Faith.In.Life

Deconstruction of Self

Intro

I started listening to the book “The Deconstruction of Christianity” by Alisa Childers and Tim Barnett.  I highly recommend the book, but as I listen to it I have found my mind swirling with more ideas ever wanting to dig deeper.  We are presented with a strange movement that not only deconverts from Christianity all together, but then feels compelled to share this with the entire world.  We must be able to speak into this movement, understand what it is, and identify important topics to consider.

I have already talked in my sermons about this movement of what is known as deconstruction.  After the sermon in which I mentioned some falling away, someone approached me and said that not all deconstruction was bad.  To a certain extent, I agree.  Yet, the first thing the book points out is we first and foremost must define our terms.  That is, what do we mean when we talk about people “deconstructing their faith?”  Typically, people who are at least partial to Christianity will  reference that not all deconstruction is bad because there are times were we need something like another Reformation, or as some reformers said we are “reformed, but always reforming.”  If the deconstruction of our faith was purely us asking intelligent questions in which we allow what is not of God or is not biblical be burned as chaff where something better that more accurately reflects what is True, right, and good remains - then yes, I am all for that type of deconstruction.  Let us have open hearts and minds to repent where repentance is needed and the ability to join in what God would like us to do instead in order to experience his kingdom come.  

However, when you hear the term being used outside of Christianity and even in progressive circles, the term is about actively breaking down our Christianity and ultimately leaving it for something else.  This perspective isn’t necessarily open to questions hoping to reform the faith, but rather discards it all together in order that they might accept an entirely different worldview often times antithetical to what you believed before.  The strange part of this type of a deconstruction is it, in a sense, becomes a new testimony all together.  The story is I once was blind, but now, since rejecting Christianity, I see.  What is more, is some people who deconstruct their faith then become a type of Apostle or Disciple of the new worldview to somehow win more people to their cause.  Their deconstruction is not only done on a public platform, but you may even find resources for how you can go through a process similar to what they did.  The perspective then flaunts their deconstruction and the trending #exvangelical is formed.   

Now, I think there are some who might claim the #exvangelical tag but still claim some belief in God.   There may be some parts of this movement that fits into the first definition I offered.  This is where we must be mindful of J. Gresham Machen’s book “Christianity and Liberalism” that acknowledges that Christianity lives and dies by certain boundaries, or what the denomination I currently serve, Covenant Order of Evangelical Presbyterians (ECO), calls essentials.  They provide the guardrails of what is acceptable within the belief system that is Christianity that have been widely agreed upon to define why Christianity is different then other religions.  One might find that many who still claim belief in God that claim #exvangelical most likely have strayed away from the main essentials of the Christian faith and embraced a different religion entirely.  Machen’s basic premise is if you start believing in something completely different than the basic tenets of Christianity, then you can call it whatever you want, you just can’t call it Christianity.  Many in the camp that claim some sort of progressivism, claim the hashtag, and may even still believe in God may be fooling themselves if they still claim to be Christian.  That is, many in the first denomination I served, the PC(USA) did not believe in a physical bodily resurrection.  I have heard it said by many Christian theologians that Christianity rises and falls on the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  If this is true, then those who deny a physical bodily resurrection are not just #exvangelicals, but are not Christian.  They may embrace some of Jesus’ teachings, and even see the Bible as helpful to learn more about God, but ultimately they do not believe what the Apostles believed which formed the backbone of their faith:  That Jesus in fact was dead, but now he is not; we saw him walking around and ascend to the right hand of the Father.  In fact, if there had been no resurrection, the Disciples have every reason to desert Jesus and would have never become the Apostles.  When leaders within a church remove key tenets like Jesus’s actual bodily resurrection, they essentially create a new canon (something different than the traditional 66 books of the Bible, or the original canon).  They then have the ability to form a canon of their choosing, which will inevitably be a moving target that cannot give credible Truth claims.  Such a perspective then becomes dust in the wind where they as the dust are blown by or follow in the gust of the winds of culture.  What I have seen, at least, is that over time this audience goes from what first might seem questioning or reforming, to ultimately deconstructing.  In the places that claim grey in the midst of whatever might be black and white, it seems to me like they ultimately will leave Christianity completely behind.  We have to be very careful to allow any reformation that could happen to be guided by such a perspective.  If they are truly deconstructing and not just questioning, then they become a threat to Christianity.  This movement is not a vital part of the growth or evolution of the church and is not God breathed or lead.  The hardest part is to determine what constructs as Christian with a mind for reforming verses someone who has deconstructed and desires to lead more people astray.   

As I will be exploring this idea of deconstruction I am referring to the full on leaving the faith behind entirely for the sake of something else.  As I present some of the topics that could promote a person to deconstruct there may be room for questioning within those topics, but I ultimately will present Biblical teachings on these ideas to present the boundaries.  If there is a chance for reformation in the midst of the exploration, then by all means, may God’s kingdom come.  Yet, let us not be fooled into thinking that full on deconstruction can somehow form the faith from the outside back in - because ultimately whatever questions that might come from this audience will come in the form of wolves in sheep’s clothing as the perspective will try to undermine the very backbone of Christianity all together.  We can only be thankful that the weapon that might already be formed will not prosper, and that ultimately Christianity is not true because of what we disciples say about it, but because God’s Word will never fail.  Whatever the Bible speaks, when understood correctly and Holy Spirit inspired, is true.  The challenge is that we who claim to follow Christ would do so in all humility, having the eyes to see and the ears to hear.   

With these posts, I encourage more dialogue.  I would also be interested in hearing if you yourself have anything you would like me to further engage in or if there might be something I miss.  Even if I plan to engage with something in future weeks, it will be interesting to hear what you are thinking and make sure I spend time with the idea.  Thanks for reading!