No one can "prove" their faith, that's what makes it FAITH. You cannot "prove" the bible, you may choose to believe it in part or in whole or not at all, but it will still come down to faith. You certainly may study and find evidences to the truth that is in the bible but that still does not PROVE it, you have to BELIEVE. If you can "prove" it then you may find yourself in a spot of difficulty because 'you can't please God without faith'.
On another note, I don't like to call myself a "christian" anymore because of all of the fundamentalist, contradictive, evangelical crusaders out there today. I prefer something like Christ-follower but that even has been hi-jacked! At the end of the day though my faith is very similar to a Judeo-christian belief system but my relationship with God, morals, philosophies, lifestyle and etc. are based on a life that I believe God empowers and teaches to me through a variety of ways.
Something that would right off help you in these conversations with people would be to pick up an English translation of the bible that people actually can relate to and stop going on about the judgment and rejection of God. That isn't what He does so let's pay attention and follow the example of a perfect balance between "grace and truth" as He was.
Fire and brimstone won't get you anywhere except your Sunday-go-to-meetin' cronies will look well on you. You'll never actually cross over into a meaningful conversation about spirituality with a lineman or a splicer like that, I'm both. You need to build a relationship with them first, understand who they are, what they really believe, what has happened in their life, what needs do they have or hurts do they have that you can genuinely meet because you are "moved with compassion" like He was. He met the people, He spent time with the people, He knew the people, He met the people's needs.... Then when they were seeking and ready to believe in faith He was their answer, their truth, their bread, their living water, their shepherd, their Saviour, their life!
People sometimes think because they have spent a lifetime in the church and in the bible that they have all the answers for the really important stuff and sometimes it is the people outside of religion that have the clearest perspective, and some of those have exercised real FAITH, it doesn't always look and sound like what you grew up with in Sunday School, but I have found that doesn't always mean anything.
Do I believe there is only one way? Yes. Do I claim to believe I know it? Yes. Does that mean I'm going to shut everyone down that I may have a conversation with until they believe just like me? No way. I've been wrong before about the things I believed about God, mostly because someone taught it that way, one of these guys here may pose a question that when I seek out an answer I'll stumble over one more of those things that I had a little off. Along the way, they might see something in their beliefs that doesn't set too well anymore too. Here we are, people on a faith journey with each other, sharing in common, helping, encouraging, praying for each other (hey that sounds like how you pull a long fiber pull with 17 90's or a massive night-cut node split, LOL).
Nothing wrong with sharing our faith, or lack of, just for us "christians" let's be sure to do it in a way that we deserve a "well done" one day.
Thanks to everyone for reading what I wrote, I'm nothing special so you taking the time earns my appreciation.
p.s. That was way longer than I intended.
Have a great weekend!!!!! and work SAFE!!!!
