Spiritual Deconstruction

Do you really want to go there?

 by George Sidney Hurd
 
There is an unprecedented shift currently taking place within Evangelical Christianity, primarily among Millennials, in which traditionally held beliefs are being reexamined and more often than not abandoned altogether. This process is what is commonly referred to by them as the deconstruction of their faith, or deconversion. It is accompanied by a mass exodus from the local churches on a much larger scale than that which occurred in Europe during the last century.
 
One of the many support groups for the Deconstructionist Movement that goes by the name Deconstruction Network claims that presently 81,000 disenchanted individuals are leaving the church every month within the U.S. alone! According to this source, unchurched deconstructed Evangelicals are the fastest growing group in the Western Church and it is growing exponentially at a phenomenal rate.  To quote them, “the Deconstruction/Dechurched movement is growing at at least double the rate of the evangelical church.” [1]
 
Many who are swept up in this movement are not consciously aware that their faith is being deconstructed. In fact, many who are deconstructing in their faith probably are not even familiar with the term. Spiritual Deconstruction is a process in which one begins to question their entire belief system, beginning with the reliability of the very Scriptures upon which it was founded.
 
Deconstructionism is an integral part of Postmodernism which denies the existence of absolute objective truth. The philosophical concept of Deconstruction was introduced into higher education in the 60’s and 70’s by the French philosopher Jacques Derrida who argued that the meanings of written literature are fluid and undefinable. From that he argued that there can be no definitive metanarrative (big story), such as that presented to us in the Bible, through which we can define reality and find meaning and purpose. He opposed what he referred to as the Westernization of our culture and advocated for the deconstruction of history, society and institutions, including the Church.
 
After a generation of university students had been indoctrinated in this new relativistic thought it began to filter down, resulting in the deconstruction we are presently witnessing in our society, in politics, and most importantly within the Church – especially among the Millennials. Deconstructionism was primarily introduced into the Church by the Emergent Church Movement through the influence of Progressive thinkers such as Brian McLaren, Rob Bell and Doug Pagitt. A more subtle and reserved move towards Deconstruction is being introduced into Evangelical Christianity by scholars like N.T. Wright, resulting in many otherwise Conservative Christians questioning long-held beliefs.
 
Constructive Deconstruction
 
What may confuse some is that there is a legitimate and even necessary form of deconstruction that we all must undergo if we are to be transformed by the renewing of our minds (1Thess 5:21; Rom 12:2; Eph 4:22-23). We have accumulated beliefs and practices which are not according to the truth that need to be identified and corrected. But how do we determine truth?
 
I have heard many share how their quest for truth led them away from Christianity into agnosticism or atheism. A prominent Deconstruction network said of themselves: “This group of people love the truth, they are no longer happy to accept things given to them at face value.” [2] However, the crux of the matter lies in our definition of truth. All too often what they regard as truth is nothing more than the truth-claims made by philosophers and secular scientists or the claims of the higher critics of the biblical text – all of whom tend to have a bias against the true truth which is God’s Word (Ps 119:160).
 
Many who have rejected the authority of Scripture as the only infallible source of truth say that they are followers of the Word, Jesus, and not the written word. However, in order to be a true follower of Jesus one must see the written Word through His eyes, and when Jesus prayed to the Father on our behalf He said of the Scriptures: “Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth” (John 17:17). He said that the Scriptures cannot be broken and that not one jot nor tittle could pass without being fulfilled (Jn 10:35; Matt 5:18; cf. Matt 26:54; Mark 14:49; Luke 24:44). Just as the apostles after Him, Jesus said that the Scriptures were God-breathed and that we were to live by them (Matt 4:4; cf. 2Tim 3:16). When He was challenged concerning an issue He would appeal to the Scriptures as authoritative (Matt 19:4-6; 21:42; 22:29; Mark 12:24). I consider Jesus’ affirmation of the Scriptures in my blog, “What does the word Word mean to Jesus?”
 
When Jesus said, “you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free,” He was referring to the truth of God’s Word, not finite man’s truth-claims. That is why Paul said, “let God be true though every man be found a liar.” (Rom 3:4). Paul in 2Timothy 4 equates truth with the written Word of God:
 
“Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. 3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; 4 and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.” (2Tim 4:2-4)
 
Foreseeing our day, Paul said that the time would come when men would no longer be willing to hear the truth of God’s Word because it goes against their own sinful desires. Instead they will have an insatiable appetite for teachers who will tell them what they want to hear – teachers who mythicize the plain truths of Scriptures in order to accommodate their sinful lifestyles. They will be “always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth” since the false teachers will only tell them things that tickle their ears (2Tim 3:7).
 
So, those who have been caught up in this new wave of Deconstructionism have been deceived into thinking that they are on a quest for truth while at the same time denying the very truths of God’s Word which is the only objective and infallible source of truth. Many of them think we are entering into a new renaissance when in reality the very opposite is true.
 
