Symbolism, Imagery, Allegory
Black tells White that the unbeliever has a specific kind of problem:
"Belief aint like unbelief. If you a believer then you got to come finally to the well of belief itself and then you dont have to look no further. There aint no further. But the unbeliever has got a problem. He has set out to unravel the world, but everything he can point to that aint true leaves two new things layin there. If God walked the earth when he got done makin it then when you get up in the morning you get to put your feet on a real floor and you dont have to worry about where it come from. But if he didnt then you got to come up with a whole other description of what you even mean by real…" (66)
White isn't buying it, but it's worth explaining what Black means. If God created the earth, then you don't have to worry about the basic reason why everything exists—it's already covered. But if God didn't create the earth, then the burden is on your own mind; it has to unravel a puzzle that it might not be designed to solve. Even the basic nature of reality comes into question. As Black explains it, it sounds like a recipe for uncertainty and misery. So if White would just accept God…
Tangentially, it's worth mentioning that the philosopher René Descartes ran into a similar problem. Before writing his masterwork, The Meditations, he claimed that he decided to doubt everything, including that God might not have made the world, and that instead some sort of evil power manifested the universe as part of a wicked and elaborate illusion. Gradually, however, Descartes argues in the same book that pure reason shows that God really does exist, and all is right with the world… However, this doesn't seem to jive with White's experiences.