Deconstructing Faith

Matthew 7:7

Introduction

The phrase “deconstructing faith” is one that has gained some steam over the last decade.

As with most phrases like this that come along, there is a lot of baggage.

Likewise, there are a lot of people who come along to tell us why this is actually a good thing.

I want to try and give as brief a description as possible and then look at how it plays out, and how we can respond if we have friends or family who are going through this process.

What is It?

It comes from postmodern philosophy.

It is a “technical” term that is talking about how we approach a written text.

It has to do with a disbelief that there is such a thing as truth. Rather there are only individual perceptions of what truth is.

Ie. “your truth”

So the Bible is the worst case scenario of this sort of thing since it makes definitive claims to communicate absolute truth.

Derrida would say, Paul cannot communicate truth but only his perception of truth.

There is one more school of thought that goes along with this and that is even if Paul were communicating absolute truth, you and I aren’t capable of grasping it because we are so very limited.

So when someone uses this term to mean they are trying to get to the truth, they are using it in a way diametrically opposed to its origins.

The originator is trying to expose that there is no truth.

Deconstructing culture from truth (1 Thess. 4:3-7).

Obviously it is easy to let ourselves be influenced by the world and to try and meld the culture with what we are doing to serve God.

In some ways, we are SUPPOSED to be able to be a part of various cultures and still serve God.

But we need to see where our ideas are more from culture than scripture and we need to at least keep clarity between the two and then often we need to rid ourselves of the cultural influence.

This is what Jehu should have done. Don’t hate Baal because he is a god of a foreign country, hate Baal because he is an idol. And recognize that your local idols are just as bad.

It is interesting that many who SAY they are doing this are actually doing it in a way that affirms the strongest impulses of modern culture (“the nuclear home is a modern invention”).

Deconstructing previously accepted doctrines (Matt. 15:1-6).

Again, there are places where this needs to happen.

Men teach traditions as doctrines and we need to root that out, most especially where those traditions set aside God’s word.

But also, there are those who come at this thinking that their experiences, education, and modern discoveries carry more authority than the apostle Paul.

Evolution for instance.

How do I square the evidence that led to the theory of evolution with the Bible?

There are so many accepted premises in that question and they allow all those accepted premises to come and challenge the very first chapter of God’s revealed word.

They can’t fathom letting it work the other way around.

Deconstructing Christianity

This is where most deconstruction paths lead.

Deconstruction, if done “correctly” never leads to truth.

It means to tear down truth or even the concept that there is truth.

Reconstructing Faith

Some use this terminology to mean that they are working through doubts.

They are breaking down their beliefs and rebuilding them piece by piece.

Not everyone needs to go through this to the same degree but we all perhaps need to work through something like this to some degree.

We have to establish our own faith in our own hearts.

The positive elements here can be described in other and better ways than borrowing the devil’s vocabulary.

What Causes It?

Philippians 3:19

An earthly mindset

At its best there is a genuine desire to make the world a better place.

The despair comes when they find that Christianity does not ultimately accomplish this.

So they go in search of something that will make marked improvement of the temporal.

The bottom line is that all of their focus is here and so you can see why they would be ultimately disappointed in what God’s word and His people offer.

So they deconstruct because the faith doesn’t offer them a solution to what seems like the biggest problem.

A rejection of guilt or shame

There are two paths to poorly handling guilt and shame.

One is to deny it to the point of even celebrating what should be shame.

The other is to wallow in it without seeking redemption.

Paul warns of the former and certainly that is the typical mode of our day.

How dare you try to shame me for who I am.

You are trying to erase my existence.

So they deconstruct to get rid of shame and guilt (they don’t like the path the Bible offers for that same result).

Driven by pleasure

Their god is their belly.

Pleasure is so important that it is their very identity.

It is considered as a more fundamental identity than Christianity.

This is simply who I am.

So they deconstruct because the Bible stands in the way of the thing they actually want more than anything else.

Oblivious to judgment

It is interesting that the percentage of people who believe in the devil and demons continues to remain higher than the ones who believe in hell.

They are willing to believe in someone or something that is causing them to make bad choices (I agree) but not willing to contemplate that they will answer for those bad choices.

But honestly, even people who believe in hell have a hard time keeping it in mind as a very present reality.

So they deconstruct because they cannot abide the notion of hell.

How Can We Help?

Show them that Christianity never offered to fix this world (Phil. 3:20; Rom. 8:18).

Bring them face to face with shame (1 Cor. 5:1; Heb. 12:1-3; Ezek. 6:9).

Show them the emptiness of passing pleasure (Ecc. 1:8-11).

Preach the certainty of judgment (Jon. 3:4; 2 Pet. 2:4-9).

Offer to walk through all of this by their side (2 Cor. 2:6-8).

Conclusion

If you fall into some of those categories we described at the beginning, you are asking questions, dealing with doubt, wondering about some of the things we teach and do, then I am not your enemy and do not consider you to be mine.

That doesn’t have to be a path away from faith and can in fact be a path to a stronger faith.

But maybe it is more than that. Perhaps you are angry and frustrated not just with some tradition or cultural baggage, but actually with the word of God and God Himself.

I want to say to you, that deconstruction isn’t your only option. I think sometimes we may find ourselves thinking we have found some irreconcilable thing about God and life and we think no one could answer this objection. And so we don’t even ask. My invitation to you is, give it a chance. Ask, seek, knock.