I believe that what we are witnessing is in reality the great falling away which Paul said would prepare the way for the revelation of the Antichrist, the man of sin (2Thess 2:3). To me, it is tragic that prominent scholars like N.T. Wright have deceived many within the Church, saying that Paul’s warning here only had application to the generation prior to 70 A.D. and that we are now living in the new age of the Millennium. Nero wasn’t the man of sin and Satan is not presently bound in the abyss. Nero committed suicide in 68 A.D. In contrast, Paul says that the man of sin will be destroyed by the brightness of Christ’s Second Coming (2Thess 2:8). The man of sin was not Nero and Christ did not return in 70 A.D.
 
Paul says that God will continue to restrain the mystery of iniquity until the time of the manifestation of the Antichrist. I believe that the present Deconstruction of faith, or to use biblical terms the falling away from the faith is the precursor to the manifestation of the man of sin. The deception will be so powerful that only those who love the truth enough to go against the flow and suffer for holding fast to God’s Word will be saved from this great apostacy. Paul says of this time:
 
“The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, 10 and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. 11 And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, 12 that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.” (2Thess 2:9-12 cf. Dan 11:32)
 
Constructive deconstruction is based upon a love for the truth of Scripture rather than an abandonment of it. Indeed, in order to avoid falling away from the faith in these final hours it is imperative that we carefully examine all truth-claims presented to us in the light of God’s truth, and if they do not align with the truth of God’s Word we must deconstruct and expose them as error rather than embracing them, even if it means that we must go against the flow of mainstream thought. The Bereans were commended because they deconstructed their former beliefs in the light of the Scriptures. It says of them:
 
“These were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so.” (Acts 17:11)
 
In order for the Bereans to receive what Paul presented to them they had to be willing to deconstruct former beliefs. However, contrary to what we often see today, they didn’t measure Paul’s truth claims by the wisdom of the age, but rather they searched the Scriptures in order to compare Paul’s message with what God Himself had to say. To them, the plain, straightforward teaching of God’s Word was what separated truth from error.
 
In contrast with the Postmodern relativistic mindset of our time where all truth is relative and one’s opinion is just as valid as another’s, those whom Paul preached to believed in absolute truth. That is why Paul could reason with them from the Scriptures, resulting in some repenting and believing the truth (Acts 17:2,17; 18:4; 24:25). In doing this he was simply following Jesus’ example since Jesus also convinced by reasoning from the Scriptures (Luke 24:25-27).
 
Destructive Deconstruction
 
Postmodern Deconstructionism is a destructive dismantling on one’s faith in God and His Word rather than a perfecting of it. It undermines the very pillars upon which our faith is built, which is God’s written Word, and it leaves the individual afloat in a sea of relativity without anything to lay hold of.   
 
Wrett and Link who are known for their popular YouTube channel Good Mythical Morning share how they deconstructed from being actively involved in an Evangelical church to becoming hopeful agnostics. [3] Wrett shares how he has remained in a sea of uncertainty along with his wife and children since the day he abandoned faith in Christ and Christianity upon deconstructing his faith. He confessed that he was an agnostic who had lost his appetite for certainty. This is what Paul refers to as making shipwreck of the faith (1Tim 1:18-19).
 
It is inevitable that we at times struggle with doubts, but doubt is not to be embraced but rather replaced with faith in God and His Word. Doubt is not a virtue to be nurtured as many Deconstructionists affirm. A believer may struggle with doubt from time to time, and if our doubts drive us to seek the Lord for clarity and conviction it can be useful. However, once we begin to embrace doubt as if it were a virtue, we become a skeptic rather than a believer.
 
Jesus on more than one occasion rebuked His disciples for doubting (Matt 14:31; 16:8; John 20:27-29; Luke 12:28; 24:25; Mark 11:22-23). If you are struggling with doubts, confess it to God and pray for revelation and grace to trust Him in the area where your faith is being tested. The father whose son was possessed with a spirit of epilepsy was struggling with doubt when the disciples of Jesus had attempted to cast the demon out without success. When Jesus came on the scene his faith was at an all-time low. He said to Jesus: “if You can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.” Jesus responded: “If You can?' All things are possible to him who believes.” I love the father’s response to Jesus in the midst of his doubt because it shows us the proper attitude we should have in the face of doubt:
 
“Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, ‘Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!’” (Mark 9:24; cf. Jn 6:60-69)
 
If we have a heart after God and a desire to believe Him in spite of our doubts, God will extend His grace to us and deliver us, just as Jesus did for the father, delivering his son to him whole. Most of the Psalms, as well as the book of Lamentations, are similar cries to God for the ability to believe in the midst of doubt, and they always end with God’s gracious intervention. God graciously responds when our heart’s disposition is to believe Him.
 
