By RTF Editor Abbie Miller

As soon as I walked into the youth room, I knew.

There was a certain tension in the air. Deep lines creased the foreheads and lips of our leaders. The youth pastor was pacing like a caged, nervous, blushing animal. When we all sat down, we realized we were going to be talking about sex. Ugh. In .0004 seconds, exactly 100% of the people in the room wanted to be anywhere else. (more…)

By RTF Staff Writer Kalli Simmerman

Let’s face it folks, we’re naturally judgmental. (more…)

By RTF Editor B.J. Hamrick

We interrupt our usually scheduled sarcasm for this brief announcement: Three years ago, my life was forever altered by someone I didn’t know. Someone I thought didn’t exist. Someone I swore had died at birth.

Until I met him.

“Mom,” I announced .2 seconds after I laid eyes on the boy, “I’ve found the man I am going to marry.”

If this seems fast to you, imagine how my mother felt. In one brief second I went from spouting math equations like, “Singleness = happiness and marriage = bondage”, to asking, “Where’s the church and the white dress?” (more…)

Hello! I’m a member on Real Teen Faith! I just had a question for you all!

I’m about to be dating a girl at my school. We’re both Christians and really involved in our youth group and church. However, she’s a senior, and I am a junior, and she’ll probably be leaving for college next year. How can I know if the relationship will last? And how can I make the most of the time we have together?

Thanks for setting up such a great website for us teens! If you’d like to post my question as a topic on the site, feel free!

-God Bless, Daniel* (more…)

By RTF Editor B.J. Hamrick

“Young lady, do you believe in premarital cosexual interdigitation?”

I felt my jaw drop as my pastor’s question rolled around in my brain. “Premarital… cosexual…” Sex! He said sex! He couldn’t want me to say yes!

(more…)

“I want to break up with my boyfriend but the last time we broke up, we got back together because he was scaring me. He would punch the walls and hurt himself. That includes cutting himself. I feel trapped being with him but I don’t love him like that any more. Help!” ~ Abby

Hey Abby,

Feeling trapped is not a good thing in a relationship. It sounds like you want to get away from your boyfriend but you’re afraid of what might happen.

He’s using that fear to control you and it’s really not good. You need to tell someone about what he does, how he hurts himself- his parents, your parents, a teacher, a guidance counselor, a pastor. He needs some help, but not from you. (more…)

 

“I really like this girl, but I don’t know how to tell her or if she even likes me. Help!” – Kurt

***

hey Kurt,

You are not alone! We’ve all had trouble interpreting the actions of our crushes. Sometimes it’s like trying to read another language. But here are a couple things to consider:

How does she act around you? A girl will act differently around her crush than her friends. She may get really quiet or she may talk a lot more. Either way, it will be different. She will also find excuses to hang around the guy she likes. And she’ll watch him, though she may pretend not to or blush if he catches her watching. (more…)

Hey everybody!

Over the past couple of years we’ve gotten a lot of questions from you guys. Questions about relationships, self-injury, sex, suicide — you name it. Each time we hear from you, we remember why this site is here — because of awesome people like you.

So we just want to remind you that if you have a question, we’d love to hear from you. No topic is off-limits. We would also love to share your question on the site, but you can tell us if you’d rather that we didn’t (we will never share your real name).

So go ahead and unload your problems in the contact box or email us at realteenfaith at gmail.com. Just put “advice” in the subject line.

Drop by every Friday to check out this new feature! Until then, we’re looking forward to your questions!

Halee, BJ, and E.

PS – We’re especially looking for your relationship questions for February!