This passage tells us to examine ourselves to see if we are in the faith. So this brings the question of what it means to be "in the faith." John 3:16 tells us, "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life." We are saved when we put our faith in Christ to save us, but how is that lived out? If we read a few verses later, John 3:20-21 says "for everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God." You can see not just our actions but also the attitude of our heart. If we are coming into the light of God in a desire not to sin, instead of attempting to hide ourselves from God or simply ignoring him. In short, if we desire to please God and are ashamed before God of our sin, we know that we are in the faith.

You asked if you can love God 6 days and? What is love?

2 John 1:6 - This is love, that we walk according to His commandments. This is the commandment, that as you have heard from the beginning, you should walk in it.

It does not say to walk according to His commandments sometimes or when we feel like it, but simply walk in His commands - that means all of the time. What did Christ do for us?

1 John 4:10 - In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

Jesus came a died for us to save us from our sins. It does not say that we are saved from the consequences of sins we may endure on the earth, but saved from the eternal consequences of our sins. This means that we do not have to sin anymore, so why should we? Yes, to live for yourself even one day of the week is sin. It is hard to live for Christ every day, but that is what we are called to do.

Mark 8:34 - When He had called the people to Himself, with His disciples also, He said to them, "Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me."

First off know that you are not alone. The disciples asked the same question and we have Jesus' response recorded in Luke 11. Now there is so much to what Jesus said there that my fingers would fall of trying to type it all out, but let me give you a brief outline. There are thee major areas that Jesus instructed the disciples to pray about. Praise - honoring and giving the glory to God, Requests – asking of God what you need, and Thanks – giving thanks to God for what he has done. In addition to the Lord's prayer, Matthew 6 also has some more advice from Jesus about prayer which I would encourage you to read. But there is one more aspect of learning how to pray that is often left out, and that is praying with others. You see, the disciples did not just hear Jesus teach about praying, they saw and heard Him pray. If you read the Gospels, a common theme is Jesus praying. He did not just tell them about prayer, He demonstrated it. That is one of the best ways to teach someone, and that is how I learned a lot about how to pray. What I would encourage you to do is join a prayer group. Get together with other people who have a desire to pray and spend time in prayer. That changed my prayer life and it can do the same for you. As a final note, the absolute hardest thing about prayer is discipline, making the time to pray, and focusing your attention on God while praying. It is one of the hardest things you will ever do, but also one of the best things you can do.

The bible doesn't say that any specific "religion" will go to heaven. What the bible teaches us is that when Adam sinned in the garden of Eden (Gen. 3:6), sin entered the world and, as a result, all of the earth was put under sin's curse. Because of this curse our fellowship with God was broken (Gen. 3:24), and all of humanity is now born with a sin sickness from birth (Psalm 58:3). Because we have this sickness God provided the cure by sending His Son, Jesus Christ, to die on the cross, taking the penalty for the sins of the world and restoring our fellowship with God (John 3:16). The way that the bible teaches that we are saved is not because we are a part of any religion, but only by the grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ and the work of atonement He did on the cross for our sins (Ephesians 2:8). God provided only one way to heaven and that is through Jesus. In John 14:6, Jesus says, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. So whether or not a Catholic, or member of any other religion, would go to heaven is based wholly on their relationship with Jesus Christ. Jesus told Nicodemus, a religious man, in John 3:3 that Unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Make sure that all your friends and family have a relationship with Jesus Christ, and if they don't, tell them about the good news that God provided one way for us to get to heaven through His son, and the best part about it is that it's free (Romans 5:18)!

Ok in Matthew 22:37 Jesus says, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind and soul." So what that said, that is our purpose in life, and if we don't fulfill that purpose your life will be miserable and a huge mess. Jesus talks about this in Matthew 7:21, "Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.
If you've made a decision to follow Christ, you have made a permanent surrender to Him. If you begin to walk away from that commitment, there will be consequences. Not because God hates you though, but because He loves you and wants to remind you that the best possible way to live is to fulfill His purpose for your life.

God is all-knowing, but He uses tests in our lives to see (and to show us and the world) where our hearts really are. To say you are a Christian while living a comfortable life, and to live a Christian life through disasters and persecution are two entirely different things. It was probably real easy for Job to say he believed in God when he was living the sweet life. But God allowed Satan to make Job's life hard, so that it was evident that even through hardships, Job was faithful to the one and only living God. Tests have another purpose as well: they make us stronger. In order for gold to be purified, it is stuck in a fire. The longer it's in the fire, the more pure it is. We are like that gold. The more hard times we go through, the more we have to rely on God for peace and joy, and the stronger our relationship with God becomes. Check out Romans 5:1-5. vs. 3-4 say 'And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations [hard times], knowing that tribulation produces perserverance; and perserverance, character; and character, hope.' That means that when we go through hard times (or tests of faith) we gain perserverance, and from perserverance we gain character, and from character we get hope. So just remember-the longer the cook time, the more pure the gold.

1 John 3:6 says; Whoever abides in Him does not sin. Whoever sins has neither seen Him nor known Him. -- This is a very interesting passage because it deals with living out our faith. Everyone sins, including Christians. So, based on this verse, are there no real Christians? The tricky part is the translation. The words used in this passage that talk about sinning mean to be living in a lifestyle of sin. So if someone is constantly sinning and making no sincere effort to stop, and at the same time calling themselves a Christian, then, according to this verse, they are lying. But a true believer is someone who is striving to follow God and not sin even though they mess up sometimes, like we all do. In either situation you should talk to them and see if you can help them. Weather it be helping them come to Christ, or helping them not to sin.

The simplest way to find out is to ask yourself what your priorities are in life. Is God the most important thing to you? If He is, how does that show through the way you live daily? You see, if God is the most important thing in your life, you will attempt to live a life free of sin. You will honor God in everything you do. Unfortunately, we often mess up, we often sin or fail to honor God. So what do you do? You need to daily surrender your life to God. Do your absolute best to live for him, and if you fail to do so, repent, turn towards Him and set your priorities straight.

When I'm going through hard times, James 4:8 really encourages me. It says 'Draw near to God and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts you double-minded.' When things get tough, draw near to God, and remember that He is always there, whether you "feel" his prescence or not. How do you give it all up to Him? Through pray. Just trust him, and don't worry. Matthew 6:25 is Jesus saying, 'Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?' vs. 34 says, 'Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for today is its own troubles.'

Matthew 7 is the parable of the man who built his house upon the rock. Vs. 24 says 'Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock.' What does Jesus say to do? Check out Matthew-study it when things get rough. 1 Peter is also really encouraging when you're going through trials. Check out 1 Peter 1:5-7 and vs. 13- rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. When you are going through a rough time, it is probably because God is refining you and testing your faith. Draw near to him and put all your hope in him, and you will grow through the hard times.

First of all you gotta ask yourself if you truly repented (confess your sins, change of habits, and life style) and meant it. Ask yourself, "Do I have a desire to serve the Lord with everything I have?" Romans 10:9 is a perfect verse for this question it says "that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has risen Him from the dead, you will be saved". The great thing about following Christ is His guarantee of salvation - He never gives up on a project He started. Philippians 1:6 reminds us that He finishes what He starts. If He's begun something in your heart, you can know for sure that He will complete it and perfect it! We'll see it when we get to heaven!

Many, many scriptures come to mind when I think about this question. Matthew 7:21 "Not everyone who says to Me, Lord,'Lord shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in Heaven." Also 1 John 1:9 "If we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." Also 2 Corinthians 5:17 "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold all things become new." Think also about Paul how he used to persecute Christians. God eventually saved Paul and made him an amazing servant, and totally used him in many various ways. If God can save and use a guy like Paul with a terrible background and many regrets, WHO CAN'T HE USE?!

A Child of God is just another name for a Christian. One of the reasons that Christians are called Children of God is Matthew 12:50. So how do you know if you are a Christian? Read these verses. Galatians 5:22-24, Mark 16:16, John 3:16, Rom 6:23, and Acts 2:21. If you still have questions after reading these verses please talk to your parents or a pastor.

