There are some answers you can have, even at 19.

(NOTE: I WROTE THIS ARTICLE WHEN I WAS 19. YET, I STILL THINK IT IS RELEVANT. SO, I THOUGHT I WOULD GO AHEAD AND PUT IT BACK OUT THERE.)

Bigot, hypocrite, narrow-minded, prejudice, intolerant, ignorant, condemning, and judgmental. Because of my conservative Christian beliefs I have been called them all more than once on this campus. I have been told that because of people like me the world will never make any progress.

Most of the time I deal with these comments person-to-person, I do my best to explain my beliefs to them and dispel any negative impressions that they may have of Christians. But after a recent conversation with Mark Woods, an English professor, I felt the need to speak a little louder.

In reference to the weekly Bible study I host on campus, Professor Woods said, "When a young person comes up to me and tells me that they aren't sure what they believe, I tell them that they are brilliant; but when a 19 year-old girl is sure she has all the answers, I call that an idiot."

Professor Woods, I completely understand, and I agree with you that college is a time to learn. It is a time to be open-minded and to find out what you believe. I agree that there are a lot of things at 19 that you cannot know, simply because you haven't lived long enough. I would even agree that there are some questions that people will never know the answers to.

But to Mr. Woods, and to anyone out there who feels the same way, I have this to say…

Although there are many things you cannot be sure of as a young person, there is one thing you can know for sure. And despite the fact that many people consider it ignorant, I believe that at 19 you can know for sure that Jesus Christ is the one and only way to salvation, joy, freedom, truth, and life.

When I write, I write in order to bring awareness of something, or to encourage people. I am writing this to bring awareness to the unfortunate misconception, which seems to be spreading, that Christians are narrow-minded and intolerant. I am also writing this as an attempt to encourage any young person who is skeptical of proclaiming Jesus as the only answer, for fear of being small-minded, to no longer be afraid.

Being a Christian and having a relationship with Jesus couldn't make you further from small-minded or intolerant. Any prejudice that I held before I knew Jesus vanished once I came to really understand Jesus, his love, and his acceptance of us all. Rather than blinders being put on, my eyes were opened. I like the way C.S. Lewis (a former atheist) puts it when he says "I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else."

Now that I am a Christian, now that I have accepted Jesus as the only way, is my mind shut off? Can I not still learn, and grow, and mature, make mistakes, and experience life? Of course I can, in fact, I have just begun to experience life -- my mind has finally been opened.

I understand exactly how Thomas Merton felt when he wrote, "By reading the scriptures I am so renewed that all nature seems renewed around me and with me. The sky seems to be a pure, a cooler blue, the trees a deeper green. The whole world is charged with the glory of God and I feel fire and music under my feet."

Christians should (and notice that I said should) be the most compassionate and accepting people alive. Because of my relationship with Jesus I understand that if there is equality for all people that it is found in His love, not in us. Jesus does love us all; therefore, I know that we are all equal. I know that we are all the apple of His eye, whether we're black, white, rich, poor, gay, straight, Democrat, or Republican; and he wants all to come to the knowledge of him.

I hope that people will begin to see Christians in a better light. I love every person on this campus and if I bother people with my passion then I make no apologies for it. I cannot just sit back and keep what I have found all to myself. If I have accomplished anything with this column, I hope that I have encouraged at least one person to stand firm in their beliefs that Jesus is real, and that he really is the only answer to life; and that does not make you close-minded or intolerant or ignorant.