The Core of the Problem: The Triumph of Radical Empiricism

I think the overall problem with attempting to evangelize the citizens of the modern age is their typical disenchantment with the power of Reason. While we may prove God's existence using rational arguments, the modern (post-modern, whatever) mind of the Twenty-First Century only trusts in those things that can be seen with the eye, tasted, touched, heard and smelled, preferably quantified.

This is, of course, ridiculous, since Science presupposes the reliability not only of our senses and the fundamental reproducibility of inanimate natural phenomena, but also requires the reliability of Reason.

Yet, when Reason alone combined with overall observations of the universe as a whole, such as our basic assumptions of causality, also fundamental to scientific thought (as opposed to particular measurements) are used to form conclusions such as the existence of God, the atheist cries that he needs Evidence. The confirmation of the rationality is not enough for him, because his rationality suddenly cannot be trusted when it is asked to operate upon abstract concepts somewhat removed from the physical world (even though he has no objection to the conclusions of the particle physicist whose conclusions are arguably approaching the same level of the arcane and removed from the everyday world in which we live).

So I guess to reach the modern (post-modern, whatever) man who accepts the post-modern-whatever mindset will literally require a miracle, or several.

Probably one he views with his own eyes--since he'll disbelieve the reports of anyone else, thinking that [insert excuse why not to believe an eye-witness apparently as intelligent and rational as you are]. Yes, David Hume stopped up that hole tight when he wrote about these things. And, then, as Abraham said to Dives in the Gospel, if they don't believe the Word of God in Scripture, perhaps they won't even believe their own eyes if they were to see a miracle.

So maybe there is no hope for the post-modern man. He won't believe the miracles of History. He wouldn't believe his own eyes if an angel were to come to him in a vision, and he will not believe an argument from Reason and non-quantifiable fact, such as the apparent radical contingency of physical objects (e.g. While it is true that I am writing here at my laptop, it is not necessary that I should be doing so, certainly less necessary than, say, the law of non-contradiction).

So we must pray for Grace to save Modern-Post-Modern-Whatever Man. And pray I shall.