First I'll give you some religious background information about myself.
I am 17 years of age. When I was 6 years old and in first grade, my parents enrolled me in a Catholic religious class. The class was not academic, I attend public school, it was just study of the Catholic religion. It was my mother's plan that when I completed the 12 year course, I would take my grandfather's name at my Confirmation.
Around 6th. grade, I began to lose interest in the class. My mother always told me that I needed it in order to learn morals, but there are millions of moral people out there who've never attended a religious class. I began actively contesting how I was being forced to attend the class. As I sat in the desk while the teacher droned on about god and Moses and Adam & Eve the thing that ran through my mind was "Bull****." I became agnostic around this time, and though I explained to my parents that their beliefs were not mine, I was still forced to attend the class, until 10th. grade, when I missed 3 days of the class, which automatically failed me for that year. I was not forced to go back this year, and my mother finally seems to understand that I am agnostic.
A few months ago a friend of mine invited me to her baptist church. The local phone directory lists the church as "Independant Baptist". I've not a clue wo what "Independant" means as it pertains to the church. Since I wanted to get to know her better, and belief can be a powerful thing in one's life, I agreed, and now I attend a Baptist church with her and her family on Sundays.
From the teachings at her Sunday school (which are 10X more interesting than my former religious class) and the preachings of the pastor, I've learned that you believe that in order to be saved and to go to heaven, you must accept Jesus into your life and understand that he died for your sins. I'm not sure if this is accurate but it's what I've picked up. My friend and her family, and some members of the church want me to be saved, and have talked to me about it, and after this Sunday's church, I've decided that if it all is true, if there is a heaven and a hell, then when I die, I want heaven to be my destination, but unlike the people there, I don't know that god exists, I don't know if there's a heaven or hell, and each time I think to myself that "Hey, look at all this stuff around me, the chances of all this stuff coming into existence on it's own is astounding, there must be some higher power," I always end up thinking to myself "Yeah, but what if there isn't." I'm still agnostic. I'm not sure if I'm the exact definition of it but it's what I am so far as what I know about it. I can't say there is a god, I can't say there isn't, because I don't know, but I can truthfully say that if it's all true, then I do want Jesus in my life and I want him to bring me to heaven.
That's where I am now, and I need a question answered: Can I be saved without being definate on the existence of god, Jesus, heaven and hell, or must I sincerely know that these things are real, no "just in case it's real" about it. If I can be saved "just in case" then I can go through with whatever needs to be done, but if I have to believe in god and heaven in hell and believe that these things are as definate and real as this keyboard I'm typing on, then I can't do it now, because I've yet to be convinced. I'm still agnostic, and I don't see that changing any time in the future.
That's about it.
I am 17 years of age. When I was 6 years old and in first grade, my parents enrolled me in a Catholic religious class. The class was not academic, I attend public school, it was just study of the Catholic religion. It was my mother's plan that when I completed the 12 year course, I would take my grandfather's name at my Confirmation.
Around 6th. grade, I began to lose interest in the class. My mother always told me that I needed it in order to learn morals, but there are millions of moral people out there who've never attended a religious class. I began actively contesting how I was being forced to attend the class. As I sat in the desk while the teacher droned on about god and Moses and Adam & Eve the thing that ran through my mind was "Bull****." I became agnostic around this time, and though I explained to my parents that their beliefs were not mine, I was still forced to attend the class, until 10th. grade, when I missed 3 days of the class, which automatically failed me for that year. I was not forced to go back this year, and my mother finally seems to understand that I am agnostic.
A few months ago a friend of mine invited me to her baptist church. The local phone directory lists the church as "Independant Baptist". I've not a clue wo what "Independant" means as it pertains to the church. Since I wanted to get to know her better, and belief can be a powerful thing in one's life, I agreed, and now I attend a Baptist church with her and her family on Sundays.
From the teachings at her Sunday school (which are 10X more interesting than my former religious class) and the preachings of the pastor, I've learned that you believe that in order to be saved and to go to heaven, you must accept Jesus into your life and understand that he died for your sins. I'm not sure if this is accurate but it's what I've picked up. My friend and her family, and some members of the church want me to be saved, and have talked to me about it, and after this Sunday's church, I've decided that if it all is true, if there is a heaven and a hell, then when I die, I want heaven to be my destination, but unlike the people there, I don't know that god exists, I don't know if there's a heaven or hell, and each time I think to myself that "Hey, look at all this stuff around me, the chances of all this stuff coming into existence on it's own is astounding, there must be some higher power," I always end up thinking to myself "Yeah, but what if there isn't." I'm still agnostic. I'm not sure if I'm the exact definition of it but it's what I am so far as what I know about it. I can't say there is a god, I can't say there isn't, because I don't know, but I can truthfully say that if it's all true, then I do want Jesus in my life and I want him to bring me to heaven.
That's where I am now, and I need a question answered: Can I be saved without being definate on the existence of god, Jesus, heaven and hell, or must I sincerely know that these things are real, no "just in case it's real" about it. If I can be saved "just in case" then I can go through with whatever needs to be done, but if I have to believe in god and heaven in hell and believe that these things are as definate and real as this keyboard I'm typing on, then I can't do it now, because I've yet to be convinced. I'm still agnostic, and I don't see that changing any time in the future.
That's about it.
