I'm an auditory learner

I eavesdropped on a perfectly interesting conversation at Bob Evans today. (I couldn't help it.) A dating couple seated next to us decided to discuss religion. Facts which I gleaned early on:
* the woman was raised Lutheran and had attended Lutheran grade school
* the man had been raised Catholic but was now a born-again Christian
* the man was out to teach the woman she needed to be born-again
* the woman was not ready to hear the man telling her that all she had been taught and believed was not necessarily biblical or "true"

An interesting moment of conversation I heard:
Man, "Do you know the sinner's prayer?"
Woman, "No, what is that?"
Man, "It's the prayer you say when you choose to become a Christian."
Woman, "What do you mean, choose to become a Christian? You don't choose to become a Christian. ~inaudible comment~"
man, "Of course you choose to become a Christian. ~more inaudible comments~"
I would have loved to join their table during this bit of conversation. The music was suddenly too loud or Ted started talking to me...I don't know.

I wonder how many people in the world don't know that following Christ is a choice. You aren't born a Christian and you aren't a Christian simply because you attend church. Being a Christian is a conscious choice you make. Once you make that choice you change the way you live your life. As I sit here and think about growing up in the Catholic Church I can honestly say that I never gave much thought to being a Christian. Had someone asked if I was a Christian I would have said yes. It wasn't until I was a senior in high school that I really felt a personal relationship with God that wasn't developed out of the reverence and fear instilled in me by the church.

I felt sorry for the woman in the restaurant. I could tell she was feeling attacked by her date. He was doing his best to make her see how wrong her church was but he wasn't paying attention to her body language at all. She seemed to want a relationship with Christ (based on other things she said) but her date's approach may have just set that back.

I'm wondering if they'll even have another date. I think she was giving him the stink eye and he was oblivious. When he did finally catch on that she was upset he attempted to entertain her by folding his placemat into a boat. She wasn't impressed.