Expert: Carl Fuglein - 7/15/2009

Question
I'm a 14 year old boy who goes to an Episcopal church, sometimes. My dad grew up in it but my mom is/was baptist. We never went to Sunday school, just church. I feel like I have missed out on the teachings of the Bible. Especially being saved and going to Heaven. I was baptized in the Episcopal church when I was a baby and they believe in one baptism for our sins. My grandparents,baptist, have convinced me thats not enough and I need to do it again in a baptist church. I'm so confused. I want to go to Heaven but now I'm not so sure if I believe in all the right stuff.They talk about Revelations and the rapture and I don't really know what they're talking about. My mom told me about the Left Behind books. Should I read them? My parents have no desire to move from the Episcopal church. How can I learn about the rapture and what I need to do to make sure I'm saved and go to Heaven. My grandparents think the end is near.

Answer
Hi Alex-

It seems as though your parents would rather be in the Episcopal church.  With that in mind, I think one of the first things you need to do is ask your parents to take you to Sunday School at the Episcopal church, even if they don't go.  That's the primary place that you need to learn about the Bible and Heaven.  Also, your church should have a youth group on Sunday night which will normally be a combination of fun activities and Bible lessons.  If your church is big enough, it should also have a youth leader of some sort.  Ask to spend some time with the youth leader to answer some of your questions.  I think it's important to honor your mom and dad by learning mostly from the Episcopal church.  When you're 18, you can choose which church you want.

There are a few differences between Baptist churches and Episcopal.  There's even a ton of differences between Baptist churches, too.  One belief that most Baptist churches share is that you have to baptised continually.  I disagree, and the Episcopal church probably does, too.  Once you have been baptized, that's all you need.  The next step to full church membership is confirmation.  For confirmation, you will go to a series of classes to learn about the Bible and your church structure, and at the end of the classes on a Sunday morning, you will join the church as a full member.  In the ceremony, you will accept and confirm your baptism, that Jesus died for your sins, and that you were washed clean as a child.  I would strongly recommend that you talk to your senior Pastor and ask him(or her) about going through confirmation.  Some churches have age or grade restrictions, but you are of an age that would be acceptable by most churches.

While I disagree with your grandparents that you HAVE to be baptised again (I don't think you do), it's not necessarily a bad thing, but only if YOU want to do it.  them forcing you to do it isn't doing a thing, because if you don't want to do it, how can you agree to the terms of Baptism.  It's just not logical.  So while you can respect your grandparents beliefs, you don't have to accept them.

As for your being saved and going to heaven, it's a pretty simple process.  Do you believe that Jesus died for your sins?  Do you believe that Jesus lives in your heart?  Do you belive you want to go forward from this time and try really hard to live as a Christian, doing good deeds and trying not to sin.  Trust me, you'll continue to sin, all of us do.  But trying not to is all you need.  God can see into your heart.  If you can pray the following prayer with all sincerity, you are a Christian, and you're going to Heaven.  Nothing in there that says you have to be baptised again.

“Father, I know that I have broken your laws and my sins have separated me from you. I am truly sorry, and now I want to turn away from my past sinful life toward you. Please forgive me, and help me avoid sinning again. I believe that your son, Jesus Christ died for my sins, was resurrected from the dead, is alive, and hears my prayer. I invite Jesus to become the Lord of my life, to rule and reign in my heart from this day forward. Please send your Holy Spirit to help me obey You, and to do Your will for the rest of my life. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen.”

The book of Revelation was written by the disciple John who was close to Jesus.  It is about the end of the world, but it's also a directive to us as to how we should be acting.  The Rapture is a literal translation of 1 Thesalonians 4:16-17  


16  For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.
17 Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord.

People who believe in the Rapture (and not all Christians really understand it) believe that Christ will actually appear in the sky with a shout and archangels.  All those who have died as Christians will rise with Him to the sky.  And then those of us who are alive as Christians will literally rise and join Him in the clouds.  It's a really complicated concept when joined with other scriptures in Revelation and the Gospels.  And there are many interpretation.  But this is the basic idea of the rapture:  Jesus is coming back in the sky with angels blowing trumpets, and we're going to join Him in the air and live with Him forever, and that's the end of the world.

You may be wondering if I believe in the Rapture.  The best I can give you is I don't NOT believe in it.  Could it happen that way?  Sure.  Will it happen in my lifetime or yours?  I don't think so.  I think we need to live as if it's going to be tomorrow or even this afternoon.  Start each day out believing it may be the last day of your life, and live accordingly.  It's not a bad philosophy of life even with religion taken out of it.  Just do your best every day, tell your loved ones you love them, be kind and respectful to everyone you meet.

To get a pretty good explanation of the Rapture - go to Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rapture

A lot of this will be very confusing to you, but it will give you enough information to think about.  Again, I think you need to be going to Sunday School and youth group and asking your teachers and leaders the hard questions.  They should know the answer or be willing to find out the answer.  And again, you senior pastor would probably be thrilled if you asked to talk to him to ask these questions.

Left Behind is an interesting piece of fiction.  It takes the Rapture and all of Revelation as perfectly literal, and they have crafted 13 novels that take you through Revelation.  I don't recommend it for anyone who doesn't already understand something about Revelation, and so I don't think you should read them yet as it would probably confuse you more.  You need to learn more about all the Bible. So, I recommend that you ask your parents to buy you the following two books, or you can buy them with your allowance:

The Complete Idiot's Guide(R) to Bible Study for Teens
http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Idiots-Guide-Bible-Study/dp/0028642740/ref=sr_1_1...


The Book of Revelation For Dummies
http://www.amazon.com/Book-Revelation-Dummies-Religion-Spirituality/dp/047004521...

These two books should make it a little easier to understand.  I really, really want you to get the first one - it is an excellent guide for you to start learning about the Bible.  The Bible is one story - you have to understand what happened in the Old Testament to know why Jesus came at all.  Don't expect to learn all this stuff in a day or two.  I've been studying the Bible seriously for about 30 years.  I once took a course that lasted 80 weeks, about 5 hours a week.  That's a LOT of studying.  Just be persistent in spending a few minutes each day and you will get there.

I hope all this helps.  I really would like to hear from you again to see how you're doing.

Please take the time to rate my answer.

Blessings,
Carl