Bright Light and a Dream

“The beautiful thing about this adventure called faith is that we can count on Him never to lead us astray.” – Chuck Swindoll

We might think the dirtiest word is the f-bomb. But, to a Christian, there is a word far more dangerous and dirty to come out of another Christian’s mouth. This word implies a selling of one’s soul to the devil, a leaving of one’s faith, and a turning back on all they once held dear.

Christians who proclaim such a word are often ostracized, shunned, and lifted up in most holy prayers for their salvation.

Can you guess the word?

It is… Deconstruction.

When a Christian talks about deconstructing their faith, the fellowship ends, the prayer requests begin, and the pleading for them not to walk away from the faith becomes the only topic of communication.

You can almost see the Christian mother hearing her son talk about deconstructing his faith and a fainting spell comes over her. While that might seem like an exaggeration, it is definitely how people react.

But, is that reaction founded? What does it mean to deconstruct one’s faith? Is there any Scripture passages about this? How should we respond to deconstruction?

DECONTRUCTION AND THE DICTIONARY

First, what does deconstruction even mean? According to the Cambridge English Dictionary, to deconstruct means, “to break something down into its separate parts in order to understand its meaning, especially when this is different from how it was previously understood.” The Oxford Learner’s Dictionary defines it as, ” to separate something into the parts from which it is made up and put them together again in a different way.”

From these two definitions, we can come to some conclusions:
1) Deconstructing something just means to break something into parts to understand those parts, 2) Deconstruction happens when a view that is previously held onto is challenged, and 3) Deconstruction has the goal to put the pieces back together.

To be clear… Deconstruction is different than destruction.

When talking to someone who is “deconstructing their faith,” it would be wise to see if these three qualifications are in their mind as they go through this process.

So what is this process? It is when a Christian’s previously held conviction/value/belief is challenged in some way. Then, the individual is forced to reconcile their faith and Scripture with whatever has crossed their path. Mentally, the building blocks of their faith begin to be taken apart or “deconstructed” for analysis. During this step, the lingering thought of reconstruction is usually in mind. How can faith be restored? How do the pieces fit together? These questions may seem simple, but to the individual they are a windstorm of worry and a famine of fear. Usually these storms come from the fact that they do not have anyone truly to turn to without a symphony of shunning or a strangulation of Scripture synched to suffocate such “sinful speculations.”

If we do not keep in mind the difference between destruction and deconstruction, we are condemned to a cacophony of cackling comments which only hurt the heavy-hearted.

dECONSTRUCTION AND SCRIPTURE

But, is this Biblical? The more pertinent question.

There are two very famous passages which show a deconstruction of faith that is praised and used as testimony.

The first is found in Acts 9:1-6. We find Paul on the road to Damascus. At this point in his life, Paul does have faith in God. He understands the Torah. He considers himself a good Jew and boasts about being a Pharisee of Pharisees. It is just about this Jesus Messiah that Paul wants gone so his traditional faith can keep him going. However, on the road, a new view of Jesus blinds him (literally). Paul is confronted with his previously held view of Jesus by Jesus himself. He is so humbled by the experience that he does not eat or drink. He only contemplates what happened (Acts 9:7-9). His faith in God takes a radical turn. He rejects his faith of the past and accepts Christ as Messiah and Lord (Acts 9:10-19). He does not fully destroy his previous faith. Instead, he deconstructs the pieces in order to fit the pieces handed to him. We can see this through all his writings. Paul quotes the Old Testament around 183 times! He does not just dump his “old faith.” Instead, he puts back the pieces he needs and chucks, as far as the east is from the west, the other pieces that keep him from following Jesus as God created him to do.

The second also involves a Biblical writer: Peter. In Acts 10:9-23, some Gentiles have come to bring Peter back to Cornelius (a Gentile as well) in order to hear about Jesus. However, a good Jew would have nothing to do with Gentiles (just like my stomach acid has nothing to do with onions). Yet, God paints Peter’s vision with a dream commanding him to eat unclean animals. After an argument with God, Peter realizes his previously held hatred toward Gentiles was ungodly. This dream deconstructed his view so he could reconstruct a faith more aligned with God’s heart.

There are many other Scriptural examples of an event changing someone’s faith in God that would be considered deconstruction by Christians today. The key was that none of them destroyed their faith. Their deconstruction led to a redemptive reconstruction as they figured out how to place the pieces God had given them.

We can conclude from Scripture that God does allow things in our life to challenge our faith in order to reconstruct it for his glory and his purpose in our life.

Deconstruction and the individual

So many are dealing with the issue of deconstruction. A life shattering event, passage, sermon, experience or something else cracks a traditionally held view of our faith. This can be experiencing a new church with a belief that is different than another church (i.e. the view of tongues and the gifts of the Spirit). It can also come from a life event or truth that reveals something about ourselves (i.e. a school shooting, a family tragedy, a struggle, etc.). Any of these things can cause someone to deconstruct their faith.

In most cases, those who are in a phase of deconstruction do not want to be there. I have been there and currently there. It feels like the beginning of the musical Into the Woods saying, “I wish” over and over again. We wish for many things, but we mainly wish for life to make sense, for life to become organized chaos, and for life to be stable like other Christians have it. We wish for what we think should be.

I was struck by a quote from The Little Mermaid (2023). Prince Eric’s butler, Grismby, tells him this:

“Don’t be held back by what you think should be. Think of only what is.”

So many of us who struggle with all the baggage that comes from deconstructing our faith that we feel the chains of what should be holding us back. Then in our despair we end up lamenting in song our own version of “Part of Your World.” But we forget to think about what is. Where do we find ourselves currently? What is the “is” God has given us to deal with?

Daydreaming about what should be only leads to more heartache. What is is. We must focus on that and work towards a redemptive reconstruction.

To those who have someone in your life who is in deconstruction, I have only one thing to ask of you: LEARN EMPATHY!

Understand the path they are walking. Stand by their side supporting them as they take each step. Don’t be one to continually drag them down to depths of depression, despair, and degradation. Work it out with them. Without empathy, there will only be more hurt, more condemnation, and more hatred which will continue to drive a stereotype of Christian hypocrisy across a culture which desperately needs to see true Christian love.

In Conclusion…

II Corinthians 5:7 urges us to live by faith; not by sight. Too often we measure our faith and the faith of another by what we can see. How well do I or another measure up to the sightly traditions we have constructed? What do I need to do in order to be in good standing with my Christian family, Church, or Christian friends? What do I need to avoid? This all begins to make our faith about being approved in the sight of others, and we only live by sight.

When we lay down the suffocating frustrations of what should be and focus on what is, we will begin to live by faith as we walk things out before God. Resting our faith in the decisions that give us the most approval of parents and friends will only have us chase a siren song sung by a deceptive sea witch. However, when we walk with what is, giving it to Jesus, we find our story begins to reveal the true person God designed us to be living out a faith that is reconstructed according to his redemption.