Everybody wants to have a purpose in life. That would explain why Rick Warren's book, A Purpose Driven Life, sold 20 mill+ copies! We like to know that people appreciate us and we're needed, in fact, many people commit suicide because they think their life is pointless or hopeless. Well, it's not. As I was driving home from Ski Apache after snowboarding on Monday, I was watching the cows on the side of the road. If anyone or anything has a pointless life, it's a cow. Think about it - they're born so that they can spend their whole life eating and getting fat so they can become someone's nice, juicy hamburger. Cows are born to become hamburgers - what a terrible life! Thankfully, God created us for much more than hamburgers (although, I'm dissin' a good hamburger!)! In The Purpose Driven Life, Rick Warren gives 5 purposes that we have: to offer real worship, enjoy real fellowship, learn real discipleship, practice real ministry, and to live out real evangelism. So you may be saying, "I didn't ask Rick Warren." Well obviously, the best way to figure out what God's will is for your life is to turn to His Word. Check out Luke 12: 22-23. Jesus says that people worry about a lot of things, but there's no point in doing that. A few verses later, in Luke 12:25-26, Jesus says "And besides, what the use of worrying? What good does it do? Will it add a single day to your life? Of course not! And if worrying can't even do such little things as that, what's the use of worrying about bigger things?" Jesus says don't worry about what you'll wear or eat or do - focus on God first and He'll provide everything you need. Look a few verses later, Luke 12:31 says, "He will always give you all you need from day to day if you will make the Kingdom of God your primary concern." God's will (what God wants to happen) should be your primary concern in your life - make that your first priority and God will give you everything you need. Now some people have to see it in black and white - THIS IS GOD'S WILL FOR YOUR LIFE? Well, there's only a few places in the Bible where it spells it out. Check it out: 1 Thessalonians 4:3 - "For THIS IS THE WILL OF GOD, your sanctification: that you should abstain from sexual immorality;" 1 Thessalonians 5:18 - "in everything give thanks; for THIS IS THE WILL OF GOD in Christ Jesus for you." 1 Peter 2:15 - "For THIS IS THE WILL OF GOD, that by doing good you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men" Micah 6:8 - "He has shown you, O man, what is good; and what does THE LORD REQUIRE OF YOU but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?" The final answer is: God's will for your life is to live purely, to be thankful in everything, do good and justice before men, and to be merciful and humble. If you make these your first priority, God will provide all you need to do everything He wants you to do.

Sometimes when people worship they cry, sometimes they raise their hands, sometimes they dance, and sometimes they don't do anything but stand or kneel or sit. How you respond when you worship depends on your heart. If your heart is set on truely worshipping God, then you will respond to it. Everyone is unique with their own ways of worshipping. If your heart is not set on worshipping God and you're more focused on what the people around you will see or think of you, then you're probably "putting on a show." God knows your heart and He will know if you're truely worshipping or not. He is the focus of worship so our full attention should be on Him. The bible tells us in John 4:23, "But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him." If you cry when you worship, that's perfectly normal. If you cry because you want others to notice you, then you may want to check your heart and return to worship in spirit and truth.

That's a question I think a lot of people have, so first of all, let's look at what it means to repent. Repentance means feeling sorry for what you have done and then making a complete turn from that sin. So, make sure that when you ask for forgiveness, that you truly desire to change that sin in your life. If we are truly repentant of our sins, God will forgive us as many times as we repent. 1 John 1:9 says, "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." What you have to understand is that God doesn't expect us to be perfect; He knows that we are going to mess up. Psalm 103:12-16 says, " As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us. 13 As a father pities his children, So the Lord pities those who fear Him. 14 For He knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust. 15 As for man, his days are like grass; As a flower of the field, so he flourishes. 16For the wind passes over it, and it is gone," So regardless of the fact that God knows how imperfect we are, He is still faithful to forgive us of our sins. So if we truly repent of our sins no matter how many times we sin, God is more than willing to forgive us.

Prayer is wonderful-it is our way to communicate directly with the one living, sovereign God. 1 Thessalonians 5:17 tells us to pray without ceasing. But in order to fully see and focus on God we must spend time in His Word as well as in prayer. One cannot go without the other-we must read the Bible and pray equally, because just reading the Word without seeing it is pointless. We must partake of the bread of the Word of God. We are told that man cannot live on bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. (Deut. 8:3, Matt. 4:4). Praying and reading and meditating on God's word is generally known as a quiet time or devotional, and in order to see, hear, and understand God you need to have one every day-time set apart to focus on Him, read His word, and talk to Him. That's a fundamental part of your growth in your walk with Jesus, and the more you walk in Him, the clearer His words become. James 4:8 says, 'Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.' Another thing to keep in mind when spending time with God is to spend time listening. We have a tendency to do all the talking. So take time each day to just be quiet in front of the Lord. Meditate on His Word. Listening comes in all forms-be observant. Spend time actually listening in church-you'll find yourself learning a lot. God speaks to us in all kinds of ways. It's not a matter of whether He's talking-it's a question of are you listening. Don't pray five minutes before you go to school and expect to hear God's voice. You need to invest the energy to draw close. That means lots of time. But it won't be wasted. God has promised us He will draw near to us if we draw near to Him, and His promises never go void.

As a human, it is ok to have doubts but don't let it consume you. Even Thomas in the Bible doubted. In John 20:24-29, but Jesus told him "Do not be unbelieving but believing." When you ask God to take that doubt away He'll replace that with Faith. James 1:5 " If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be give to him."

First off, I want to tell you that what you are going through and experiencing is not an unusual thing. It is a natural thing for us as humans to doubt the existence of God. Look, even one of Jesus' very own disciples named Thomas, doubted whether or not He was raised from the dead. Check out John 20:24-29:

"24Now Thomas, one of the Twelve, called the Twin, was not with them when Jesus came. 25So the other disciples told him, "We have seen the Lord." But he said to them, "Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never believe." 26Eight days later, his disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you." 27Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe." 28Thomas answered him, "My Lord and my God!" 29Jesus said to him, "Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed."

You are not a bad person if you doubt. See, here in this passage of scripture, Jesus doesn't get mad at Thomas for doubting, but instead He takes away his doubt. You said, that you shouldn't pray to God to take away your doubt, well I think that you should pray for God to take your doubt. Ask God to give you faith. Heb 11:1 - "Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen." Ask God to take away all doubt in your mind that He is real. I believe that He will be faithful to reveal Himself to you.



Secondly, you said that you were doubting such things as who created God? Well, nobody made God, God is above and beyond all time, He is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, He is from everlasting to everlasting. So you might be saying, "Great! That didn't help me one bit." Well the reason I said those things was to show that there are certain things about God and the Bible that we are never going to understand, until we get to heaven. I don't even begin to say I understand how God wasn't made, but was just, always there! But I can say that through prayer and trusting in God, and knowing that He understands how it all works, I can believe. And a lot of times when it is hard to believe, I just pray and ask God to help me believe by giving me more faith in Him. James 1:5 "5If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him"



So to sum all of this up, Please don't walk away from your faith. Remember that you are experiencing something that every follower of Christ goes through. Don't lose hope, God is there! He Loves You! He wants to forgive you of all unrighteousness! If you ask Him to help you believe with more faith, He will give it to you! If you are having trouble understanding, ask of God and He will give you what you need to have faith and believe.



I hope that I have answered you question, but please do not hesitate to write again if you still have any concerns, or things you need more clarification on. I will leave you with this scripture:

Phil. 4:4-7 - "4Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. 5Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; 6do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."

Your best witness will be how you live. Ephesians 4 and 5 talk a lot about how you should live-specifically Ephesians 4:17, 'This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind.' and 5:8, 'For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light.' Everyone is watching you the second you claim Christ for your own and the way you act will speak louder for the Lord than anything you can tell your friends. We are told to tell people about Jesus, but if they already know about Him, it's not your place to tell them about who He was and is. That doesn't mean cut God out of your conversations. Talk about God when relavent, but don't push the plan of salvation-if they know about it, it's now up to the Holy Spirit to work in their hearts. Your job now is to live as a child of the light. Let the Holy Spirit take care of the rest.

Satan is a sly, cunning, and deceiving person. He will make you think that you are not good enough for God and he will always try to pull you away from God. He will deceive you into thinking that you cannot overcome difficult circumstances, but God can bring us out of ANYTHING! 1 Corinthians 10:13 says, "No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it." God will never allow anything we cannot bear and He will always give us a way out. After asking for God's strength to pull us through, it is our responsibility to turn away from the temptation. Prayer is very vital. Jesus says in Matthew 26:41, "'Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.'" Our flesh is weak so being in prayer and being watchful will help us to resist temptation. Along with prayer, being in God's word (the bible) will help us know God better and make us free. John 8:31-32 says, "Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, 'If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.'" It's important to remember that Satan is much weaker than God and no matter how tight we feel the leash is, God is greater. 1 John 4:4 says, "You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world."

The first thing and most important is that you have Jesus in your heart and are fully seeking after Him. Just because you are feeling convicted in this area tells me that you are going in the correct direction. Praise God! First thing to be sure of is that you are not bound for hell. Hell is reserved for those who have no love for God and don't have Him as there savior. If you are saved and have a personal relationship with Him, He will keep you until the day you die. Now this doesn't take away our responsibility to be doing the things that please God. Check this out. We are told in Rom 12:2 "Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you." (The Message) So here it is, plain as day. What a wonderful verse. So at school you should be different. Different from all the things around you that don't please God. As the verse says, we need to fix our attention on God. That's the key. So in closing, fix your eyes on God daily and be in prayer. Ask God to give you the strength to be different in a messy world. Check out Philippians 2:15 for further study. Peace.

