If, on the other hand, you believe in God but do not believe that Christ was and is God made Man, then you are faced with an appalling problem as to what kind of God he must be – to create the world and then opt out of it himself.  And for people who do not believe in God at all, human life is meaningless anyway.  In the words of Macbeth it is: “…a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing” – very different from the spirit in which the Christians in New Testament times faced the immediate prospect of persecution to the death.  We happen to have a contemporary account from the pen of St Peter himself of how they awaited the ordeal:

“Blessed be that God, that Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,” he wrote to them, “who in his great mercy has begotten us anew, making hope live in us through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.  We are to share an inheritance that is incorruptible, inviolable, unfading.  It is stored up for you in heaven, and meanwhile, through your faith, the power of God affords you safe conduct till you reach it, this salvation which is waiting to be disclosed at the end of time.  Then you will be triumphant.  What if you have trials of many sorts to sadden your hearts in this brief interval?  That must needs happen, so that you may give proof of your faith, a much more precious thing than the gold we test by fire; proof which will bring you praise, and glory, and honour when Jesus Christ is revealed.  You never saw him, but you learned to love him; you may not see him even now, but you believe in him; and, if you continue to believe in him, how you will triumph!  How ineffable your joy will be, and how sublime, when you reap the fruit of that faith of yours, the salvation of your souls! (1 Peter 1:3-9, our emphasis). (1)

Reference

1. Knox, R. (1948) The New Testament of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, translated from the Latin Vulgate, London: Burns Oates and Washbourne Ltd.