these things.To be real honest,most teens do experiment with smoking,drinking,and a little weed.Now,that's good that you don't do the weed anymore.hopefully,the smoking and drinking will go to,soon.But,you do not have to worry about going to hell for this.Yes,the Bible talks of having sexual relations before marriage,but you accepted Jesus,when you got saved.Now,I am 28,married.I'm not that far from being your age,and oh how I remember all the mess I did.I smoked and cussed and drank and regretably had sex with someone who was not too good.The only thing I'll tell you on that is,you say that you love this guy,but I thought that too about a dozen others.You may be married to this guy someday,and you may be right about him being the one.I don't know,but all I can say is be careful. You really don't want to sneak around to be with your boyfriend.So it is good that both of you decided to hold off.Please stick to that.And also God has not left you.God is always there for you,the God I know doesn't just leave when I do something wrong.He wants you to come back to Him.You have not messed up your whole life for these things.Go back to the Lord,and just be honest.He knows your heart,and He will heal your heart.God is waiting for you,and He loves you.

[Sunny]

Hi there,

It is really great that you are looking for answers from God! I think all teenagers have questions about life, but very few of them know where to look for the answers. It also seems that you don't really have very good Christian role models in your town and in your church, which I can imagine is very frustrating!

So, straight to your first question: are you going to heaven?

"That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him up from the dead, you will be saved."
Rom 10:9-10

"Know that a man is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ"
Gal 2:16

If you believe that Jesus is the son of God and that he died on the cross for your sins - you are saved and are going to heaven. You cannot do anything to deserve going to heaven, no matter how good a life you live.

"It does not, therefore, depend on man's desire or effort, but on God's mercy."
Rom 9:16

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Second question: you had sex before you were married - what now?

"But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defence - Jesus Christ, the Righteous One."
1 John 2:1

"...but do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love."
Gal 5:13

"If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful expectation of judgement and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God."
Heb 10:26-27

"Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent, and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you."
James 1:21

I think a lot of people are confused about God's reasons for giving us a set of "rules" to live by. God created us and knows how we work. He gave us these rules for our own good. He is not the spoil-sport he is sometimes made out to be. He knows that having sex before marriage is bad for the persons doing it. Sex joins two people not only physically, but also spiritually.

"What God has joined together, let no man tear apart"
(Not sure where in the Bible that is…?)

Everything on earth is a reflection of something in heaven, and sex (two becoming one) is a reflection of the way that Christ and the church will spiritually become one, one day.

"...a man wil leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh. This is a profound mystery - but I am talking about Christ and the church."
Eph 5:31-32

" 'Everything is permissible for me' - but not everything is beneficial. 'Everything is permissible for me' - but I will not be mastered by anything. 'Food for the stomach and the stomach for food' - but God will destroy them both. The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. By his power God raised the Lord from the dead, and he will raise us also. Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ himself?
But he who unites himself with the Lord is one with him in spirit. Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a man commits are outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body. Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore, honour God with your body."
1 Cor 6:12-14, 18-20

"It is God's will that you be sanctified: that each of you should avoid sexual immorality; that each of you should learn to control his own body in a way that is holy and honourable, not in passionate lust like the heathen, who do not know God; and that in this matter no-one should wrong his brother or take advantage of him. The Lord will punish men for all such sins, as we have already told you and warned you. For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life. Therefore he who rejects this instruction does not reject man but God, who gives you his Holy Spirit."
1 Thess 4:3-8

There are loads more verses on the topic, here are some of them: 1 Cor 10:13; Eph 2; Eph 4:22-24; 1 Thess 4:3-5,8; Gal 2:20-21; Rom 6:11-14; Rom 7:7-25; You can actually read most of Romans, God will give you insight.

"Reflect on what I am saying, for the Lord will give you insight into all this."
2 Tim 2:7

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You mentioned that the adults at your church praise God on a Sunday, but are drunk at socials - is there not perhaps another church that you can go to where there are more solid role-models, because such behaviour can be very confusing at the best of times.

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About your diabetes.

"...(I pray...that you may know) his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead..."
Eph 1:19-20

Believers have at their disposal the power of God that raised Jesus from the dead. Wow! That blows me away every time I read it. My pastor also once mentioned that when you read the gospels, Jesus was always either on his way to healing someone, busy healing someone, or on his way back from healing someone. Jesus wants you to be healed!! He had not just taken all our sins when he died on the cross, but all our diseases as well ("By his stripes we are healed"). That was 2000 years ago, so technically you have already been healed.

So, why do you still have diabetes?

There are reasons why God does not always heal immediately when we ask him.

"Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective."
James 5:14-16

In these verses there are three "criteria" for God's healing:
1.) faith
2.) confess your sins to each other
3.) righteousness

1.) "...because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything."
James 1:3-4
You were healed 2000 years ago, persevere and just keep believing it!

2.) God cannot operate fully in your life if there are unconfessed sins and areas in your life that you still cling to. If you ask him, he will reveal these areas to you, and if you give them entirely over to him, you will be healed. And don't forget to confess your sins to someone. It also helps for you to keep each other accountable.

3.) "This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe."
Rom 3:22

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I recently read a really good book called Rachel's Tears which was written by her parents Beth Nimmo and Darrell Scott. She was a Christian girl who was killed in the shooting at Columbine high school in America. Her parents published some of her diary, and it is a really good example of how to be "real" with God.

Another good (though rare) book is "To my dear Slimball" (an unlikely title, I know!!) by Rich Miller. It is written from the point of view of our tempters, and how they try to ensnare us away from God. By knowing how they work, it is easier to fight them off.
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And finally:
"Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity."
1 Tim 4:12

Hope this answer wasn't too long that you've fallen asleep half-way through!!
Lots of love,
Sunny