The Honor of Atheists

"For this reason, the atheist who cannot believe for moral reasons does honor, in an elliptical way, to the Christian God, and so must not be ignored. He demands of us not the surrender of our beliefs but a meticulous recollection on our parts of what those beliefs are, and a definition of divine love that has at least the moral rigor of principled unbelief."

- Hart, David Bently. The Doors of the Sea: Where Was God in the Tsunami? (Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2005) 25

A very interesting quote. It really stuck out to me, mainly for the reason that many people believe in God without truly taking stock of the god which they claim to believe in. An atheist, on the other hand, has taken stock of a god (arguably not the True God revealed in the Word, but some facsimile thereof) and truly looked at that god and then decided whether or not that god is worthy of their service/worship. The honor that an atheist does Christianity, and ultimately God, is that he/she says, "I cannot serve a god like this, for it is not right," as they perceive/encounter a variant or degraded view of God. Their honor is given by their refusal to settle for and/or accept something which is actually less than God.

But the challenge to us, as Christians, is ever to make sure that the reality of God, in all his Trueness, is being presented to these which refuse to believe in these lesser gods. The goal is so that they can see the moral consistency and supremacy of the True God and the Way* (in it's true and real practice).

This is also the reason, as Hert points out, that we cannot just brush aside atheists (and their arguments against God) because they are actually arguing against a God we do not believe in as well. But rather it is our responsibility to address their misperceptions and to accurately portray God to them.

Therefore the challenge is for us, ourselves, to know God in Truth.

* "the Way" is in reference to the followers of Christ as they were referred to in the book of Acts, before they were known as Christians.