I have a reason to use the word “anti-theist” rather than atheist. The person who would hold to traditional atheism as a belief system is insistent that no compelling proof exists for him to believe in God. The atheist claims to be neutral when considering the evidence for the existence of God, but his “neutrality” is disingenuous, because he absolutely has no intention of abandoning his atheism and submit himself to God if and when that undeniable proof for God is discovered. Thus, in reality, the supposed atheist is against any and all evidence that would point to God. His attitude is one that is opposed to God as an anti-theist, rather than a neutral observer waiting around to see if God shows up.

I have a personal example of this attitude when I had an atheist challenge me to take his “god detector” test. This fellow had built a small box with a free-floating needle set in the center. The needle pointed toward the left side, and on the right side the atheist had written, “I exist.” The atheist’s challenge was that if I could ask God to move the needle so as to point to the words he had written, he would then believe God existed. I rolled my eyes and laughed, and then asked the atheist, “If the needle does move, will you abandon all of your atheistic beliefs and embrace Jesus Christ as your Lord?” He thought a moment and replied, “I don’t know, it depends on if the box wasn’t rigged and if God could do it once, then you could ask him to do it again, and when I determine there is no fakery and that the moves were genuine, then maybe I would think about it.” His response demonstrates clearly the true heart of the atheist: It is one that is opposed to God, rather than one honestly looking for God. He offered a simple test, but if the criteria of his test were actually met, then he would change the criteria until it was no longer a valid test in his mind and he would have a further excuse to justify his unbelief and rebellion toward God. Such is the heart of the anti-theist.