So what does it mean to be saved in order to ensure you hang around with God? Well, the whole thing can be found in the Bible but that gets a little complicated so how about we just dumb it down a bit, because we all know those old desert dwellers had a tendency to talk, well, in circles, so here is what the whole “being saved” thing means from the teen point of view. I include this here because it’s the first time I really got the insanity of it:

1. Every single person on the face of our 6, 000 year old earth is a sinner. Yes, even you. Don’t get mad at me, I’m a sinner too. You don’t have to be really bad, like a murderer or something, to be a sinner. You see, no one is perfect–except for God, who is holy and cannot even stand to look at sin, because it makes him puke. “Your eyes are too pure to look on evil; you cannot tolerate wrong.”–Habakkuk 1:13. He cannot tolerate murder, but He also cannot tolerate unkind thoughts, selfishness, cursing, and many other things that lots of people do. Sin came into the world when Adam and Eve disobeyed God. This broke their fellowship and relationship with God. Each person born since then has also had a broken relationship with God, because He is holy and we are not. “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.”–1 John 1:8.

2. The greatest news of all is that our beloved God loves each person in the world so much that He devised a way to remove our sins from us so that we can have a relationship with Him for ever and ever. This method of sin removal is through God’s Son, Jesus Christ. “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.”–John 3:16. Jesus is unique in that He is totally God and totally human at the same time. He is the only person that was without sin. But a little over 2000 years ago, He freely gave up His life by dying on a cross for our sins . You and I deserve death because we are sinners, but Jesus took the punishment we deserve by dying on the cross. He died for sinners that were living back then, but also for every person born since then. “But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”–Romans 5:8. The most incredible thing happened after Jesus died–three days later, He came back to life! This resurrection proves that He has conquered death and sin. Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in Me will never die.”–John 11:25.

3. Jesus died in a really bad way for your sins, and that is His free gift to you. But for you to be saved, you have to accept or receive the gift. The way to do this is to pray like this: “Dear Jesus, I know that I am a sinner. I want to receive the gift You offer–that You will erase my sins so that I can be acceptable to God. I may not even totally understand this yet, but I know in my heart that I have done or thought bad things, and I don’t want to be apart from God. I want to have eternal life with You and I want You to live in me and help me to learn about You and Your plans for my life. I now turn away from my sins and will try, with Your help, to keep from sinning again. Thank You, Jesus, for saving me.” If you prayed this and meant it, CONGRATULATIONS!!! You are now saved, even if you are going to the electric chair or stuff like that because God is the best life there is in the whole world of America.