I’ve been asked before, “Why do people get so passionate about religion?” For starters, if you like us getting “passionate,” that is a great question to ask. Simply put, we get passionate about it because we think it is true. Living as a Christian today is analogous to your neighbor telling you that your wife does not actually love you, while it seems to you that you have every reason to believe she does. Worse yet, your neighbor writes for the New York Times where he and others publish weekly articles about how silly it is that you keep loving your wife with such fervor, while to them its clear she obviously does not love you. If you really think it is true that she loves you and you have every reason to believe it is true and no reason to doubt, will you not “passionately” defend her?! And yourself? Worse yet, people who read the articles come up to you later and ask, “Hey there little guy, what’s up with you being so passionate about your wife?” For many of us, this would traverse the boundaries of simple annoyance, and would leave us feeling the vexation of social torment!
Still don’t get it? C.S. Lewis said, “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” (“Is Theology Poetry?,” 1945). We get passionate about our faith not simply because, for example, we hold it is true in the way we think there is an apple in the basket on the table in front of us. But rather because we, the apple, the basket, and table are all true because of it. And when it seems others deny the very reason for our existence, the very thing we depend on not only for life, but for love, happiness, and all the pleasures that come with life, it may provoke us a dollop. To suggest that we are ignorant and stupid for believing in such things by asking, “Why do you get so passionate about it?” may get us to respond with a little passion.
Maybe others are unaware, but it is only good and natural for humans to be passionate about important things. In the end, we are passionate about it because we think religion is an important truth. It leads us to the Truth, the Infinite One, Who caused all that is, and continues to hold us in existence by causing us in every moment. Who loves us and wants us to be with him, as C.S. Lewis said elsewhere, “There are two kinds of people: those who say to God, “Thy will be done,” and those to whom God says, “All right, then, have it your way.”
Christians, hold fast to the seriousness of the Gospel, it is your salvation. And, at times, be unashamedly passionate, if necessary.
A Faint Blaze 
Great post Kyle! Like it or not, in the present political climate, the American public can nothing else but take certain Christian institutions seriously. Often enough the attention is negative- still, blessed are you when the New York Times reviles you and all that- it at least shows you’re doing something right. On a slightly less serious note, I do hope you
more posts for us in the future; then I can make inappropriate comments for old time’s sake.
Thanks for the encouragement Thomas! There will be some posts on the earliest Church coming soon, if you are in to that kind of stuff.