Anne Dilliard, the novelist, once recounted an incident from her past. As a little girl, she visited some family friends. They were farmers and had several horses on their farm that both enchanted and frightened young Anne. Instead of trying to ride them, Anne decided to draw pictures of the horses.

When the family gathered for the evening meal, Anne proudly displayed her artwork. Whereupon the honest family of farmers declared that the pictures depicted a "pretty sorry lookin’ animal".

Anne was devastated and suggested that if they didn’t like her horse they should draw their own. Which is exactly what that family chose to do and, Anne had to grudgingly admit, did quite well at that.

Her conclusion was that experiencing horses up close offered an insight that the distant observer simply can not share.

It is the same with Christianity.

Jesus says as much, "Everyone who is of the truth hears my voice."

I have long believed that you cannot force anyone to believe anything. All the fear, terror, guilt and pain in the world cannot make someone believe what they know to be false. They can say they believe it or act like they believe it. They may even sing, pray and preach that they believe it but deep down in the depths of their souls, they know when they don’t.

It is only when we are willing to experience Jesus up close that we will begin to discover what we really believe about Christianity.