Girls should not be the priority right now. If you are in middle school or high school, you are in no position to think about marriage, thus you don't have to worry about chosing a girl. Being a Christian as a midschooler is not about having the cutest Christian girlfriend. It's about desiring God and following after him. When I thought I was in love, God really directed me to this verse:

'Whom have I in heaven but You? And there is none upon the earth that I desire but You. My flesh and my heart fail; But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.' Psalm 73:25-26. Can you truly say that you desire none upon the earth but Jesus if you're caught up in thinking about girls? God should be your only desire right now. Check out Psalm 37:3-4. 'Trust in the Lord, and do good; Dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness, Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart.' If you really want a girl, God will give you one called a wife-but marriage, like I said is a long way off, and what you should be thinking about now is delighting yourself in the Lord.

Well first of all, accepting Jesus is not an emotional thing - it is a spiritual thing. When you accept the Lord, you don't have to have warm fuzzies, and be happy and singing all the time, that is not the way it works. Sometimes it is ok to feel alone, but we have to know that we aren't - God is always there. In Joshua 1:5 God says, "No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life; as I was with Moses so I am with you. I will never leave you nor forsake you." Now when you accept Jesus into your life that doesn't mean that everything will be ok, and that all of your problems will go away, but it does mean that God is gonna help you and guide you through anything. In the book of James 1:2-4, James says, " My brothers count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience." So as christians we are going to face hardship and have problems, but God doesn't leave us alone - He is willing to take our problems and our trials, He says, in Matt. 11:28-30 "Come to me all you who are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and I will give you rest for your souls. Because my burden is easy and my yoke is light." So when you feel all alone and you are fighting a big battle and you don't know what to do, remember that Jesus is always there for you and He will never leave your side. He always wants to take your problems, so you just have to give them to Him. He wants to give you rest and joy and peace, and love, but you have to be willing to give Him your problems. You said that you want to walk with God, AWESOME! By accepting Him, you are already right there walking next to Him. Now there are some very important things that you should do in order to keep your walk with Christ strong. First, read your BIBLE as much as possible because it is the word of God, and He has so many cool things to teach you and show you. Second, PRAY, this is simply talking to God and telling Him how you feel and telling Him your problems, concerns, your Joy, and everything else. He wants you to talk to Him. Third, go to CHURCH and hang out with other people that follow Jesus, they will encourage you and help you in your walk with Christ. And remember that even if you dont feel like you are close to God and that you aren't walking with Him, that He is ALWAYS closely walking next to you. You are in my prayers and God Bless you.

Well I know it is not easy to hear when you are going through a difficult time but James 1:2 tells us “My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials,” and it tells us to do so because God uses difficult times to make us stronger in our walk. A good example of that is Job, he lost everything: his health, his kids, and all of his possessions, but in the end he said, "Before, I had heard about God, but now I have seen Him. So no, just because God is not answering your prayer the way you want does not mean He is ignoring you. He could be telling you no because He has a better plan for dealing with the situation. But no matter what happens take the advice of James and rejoice because it is an opportunity to know God better.

It is true that God is omniscient, or all-knowing. But He is not a universe dominator. 1 Timothy 2:4 says that God wants everyone to be saved. But He has given us two choices - to follow Him and obey Him, or to do what we want. There is proof of this all throughout the Old Testament - Isreal turned away from God again and again, and He let them. There was punishment, but they had the choice. He doesn't force us into following Him. One of the things to keep in mind when thinking about this is that God is too big for us to comprehend fully. Sometimes we just have to believe what the Bible says. David does say in Psalm 139:16 - 'Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed, And in Your book they all were written, the days fashioned for me, when as yet there were none of them.' So God sees the future and the present and the past - all the days of your life as though they were one. But He still gives everyone the choice to follow or forsake Him. In Revelation 3:20, Jesus says, 'Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.' You have a choice to make one way or the other - make sure it's the right one.

You always have to look at the context of the Scripture (look at all the verses around the one you're looking at). When the Bible tells us that God is the light of world, it means that God is the only hope the world has. However, Galatians 2:20 tells us that Jesus lives in Christians, so when it says that we are the lights of the world, it means that other people should see God in our life - it is not us (the sinners) but God (the perfect God) in us that is the light.

God is a God of love and his desire is for us to love him back. (Deuteronomy 5:10, 6:5,7:9) And true love has to be of our own choosing. If God did not give us free will we would not restrain from sin because we want to please God but because we have to. An example of this is if your parents asked you to help them clean the house and you help them because you have no choice in the matter. However what if a friend asked you to help them clean their room you would do it simply because they were your friend and love them. The same way God does not want us to follow Him because we have to, but instead, because we want to. And a second reason is that our sin shows us that there is no way that we can get into heaven on our own ( Romans 3:23). And when we realize that we can not get to heaven on our own we must then place our trust in Jesus Christ to get into heaven (Jeremiah 17:5-8). So even though God does not approve of sin, He uses it to his own glory.

We first need to understand that there are times in our walk where we stray away from God and need redirection in our lives. Romans 3:23 says, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. The most important steps to take after walking away from God are to realize we have fallen and repent, or turn away from our sins. Jesus tells us in Revelation 2:5a, "Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works." After we repent, we know that God forgets our sin and makes us new again. Psalm 103:12 tells us, As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us. We have to make a constant effort to turn completely from the sin that made us walk away from God. Praying and reading our Bible keeps us in communication with God and prevents us from leaving Him. The enemy attacks us with the intention to get us away from God. Arm yourself with the Armor of God (Ephesians 6:10-20) and be ready when the enemy tries to attack you!

Matthew 22:37 says, 'Jesus said to them, "You shall love the Lord God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment."' As Christians, this should be our aim in all that we do, to love God. We must also put our faith into action. Ephesians 4:1 says, 'I therefore the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called.' Ephesians 5:8 goes on to say, 'For you were once in darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of the light.' This is our goal-to walk as children of the light. If anything is hindering us from walking in the light, we must throw it away, just like Jesus says in Matthew 5:30, 'If your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell.' Jesus was saying if something makes you sin, cast it away from yourself. This applies to everything, music included. If listening to some songs turns your heart away from loving the Lord God with your heart, soul, and mind, it's sin to listen to them. 1 Thessalonians 5:21-22 says, 'Test all things; hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil.' Be discerning to what you listen to-not by labeling music "Christian" or "non-Christian", but by asking yourself if what you are listening to is hindering your walk with Christ. If it is, turn it off.

When we put our faith in Jesus Christ and the work of the cross, from that point on we are sealed with a guarantee of eternity in heaven. Ephesians 1:13-14 says, In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory. There is no reason to get saved more than once. Once you are saved, you are saved. The work that was done on the cross was for forgiveness of sins, past, present and future. We're sealed. God promises that we will spend eternity with Him. Guaranteed! So does that mean that we can do whatever we want because we are guaranteed to go to heaven? Of course not. John 14:15 says, If you love Me, keep my commandments. If you really love the Lord you aren't going to want to do the things that displease God. You will want to make Him happy by doing the things that He wants you to do. But what if we backslide and fall into sin? It is our responsibility to repent from our sins, and return to the Lord. The word ?repent' means to turn, or to return. It also means to have a change of mind, or to be sorry. These are all true of what we are to do when we sin. We turn from that sin, we return to God and what He wants us to do. We change our mind to focus on God rather than the sin we are faced with, and we express to God that we are truly sorry for our sin. The only way to lose your salvation would be to turn completely away from God and disregard everything that you know, rejecting Jesus Christ. But if you have done that, than the bible says that you were probably never really saved in the first place. 1 John 2:19 They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out that they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us. So if you have truly accepted Christ into your life, you may sin, because no one is perfect, but God enables you to live for Him so it's not likely that you would leave the Lord and reject Christ. So the answer to the question is, If you have given your life to Christ and have truly been saved, then you can't lose your salvation, even if you sin. We will never be perfect until we are in heaven, but when we sin, we must ask for forgiveness and return to a right relationship with Jesus Christ.

Jesus tell us in Revelation 1:3 that we will be blessed if we read and keep the words of this Book (prophecy)so we need not fear. The terror that will go down in The Tribulation will be after we have gone to be with the Lord (1Thessalonians 4 and 1Corinthians 15:52)because we will be raptured. God says that those who believe in Him will not go through the events that take place in the Tribulation. We are told to comfort people with this truth, so that their not afraid but excited to be with the Lord. So be excited that Jesus died on the cross and saved us from all of this crazy scary stuff.

