Firstly, the intellectual cognition of the mysteries of the reality does not necessarily lead to understanding the mystery of God himself. If we cognize the material world by the methods of science and philosophy, then this will only lead to other questions. But a purely logical conclusion about the existence of God is not enough for the Christian faith in him. If an atheist loses in a dispute with some very clever believer and will be forced to recognize correctness of Christianity, the logically correct conclusions will not let him touch the reality of God and to go through any religious experience. This phenomenon is practically non-formalizable. A human can only feel that he knows about God personally, from his own experience, but not by hearsay, not by logical evidences, not forced by any authority.

In Judaism (Old Testament prophets), Christianity, and Islam, the knowledge of God is spoken of in terms of “daath Elohim” (Heb. אֱלהִים «Elohim», Strong’s lexicon number 430, דַּעַת «daath», Strong’s lexicon number 1847, cf. Hos. 4:1) [48], denoting the highest destiny of human, the meaning and purpose of his life. This is not theoretical (theological) knowledge, but spiritual closeness achieved through love for God and the fulfillment of his commandments. The meeting of the saints with God is described in the Bible as a meeting of two free personalities.

This is probably the key problem of atheism. Atheists take a rational-speculative path, in which they obviously cannot meet God. However, the same problem can apply to religious people if their hearts are not sincerely turned to God (Matt. 15:8; Mark 7:6).

And yet it is necessary to emphasize another property of theological calculations—these are just models collected from the data of Revelation. Between the formulated truth and reality there is a link, but not an identity.

Therefore, Christians seek a meeting with God and stand before the mystery of God, and not before the knowledge of him, accumulated by many generations in the past centuries. It is necessary to distinguish the partial Revelation from the fullness of what is still offered to our knowledge, from the vision of God himself. St. Gregory the Theologian in the fourth century said about this, that if we could collect all the data of the Revelation and create from them the most rich and full image of God, if at this moment we foolishly say, “Here is our God,” we would create an idol that closes the vision of the true God, instead of creating a transparent image that would allow us to see through it a reality that is more and more superior to it. [49]

In addition, one should take into account the fact that even the holy fathers are not immune from intellectual errors. The famous patrologist Fr. George Florovsky said, that there is not one father of the Church, except St. Gregory the Theologian, who cannot find any not entirely correct statements. At the St. Gregory the Theologian, they are not only because he was too cautious in his writings. [50] Therefore it is necessary to evince wisdom and courage and not try to build an imaginary presence of God to fill the horrible emptiness of his absence.

In those countries where Christianity enjoyed the support of the state, attempts to preach it with purely intellectual methods were typical, with the help of the authority of theology. But this approach does not always lead to the desired results. Suffice it to recall that in the atheistic revolution of 1917 in Russia numerous graduates of Orthodox educational institutions took an active part.