Culturally Reformed Apologetics for the Smug at Heart:

     - Enlightenment Rationalism Dressed in Reformed Tartan

Apologetics, at its best, is a disciplined theological practice grounded in the character of the Triune God. It is framed by the covenantal structures that define both revelation and human responsibility. Within the Reformed tradition, it requires intellectual seriousness, doctrinal coherence, and a sober awareness of the Creator–creature distinction. It is not merely producing rhetorical counters to secular arguments, but confessing before the world the God who reveals Himself, interprets reality, and summons creatures to covenantal repentance.

The Rise of the Culturally Reformed

Yet a parallel genre has emerged in recent years that we might call Culturally Reformed apologetics. It has a style marked not by confessional depth but by cultural identification, denominational ambience, and a confident reliance on “common sense.” True theology is cast aside for populism that tries not to offend. This mode of argumentation often carries a distinctive emotional tone: a genial smugness, a breezy certainty, and a faintly patronizing assurance. So-called unbelief is portrayed not so much as spiritual rebellion but as an intellectual oversight waiting to be corrected by a clever soundbite.

A recent short reel by David Robertson on YouTube epitomises this Culturally Reformed apologetic model. Its manner, tone, and shortcuts highlight the tension between Reformed identity and non-Reformed method. It is an apologetic offering wrapped in cultural Reformedness, not in covenantal seriousness, packaged with a dose of cheerful condescension.

False Dichotomies and the Smug Delivery System

Robertson’s argument begins with the false generosity of offering a “choice.” He frames the cosmos in the simplest possible terms: either matter is eternal or God did it. The confidence with which this childish dichotomy is delivered is almost admirable. The smugness is unmistakable — a raised eyebrow, a knowing smile, the familiar cadence of someone who assumes that if he cannot imagine an idea, it must be laughable. The famous line, “How does nothing bang?” is delivered with a flourish, as though it were the philosophical equivalent of the Apostle Paul confronting the Areopagus, when in truth it is a rhetorical shrug attempting to pass as profundity.

What follows is theological reductionism disguised as clarity. Instead of grounding the origin of the universe in the Triune God who speaks reality into existence by sovereign decree, the video offers a divine technician who wanders onto the stage to initiate a cosmic explosion. This is not Reformed theology. It is not even a competent broad evangelical theology. It is thin deism clothed in a Presbyterian accent. The rich covenantal structures of creation — including the covenant of redemption, Trinitarian agency, federal headship, and the teleological orientation of all things to the glory of God — are entirely absent. What remains is an apologetic built on personal incredulity rather than systematic theology.

The patronizing tone completes the trifecta. Robertson speaks to unbelievers as though they are inattentive children who simply need to be reminded of the obvious. His gentle, condescending “you can decide…” is less an invitation to reason and more a pat on the head. Covenant theology, however, never treats unbelievers as misinformed; it addresses them as covenant-breaking image-bearers who suppress the truth of God in unrighteousness. This video never rises to that register. It speaks with the tone of a man confident that a little common-sense charm can do the work of revelation. It undermines the Reformed doctrines of regeneration and the sovereign call of God.

A God Too Small for Reformed Theology

The Reformed tradition itself would blush at such an offering. Calvin, Turretin, Bavinck, or Van Til would not reject it because creation is false, but because the God it presents is too small, too reactive, too much a prop in a debate and too little the Lord of glory. The Triune Creator, self-existent and sovereign, cannot be reduced to a gap-filling hypothesis. Christian cosmology is far more than an argument from bewilderment. Yet that is what this video attempts to pass off as apologetics. The tragedy — yes, I mean tragedy — is that David Robertson is capable of much more than this superficiality.

And who is this video meant to persuade? Not thoughtful Christians, who will recognise the lack of doctrinal weight. Not unbelievers, who will see through the rhetorical shortcuts. Not scientists, who will laugh at the caricatures of cosmology. The audience is already convinced: those who are satisfied with cultural Reformedness rather than confessional Reformed rigour. Cultural Christians in pews who want Culturally Reformed doctrines to tickle their ears. For those people, this video offers intellectual superiority without the discipline of actual thought. It does not challenge; it comforts. It does not teach; it flatters. It does not defend the faith; it babysits it.

A Longing for Something Better

This video appears to be the first in a series by Robertson. One can only pray that as the following episodes appear, Culturally Reformed smugness passes from view. For the sake of the Reformed tradition it claims to represent, and for the sake of those who seek genuine theological clarity, perhaps the subsequent videos will offer something more substantive, more honest, and more worthy of the Triune God than this reductionistic parody of apologetics.