Christianity and Culture

Just as it is the objective of apologetics to allow a cultural backdrop where it is intellectually tenable to believe in God, Scientism has done a very effective reverse of that here in the West. Christianity is not a knowledge of God but rather a relationship with Him, and so naturally it is not the practice of Christian apologetics to convert the nonbeliever through intellectual understanding but rather provide intellectual security so that the nonbeliever does not resist the pulling on their heart by God into that relationship with Him based on intellectual barriers. The reason I say Scientism has done the reverse is that it has allowed the nonbeliever a cultural backdrop where Atheism is considered the rational position and thus freely allows the nonbeliever to accept Atheism free from intellectual barriers. That is why most Atheists I encounter have done an exceedingly poor job in familiarizing themselves with the arguments and evidences on either side of the issue and yet still mask their unbelief in the veil of intellect.

It is my personal opinion that in history the Christian laity became intellectually lazy in providing rational support for their claims since the culture of the time freed people from needing intellectual arguments to accept Christianity's truth claims. Thus, when questions arose there were few who were able to properly answer them, eventually causing the swing to Atheism. Now, it is coming back in reverse. The atheistic laity does not have a proper response to natural theology. If the body of Christ can properly equip itself in understanding the intellectual truths and evidences of Christianity then we might be on the eve of another momentous swing in our culture back from Atheism to Christianity once more.