Respect

The other night I talked to this guy. We had a good conversation until he started to challenge my faith. He thought it was wrong that I use the NIV and NLT versions of the Bible, and then proceeded to tell me that the translations were wrong; that the original Latin told a different story. Now to me that was like telling me that what I believe is wrong, but when I called him on it, he out right denied it. He went into this huge speech about how he wasn't telling me that what I believe is wrong, the the translation I believe was. Isn't that the same thing?

Now when he told me he believed in God, but not Jesus I did not tell him he was wrong, I respected his beliefs and didn't try to sway his views. I think one thing people think about Christians is that we preach too much, that we push our beliefs on other people, but sometimes, from what I have seen and experienced is that it is the other way around. I have had way to many people try to tell me what I believe is wrong, while I just sit back and not say a word about what they believe. Too often Christians are being judged for not being tolerant of other's belief, but isn't that one of the things we are taught?

I think it just bothers me to have my faith challenged a lot, but when others tell me their faiths I respect it and ask questions to understand better, but not in a disrespectful way. I have friends who are pagans, Jewish, Buddist, and even Muslim (from college) and I highly respect them all and they respect me as well. I never once tried to preach to them and vise versa. I know it would take a while before there is tolerance and acceptance between religions, but still when someone else is not challenging your faith why is it necessary to challenge theirs?