I wrote about
More than likely that’s the reason for the pushback I’ve received about that article. I keep hearing from people who insist I should never, ever,
You’d think I told them to read
’Cause I’m pretty sure that’s at the core of all the worries over deconstruction: Y’all are only
Matthew 7.22-23 Message - 22 “I can see it now—at the Final Judgment thousands strutting up to me and saying, ‘Master, we preached the Message, we bashed the demons, our God-sponsored projects had everyone talking.’ 23 And do you know what I am going to say? ‘You missed the boat. All you did was use me to make yourselves important. You don’t impress me one bit. You’re out of here.’ ”
Jesus absolutely
Christianity, and Christ Jesus especially, can easily withstand scrutiny, and hold up to analysis. Individual Christians, wayward churches, problematic theologies, and popular teachings, not so much—if at all. They have everything to fear from deconstruction. God doesn’t… and a lot of times he’s the one
The fear of apostasy.
Maybe you’ve known some kids whom you thought were good Christians…
So they’re what you think of whenever someone brings up deconstruction: That’s what somebody did to them. Got ’em to question their faith, take it apart for analysis, conclude it’s worth throwing out, so
Okay yes; I’ve known people who abandoned Christianity in college. Watched ’em do it. Watched ’em do it in a bible college, of all places; parents must’ve figured those were the safest places ever to send their kids, and instead they come home apostate. “What the… What kind of evil school did I send you to?”
But I guarantee you it’s not the school. Those kids were planning to ditch Jesus as soon as they were out of their parents’ house. Made no difference which school they attended. Made no difference whether their professors mocked Jesus in every classroom, or begged and pleaded for them to stay within the faith: They have freewill, made up their own minds, and chose to leave. Sometimes for what sound like valid, thoughtful reasons; sometimes for no reason whatsoever. The Prodigal Son never said why he was leaving home. (It’s probably the whores, but still.)
I know tons of Christians who deconstructed their faith; sometimes to small degrees, sometimes to great big ones. They’re still totally Christian. The few who quit Jesus: They were already quitting Jesus. Whenever I ask ’em about their deconstruction process—“So you had these questions about the faith; what’d you find out?”—four times out of five they found one answer they didn’t like, and it became the excuse they used for quitting. They didn’t find the other 20 valid answers which professional theologians and philosophers teach in their classes; they didn’t look. This wasn’t a real deconstruction. They did as much homework as an antivaxxer who watched half of a 40-minute YouTube video and thinks she’s now a virology expert… instead of yet another person who only wanted to confirm her biases, and thinks she sufficiently has.
Real deconstruction takes time, as anyone will tell you. And sometimes a fair amount of struggle, ’cause some of those false beliefs we have to give up are often beloved beliefs. Or we wrongly think giving up that one belief, pulls a ripcord which sets loose all the other ones… and y’know, maybe it will. Maybe there’s a lot to renovate. Maybe just a little. God knows; and he’ll be with us throughout, and we need to keep trusting him. Those who bail on him easily, never did trust him.
The fear of liberalism.
I mentioned tons of Christians who deconstructed their faith and are still totally Christian. Now when I say “tons,” I don’t mean “Well honestly five or six, but they’re Americans and you know how fat we get.” I really do mean so many I’ve lost count.
Everybody goes through a faith crisis at some point in our lives, and most of us are gonna deconstruct a few ideas. These would be the people who say, “I used to believe in
Here’s the interesting thing though: With rare exception, most of the Christians who analyzed a belief then changed it, usually swapped it for a more accepting, more expansive, more gracious belief.
- They feared their church was the only true Christians left; now they realize God has lots of sheep.
- They used to think God only wants to save some; now they realize
he wants to save all. - They imagined
God micromanages the universe; now they realize he built a self-sustaining creation. They used to be sexist; now they’re not.
And so on. They used to think Christianity was tight and narrow—after all, didn’t Jesus say
For those Christians who still hold to the old swapped-out belief, these deconstructionist Christians have “gone liberal.” What’s wrong with the old belief?—it’s perfectly good! They still believe it! Firmly believe it, in a lot of cases; they worry it’s a foundational block in their Jenga towers of faith, and anyone who pulls it will ruin Christianity, if not humanity. Some sexists, fr’instance, insist gender roles must conform to the standards of
For these folks, deconstruction turns you liberal. Sometimes theologically liberal, sometimes politically liberal, sometimes both. Which to them is often the same as apostasy, because they insist “real Christians” don’t think that way. Real Christians think like them—or
I said there are rare exceptions where Christians get more conservative. I know there are Christians who insist, “It’s not rare; I got more conservative.” Well you might have, but that wasn’t a product of deconstruction: That was because we used to believe nothing, and now we believe something. Christian newbies regularly get more conservative as they ditch our old lifestyles to follow Jesus, and realize “Oh wait; I can’t do that anymore,
But newbies also tend to get roped into political conservatism. And corrupt politicians regularly try to convince us it’s all one and the same. “You’re against sin, right? So are we! We’re on the same side! You gotta vote for our guys”—and try to take our votes captive and hold them forever. But plenty of political views are immoral and idolatrous, and constantly become the sort of views which the Holy Spirit needs to purge from us. They’re about seizing power instead of
They gotta go—but if you dare reject them, or dare criticize them, suddenly you’ve “gone liberal.” And those who embrace the confounding of their Christian views with their political ones, who don’t realize
Yeah, I’ve known certain Christians who deconstructed their way into actual heresy. People who think everything can be eliminated, including everything the ancient Christians firmly settled; that we only need to follow Jesus and nothing else. Happens all the time with Christians
But to many a Christian conservative, that’s not the worst case: To their minds, the worst case is them joining another political party. Liberal theology doesn’t bug ’em anywhere near as much as liberal politics. Politics is too often all they’re worried about. Not faith, not salvation, not relationships with Jesus, not orthodoxy, not good behavior, not the gospel; voting. Just shows how far gone they are.
