One thing that has always gotten me is that in my experience, those who seem to have some bug about Christianity are the same ones (typically, not always) that demand "tolerance" in everything they believe.
I always think of the movie "Contact" when this conversation comes up, as it seems to often (why are so many so defensive about this, by the way? Guilty consciences out there?).
There was a scene where Mathew McConaughey was talking to Jodie Foster, who's character had lost her father when she was a child. McConaughey is challenged by Foster in a similar conversation about his faith. She said that she needs proof. He asked, "Did you love your father?" She's taken back by the question and says with reserved solumness, "Yes, very much" He looks at her after giving her a second to digest the question and says, "Prove it."
When you know God, you just know He's there. Through and through. Kind'a like looking at one of those pictures you have to stare at to see the 3D image. While others are staring at the same picture insisting that nothing's there, others who have seen the image are there with absolute no question about what's there and has been there all along.
He's there for those who seek Him, but nobody can be forced to seek nor find Him, as Christians have learned in a bloody history and as Muslims are obviously going to figure out for themselves. You can't force faith. You can get someone to be obidient, but that's only the product of fear if it's forced, not faith.
But as clear as the image of that 3D picture, once seen, when you find Him, you'll wonder how you could have had this conversation.
I love the Lord, but like the disobedient child, I'm far from the perfect, though the child equally loves his/her parents.
You'll never find Him, though, through challenging and demanding someone else to lay out the proof for you. You'll only find Him when you genuinely seek Him, with an open mind and heart.
Some will argue that Christians do not have open minds and hearts, but I beg to differ. Who I am came from change and openness to the fact that that the way I used to be was flawed. If I were closed minded, I'd still be the way I used to be.
By the way, I'm not implying that I'm no longer flawed, but I've learned that every, single flaw I have is an example of how I'm not like God. The more like God I endeavor to be is an effort to correct every flaw I have.
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