I am much more enthusiastic about my faith now than when I was a youth. From childhood I have been a solid Christian, but in many ways I accepted the faith primarily on authority. Authority figures I admired were enthusiastic about the faith, but I was too young to have accumulated experiences that would serve to validate the truths of the faith on a first hand basis. I did not want to feign an enthusiasm I did not (nor in my view could not) have. This was based upon my insistence that for me faith must first move from authority supported belief to enthusiasm when engendered by first hand experience--when religious truths were validated by personal experience resulting in fervent conviction. This (to use a perhaps crass example) is much like if I accepted on authority that the Mazda CX9 is a great driving car. This resulted in my eventual purchase of the vehicle. After experiencing multiple times the zoom-zoom-zoom first hand, I would become enthusiastic about the car and recommend it to my friends--who might accept it on authority but would not become enthusiastic converts until they too had purchased and driven the car for some time. For them at the outset to be wildly enthusiastic about the car based merely upon my recommendation would seem to be an instance of a show of enthusiasm outdistancing experience.
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