I think you are probably the only person who can answer this question for you. But, I can give you some possible answers. I hope that you will pray honestly about which one applies to you (if any). I applaud your desire to seek out the answer. Guilt (like anger) can often be a “barometer” to helping us find out some deeper issue that we need to deal with.

The cultural context of your own upbringing discouraged drinking by believers as a sign of a “new life” in Christ. There may be historical reasons for this that have not occurred to you. You may feel a sense of guilt because of the teachings of your own family or “home church” that you have chosen to go against.

The choice you have made to drink might be a sign (for you) of an “acceptable” rebellion against the perception of Christians as “straight laced” or “uptight.” Are you choosing to drink to “prove something,” to yourself or others? The guilt may be a challenge from your own “inner self” that you haven’t really made your own choice. You have made an “image” choice.

Guilt could come from the Holy Spirit, who has made you “tender” toward your Christian friends. Paul deals with this, as he tries to teach the early Christians about caring about other believers: “For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit… It is better not to eat meat or drink wine or to do anything else that will cause your brother to fall.” (Romans 14:17, 21)

I firmly believe that if you honestly place this issue before God in your prayer times, God will give you what his answer is. If you are confident you are acting within the desire of God for your life, the guilt should disappear, because you are acting on God’s behalf, and with God’s approval.

This is difficult to answer in your particular case, since I don’t know the process for your decision. Is this a vocational kind of calling (like a Priest or Brother or Sister) would have? Or is it simply a decision you have come to, in consideration of your own strengths and weaknesses?

In the first case, the choice is between you and God. It would probably not be a decision that you imagined for yourself, and would take lots of prayer and surrender. If you are choosing God’s will in this decision, there will be struggles against the choice (besides with your friends). Paul, in the book of 1 Corinthians, admires this choice for a believer who desires to serve God.

But, Paul also warns about the hasty making of such a decision, and the rarity of it (chapter 7, verses 1 and following). Sexuality, he admits, is a powerful thing, and is better contained within marriage than unsuccessfully repressed. If you are simply making this choice on the basis of your own feelings (albeit noble), then I believe that your friends are correct–not about the “unfulfilled life,” but about defying God’s will. God says (through Paul), “I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.” (Galatians 2:20a). Your choice to marry or not now belongs in Christ’s hands. In fact, all of your choices are now subject to Christ’s control. And far from being “bad news,” you have the fantastic promise that “all things [in your life will] work together for good.” (Romans 8:28, brackets mine).

I don’t know of a passage which states we should “love ourselves just as we are,” although there are quite a few that proclaim that God loves us in that way. I believe there is a world of difference between the two concepts. As for “appearance enhancements,” I believe that it is, in large part, a heart and faith issue, and needs to be approached with lots of prayer and listening to God.

In Matthew 6, Jesus says, “…don’t worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than clothes?” As the passage continues, he reminds his hearers that they are MORE valuable than the beautiful birds or flowers, and that God will provide for them.

The Apostle Paul writes to Timothy to instruct his church that “women should dress modestly, with decency and propriety, not with braided hair or gold or pearls or expensive clothes, but with good deeds, appropriate for women who profess to worship God.” (1 Timothy 2:9-10) [Italics mine]

So, from my reading of these verses, there are at least two “test questions” when someone is considering any kind of extra external procedures or “enhancements.”

1. Are you responding to some kind of fear or worry (social, physical, material)? Is taking the contemplated action an act of FAITH, or an act of FEAR? Does the action require you to rely more on God, or less? Is it giving the superficial, external parts of you more importance than your (potentially) beautiful, admirable character?
2. Is the enhancement you are choosing done with a mind toward comparison or competition with other people? Is it immodest (meaning are you seeking the attention of the opposite sex?)? Is it done with an eye toward impressing others–male or female? Does it take away from resources and time that you could offer to God to help Him take care of others who are hungry and hurting?

If you are a lover of Christ, the question will not be “What do I want,” but “what does Christ want for me.” I think there are a variety of answers, just as there are a variety of believers.

A. Voting, especially for President, is always difficult. The only way to get guidance is by doing your own research. Find issues that you feel represent what the Scripture would speak to. Seek out Scripture to find what God’s thrust (overall) is, as you read the way God has worked. Never settle for “proof texting,” or random Scripture citing. Almost anyone can prove his or her “claim” with some Scripture from somewhere! With prayer and a desire to hear from God, search out which candidate can come alongside your own belief in what God desires the most (NONE will prove satisfying on every issue!). Choose and support and vote prayerfully. And, pray for anyone who ultimately wins.

A. Begin by reading the answer to question #1.

Reconsider, not your relationship to the person you’re dating, but your relationship to God. Clearly, the idea of “hurting or losing” a relationship with your boyfriend is superseded by the idea of losing fellowship with Christ. Granted, someone “with skin on” is often more appealing than a God one has to work to know better. But, that “skin” will not love you and care for you when all other physical circumstances have worn out.

I think perhaps you have answered your own question. Physical intimacy is designed to be “jumped into” whole-heartedly with lovers who have already made complete commitments. If you were pressured into more intimacy than you felt was godly or noble, then your partner doesn’t love you. He loves himself more. Re-think spending your whole life with someone who has little or no respect for your TRUE feelings and/or beliefs. Think more about spending your life for God, who already has made a life commitment to you, through Christ.

A. God is certainly interested in “love” (John’s letter even tells us that God IS love!). But, part of the problem, in the English-speaking world, anyway, is that we use this one word (“love”) to cover quite a wide variety of feelings and behaviors.

