I had a very interesting conversation with a coworker the other night. It started with a conversation about job stuff but quickly turned into a talk about the meaning of life (it’s officially a trend.) I explained to her why I see us not as evil people but broken people who are missing something very big and real and important, and that as a result we do lots of mean and terrible or stupid or hurtful things to ourselves and others in an effort to capture that piece that’s missing. I talked about how for me, being a Christian isn’t about being right or about avoiding something terrible but rather is about rediscovering a long lost love.

It was interesting – she listened. It wasn’t like those discussions in philosophy class, or those debates one has in bars about the meaning of existence. Those are about proving something, and that’s probably why they just result in people getting angry.

People say don’t talk about religion or politics. But I’m realizing politics and religion are two completely different things. Politics is about figuring out what’s right and wrong. Religion is (or should be) about understanding why we behave the way we do and why we all feel like we’re missing something. It should be about that search. And, ultimately, it should be about an amazing love relationship.

I’ve heard it said that you can’t love something unless you’ve seen someone else love it. If you think about all the televangelists and the people standing on blocks in college yelling about the end of the world, and even of the thousands and thousands of well-meaning people in churches all over the country who don’t talk about love but rather about being good enough and right enough…when you think about all of that, it’s easy to see why people are turned off or downright hostile. You’re selling them an idea – and idea that goes against their worldview and a sell that reinforces why they don’t like ‘people like you’ in the first place.

When I talk about what it’s like to be in love with my girlfriend, that doesn’t invite hostility. More often than not, people not in a relationship want to hear about what it’s like and want to know more.

If I talked about my relationship with God the way it’s meant to be, what would people’s reaction be?