Anything can be bad if we deem it more important than God. Exodus 20:3 says, You shall have no other gods before Me. This doesn't always mean a god like Allah, or Buddah. Sometimes we become so obsessed with people or things that they become like a god to us. For some people an X box may be their god. For others, it may be a musician or an actor. Some people become so obsessed with a boy or a girl that they become more important to that person than God is, therefore the boy or the girl becomes like a god to them. This is when it becomes a problem. Liking a boy or a girl, or X box, or a band, is not a bad thing, but it is when we desire them more than we desire God. Proverbs 18:22 says, He who finds a wife finds a good thing, and obtains favor from the Lord. To find a spouse is a good thing, but to count anything of more importance than God is a bad thing. Just remember that you always have to listen to your parents as to when they say it's ok for you to date a boy or a girl. Even if you think it's not affecting your relationship with God, if you are dating someone, when your parents said it's not ok, then it is affecting your relationship with God because it is causing you to sin by disobeying your parents. The answer to the question is, if God is first in your life, and He is influencing the decisions you make, then it's not bad to like someone. Just be sure that you don't pursue a relationship until it's ok with both parents involved.

I know what you mean, rumors can be very hurtful, but unfortunately there is not much you can do about the actions of others. But there are two great things that you can do to help deal with the situation. The first is pray, bring your pain and your concern about the rumors before God. And if you feel that they are damaging your witness you can pray also that the rumors would not be heard or taken seriously to those you are trying to minister to. The second thing you can do is take the advice given in 2 Peter 3:14 “Therefore, beloved, looking forward to these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, without spot and blameless”. What you can do is make sure to live your life in such a way, with the highest standards of purity that anyone who knows you realizes that the rumors are false and ignores them.

Let me ask you, what is a Christian? A Christian literally means a follower of Christ. Now before you ask me how are we supped to follow some guy who we have never seen, think about the game follow the leader. Now in this game, the point is not so much to go where the leader goes but to do what that person does. Similarly, we Christians should do what Christ did when he was here on earth. James 1:22 tells us --- "But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves." --- So we are supposed to do what the word (the bible) tells us and not just listen to what is says. Sadly this is how may people live their lives - hearing but not doing. They go to church and listen to what the bible tells them and they agree and say that it should be done, but they never do it. Now keep in mind that all people, even Christians, are sinners and mess up, but are those people doing what the bible says or are they just listening and deceiving themselves?

There's always a time when we don't want to do anything, including spending time with God. But we forget that it is an honor to spend time with Him. Take time and think about how God has been good to you. Spend time with Him daily, in prayer and in reading the Bible. He will show you the power of prayer. In Psalm 119:129-131, it says Your testimonies are wonderful; therefore my soul keep them. The entrance of Your words gives light; it gives understanding to the simple. I opened my mouth and panted For I longed for Your commandment."

: There may be times when we don't feel like worshipping, but when we take time to focus on how truly amazing and worthy God is, hopefully our perspective will change. The more we spend time in God's presence by reading His Word, praying, and worshipping, the more we will begin to see Him in our lives and get excited and on fire for him.

Unfortunately I do not remember the phrase separation & saturating will lead to a situation, so I do not know the context of what he was talking about. As for contact without contamination, the point that he was trying to make is although we live in this world, we are not supposed to act as this world does. We should model our lives after the principles of Jesus Christ and live in a holy manner, not in the sinful way the world does. Also, at the same time we are not to remove ourselves from people that are not Christians, but we should have contact with them so that we can show them the love of Christ and share the Gospel with them.

Well according to Kevins teaching, "animated" means full of life, excitement, lively. So our Christian lives should be full of life and excitement for the Lord. I believe this to be true even so much so that God commands us to have lives that are full of excitement and fervor for Him. Check out Matt. 22:37-38. Jesus says, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment." So God wants our lives to full of zeal for Him! So what happens if that isn't the way we live our lives? In the book of Revelation Jesus has John write seven letters to seven different Churchs in order to tell them how well, or how animated, they were. Well let's look at a few churches that didn't live animated lives. First let's look at the Church in Sardis. Jesus says to this church in Revelation 3:1-6, "And to the angel of the church in Sardis write: 'The words of him who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. "I know your works. You have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead. Wake up, and strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your works complete in the sight of my God. Remember, then, what you received and heard. Keep it, and repent. If you will not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come against you. Yet you have still a few names in Sardis, people who have not soiled their garments, and they will walk with me in white, for they are worthy. The one who conquers will be clothed thus in white garments, and I will never blot his name out of the book of life. I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.'" Jesus says to this church that they are dead and not living for God at all and He commands them to repent, or else He will be forced to judge them. And He says that if they overcome thier deadness, and live strong for the Lord once again that He will bless them! Ok, so hopefully your Christian life isn't completely dead, or non-animated. But what if you aren't being completely full of zeal like the Lord commands? Well let's look at the Church in Laodicea. In Revelation 3:14-22, Jesus addresses this church that wasn't living their lives as they should. They weren't not following God, but they were not following God with their whole heart! Check out these verses in Rev. 3:14-22, "And to the angel of the church in Laodicea write: 'The words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of God's creation. "I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see. Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me. The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.'" Ok, so according to this passage someone whose life isn't animated but is half-hearted, God will spit them out of his mouth. He will have no part with them because they are half-hearted, and God commands whole heartedness. So according to this passage, God will punish those who are only half animated, but He tells them to repent, and to zealous for the Lord. So my encouragment to you would be to live a life fully seeking God, because when looking at these passages, the people who follow after God, and live an animated Christian life, God blesses greatly! So if you arent living an animated Christian life, STOP living half-heartedly, and be zealous for God, or else God will as it says, "those whom I love, I reprove, and discipline" God loves you and wants you to live fully for Him, and if you arent He may have to get your attention by using discipline. So I Pray that we all live lives worthy of the calling that was set before us by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!!!!!

I think there is a difference between living two lives, and just being kind of quiet about your faith. Let me explain. An example of living two lives would be to go to church and carry your bible, and tell everyone you see, "Praise the Lord", but when you go to school, you cuss, you lie, you steal, and you don't acknowledge God at all in your life. If asked, you may even tell people that you aren't a Christian. That would be living two lives and is totally different from believing in Christ but just being quiet about it. I'll address both. First, living 2 lives is definitely wrong. Matthew 6:24 says, "No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. By living two lives you are trying to serve two masters. You are trying to serve and please God and trying to please the world, and that is impossible. James 4:4 says, ...Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. You can't live two lives and please God, because if you are a friend of the world, that makes you an enemy of God. Secondly, if you love the Lord, but you are quiet about it, that's not good either. God wants us to tell people about Him. In the gospel of Mark you can read about how Jesus healed many people and told them not to tell anyone, but they couldn't keep it quiet. They were screaming from the rooftops about what Jesus had done in their lives. Jesus has told us the opposite. He tells us in Mark 16:15, Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. If Jesus told the people he healed to keep it quiet and they told people about Him, how much more should we tell people about Him being that He has told us to! God wants us to be on fire for Him. If you found a hundred bucks on the street, I bet you would tell everyone you know. God saved you from hell and has given you heaven. That's worthy of telling everyone about! The answer is, if you are living 2 lives, you need to stop trying to serve two masters and begin to serve God, the only true master. And if you are being quiet about how much you love the Lord, don't be. Tell people about how excited you are that God has saved you from your sins!

Taking communion is something believers do to remember Jesus' death on the cross. It helps us to remember that Jesus died a terrible death so we could be free from our sins if our lives are given to Him. It is okay to take communion by yourself at home. God will not be mad at you. 1 Corinthians 11:24-26 says,24 and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, "Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me." 25 In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me." 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death till He comes. This passage is speaking about the communion supper. Jesus doesn't limit us to only take communion at church. As long as you understand what communion is (remembering Jesus' death and the washing of your sins by His blood) you are free to do it whenever and wherever you are.

I like to think of baptism like I think about a wedding ring. Anyone can wear a wedding ring, but that does not make them married. A wedding ring shows that there's a commitment to someone behind that ring. Same with baptism. Anyone can be baptized - even a baby, but that does not mean anything is different with their life. Baptize is a sign of a commitment to Jesus Christ. Here's a good way to remember it: baptism is an outward sign of an inward change. Mark 1:4 says "John came baptizing in the wilderness and preaching a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins." If you've made a commitment to live for Christ, baptism is a great way to show others and remind yourself of that commitment. It's a celebration of new life - leaving your old sinful life in the water and raising again to new life. If you were baptized as a baby or at some point in your life when it was just a ritual or you didn't understand what you were doing, being baptized again might be a great thing for you to do. Now that you can make a decision for yourself, you can decide whether or not you want to be baptized.