The testing of our faith in this life is an essential part of our spiritual development and for that reason God often allows our faith to be severely tested even as gold refined in the fire (1Peter 1:6-7). However, without faith it is impossible to please God since our relationship with Him remains superficial and we never grow strong in faith as He intended (Heb 11:6).
 
The Scriptures exhort us to build up one another in the faith. Jude, the half-brother of our Lord said:
 
“But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, 21 keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. 22 And on some have compassion, making a distinction; 23 but others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire, hating even the garment defiled by the flesh.” (Jude 20-23)
 
 In spite of this, Deconstructionists speak of the deconstruction of their faith as though it were essential to one’s own spiritual progress. Paul says that faith comes by hearing the Word of God (Rom 10:17). In contrast to this, Deconstructionists consider the undermining of our faith in the written Word of God as being essential to our deconstruction.
 
A Deconstructionist by the name of Keith Giles wrote an article in the Progressive Deconstructionist group Patheos, entitled The 6 Pillars of Religious Deconstruction. In it he speaks of six pillars of the Christian faith which must be demolished in order to be able to advance spiritually. As always, the first pillar and foundation of the Christian faith which they say must be demolished in order to advance spiritually is our belief that the Bible is the infallible Word of God. He says:
 
“Because Christians tend to base their faith on the Bible, they also feel the need to overstate its importance, making it the linchpin for everything they hold dear. Therefore, once you start to doubt their claims that the Bible is inerrant and infallible, the rest of your faith is soon to crumble.” [4]
 
They understand that, once one’s faith in the Bible as the inerrant word of God is undermined, every other truth becomes relative and the process of deconstruction in all other essential Christian doctrines will naturally follow. They often insist that they are followers of Jesus and not the Bible. However, the name “Jesus” becomes nebulous once it has been removed from its biblical context. There are many so-called ascended masters who claim to be Jesus or the Christ, but they are antichrist and nothing like the Jesus of Bible. The Jesus of the Bible warned us saying:
 
“For false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect.” (Matt 24:24)
 
The Muslims believe in Jesus, but if you declare that Jesus Christ was God in the flesh as the Bible does they would adamantly deny it, and according to Scripture, that makes them antichrist:
 
“every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world.” (1John 4:3; cf. Matt 1:23; Isa 7:14; Isa 9:6))
 
Paul warned that in the latter days many would deconstruct the faith making themselves susceptible to demonic deception. He said:
 
“Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron.” (1Tim 4:1-2)
 
Just as Jesus warned, today there are many spirits claiming to be the Christ spirit, but when examined in the light of Scripture we can discern that they are in reality antichrist and are communicating doctrines of demons rather than the sound doctrines of the Scriptures. Not every spirit who reveals himself as the Christ is in reality the Christ. That is why John said: “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God.” (1John 4:1). If we have deconstructed our faith in God’s written Word as infallible, by what standard can we test the spirits? How do you know that your mystical encounter with Christ is the true Christ and not an antichrist spirit posing as Him? Or, how do we know that the spirit who is giving you revelation is indeed the Holy Spirit and not another spirit passing as Him?
 
That is why Paul said that we are to insistently preach the Word even when our culture says it is obsolete (2Tim 4:2-4). That is why Jude, referring to the Scriptures said: “contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints.” (Jude 3).
 
In closing, I am convinced that we are living in the last days and that the Second Coming of the Christ of Scripture is in  our near future, and I believe that it is essential that the Church recognize this. However, this belief is under assault as never before. The fifth pillar of the Christian faith that the Deconstructionist Keith Giles says must be demolished is the belief that we are living in the last days. A new eschatology that is being put forth by Deconstructionists is Preterism or the belief that the last days ended and Jesus came with power and great glory in 70 A.D., destroying Jerusalem through the Roman armies. In my book “Last Days – Past or Present?” I demonstrate from Scripture that this new doctrine is unbiblical. This doctrine is causing many Christians to ignore the very signs Jesus and the Apostles gave us in order to avoid being deceived in this final hour. Also, it will doubtlessly result in many deconstructing into atheism as we enter into the prophesied times of great tribulation instead of the world progressively getting better as Preterists have led them to believe.
 
To Paul it was revealed that in the last days many would depart from the faith, and that is the expressed objective of Deconstructionism. Jesus poses the rhetorical question: “when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?” (Luke 18:8). The Church in this final hour needs to insistently preach the Word of God more than ever, earnestly contending for the faith once and for all delivered to the saints, instead of seeking to deconstruct it. Paul said that the “Holy Scriptures are able to make us wise unto salvation” (2Tim 3:15). As Jude says, rather than allowing ourselves to be caught up in the spirit of this age, we should build up one another in our most holy faith. Let us continue looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ (Titus 2:13).
 


[1] https://thedeconstructionnetwork.com/
 

[2] https://thedeconstructionnetwork.com/
 

[3] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qbna6t1bzw
 

[4] https://www.patheos.com/blogs/keithgiles/2019/08/the-6-pillars-of-religious-deconstruction/