Nonbelievers

The barbed questions of the faithless do not deserve answers any more than the taunts which Christ himself suffered while on the cross. The inquiring probes of some nonbelievers are not really questions at all, but simply a reconnaissance aimed at discovering any breeches in the defenses of the believer who holds the fortress of faith. The nonbeliever often does not really care to know. He seeks to have his sport, to work up a semantical sweat, grasping what pleasures he can from a life otherwise filled with forlornness. (A Time to Choose, p. 32.)

For those who think they can keep the second great commandment without keeping the first, it may be enough for now to say that we cannot really love others unless we know who others really are. How can we know their deepest needs without knowing their true identity? Yes, the glass of water given by a disbeliever to the thirsty individual is just as refreshing and the crust of bread just as filling. But irreverence for, or an unwillingness to acknowledge, the Ultimate Source of both the water and the bread keeps that moment of giving and receiving from its completeness. As the Savior said, water from the well is useful, but we will thirst, again and again, unless we drink of the living waters. (John 4:13-14.) Disbelievers do good, but it is a good that is not good enough. (All These Things Shall Give Thee Experience, pp. 67-68.)

Fortunately, God neither stops existing nor loving because a mere mortal rejects Him. So far as nonbelievers are concerned, we must not reject them because they reject our message. (Wherefore, Ye Must Press Forward,.p. 108.)

(Cory H. Maxwell, ed., The Neal A. Maxwell Quote Book [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1997