In the Spotlight

Hi Alice. So, Jesus had apostles and disciples. Jesus' 12 apostles were his closest friends. He went out and hand picked them. They weren't really clever or rich, some were fishermen and tax collectors, but Jesus chose them anyway. They were: Andrew and Simon Peter (brothers); James and John (Sons of Zebedee); Philip; Bartholomew; Matthew (tax collector); Thomas (the one who didn't believe Jesus had risen); James (son of Alphaeus); Thaddeus; Simon (the Zealot-Jewish Rebels); Judas Iscariot (who betrayed Jesus). Now the disciples were the other people who followed Jesus and believed in Him and watched the miracles he did. They were important too because they would go home and tell everyone what they saw so that others would believe in Jesus

OK, so I'm no proper guidance counsellor but I've had a little experience with what you're talking about. So I looked up 'friend' in the dictionary and it said: "a person who you know, like and trust". Do you know, like and trust these people? Now I think there's a difference between friends and real friends. Real friends are the ones who love you no matter what - sure arguments happen, but then it's about forgiveness afterwards. Look at the friendships that you have and see whether you can be yourself around them, trust them with secrets, and if you enjoy being around them in general.
When I was younger there were a few of my friends who turned out not to be very friendly towards me, and started to pick on me so I ended up moving friendship groups altogether. Now that's a drastic approach, and I don't know your situation, so you need to think about it… but what I would say is definitely pray and ask God to help you make a decision and to give you strength and the right words to speak if you need to talk to them. It's these situations in life that are easier when we ask for God's help.

Hey Amy, don't worry there's nothing to be scared of with confirmation! When you were younger, when you were baptised, your parents made a promise to bring you up as a Christian with faith and morals. Now all that is happening is you are 'confirming' that promise saying that you will carry on growing in faith and morals and living a Christian life. I remember it was quite a big step when I was confirmed because it became my decision not my parents! But in 9 years I haven't regretted my decision. No fear!

Isabella you're right, God always forgives. And not only doe God forgive us… but he even FORGETS what we did wrong! That’s how much he loves us :-) And it is through the forgiveness God shows us that we can start to forgive ourselves. No-one is perfect, everyone makes mistakes and does things they wish they hadn't. But God understands this and if we repent, then he'll forgive us. OK so what's repentance? Trusty Wikipedia says that repentance is a change of thought and action to correct a wrong and gain forgiveness from a person who is wronged...
We may have wronged someone else and to forgive ourselves for that, we need to ask for their forgiveness. So we need to right the wrongs we've done, accept God's forgiveness and accept others forgiveness if they offer it to us, and that will help us truly forgive ourselves. I know it's so much easier said than done, but it’s not impossible.

The thing with growing up (and you may have heard this before) is that girls tend to mature quicker than guys do. So when girls start looking at boys thinking, ‘ooh, he's quite nice,’ the boy is probably not even aware of it, or is still thinking 'eww girls!'. So it's pretty normal for the girl to look to slightly older guys who are more mature and have a crush on them. But a big age gap is a big question. Why would the older guy be looking for a younger girl? I don't know the answer to that question but I'll just say be careful! You don't want to get hurt. Don't try to grow up too quickly and be something you're not. Enjoy being young! It only happens once.

God created the world and so doesn't come from one particular country. Because of how we understand things, everything has a start and an end, a cause and effect. But God is the exception. He didn't have a beginning and doesn't have an end… so he doesn’t have a country of origin like we do! Of course, that’s complicated by the fact that God became man - Jesus was both man and God… so as God, he has existed forever and made the world with all its countries, but in his humanity, he was born in Israel!

Managing everything in our busy lives is a great skill to work towards in life. I'm 21 and I'm still pretty bad at it! There's always stuff to do and we have to get a balance between doing everything and taking time out to pray and just spend time with God. A handful of practical tips that might help you out:
1. Try and aim to spend a certain amount of time praying each day. This can be as little as 1 minute! Even just a bit of quiet time is really good.
2. Any time that you have a chance then say a quick prayer. The great thing is that we can pray anytime, anywhere. Maybe it could be walking to school, or on the bus, or just as you wake up/go to bed. God is always listening!
3. Some lunchtimes you can go to chapel and some go to sports clubs. If you make it a regular swap and tell people then they will know that you're not being lazy but actively going to chapel to spend time with God.

Yes Jesus is like the generous and forgiving Father in the 'prodigal son' story. No matter what bad things we do if we realise that we have sinned or done wrong and we ask forgiveness, Jesus will forgive us. He loves us so much that nothing can change His love for us, and He loves us too much to hold our sins against us.

For us Christians the meaning of life is to know God and respond to His love, by loving Him will our heart, soul, mind and body. Life is also about knowing who we are in the eyes of God… that we are loved by God and precious to him. It is not about what we have or have not. It is not about being popular or famous … our true fulfilment comes only from God. In the Gospel of John, chapter 10: verse 10, Jesus said He came to give us life to the full!

Ethan, that’s a very difficult situation. If somebody is your friend then they should treat you well and care about you. Sometimes, when people have difficult things happening in their lives or are upset about something, they take it out on people they are close to. Even if we really like a person we can still say mean things to them, like when we argue with parents and friends. But Jesus told us to treat others as we would like to be treated. Even if one person is upset, others should not have to suffer. By explaining to a parent or teacher that you still care about your friend but don’t want them to be a bully they might be able to help both of you.

We must remember the Bible was written a very long time ago and was first written in Hebrew and Greek. Many years later it was translated to English for us to read. The original meaning for the word “day” that’s used in Genesis is unclear and may actually mean “a period of time” and not necessarily the 24 hours that we know it as now. So when the author wrote that something happened on the “first day”, this could mean a lot longer than just 24 hours!

The Israelites at the time were also big fans of stories. They enjoyed telling stories and they enjoyed listening to stories, and they used stories to communicate important messages, and to teach. So the story in Genesis tells us that God made us and loves us. We don’t have to take the story ‘literally’ (which means we don’t have to belief it exactly as it says!).

Normally death is a sad thing to remember but in this case, Jesus died for us, as a sign of his love for us! He did this so that all our sins could be forgiven and we could have a relationship with God without worrying about the things we do wrong. Three days after Jesus died, he rose again and after some time went to heaven to be with God. He promised that we would be able to go there too. Jesus knew he was going to die and in John’s gospel he says that he chose to die for us (John 10:17-18).

(John 10:17-18) "Therefore My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again. No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This command I have received from My Father."