The internet offers easy ways to share information—but not everything on the internet reliable. Ground-breaking concept, we know. It’s just as easy to spread lies and rumors as it is to share truth. Modern tech only speeds up the process. Making it easier for people to talk to each other has not made people more honest or informed. That’s why it’s important to verify sources. Asking, “Why should I trust 412teens.org?” is an excellent thing.
As a ministry that truly cares about young people, 412teens.org takes the idea of “trust” seriously. That includes being honest about what “trust” is supposed to mean. Nobody—not you or anyone else—should instantly believe something “just because” it’s on this website. You shouldn’t assume something that contradicts 412teens.org is wrong either “just because.” Blind, unquestioning belief is not what we, as Christians, are called to follow (Acts 17:11; 1 John 4:1).
We do our best to explain what we believe and why, as well as show how it agrees with the Bible. When people fact-check us, we’re hoping—and assuming—they’ll find us to be accurate and truthful. On that basis, we most definitely want people to see 412teens.org as a trustworthy resource for helping Christian teens grow spiritually.
Jesus was challenged to justify His ministry many, many times. His response was never, “Because I said so.” He used three main points: what people say, real-world facts, and Scripture (John 5:31-40). We at 412teens.org are certainly not Jesus, and we don’t have His authority. But that means any standard He needs to meet, we should be meeting too. So, here are three main reasons we believe 412teens.org has shown itself to be reliable:
Lots of people, especially younger believers, have told us they find 412teens.org content helpful, encouraging, and, in some cases, life-saving. In fact, a lot of the traffic we get is from referrals—friends telling friends where to look. We get positive feedback from those who’ve used the ministry to find answers, encouragement, and help. Since we have many articles and blog posts online, there’s plenty of content there for people to check.
412teens.org has grown so much since it first went online in 2013. In that way, we’ve followed the lead of our parent ministry / website, GotQuestions.org. We don’t offer gossip or sex talk or scandals or tabloid click-bait. We foster healthy discussions in our comments and delete unkind or unhelpful comments. A website that relies on shock-factor and negativity to gain traffic is not reliable.
Rather, we’ve grown through having an impact on individual people. Nobody involved with 412teens.org has gotten rich or famous from the work. The emphasis is always on truth, love, mercy and compassion, and most of all Scripture. We’re not telling people what they want to hear or seducing them with tricky advertisements. 412teens.org has chosen the “hard way:” telling plain truth in love.
Like our founding ministry, GotQuestions.org, we emphasize truth as contained in the Bible. So much as it’s possible, we try to clearly show where and how our views are taken from the Word of God. People who want to fact-check us against Scripture are encouraged to do so. We don’t try to hide parts of the Bible that are hard to understand. We don’t try to twist the Bible into giving neat, clean, comfortable answers. When it’s clear, we’ll be clear, and we're fine with letting people take that however they choose. Where the Bible’s not clear, we’ll do our best to acknowledge that. When people offer constructive criticism, we take it into account and take it seriously.
It’s our view that 412teens.org is worth trusting because our site has been tested, verified, and cross-checked (1 Thessalonians 5:21; Colossians 2:8). We sincerely hope others will take those steps when they read our content. Our goal is to reflect the theme of 1 Timothy 4:12 and be “an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity.” We also seek to fulfill 2 Timothy 2:15 and the call to be “approved...rightly handling the word of truth.”
We don’t expect anyone to take anything we say blindly or without reflection and prayer. And we wouldn’t want anyone to do that. We’re not perfect, and we don’t pretend we are. Instead, we hope the overall mix of our available content, personal impact testimonies, and solid history combine to give you confidence that we can be trusted. That’s why we do what we do, and we hope it’s a blessing to you!
412teens.org is worth trusting because our site has been tested, verified, and cross-checked. Lots of younger believers have told us they find 412teens.org content helpful, encouraging, and, in some cases, life-saving. We don’t offer gossip, sex talk, scandals, or tabloid click-bait. We foster healthy discussions and delete unkind or unhelpful comments. A website that relies on shock-factor and negativity to gain traffic is not reliable. We try to clearly show where and how our views are taken from the Bible. Where the Bible’s not clear, we do our best to acknowledge that. When people offer constructive criticism, we take it into account and take it seriously. We also seek to fulfill 2 Timothy 2:15 and the call to be “approved...rightly handling the word of truth.”
Jeff is a staff writer with Got Questions Ministries and used to be a mechanical engineer. When he's not accidentally setting things on fire in his workshop, or petting strange dogs, he loves helping people better understand God’s Word and how it applies to our lives. Jeff's calling is to untangle the "big picture" of Christian faith, making it easier to understand.
