What is Christian De-construction and How Can You Avoid it?

Now and then, here and there, you will meet people who claim that they used to believe wholeheartedly in the Lord Jesus, were dedicated members of such and such a church, but have since renounced all of that. They have now realised that “Christianity is a scam, the Bible is not the word of God” and have, henceforth, discovered “better enlightenment” and have moved on to it. That is called Christian deconstruction. It is when an individual “de-constructs”, that means tears down all the Christian foundations and values they once embraced. As if that is not enough, they then start a de-evangelism campaign where they go around trying to persuade all of us that the Gospel of our salvation is, in fact, a dangerous system aimed to destroy every bit of our lives if not something worse. Long back, I used to spend hours and hours on a certain website which platformed individuals who called themselves “ex Christians”; citizens who gave testimonies of how they were believers indeed, until this and that happened and they began to question the very truths that had been part of their lives.

You may think lightly of this, but deconstruction is dangerous, even worse, it has potential to happen to anyone. You are not immune to wicked thoughts creeping into your mind and before you know it, all your beliefs crumble to rubble. My task this day is to give us a safeguard for this. We will begin with a few reasons why people deconstruct, so that you can try them in your life and use them as shields to keep your faith moving in the right direction. So what is it? Why do people suddenly question the Christian doctrine before they turn viciously against it?

A faulty Gospel foundation

This is where the question, “What was the reason you came to Jesus?” plays a huge role. Because you will realise that many people are told different things about Jesus. Some are told that coming to Jesus would make them happy and solve all their problems. Others suddenly become Christians sooner after life throws a few difficulties and yet there are still some who join the church out of family tradition, others to make associates and so forth. All these, apart from the real issue that Christianity and the Bible is about – salvation; forgiveness of sin. Therefore, once an individual misses this foundation (getting right with God), anything else they understand about Jesus is sinking sand. It doesn’t matter how dedicated they become, it’s only a matter of time before the reality of the condition of their souls comes to manifestation. Then they leave the faith they never were part of to begin with. It’s called false conversion.

A lesson for you and me; getting the right understanding of the Gospel message is critical.

Anti-Biblical Intellectualism

This has to do with the mind. Just to emphasise, the Christian faith is pro-thinking. What we believe is based on verifiable facts. We know that God exists and that He has spoken through His word. It’s not a leap in the dark – blind faith, so-called. Nonetheless, anti-biblical intellectualism goes further than that. It is when you convince yourself that Bible knowledge is not "high" enough. Apparently, there are other religious facts, better enlightenment/wisdom out there that we mere Christians know nothing about. It is when an individual elevates their so-called education, or sometimes when they overrate the capacity of their mind and these, become the authority of their decision making, over and above the riches of Scripture.

The lesson is: don’t ever come to the point where you have too high a view of your mind's capability. You will never, in a million years, outgrow the wisdom of Scripture with a mere university certificate. Come back, read the Word, humbly and prayerfully. And your faith will march on.

One more point on that, it’s okay to have questions about many things that we do not understand about the Christian doctrine. Yet it is an error to seek those answers from extra-biblical sources and worldly intelligences. Instead, consult Bible men; people who have invested much in studying that Book, they will– God helping them– give you answers to your doubts.

Finally, the message of the Cross is supposed to be foolishness when compared to the wisdom of this world. Hence, you can never prove the truth and relevance of the Christian Gospel by taking advice from the philosophers and debaters of this world (1 Cor 1:18-25). It's two worlds apart.

Life Crisis

As they say, “life happens.” You wake up in the morning and you are fired from work, or you lose your loved one, or you get diagnosed with a strange disease. Such things seriously attack the foundation of the faith of many...and they start to question the goodness of God, before they turn their backs, never to come back.

My only advice is, let us learn that Christ is enough; let’s find fulfilment in Him alone, not in the shifting shadows of our life experiences. More so, it is definitely unwise for you to turn vicious against the good Lord, based on someone else’s bad experience.

Excuse for sin

Believe this or not, but sin is the driving force behind a lot of decision-making. People choose to reject Christ just because His system interferes with their porn addiction or something like that. From my Bible, “And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil (Joh 3:19).

Therefore, next time you hear someone claim to have left the faith, try to find out if the real issue is not that they were doing something that goes against the Christian values.

No Church membership/discipleship.

God has a system to help us in our faith walk; Christian fellowship. When you regularly meet with fellow brethren, you glean something of value and strength. There is an element of mutual discipleship when God's people are gathered for worship. However, based on my own experience, the more I stay away from the church, the more I lose sight of the beauty of Christ. There can't be any positive outcome. Hence, many who have left the faith, could it be that it began when they stopped church attendance for some reason?

Lukewarm-ness

I am not really sure about this one, although there is still something in me that believes that being a lukewarm believer, to be neither for nor against, has negative effects on that person's life in the long run. Think about it: you claim to believe in Jesus, yet that Jesus does not excite you anyhow; he is just a casual part of your life somewhere in your heart. What then is to stop you from being swept away by the teachings of Joshua Maponga? What’s there to hold your faith when your child passes away? What’s to inspire you to do something as simple as opening your Bible? I think it’s important to never lose sight of that Christian enthusiasm in our hearts, it motivates us to constant prayers and regular study of His word.

Here is the final take on this: Every system has defectors and rebels, yet that does not mean that there is something wrong with that particular system. John writes, “Many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him (Joh 6:66). He further says, “They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us (1 Joh 2:19.) Here is a good warning for you and me, “Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end - Hebrews 3:12-14.

Sinothi Ncube

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