The other part of the problem (which I can more readily address) is that God’s way of thinking about things is quite different from a human way (Isaiah 55:8). For those seeking to know God, and follow the ways of God, through a relationship with a Risen Christ, decisions based on “love” and “attraction” with anyone or anything other than God cannot lead to what God’s best plan is for them (Commandment #1). This means that “same sex,” “opposite sex,” “free sex,” even “no sex” (narcissistic) unions that draw us out of our love for God would not ever be God’s preference. Jesus says, “Love the Lord your God with all of your heart and mind and soul and strength.” (Matthew 22:37) It was not a commandment only for the educated, or only for his disciples, or even only for the Jews. It was the “greatest commandment;” the key to having all of the great life God has planned for each human being. It means that every person on earth has the ability to know God and to serve a higher purpose than simply following their chemistry or their affinities.

Perhaps there is a heart “for God in Christ” for those who wish to be lovers. Then, it is a matter of each believer choosing what his/her authority will be. In my own Christian and evangelical tradition, Scripture, both Old and New Testaments, is the only non-(humanly) subjective source of authority. In this source, the “union” which we call in English “marriage” is between one man and one woman, and the commitment between the two is for their whole earthly lives.

Each believer must know God and, according to Christ, submit to God’s will (Luke 9:23ff). In “taking up your cross,” (i.e. “nothing left to lose”), you surrender your plans, your ambition, your “minimum salary,” your libido, and even your desire for “love and affection” outside of God. It is what John 8:36 so victoriously says, “So, if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” Free from conflicting and unclear desires and impulses. Free to love and be loved by God. Free to serve God in ways that are noble, just, and pure.

(Life definitely exists outside planet Earth, if one includes the International Space Station, and the occupants of various space shuttles and rockets!)

Of course, I will assume that the question is directed at the existence of “non-Earthly” life.

For a strictly scientific answer, the question must be posed to an astronomer or a physicist.

For a religious answer (with a Christian bias), the question gets more philosophical and spiritual. Outside of experiential knowledge, information must come from religious texts, in the Christian case, the Old and New Testaments.

1. Psalm 19:1-2 states, “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge.”

Poetic license? Perhaps, yet there is a sense that the Bible gives of a “bigger story” than simply the earthly, human story. Whether the “life” of the heavens is measurable in human terms, the Bible often speaks of the boundlessness of the realm of God, and the limitedness of human life on earth. From Genesis to Revelation, there is a sense of linear time that is not the whole story, and that human existence is, finally, an eternal story that goes beyond our earthly lives.

2. It is certainly consistent with Christian belief and with Scripture to consider that the God, who is over all things, is alive and existing outside of the boundaries of planet Earth. Both in the sense of the Creator God, and also in the Son of Man (Jesus Christ), God is alive within and also outside of the context of Earthly life. The Holy Spirit, the “one alongside of us,” also exists in a realm that is not bound by earth’s normal, physical laws (c.f. John 3:8). Discovering this reality gives a better sense of meaning and direction to any study of life, especially the life of Christ.

Suggested reading: (for someone’s imagining of extra-terrestrial life)

• C.S. Lewis, Space Trilogy: Out of the Silent Planet, Perelandra, That Hideous Strength

The history of what Christians call “The Bible” is quite open and recorded. If the question is about the process and compilation of what we use today as our “Holy Bible,” there are a variety of courses in Religion departments and at Theological schools that can answer most questions relating to canon and “time line.”
If the question is more a matter of faith in the message of the Bible, then the first course of action for answering the question is to read the material we have, (the Old and New Testaments), and learn as much about it as possible. Does the message satisfy? After knowing and understanding the whole picture of God’s revelation through this written word, are there parts “left out?” Can you point to flaws? Is your faith lessened or strengthened by the study you have made of Scripture?

Remember, too, that a LIVING God (see questions 1 and 2) is known through revelation, not deduction. For most Christians, the Bible, the words we can read and see, are pointers toward the Spirit of God that inspired them. One knows the Bible is correct by seeking the Author of everything.

“You will seek me and find me when you seek me
with all your heart. I will be found by you, declares
the Lord.” Jeremiah 29:13-14a

Suggested reading:

• Abraham Joshua Heschel (a Jewish philosopher): God in Search of Man

Religion often (I don’t think that “always” is accurate) turns into politics because:

• people become passionate about the lifestyle they have learned from their religious practices
• it is easier to set laws and regulations if a group shares the same values and authority
• there are those who wish to control others by way of religion.

Other reasons are too numerous to list, but the reality will always exist. Maybe the question today is: How does my religion inform my politics? Passionate believers were some of the strongest voices in instituting the concept of “separation of church and state.” Politics that allow for participation also allow people to “vote their values.” The great part of religion informing politics is that beliefs really do matter.

Suggested Reading: Thomas Cahill, The Hinges of History series.

Repentance is simply realizing that something you have done has “missed the mark.” For a Christian (or a soon-to-be-Christian), you realize that the “mark” you have missed has something to do with being true. True to God, true to yourself, true to those you love, even true to those you hate. It is a turning around to accept God’s help in learning to be a true and good person; someone “in God’s image.” It is simply recognizing the limits of human beings to really do the right thing all the time without some spiritual help.

If you have never felt a need for repentance, then you are really special. Either you are very self-disciplined, or you are very self-contained and not affected by others’ feelings. As you grow older, this may change.

Suggested Reading: C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity.