In recent years (probably close to a decade), there has been a trend in people saying that they are deconstructing their Christianity. What exactly do they mean? And is there a better way to talk about what is happening to people in the church?
First and foremost, this essay is not intended to criticize people who have left churches because of abuse, neglect, or false teaching. Many of my friends who have said they "deconstructed" did so because they had been abused, shunned, ignored, or otherwise harmed by leaders in churches. Sin by leaders in churches MUST be called out and punished. Those whose faith was shaken to its foundations need their sisters and brothers in Christ to come alongside in grace and help. There is no place for abuse or harm to anyone or by anyone in the name of Jesus.
This exploration of deconstruction has two parts: 1. To understand what deconstruction is and 2. To warn against using deconstruction as an excuse to remake Christ into something He is not.
To deconstruct something is to dismantle it into constituent parts (Dictionary.com) In cooking, a deconstructed dish is one taken to its essential elements and plating them in a new way. In literature, deconstruction looks at individual parts to better understand the author's intentions. It comes from the work of philosopher Derrida who used the process to demonstrate that both speech and writing were forms of the same system of language representation. It is from Derrida that the current use of deconstruction not as distilling to basic fundamentals but as destroying realms of truth comes.
Derrida denied that Truth exists outside of language. He believed that truth and reality were philosophical concepts, not actualities. It is from Derrida that modern arguments about gender, race, and society emerged. Deconstructionist philosophy is relentlessly relative and subjective.
Since 2020, the call to "deconstruct" anything that assails the idea of what the current culture deems unjust or unpopular. Some of the calls for tearing down long-standing institutions of corruption were justified. Other calls came from ideologies that appear to fight for the well-being of others, but whose leaders make themselves rich. The problem with both the righteous and the selfish calls was a lack of purpose to rebuild. "Tear it down!" they cried. "Defund!" What they ignore is, once a thing is torn down, what's left? Some cities are left with millions of dollars in damage done by protestors who tore it all down and then left. Other places continue to battle against a mob that no longer cares to discuss and compromise to find a path of something that works for more people than the current system. Schools have been deconstructed, first through standardized testing that helped no one, and now in social games that leave graduates unable to even decide whether they want to go to college or go to work.
It is in this climate that Christian "deconstruction" has become something talked about on social media. Famous Christians have told their stories of leaving their faith on Twitter and Medium. The Christian who sat in the next pew has silently begun a process of reconsidering faith. Some people make a lot of noise in their critiques of the church, while others simply walk away. But why? And what do they build in the place of faith? Without a plan, it seems that most create a god in their own image. One writer on Medium wrote a long story titled, "In Search of a God I Can Believe In." He says, "If God is created by humankind, I am free to create and define this deity." Shadi Hamid of The Atlantic wrote an article postulating that political beliefs have replaced religious ones. Russell Moore contended that deconstruction resulted from frustration with church politics, procedures, and positions on social issues, often leading to cynicism.
I think we need to draw a distinction between leaving churches and leaving the faith. God does not, as Meister Eckhard declared, become and unbecome. God is the Creator, Sovereign, King over all things. The failures of human beings and their institutions do not reflect on the failure of the Almighty. Sarah Bessey, in her Substack Field Notes, noted that her deconstruction from the social label "Christian," discovered that, in spite of the behaviors that led her to leave the church of her youth, "Jesus was still worth following." My question is, did she deconstruct or mature in faith?
Deconstructing is final. When something is torn down, nothing is left but emptiness. Without some kind of plan, the space becomes overgrown with weeds, filled with litter, and a place where danger may reside. To truly deconstruct likely leads to deconversion and perhaps the utter rejection of the God of the universe in favor of a god made in a self-image. Certainly some people, especially those who have been physically, mentally, and emotionally harmed by church leaders, have to reduce everything they know about Jesus to nearly nothing so that they can start anew. But most people who deconstruct, at least those who are most public about it, do so because they have become burned out, cynical, or disenchanted with what they thought the church should be for them. For these people, Paul might say, "I cannot address you as spiritual people, but…as infants in Christ. I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it. And even now you are not yet ready, for you are still of the flesh" (1 Corinthians 3:1-3). The writer to the Hebrews offered a second helping of what many people need to understand:
"It is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. For thought by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil" (Hebrews 5:11-14).
Deconstruction and remaking God in a socially acceptable public image is not the habit of the mature thinker. Learning to distinguish good from evil, both in churches and in the culture at large, is the hallmark of people whose faith grows into something greater than the self.
Churches and church leaders fail people all the time. Even the best of preachers says really stupid things (I'm thinking of one who berated his congregation for being late and leaving early last week. All over Twit…er…X). Whole denominations hide the sin of their leaders while failing to minister to the innocent or uphold the pastors who ARE teaching the Word with faithfulness and integrity (who know who you are). Humans will inevitably fail because not one single person on the planet is a god, no matter how popular they are, how many congregants they claim, or how big their churches grow. Evangelicalism (which is what most people are leaving when they deconstruct) is not the same thing as following Jesus. The same is true of any "ism." When we feel ourselves pulled into "ism" thinking, that's when all our internal alerts should blink red. Stop! Go back! Rethink!
There is a time for elementary doctrine in the life of every believer. But staying in that happy time of new salvation is impossible, just as it is impossible for an adult to thrive on a mother's milk. The moment of salvation grows into the process of sanctification which leads to us being imitators of Christ more and more. Maturity is so much more than deconstructing. Maturing looks at the failures of men and points us to the Father. The things we do, even repentance and good works, are nothing compared to the better things that lie ahead in the love, justice, and mercy of God in Christ. Jesus is the sustaining hope, the minister in the holy places set up by the Lord, not human ideologies and systems (Hebrews 8).
Keep in mind, the wisdom of this world is folly with God (1 Corinthians 3:19). No one is saved by a particular person or denomination or political views or doing good things. If a person is in Christ, there is no need to deconstruct. There is a need to mature and grow. Growth does include change. Changes in churches, changes in behaviors, and changes in attitudes toward other people are signs of growth, not dismantling. Searching for what is true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, and commendable leads to finding others who also long for excellence and things that are praiseworthy. It is a process of building, not destroying. It is looking heavenward, not at earthly things. To grow is to learn more about Jesus, not churches. If a pastor or a church is causing harm, leave immediately. If a group of people turns the gospel into a profit center, walk away. The things of this earth cannot satisfy the soul longing for what is deep, real, and True. God will hold all of those people to account, and their judgment is certain. Maybe not today or tomorrow, but in the broad scope of eternity, mercy and grace means justice.
In the meantime, while you wait for the solid food to be fully prepared for you, consider the lyrics of Helen Lemmel's song from 1922. A gifted singer trained in Germany, she found herself impoverished and alone when her husband abandoned her after she became blind. Instead of deconstructing her faith with the failure of her husband, she wrote:
O soul, are you weary and troubled?
No light in the darkness you see?
There’s light for a look at the Savior,
And life more abundant and free!Refrain:
Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
Look full in His wonderful face,
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,
In the light of His glory and grace.Through death into life everlasting
He passed, and we follow Him there;
O’er us sin no more hath dominion—
For more than conqu’rors we are!His Word shall not fail you—He promised;
Believe Him, and all will be well:
Then go to a world that is dying,
His perfect salvation to tell!
The call to maturity is complex and requires discernment, time, and effort. The return for investing in sanctification is a closeness to Jesus that no earthly construction can replicate. It reveals itself in love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5) and ultimate freedom.
Resources
Deconstruction | Definition, Philosophy, Theory, Examples, & Facts | Britannica
Are High School Graduates Ready for College? Studies Are Dismal
The Most Surprising High School Students Unprepared For Life Statistics And Trends in 2023 • GITNUX
The Most Dangerous Form of Deconstruction | Christianity Today
Blind woman wrote hymn about vision | | therogersvillereview.com