Matthew 7:7 says, "Ask, and it will be given to you; seek and you shall find; knock, and it will be opened to you." If you truly seek forgiveness, out of a pure heart (Matthew 5:8), God will answer you. Matthew 21:22 says, "And whatever things you ask in prayer, believing, you will recieve." When you are praying on auto-pilot, you are not really seeking God. Mean what you say to God, and He will answer you. When you keep doing the wrong thing repeatedly, look at Romans 6:7, "For he who has died has been freed from sin...14:For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace. What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Certainly not! Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slave to obey, you are that one's slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness?" So what is this passage telling us? It's saying we are not condemned for our sins because Jesus took the punishment for all our sins when He died on the cross. We are saved by grace. (Ephesians 2:8-9). That means we get to start over afresh. So when you truly ask for forgiveness for sin, you are forgiven every time. But that does not mean you can take God's grace for granted and keep purposefully sinning. That would mean you are a slave to sin, when you are supposed to be worshipping the God whose grace saved and keeps saving you. So if you keep sinning, ask God truly from your heart for help to stop, but know that His strength is sufficient for you (2 Corinthians 12:9 "And He said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.'") when you fall.

Jesus warns us of this in John 15:20 "Remember the word that I said to you, ?A servant is not greater than his master.' If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. If they kept My word, they will keep yours also." ---- He tells us that because when we are Christians people will not like us. It's not because they don't like us, it's because they do not like Jesus. They don't know and understand him and they don't want to be accountable for their sins. Just remember (although it is difficult) to show the love of Christ to everyone - even those who look down upon you.

Let me ask you a question: do you love your parents? Do you fear your parents? Love and fear are not opposites in some situations. It depends upon what definition of fear is applied. If we are to be afraid of God and want to run away from Him, then how can we love Him? There is another definition of fear - "to have reverence and respect for, to be in obedience to." Now if you look at when it talks about fearing God which definition of fear do you think you should apply?

Genesis 22:12 And He said, "Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him; for now I know that you FEAR God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me."

Do you think this means that Abraham wanted to run away from God or that he loved and respected God? There are many more examples, but I think that you get the point. We are supposed to both love and fear God, but we are not to be afraid of God (unless we are not saved). God is worthy of the most fear (awe and respect) and love that we could ever give Him.

To start this off, I want to first make it clear on how we are saved. Romans 4:4,5 says --- "Now to him who works [for salvation], the wages are not counted as grace but as debt. But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted to him a righteousness."--- You see we are not saved by going to church or by doing good things or praying to God. But instead we are saved by simply trusting that God will do what He says He will do. That is what gets us to heaven because Christ paid the price for our sins. This is called faith. If your faith is in God then it does not matter if it feels like you are saved because you are choosing to believe that you are. This is a hard thing to do, just as is concentrating on the Lord. So often we feel like we are just talking to an empty room or that we are talking to ourselves and feel embarrassed. We need to make ourselves do it - the same way that a track runner makes themselves go running every day even when they don't feel like it. It is hard work, but it will pay off because you will grow closer to God.

Matthew 7:21 - "Not everyone who says to Me, ?Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven." Jesus told us that it is not enough to just call Him Lord. What He means is that it is not just about using your mouth to say that Jesus is Lord on Sunday at church. You should also live a life that shows that you love and serve Jesus. I do not know what is going on in the hearts of these people, so I can not judge them. The truth is, they may truly desires to live for Christ, but not know how. However, they could simply want to please those around them rather then Christ. If so, when they are at church, they put on an act of being good; but if they're at school, they try to please that crowd. What is really going on is not for you or me to say, but is between them and God. But, this is what we do know - Mark 8:38 - "For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him the Son of Man also will be ashamed when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels." It is a sin for us to be ashamed of Christ and a very serious one at that! Talk to your friends about the way they are acting, but remember, they may not want to listen. Most of all, pray for them, that God would change their hearts, and make sure you don't act how they are!

In Proverbs 19:9 it says "A false witness will not go unpunished, and he who pours out lies will perish." A true person that has a true relationship with God does not fake it. A true believer bears fruit in their lives, suffers persecution and lives for Jesus not for themselves. If a person is faking their relationship with God then they don't have a true relationship with Him. The best thing we could do for a person that is not walking right with God is to pray for them and show them God's love.

"Fake" is defined as "to alter, manipulate, or treat so as to give a false appearance to; to deceive". Someone who has a false relationship with God and is trying to deceive others into thinking that they have a true relationship with God is not good at all! The bible says in Proverbs 19:9, "A false witness will not go unpunished, And he who speaks lies shall perish." YIKES! I don't believe that people who have a true relationship with God would try to fake it. In John 15:5 we read these words from Jesus, "I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing." So a person with a true relationship with God bears fruit in their lives. The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23). Another reason I believe a person with a true relationship with God would not fake it is because being a follower of Christ brings persecution. The bible says in 2 Corinthians 6:4-5, "4But in all things we commend ourselves as ministers of God: in much patience, in tribulations, in needs, in distresses, 5in stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labors, in sleeplessness, in fastings;". Do you think if you were not a true believer you would want to go through things like this just for the heck of it?! I don't think so. Lastly, a person with a true relationship with God does not want to fake it or do anything evil. 2 Corinthians 5:14-15 says, "14For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died; 15 and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again". These verses say that we who believe do not live for ourselves but we live for Jesus. Someone living for Jesus does not want to fake it.

The answer to the question is a person who has a true relationship with God does not fake it. A true believer bears fruit in their life, suffers persecution, and lives for Jesus, not themselves. If a person is "faking" their relationship with God, then they don't have a true relationship with Him. The best thing we can do for a person who does not have a true relationship with God is to pray for them.

We've all heard Deuteronomy 31:8 quoted many times - ?He is the One who goes before you. He will be with you, He will not leave you nor forsake you? What an awesome promise! You never have to doubt if God will be there or not - He said that He ALWAYS will be! So, we know He'll be there, but what happens when it doesn't feel like He really is there? In Psalm 77:7-9, Asaph begins to doubt God. He asks questions like "Has God forgotten to be merciful?" Well, Asaph was a musician who wrote some of the Psalms. Sometimes, even the people who wrote the Bible felt like God wasn't there! It can be comforting to know that the people in the Bible knew how you felt. Elijah wanted to commit suicide, Paul went to jail, Job lost everything, and Asaph felt like God had given up on him. However, when Asaph really thinks about God, though, He can't help but think how awesome He is. Check out the next few verses in Psalm 77. Asaph vows to remember how faithful God has been and all the promises He has given to Asaph. Sometimes it feels like God isn't there because we're focused on the NOW - we forget how faithful He has been and His promises that He will continue to be faithful. Think about the Israelites when they were in the wilderness. They kept whining and thinking God had given up on them. We get frustrated with them because in the next chapter, God provides for them. However, It's hard for us, because we can't see the next "chapter" in our life. We lose focus of God when we forget His faithfulness. I've always heard it said, "When you feel like God isn't there, it's never Him that moved, it's you." Maybe you've got some sin in your life that you need to talk to Him about. For instance, Saul fell into sin so deep that God quit responding to him - he wouldn't listen anyway! And in Isaiah 59:1-2, it says, "Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; nor His ear heavy, that it cannot hear. But your iniquities have separated you from your God; and your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He will not hear." We can't deny that sometimes it does feel like God is not there. But when you come to that point, think about all that He has done for you and all He has promised to do - it's impossible to continue in doubt if you really believe His promises.

To answer this it is best to look at what God tells us in Isaiah 13:11 - "I will punish the world for its evil, And the wicked for their iniquity; I will halt the arrogance of the proud, And will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible." ---- This verse talks about a coming day when God will punish the world for all of its evil. And because this world and the people in it are evil we are not to act like they do. It does not mean we cannot have friends but that we should not act out the evil of this world, but rather instead live the way God wants us to live, holy and pure.

First, you should be a Christian because it saves you from hell and it's also the only way to truly find happiness! Second, when you become a Christian, it's a decision that you make, and living like a Christian is also a decision that you make. Isaiah 42:20 ," You see and understand what is right but you refuse to act on it. You hear, but you don't really listen." You choose how you're going to live. I understand that it's hard sometimes to act like a Christian, but God knows that we are not perfect and HE loves us anyway. Proverbs 6:3," Seek His will in all you do, and He will direct your path."

YES, next question? No, I'm just joking! It is true that your parents are supposed to be role models and bring you up in the training of the Lord, but not all parents do that. In light of that, no matter what you parents DO, you are still to obey the Lord and what His word says you should do. While the Bible gives specific commands to parents and children, watching how we should talk is one we all are commanded to do. Colossians 3:8 says, "But now you yourselves are to put off all these: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, FILTHY LANGUAGE, out of your mouth. While you should obey your parents, you should always obey God above all. Be sure to read your bible and know what it says God wants you to do. Also check out Ephesians 4:29. God bless you and be a strong witness to your parents that they might see Christ living in you!

