Wondering

Dear Wondering:
It’s all of the above and more! It actually all boils down to obedience to Christ. Check out what Jesus said: “If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching” (John 14:23).

A good Christian is one who loves Jesus and strives to obey Him in every area of her life.

Dear Susie:
I’ve dated this guy for almost a year, and unfortunately, I’ve given him my virginity. Now I’m feeling hurt and confused. I know God wants me to break off the relationship, but I don’t want to hurt my boyfriend.

I feel as though I’m no longer one of God’s princesses. It seems there are so many other girls that He’d rather have in heaven with Him. I look at the Brio girls and how they’re still pure, and then I look at myself and feel disgusted! No Christian man will ever want to marry me. I’m so hurt!

Desperate

Dear Desperate:
If you were here, I’d invite you to climb inside the Brio Bug and treat you to a Coke so we could talk much longer than I can answer your question in this small space. First of all, you’re feeling distanced from God because you’ve sinned. That’s exactly what sin does — it separates us from our heavenly Father.

Have you asked God to forgive you? If you have — and if you’re serious about not repeating the same sin — know that He always forgives a genuine and repentant heart. But the true meaning of repentance is to turn around and go the other direction.

You are a princess of the King of Kings! But Satan doesn’t want you to know that. So he’ll try to convince you that because of your sin, you no longer qualify to be loved by God. That’s a lie! God still loves you. And He wants to empower you to live a holy life, but you need to turn from your sin.

When Christ forgave the woman caught in adultery, He told her to go and sin no more. He says the same to you. “I forgive you. Don’t continue in your sin.” In other words, stop having sex with your boyfriend.

Does this mean you need to break up? I’m encouraging you to do that!

Dear Susie:
Christians naturally put a lot of emphasis on their belief that Christ is the only way, but just because someone isn’t Christian doesn’t mean he’s going to hell!

I’m not trying to come off as anti-Christian, but there were several people in history who did great things, and they weren’t Christians. So by saying that Christ is the only way, is that saying, for example, someone like Ghandi went to hell?

Perplexed

Hi, Perplexed:
I’ve answered letters similar to yours in the past, and I really have a tough time understanding what’s so tough to get about this! First of all, these aren’t my words; they’re the words of Jesus Christ. Susie Shellenberger is merely repeating them.

Jesus has very clearly stated that the only way to heaven is through a personal relationship with Him (see John 14:6). What’s so hard to understand about that? Is it just that you don’t want to understand it? ANYONE (including Ghandi, Mother Teresa, George W. Bush, Billy Graham and Susie Shellenberger) who didn’t or doesn’t have a personal relationship with Jesus will not enter heaven.

It doesn’t matter how good you are or the great things you may accomplish throughout history. God cares about what you’ve done with His Son. Have you accepted Him as your personal Savior and confessed your sins? If not, you’ll spend eternity separated from God. And yes, that means hell.