I was asked by an atheist, “What’s more important: what to think or how to think?”

My answer is: neither.

What’s most important is truth, and both “what” and “how” to think play a role in that. The goal, of course, is that we learn to think what is true, conforming our minds to reality, but the way we get to that point is by learning how to think so we can rightly evaluate arguments and claims.

This means that not only should we teach others what is true, but we should also explain how we reached those conclusions and give them the tools to do the same for themselves. Not only should we listen to those who teach truth, but we should also carefully evaluate what we’re being taught.

The ultimate goal is not merely to think well (though that is certainly enjoyable in itself!), but to know truth. Because God is truth, truth is something worth knowing in itself. Truth is good and beautiful because the foundation of all that exists is good and beautiful. Seeking and finding the truth means knowing and enjoying God forever.

The pursuit of truth makes sense for the Christian, but what about the atheist? My question for him is, Why care about either what or how to think? If there is no moral quality to truth (and there is no objective moral quality to anything if God doesn’t exist and everything is merely molecules in motion), then truth becomes just a pragmatic means to a different end, and there are many things more important than the actual truth.

What objective reason would an atheist have to put truth above preference? Truth above personal advancement? Truth above agenda? Truth above persuading others? Truth above creating a utopian society?

I’m not claiming that no atheist values truth above other things. I’m only claiming that he has no real reason to. And when a reflective person has no real reason to do something, eventually he stops doing it.

This goes for Christians as well as atheists. There may be solid, objective reasons for Christians to love truth, but if they don’t know what those reasons are, it’s easy to drift along the currents of culture heading in the opposite direction. All you have to do is look around you to see that this is so, it grieves me to say. Truth has taken a back seat to all the things I mentioned above for many in our society. Resist the temptation to follow them.