This is a very good question. Lets look at some scripture.In Matthew 9:10-13 Jesus was having dinner with a bunch of sinners and tax collectors. When the Pharisees saw this they asked why he was eating with such people, Jesus replied in verses 12 and 13, ".Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. But go and learn what this means: I desire mercy and not sacrafice. For I did not come to call the righteous, but the sinners to repentance." Basically what he's saying is, just like people who are sick need a doctor to prescribe a cure for their sickness, so sinners need someone to give them the cure for their "sin sickness". That cure is Jesus. How are non-believers ever going to hear about Jesus if there is not a believer around them to tell them about Him? Jesus in Matthew 5:16, Mark 16:15, tells us to let our light shine and that we should preach the gospel to every creature. We do, however, have to be careful, as 1 Corinthians 15:33 warns us that bad company corrupts good character. We have to make sure that we are influencing them in a positive way, not letting them influence us in a negetive way. Romans 12:2 tells us to not be conformed to this world. As we look at Jesus, I don't think his message was revealed by who he excluded, but rather by who he included. Jesus mostly hung out with believers, but he wasn't afraid to show love to and include sinners. I would say, hang out with believers, but remember that we are called to share the gospel with non-believers, and never be afraid to love and include non-believers in the positive activities you are involoved in. When in doubt, ask yourself, "What would Jesus do?".

The Bible says to love our neighbors as ourselves. We don't deserve God's love anymore than anyone else - we're just as guilty as the 'worst' sinner.

In Revelation, John describes how he was visited by an angel in a vision. This was his response ---- Revelation 22:8 - "Now I, John, saw and heard these things. And when I heard and saw, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel who showed me these things. Then he said to me, 'See that you do not do that. For I am your fellow servant, and of your brethren the prophets, and of those who keep the words of this book. Worship God.'" ---- The angel told John not to worship him for he is only a servant. Actually, the Bible tells us in several places such as Exodus 34:14, that we are to worship no other god than the one true God. And, if you read Psalm 99:5, it tells us that God is holy. That means that he is set apart from all others and therefore, is the only one we should worship because anything else that we worship (angles, money, or anything else) is an Idol. Yes, there were people who worshiped both angles and demons (who are fallen angles) in the Bible, just as there are today. But remember that God is the only one who deserves our worship.

Well, we need to know that God does not tolerate sin whatsoever. In fact God hates sin (Proverbs 6:16-19) and there are even verses in scripture that speak of God's hate toward people who are wicked and are lovers of violence or evildoers in other words "sinners" (Psalm 11:5, 5:5). Some people might be uncomfortable with that statement. We have gotten very accustomed to hearing the statements said by people in the church such as "God hates the sin, but He loves the sinner." The thing with this statement is that according to the Bible, it's not true. So, where does that leave us as Christians who still sin sometimes? If you have repented and turned from your sin and accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, you have been born again and are no longer viewed by God as a sinner but as His child and a saint in Christ. The bible speaks of the believer as being a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17). Being born again doesn't result in a perfect human being who never ever sins again, it results in a new nature that desires to live a life pleasing to God, and is enabled through Christ's sacrifice to be viewed by God as perfected in Him. The best way to explain this is that sinners within the scriptures are described as those with no regard for God and His law, those who reject God, continually sinning and wanting no part with Him (All people are born this way, and the only way to change is to be born again in Christ). On the other hand, those who are Christians are of a new nature, saved by grace from a life that wanted nothing to do with God, and are enabled by God's Holy Spirit to live according to the new desires he has put in their hearts to seek and serve Him. However, we must be careful to understand God hates sin, and we as Christians in His image should hate it too. We should examine our lives and make certain that any sin we commit is repented of, turned from, and confessed before God in prayer. God has promised us as His children that if we confess our sins to Him he is faithful and just to forgive us and cleanse us of all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9). So as a Christian God does not view us in light of our sins, but in light of the righteousness of Christ (Rom 5:19). So in that sense, with the Christian there is no chance of His patience running out. However, from time to time God will give us a "wake up call" (sometimes in the form of a trial, although not all trials are for this reason) to show us an area of sin in our lives that we need to repent from and turn over to Him. If there is a certain sin in your life that you continually struggle with, I'd suggest first confessing it before God in prayer and repenting of it, then if possible seek the advice of a leader personally on steps to take in keeping yourself from vulnerable situations where you may be more prone to struggle in a problem area. I'll pray for you and I hope this is a good answer to your question!

When we give our lives to Jesus Christ, and put our faith in Him, we are justified. Romans 5:1 says, "Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." Let me explain what justification is. Justification is when a sinner puts his faith in Jesus, and as a result, God declares that sinner righteous and acceptable in His sight. The only way that we can be justified is through faith in Christ. Many people try to justify themselves by doing good things, or performing religious rituals, but none of that can justify you before God. Acts 13:39 says, "and by Him everyone who believes is justified from all things from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses." So, by putting faith in Jesus, He deletes the file that kept record of all our sins. Those which we did in the past, those we have done today, and all the sin we will commit in the future have all been deleted. It's like we are perfect! Colossians 1:28b says, "that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus." This is what the cross was all about. Jesus Christ took the punishment for all of our sins, and was treated the way we deserved to be treated, so God could treat us the way Jesus deserved to be treated. So, it's not that Jesus lies to the Father, saying that we are perfect, but through the work of the cross He has atoned for our transgressions and clothed us in His righteousness. In Christ I'm justified - just as if I'd never sinned!

Hey great question - it covers lots of issues that the church as well as the individual believer faces in today's society. First of all, I would like to encourage you to continue in the things you have been telling your friends about Christ, music, ect. - you are doing the greatest thing that you can for your friends. I would also like to commend you for standing strong in the faith, morals, and ethics that you have, and I will tell you, that that is one of the hardest and most important things you will ever have to do in your walk with Christ, so stand strong in what you believe and in what Christ says no matter what!!!! Anyway, as far as whether or not Greenday and or secular music is a bad thing to listen to, Phillipians 4:8 says, "Finally Bretheren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy - think upon these things." Now according to this scripture, as a follower of Christ it's very important that we think upon good things and not evil things, that we fill our hearts with the word of God, and the things of God and not of this world. So yes, it is not good and doesn't benefit your walk with Christ one bit to listen to music with evil and perverse things. In 1 Corinthians 6:12 Paul the Apostle states,"All things are lawful for me but not everything is helpful to me, all things are lawful to me but i will not be brought under the power of any of them." Paul is saying I can do these things like listen to greenday, but if it isn't going to help my walk with Christ, i won't. He would also say I can listen to greenday but I dont want to be influenced by it {brought under the power of anything} so I won't listen to it. So even if something seems ok, ask yourself is it helpful to you or others, and does it influence you in a bad way, if it does, don't do it, flee from those things. Proverbs 4:23 says, "Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it come the issues of life." So stand strong even if it is the hardest thing to do because God will Bless you for it - Revelation 2:10 "...Be faithful until death and I will give you the Crown of Life." Keep on praying for and encouraging your friends to do the right thing, and guard your heart from all kinds of evil Romans 16:19 "... I want you to be wise in what is good, and simple concerning evil." God will Bless you mightily.

That's a question I think a lot of people have, so first of all, let's look at what it means to repent. Repentance means feeling sorry for what you have done and then making a complete turn from that sin. So, make sure that when you ask for forgiveness, that you truly desire to change that sin in your life. If we are truly repentant of our sins, God will forgive us as many times as we repent. 1 John 1:9 says, "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." What you have to understand is that God doesn't expect us to be perfect; He knows that we are going to mess up. Psalm 103:12-16 says, " As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us. 13 As a father pities his children, So the Lord pities those who fear Him. 14 For He knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust. 15 As for man, his days are like grass; As a flower of the field, so he flourishes. 16For the wind passes over it, and it is gone," So regardless of the fact that God knows how imperfect we are, He is still faithful to forgive us of our sins. So if we truly repent of our sins no matter how many times we sin, God is more than willing to forgive us.

Hanging out with unbelievers is okay as long as you are the one influencing them and not the other way around. However, the bible tells us in 2 Corinthians 6:14, "Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness?" What this is saying is that our fellowships and relationships should be mostly with believers. When we hang out with unbelievers, we tend to act the way they do. 1 Corinthians 15:33 says, "Bad company corrupts good character." So we want to be around good company and people who are cussing and aren't Christians may not be the best company. Your friendship with them doesn't need to stop all together. Jesus says in Mattew 28:19, "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,." You should still be around them to share God's Word with them. When things start getting bad (cussing, doing wrong things, etc.) that's when you should tell them, "Okay, guys, see ya later," and get out of that bad company.

