Bold Blogging- A Story of Tested Courage to Share God with a Non-Believer.

So, I've been wanting to join in on Bold Blogging.

Bold Blogging is hosted by one of my favorite blogs, Kingdom Twindom +1.

I've been having a little bit of trouble joining in, because I felt like my opinion of Bold would be too different from an adult's.

After e-mailing Mrs. Sarah about it, I have decided to join in anyway.


My first topic will be God.

I know that what I'm about to write about is sometimes hard for adults too, so I want every reader to know, its through a teenager's eyes.




As a teenager, it's sometimes really a test of my faith just to go to school.


I have a friend who doesn't believe in God.



She's a wonderful friend.
Trustworthy, caring, otherwise awesome..


The two things she lacks are God and respect.


Through this school year, her lack of belief has caused a tremendous growth in my faith.



Sometimes, in class discussions, at lunch, walking the halls.. she'll make comments such as "if your God is so great, why..", "why would I believe in an un-loving, un-caring God", "if God loves us all, why do some of us go to Hell", or even the always stinging cuss word I don't even want to type.
At the beginning of the year, I felt afraid to call her out or verbally disagree with her when she made a rude or sarcastic comment about God. I had trouble answering her questions for fear that she wouldn't want to be my friend anymore.

I saw that our other mutual friends were having trouble with this too.

I talked to my youth pastor about it, and he told me to show my faith without fear and to disagree with her and answer her questions the best way I could and without seeming rude about it.

I read blog posts about God.

I searched Bible verses.

I continued to talk to Pastor Jared.


It was still hard to correct her, and to disagree, but it suddenly became much easier to answer my friend's questions.

"if your God is so great, why..",

Followed by the 'why' here would come things like global warming, hunger, poverty, and other overall 'bad' things.

The next time I heard that one from her, I said, God is great. He gave us the power to choose. Man has made and continues to make decisions that are wrong for our planet, our animals, our kind. It is OUR fault, not God's.



"why would I believe in an un-loving, un-caring God",

Well, oh un-believing friend, why would you think God wasn't loving and caring?

"He sends some of us to Hell, He allows us to destroy the planet, He allows war, etc.."

Once again, dear friend of mine, it is not God, it is us. We make our own choices. We choose to fight instead of talk. We choose to pollute the air and kill our ozone layer. We choose to sin without repentance. We choose to not believe in God, our creator. (Oh yeah, that one took guts, but I said it, and I was proud)




"if God loves us all, why do some of us go to Hell",

That one, dear friend is hard for me too.

"but I thought you knew everything about this God you love so much"

No, I definitely do not. I love God. I trust God. I let God lead. I ask God for forgiveness. I do not know all there is to know about Him.

My opinion on your question about Hell is going to sound quite the same as the answers I have given to your other questions.

I believe that Hell is not a sentence from God, but one that those who go there give themselves.

Humans make their own choices. You decide where you spend eternity. It isn't predestination. The Calvinists were wrong.



Over the course of this school year, answering her questions has become so easy. I even have the strength and courage now to ask her nicely to be respectful when she makes rude and sarcastice comments or uses that disgusting cuss word that shouldn't be in anyone's vocabulary for use at all.


Through answering her questions, I've had to do some research on my Creator. I have learned so much more about Him.

Despite my efforts, my friend still does not believe. I will continue to share God with her in every given opportunity and I hope that she will believe soon and ask Him into her heart.

My faith wasn't tested in this story.
My faith is strong.
What was tested was my courage to share God.
I am proud to have gained this courage. (I hope to be more humble about this and other things, but I'll save that post for later).
Many teens and even adults are afraid to share their faith with non-believers.
It's hard.
She's called me stupid, she's said my beleiving is a waste of time, she's laughed at me.
Others who don't believe have called God my 'imaginary friend'.

Comments like this make it that much harder to make my faith public, to share the story of God, to share His love.


I learned in church that a believer is wonderful, but a believer who shows others the light is amazing.

I want to be amazing.


Many people will say that religion is private. At the church I go to, we disagree. We believe that God is definitely something that needs to be shared. We believe in taking out faith out of the church and sharing it and inviting others in. That's what this story is about.





The point I have attempted to make in this post is that the Courage to share the love of God is tested very much by Peer Pressure and Temptation. As a teen and a Christian, it's a test of strength and trust in God to make my faith public and be fearless about it. Over this school year, I have learned to be able to do so and know that anyone who disagrees or who doesn't understand just needs my guidance as a child of God, and not necessarily my friendship. I have also learned that those I guide are my friends, and hopefully will one day see me as a friend to them.



I am learning to be a fruitcake. (please watch Louie Giglio's Fruitcakes and Ice Cream. It's worth your time, I promise.)

I am learning to be a desciple.




This post may not seem very bold to adult's who are confident and strong in their love and faith in God, but the story I shared here took a lot of guts for me. Guts to answer her questions. Guts to correct her. Guts to tell this story here with the knowledge she might read it. Guts to share how much I stillhave to learn about God.

this post isn't very organized, in fact it's all over the place, but i feel that I have done what I set out to do when I decided to type it.


So for me, this is bold.
And I can only hope to get even bolder in the future.