Have you heard the term deconstructing your faith? I had heard of it but really didn’t understand what it meant. But then a young lady in my Ladies Bible Study started explaining it to me, and I realized, “oh yeah, that’s what that podcast with Alisa Childers my husband listens to warns about.” So what is deconstructing your faith and is it important to understand today? This will get a little technical, but please stick with me to the end.
Is there a time coming when people will not listen to good Bible teaching? Paul says yes. In the last letter he wrote before he died, he wanted Timothy to be ready to preach the word. Paul mentored Timothy like he was a son. We can pay attention when Paul knows he is going to die soon but writes one final letter in 2 Timothy. What is it that he finds so important to say before he dies? He tells Timothy to be ready to preach the word with great patience and understanding. This includes reproving, rebuking, and exhorting. Why does he want Timothy to be ready? Because a time is coming when people will not endure sound doctrine but instead want their ears tickled with teaching according to their own desires (2 Timothy 4). This is my last Reflection from The 40-Day Feast by Wendy Speake and it comes from Day 36, When Progressive is Regressive.
Deconstructing Your Faith
Jon Bloom wrote an article for desiringGod.org that proved to be very helpful to my understanding.1 You can access it for yourself. It is not long. What I gained from it is this: the starting point of a conversation about deconstructing your faith should be how one is defining it. Deconstruction can be so confusing as it relates to faith because it has many different meanings in different contexts.
Bloom says, “It (deconstruction) is a postmodern philosophical label that has been adopted by current and former evangelicals to sometimes mean navigating a faith crisis, to sometimes mean identifying cultural influences that distort the true gospel, to sometimes mean questioning and rejecting traditional evangelical doctrines and authority figures, or to sometimes mean departing the Christian faith altogether.”
In some cases, deconstruction leads to a strengthening of faith. For example, Bloom quotes Paul Tripp’s use of the word to critically dismantle cultural influences that distort and redefine the faith in unbiblical, harmful ways. And then there’s Francis Schaeffer’s faith crisis that led to a greater confidence in the core truths of Christianity. Yet, former evangelicals who now identify as progressive Christians have arrived at the conviction that certain historic evangelical doctrines must be adapted or altered through a critical dismantling of beliefs in order to interact in a world that is more exposed to religious diversity. And at its extreme worst, the result of this type of deconstruction or dismantling of one’s faith can be deconversion from Christianity. Sadly, this is the most common use of deconstruction. It reminds me of those in Hebrews 6 and 10 who participated fully in all God had to offer, but then later rejected the offering, thus rejecting Christ Himself as the only Way. People that you would have sworn on the witness stand were true believers, but then when things got toooo hard or the pain wouldn’t let up, they didn’t persevere.
My Response
How does this understanding instruct me to live differently? Like Timothy, Paul’s message while he is awaiting execution should cause me to consider what is most important. Be ready to speak sound doctrine and keep learning how to continue speaking it in love in this present culture. My pastor says it like this, “we are aliens here, but we need to be winsome weirdos.” In other words, I should look different from the culture I live in and expect to stand out, but not because I am offensive. The Gospel is an equal opportunity offender, but I should try to win over those God brings my way with my loving speech and actions that are grounded in His Word. Speak Truth but do it in a way that communicates I am doing it with a heart of genuine love. I cannot be afraid to stand out or speak up for what is right, but I must do so with compassion, trusting God will go before me.
What if my friends abandon me?
What breaks my heart in 2 Timothy 4 more than those who need their ears tickled is Paul feeling abandoned by his friends. He is in prison awaiting trial and subsequent execution and says Luke is the only one left with him. Some of his friends are fulfilling God’s call to their own missions that prevent them from being there. Are Paul’s feelings justified? He even asks the church Timothy is pastoring to bring Mark with them when they come, but to my knowledge they never make it. This is the same Mark who Paul and Barnabus departed ways over, that Paul said was not useful and Barnabus gave a second chance to. He has seen Mark’s growth under Barnabus’s mentoring and realizes he would be beneficial to the ministry. This is the same Mark who wrote the Gospel account according to Peter’s eye witness. In contrast consider Demas, who had been on missionary journeys with Paul in the past but has now shown he is not faithful and has left Paul because he loved the world more. Paul also states Alexander did much harm to furthering the Gospel, so he’s out. It’s just Luke. And that makes me sad for him after he suffered greatly to fulfill the calling on his life.
But God is faithful
I am comforted knowing Paul’s reward is great because he forsook the pleasures of this world for something better. I will get to meet him some day and ask about all his adventures and writing major parts of the New Testament. Paul is a witness that God stands with His faithful, rescues them, and brings them safely to heaven. He has fought the good fight, he has finished the race, he has kept the faith. There is a crown of righteousness waiting for him. May that be said of me and you and all who look forward to Christ’s glorious appearing.
I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: 2 preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. 3 For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, 4 and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. 5 As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry. 2 Timothy 4:1-5 ESV