The first part of Proverbs 17:17 says, "A friend loves at all times." You should lovingly and gently confront your friend about her actions. If she asks for forgiveness, forgive her, for we all make mistakes. But if she continues to act this way, you must question if she is truly your friend.

Halloween is dark and demonic in origin and leaves no opportunity to celebrate it to the glory of God. Although the Bible does not say specifically not to celebrate Halloween, as we've seen tonight, it's pretty clear that God does not want His people participating in anything that even looks like it could be evil.

The first thing and most important is that you have Jesus in your heart and are fully seeking after Him. Just because you are feeling convicted in this area tells me that you are going in the correct direction. Praise God! First thing to be sure of is that you are not bound for hell. Hell is reserved for those who have no love for God and don't have Him as there savior. If you are saved and have a personal relationship with Him, He will keep you until the day you die. Now this doesn't take away our responsibility to be doing the things that please God. Check this out. We are told in Rom 12:2 "Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you." (The Message) So here it is, plain as day. What a wonderful verse. So at school you should be different. Different from all the things around you that don't please God. As the verse says, we need to fix our attention on God. That's the key. So in closing, fix your eyes on God daily and be in prayer. Ask God to give you the strength to be different in a messy world. Check out Philippians 2:15 for further study. Peace.

Girls should not be the priority right now. If you are in middle school or high school, you are in no position to think about marriage, thus you don't have to worry about chosing a girl. Being a Christian as a midschooler is not about having the cutest Christian girlfriend. It's about desiring God and following after him. When I thought I was in love, God really directed me to this verse:

'Whom have I in heaven but You? And there is none upon the earth that I desire but You. My flesh and my heart fail; But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.' Psalm 73:25-26. Can you truly say that you desire none upon the earth but Jesus if you're caught up in thinking about girls? God should be your only desire right now. Check out Psalm 37:3-4. 'Trust in the Lord, and do good; Dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness, Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart.' If you really want a girl, God will give you one called a wife-but marriage, like I said is a long way off, and what you should be thinking about now is delighting yourself in the Lord.

-James 5:12 But above all, my brethren, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or with any other oath. But let your "Yes," be "Yes," and your "No," "No," lest you fall into judgment.- We are told not to swear, not by anything. We need to be careful not put ourselves in positions where we will break our word. Unfortunately, you are in a very difficult position. You do not want to break a promise, but at the same time, you do not want to hurt your friend. If it is something really important that maybe your friend could get hurt then it would be best for you to tell him or her. The best thing to do would be to talk to your parents or an adult you can trust and ask for advice, because this could easily end up damaging one and/or the other of your friendships. Remember Ephesians 4:29 - Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers. Have no part in gossip!

-1 John 4:19-20 "We love God because He first loved us. If someone says, ?I love God,' and hates his brother, he is a liar?" Matthew 5:43-44 "You have heard that it was said, ?You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you," 1 John 4:11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.- The Bible tells us to love others because God first loved us. We are told to be salt and light in this would by loving others as God loves us so that they may see the love of God in our lives. We may not like the sin that they may have in their lives, but God loved us while we were still sinners. Should we not do the same to those around us? If you are having trouble loving someone, pray that God will help you love them - it's pretty hard to hate someone when you're praying for them!

-Matthew 5:14-16 "You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lamp stand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven."-

We are commanded to be a light to this world, but what does that mean? Are we supposed to eat light bulbs? No! We are supposed to live a life that shows that we are Christians so that people will see what God has done in our lives. Jesus rebuked the Pharisees for their hypocritical behavior. In fact, in Revelation 3:16, God says that that type of behavior makes Him sick! You should confront your friend and tell them that they need to stop. It will not be easy, but doing the right thing often is not. However, God rewards obedience! Pray that God would give you the right words, that e would soften your friend's heart, and that His will would be done.

God is a God of love and his desire is for us to love him back. (Deuteronomy 5:10, 6:5,7:9) And true love has to be of our own choosing. If God did not give us free will we would not restrain from sin because we want to please God but because we have to. An example of this is if your parents asked you to help them clean the house and you help them because you have no choice in the matter. However what if a friend asked you to help them clean their room you would do it simply because they were your friend and love them. The same way God does not want us to follow Him because we have to, but instead, because we want to. And a second reason is that our sin shows us that there is no way that we can get into heaven on our own ( Romans 3:23). And when we realize that we can not get to heaven on our own we must then place our trust in Jesus Christ to get into heaven (Jeremiah 17:5-8). So even though God does not approve of sin, He uses it to his own glory.

Thank God for giving us freedom here in the USA! It probably would not happen here that you would ever be given this choice. However, the best thing to do about the lava would be first ask God to take care of the problem. Just like in Daniel chapter 3 verse 4 then the herald proclaimed. Loudly "this is what you are commanded to do. O peoples nations and men of every language as soon as you hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipes, and all kinds of music you must fall down and worship the golden image that king Nebuchadnezzar has set up. Whoever does not will immediately be thrown into a blazing fire. Verse 12. But there are some Jews whom you have set Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego who pay no attention to you, o king they neither serve your gods or worship the golden image you have set up. Verse 15b. But if you do not worship the golden image, you will be thrown immediately into the blazing furnace. Then what god will be able to rescue you from my hand? Verse 17. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the god we serve will be able to save us, and will rescue us from your hand o king. Verse 18.but even if he does not we will not worship the golden image you have set up. These three young men stood up for God no matter what. Now are you ready to do the same?

When we do something that we know is wrong before God's eyes, it is called a sin. Unfortunately, we all sin and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). Romans 6:23 tells us, For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. So, since we are all sinners we all deserve death. However, God gave us a great gift, named Jesus, and when we put our faith in Him and surrender our lives to Him we receive eternal life! That's awesome! When we sin, we must confess and ask for forgiveness (see 1 John 1:9). After we sin, don't be surprised to see consequences and punishment come from God! Proverbs 3:11-12 says, My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord, Nor detest His correction; For whom the Lord loves He corrects, Just as a father the son in whom he delights. To sum it all up, when we do something that we know is wrong we must confess our sin to God and ask for forgiveness. Chances are you will see correction in your life given by God, but He only does it because He loves you!

First off, as imperfect human beings, everyday we do go out into the world and sin. And as Christians, we have the hope and privilege of coming to God and asking for forgiveness. So how does God forgive us? He forgives us by His grace. He is able to take away our sins if we ask Him to do so, because Jesus died on the cross 2000 years ago, and defeated sin. 1 Corinthians 15:56-57 says, "The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." So because of Jesus' death on the cross, we are able to confess our sins before God and He will forgive us. 1st John 1:9 says, "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." Now as Christians, we aren't going to be SINLESS but God does want us to change and follow Him; meaning that we will try our hardest to SIN less. So I wouldn't say that it is a good idea to, for one day do all of the bad things that you can think of, because that isn't pleasing to God. And as Christians, our deepest desire should be to please God because of what He has done for us and because of the fact that He is God. So, we are all going to mess up and sin, but God still loves us and is more than willing to forgive us. So remember that God is faithful to take away all of our sins, if we confess them to Him, and turn from those sins.

Luke 16:13 No man may be a servant to two masters: for he will have hate for the one and love for the other; or he will keep to the one and have no respect for the other. You may not be servants of God and of wealth. - Jesus makes the point that we can not serve two masters. So what is your master? What do you think about more - the way you look and what people think about or what God thinks about you? It is not a sin to be concerned with the way we look as long as that is not our primary concern and we let more important things come first like God and family. Also, remember that we do not want to disregard our bodies, but rather keep them presentable to glorify God and not to be offensive by the way we look to those around us. After all, 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 tells us that our bodies are a temple of the Holy Spirit.

This brings into question what Repentance is. Repentance is when you feel sorry for what you have done, and then make a change for the better because of your guilt. The word repentance means "a change of mind which results in a change of life." If you ask God for forgiveness not because someone tells you to or because you have to, but because you want to apologize to God, and feel sorry for what you have done, then make a change in your lifestyle, you have repented. Jesus says in Matthew 5:37 to let your 'Yes' be 'yes' and your 'no,' 'no.' When you say you will do something, do it to honor God.

Since the Bible says we are not to be unequally yoked, if you go against that, you are sinning and endangering your relationship with God.

Jesus tells us in John 13:34-35, "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you love one another." Jesus DID NOT tell us He only loves us because God wants Him to, but if God didn't care then He wouldn't! We are to love one another, not just because God wants us to, but because people will know we are Jesus' disciples if we do. It may not be a sin to say you only love someone because God wants you to, but it is a sin if you say you love someone when really you don't. That's called lying. 1 John 3:14 says, We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love his brother abides in death. That is a scary place to be! If we do not love our fellow believers, the bible says we are living in death which means we are apart from Christ. The best thing to do is love one another because we will be known as disciples of Jesus. It is definitely not a good idea to tell people you only love them because God wants you to. If that is the case, you may want to ask God to help you to love others as Jesus tells us to.

I wouldn't say it was a sin to watch a non-Christian tv show, there are a lot of tv shows out there. Just make sure you don't watch so much tv that it keeps you from your quiet time with God and His Word. Remember Matthew 6:22 says, "the eye is the lamp to the body." Whatever we feed our eyes is often what we become0 (either darkness or light). Read Matthew chapter 6 for yourself. Also, I challenge you to time how long you watch tv compared to time spent with God.

In Genesis 2:18 the first thing that God said was not good, was for man to be alone, so God made woman to be a helper for him. It's ok to date people in order for us to find that one person that God created for us, specifically. In the same way that we want to surround ourselves with Christian friends, we want to make sure the person we date is a believer because of what the bible teaches us. 1 Corinthians 15:33 says, Bad company corrupts good character. So, as a Christian, the principles that we learn from the bible could be corrupted by dating someone who's not a Christian. For this reason, 2 Corinthians 6:14 tells us not to be unequally yoked with unbelievers. In the same chapter it asks the question, how can light have fellowship with darkness? How can righteousness have fellowship with unrighteousness? 9 times out of 10 we are going to be influenced by the unbeliever, rather than influencing them. This doesn't mean that we are to end all association with non believers as that would go against the purpose that God has us on this earth, to share Christ with those who don't know Him. (1 Cor 9:19-23, Matthew 28:19) What this means is that the people that we are around the most, such as friends, boyfriends or girlfriends, should be people who are Christians, so we can encourage one another in our faith, rather then have someone corrupting our good character. So, yes, it's ok to date, but God tells us in His word, that He wants us to be equally yoked in relationships with other believers.

This topic is considered a "grey" area, meaning there is no real clear answer. The bible doesn't say, "You shall not watch Harry Potter," and at the same time it doesn't say, "Watch Harry Potter." There are believers who think the Harry Potter movies are evil and you should stay away and there are believers who think the movies are fine and okay to watch. You're realtionship with the Lord and your personal convictions will play big parts in determining whether you should watch the movies or not. Our convictions are things the Lord lays on our heart and if we feel convicted when we watch certain things, then we probably shouldn't. Another important thing is to listen to your parents and ask them how they feel about viewing the Harry Potter movies. Ephesians 6:1 says, "Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right." The bible also tells us in 1 Thessolonians 5:21, "Test all things; hold fast what is good." So, the answer is have a strong realtionship wth the Lord and listen to your convictions. Ask your parents to see what they think and also test everything to see if it is good.

Anything can be bad if we deem it more important than God. Exodus 20:3 says, You shall have no other gods before Me. This doesn't always mean a god like Allah, or Buddah. Sometimes we become so obsessed with people or things that they become like a god to us. For some people an X box may be their god. For others, it may be a musician or an actor. Some people become so obsessed with a boy or a girl that they become more important to that person than God is, therefore the boy or the girl becomes like a god to them. This is when it becomes a problem. Liking a boy or a girl, or X box, or a band, is not a bad thing, but it is when we desire them more than we desire God. Proverbs 18:22 says, He who finds a wife finds a good thing, and obtains favor from the Lord. To find a spouse is a good thing, but to count anything of more importance than God is a bad thing. Just remember that you always have to listen to your parents as to when they say it's ok for you to date a boy or a girl. Even if you think it's not affecting your relationship with God, if you are dating someone, when your parents said it's not ok, then it is affecting your relationship with God because it is causing you to sin by disobeying your parents. The answer to the question is, if God is first in your life, and He is influencing the decisions you make, then it's not bad to like someone. Just be sure that you don't pursue a relationship until it's ok with both parents involved.

1 Peter 2:11-12 tells us first that we are aliens in this world and to keep away from its sinful ways. This it talking about how the worlds standards our not our standards as Christians and because of this we need to judge things from a Biblical standpoint. Weather or not you can watch a movie should not be based upon what the world says about it but upon the content of the movie. Does it have content that will harm your walk with God and that is Displeasing to him? And as a Christians you need to be a witness to others so even if it does not go against your biblical beliefs to watch a certain movie you should not watch it if it will make someone else think less of you. As for which movies are ok to watch, I would ask your parents what is ok.

There is nothing, in and of itself, impure about having a boyfriend or girlfriend. With the title of "boyfriend" or "girlfriend", however, usually comes the expectation of other things. Things such as holding hands, kissing, and the like... Now these things aren't necessarily bad or "impure" in themselves, but they are, often times, just small steps in the wrong direction (toward impure things). It's important to remember that true purity isn't about seeing how much you can get away with without technically sinning, but more about seeing how far you can stay away from impure things altogether. Now the desire to feel loved and appreciated by someone of the opposite sex is God-given and natural. it's good. The truth, though, is that this can be attained outside of the context of boyfriend/girlfriend relationships in just simple friendships. Even if you are strong in your walk and relationship with the Lord right now and you don't have any struggle with remaining pure, my advice to you still would be to find contentment in simple friendship until you are a bit older and more capable of properly handling a boy/girl relationship. Also, if you don't already have some, pray that God would bring some solid, Christian friends into your life... both boys and girls. Most of all, just be sure to remember that if you seek God first, above anyone or anything else in life, He promises to give you everything you need. In His presence is fullness of joy; and in His right hand pleasures forevermore. [Matthew 6:33 + Psalm 16:11]

Corinthians 6:1-8 - "Dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to law before the unrighteous, and not before the saints? Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world will be judged by you, are you unworthy to judge the smallest matters? Do you not know that we shall judge angels? How much more, things that pertain to this life? If then you have judgments concerning things pertaining to this life, do you appoint those who are least esteemed by the church to judge? I say this to your shame. Is it so, that there is not a wise man among you, not even one, who will be able to judge between his brethren? But brother goes to law against brother, and that before unbelievers! Now therefore, it is already an utter failure for you that you go to law against one another. Why do you not rather accept wrong? Why do you not rather let yourselves be cheated? No, you yourselves do wrong and cheat, and you do these things to your brethren!" ---- In this passage, Paul is addressing Christians who were taking advantage of each other and suing each other. Paul tells us that it would be wrong for us to take a dispute between fellow Christians before unbelievers. You see, we are to be salt and light to the world, and so we should not even have the appearance of doing wrong. Now, if there is some sound reason such as medical expenses that you may want to sue for then you should go talk to a trusted Christian adult or pastor so that they can look at the situation. However, as Paul said, it is better to be wronged by your brother then to deface his witness before unbelievers.

A1. It is obvious that, "thou shalt not smoke cigarettes" is not one of the ten commandments, but let's look at a few Scriptures that give us good reason to believe that smoking isn't the best thing for us to do. First of all, smoking is extremely harmful to our bodies. Smoking increases someone's risk of getting cancer by over 50%! It destroys your lungs and your kidneys, and is all around harmful to your body. 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 says, "What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which you have of God, and you are not your own? For you are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's." Clearly in this Scripture we can see that if we are Christians than our bodies are not our own - they are a temple to the Holy Spirit. God bought us at a price, so why should we destroy our bodies with cigarettes? The second scripture is 1 Corinthians 6:12, "All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any." Paul says in the last part of this verse that he will not be brought under the power of anything. Have you ever heard of someone say that they are trying to stop smoking but they just can't do it? The reason why those people can't stop smoking is because cigarettes contain a chemical named nicotene. Nicotene is a very addicting chemical. Once people get in the habit of smoking, it is really hard for them to stop. Most smokers have to smoke at least one packet of cigarettes a day! If they don't, they get tired, hungry, angry, and maybe even sick! People who smoke cigarettes are controlled by them. Paul says in that Scripture that he wouldn't do ANYTHING that would have such power in his life that it would control him. Paul also says in the first part of that verse that he could do certain things maybe even like smoking but he wouldn't because they weren't helpful to him in his walk with Christ and even in his everyday life. So the Bible never says, " thou shalt not smoke" but it does say that we should take care of our bodies because they belong to God, and that we shouldn't be controlled or addicted to anything. Let's take care of our bodies which belong to God, and let's never be controlled by anything other than our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

The 1st thing to ask yourself is, does the website allow you to download it (for free, or not)? 2nd, is it copy written, if so, then what are the copy write laws? If they say no reproduction, and or for private use only, then it would be a crime, and a SIN (but if it says nothing like that then it is ok.) Thou Shall Not Steal as the TEN COMANDMENTS says in Exodus 20:15. Stealing is when you take something that is not yours or that you did not pay for. If you really want th