Deconstruction or Reformation?
The Danger of Deconstruction
One of my favourite YouTubers, Jamie Bambrick, recently posted a video on the danger of deconstuction of one’s faith (a link to the video is provided below), but first, let’s look at what the word actually means.
Cambridge Dictionary states that deconstruction is “the act of breaking something down into its separate parts in order to understand its meaning, especially when this is different from how it was previously understood”.
What is deconstruction in Christianity?
Wikipedia says: Deconstruction is a process of personal religious re-examination. People who deconstruct have described destabilizing feelings of anxiety, guilt, anger, confusion, and fear, as well as curiosity, awe, and liberation. As an open-ended process, the outcome of deconstruction is uncertain.
Jamie goes into a number of reasons why someone would go through the process of “deconstruction”, including shedding the religion of parents, enduring hypocrisy whilst growing up in church, or rejecting things such as man made rules relating to things like dress, make up and so on.
I’d probably add things like confusion due to differences between what is being taught at school, and in the church regarding creation, sexuality, gender roles and so on. Add to this the prevailing attitudes in society regarding sex before marriage, alcohol and drug use etc and you have a whole lot of things to challenge ones belief system.
If one’s beliefs are dictated by a pastor, priest, parent or other authority figure, then doubt and trouble will come.
Rebellion and questioning can be part of teenage, and young adult life. I remember growing up in the Anglican church as a boy and young teenager. While I had been baptised and confirmed, my faith at the time didn’t have a solid biblical base, so being a child of the ’60s, unfortunately when I discovered sex and drugs and rock ‘n roll, I was all in.
It wasn’t until I was 28 years old that my life finally began to get back on track. After I committed my life to Christ and was born again things changed in my life. Prior to this there were times of brokenness and confusion, rejection, broken relationships and a ruined career. It was almost like the whole decade between the time I was 18 and 28 was spent in one long drunken, drug induced stupor!
That’s part of the danger of deconstruction – you might not survive!
Of course, it’s not just from traditional churches that one cane fall into the trap of deconstruction and rebellion, but evangelical, reformed, charismatic and fundamentalist churches as well. And it’s not just education or societal pressures that can drive us into a state of confusion, but misunderstanding, hurt and mistreatment at church as well.
As a matter of fact, at one time when I was so confused about church life and certain teaching, that I literally called out to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob for help, and to lead me to truth. That’s when I rediscovered that HE is TRUTH!
Reformation: A Better Way!
Vocabulary.com defines reformation as “The act or process of changing a religious, political, or societal institution for the better is called a reformation.
When capitalized, the Reformation refers specifically to the Protestant Reformation in Europe, which was a religious change instigated in 1517 by Protestants who wished to reform the Catholic Church.”
Note that according to that definition the protestants wanted to reform the Roman Catholic church, that is, turf out what was wrong, and keep and build on what was true. I’m not sure that they would have foreseen what has happened since but the Church as we have it today is what it is, and we need to discern God’s truth from His word (the bible) by His Spirit and to walk in it.
Reformation As A Lifelong Walk Rather Than A One Off Event!
As I said earlier, I came to a point of crying out to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. This was due to the fact that I’d been in church leadership, and allowed myself to become tired and jaded. I was working full time, and my wife and I were raising a family of four daughters.
I neglected my relationship with the Lord, and it cost me dearly.
When division came, I walked away, rather than standing, and compromise came much more easily, and I realised the hard way that backsliding doesn’t happen suddenly, but by one slip at a time. That’s a symptom of compromise.
What Exactly Did I Deconstruct?
I have to be honest and say that the term “deconstruction” wasn’t really on my mind when I stopped going to Church. I still believed in God, and in Redemption through Christ. I was just really sick of church politics, and I guess a lot disillusioned with it all.
It was the second time that I had been through it. The first time was during the 1980s when there was a split in the first church that I called home. When the church split, largely over political issues, I had been lied to, and when I sought clarity I was told that I was too wounded to handle the full truth of what had happened.
To me though, what had happened was that the place I called my spiritual home, where I had experienced healing after years of rejection and hurt, had been destroyed. I somehow, and probably stupidly, believed that I could somehow maintain relationship with both the new and old leadership of the church, but that proved impossible.
I was accused of having stolen money, and committed fraud, along with the former pastor. It didn’t happen, but decades later there were still people who would cross the street in town rather than meet up with me.
The second time it happened was over a matter of doctrine, and a “prophet” who came preaching what I, and others, recognised as a new age doctrine. While I didn’t have a major bust up with the church, and still regard the pastor as a good friend, I’d had enough churchianity.
Churchinity happens when church life is at the centre of our lives instead of Jesus!
I Deconstructed My Churchianity!
I’m really careful in church now in the sense that I don’t seek a leadership role, although I do fulfil a ministry role by working with men, something that I have done since 1983 when I first came under the influence of the late Dr Ed Cole and his book “Maximized Manhood”. I’m also wary about making the church the centre of my spiritual or social life. The Lord Jesus Christ is the centre of my life.
My ministry also extends to the workplace. I’m in my 70s now, and believe that I am the closest thing to a pastor that a lot of my workmates are going to see. Some of them are of different faiths and racial groups, so I’m always looking for ways to present Christ to them. I guess it’s a long way from where I thought I was going to end up – I’d spent a lot of time praying about full time ministry and considering Bible College way back in the early eighties.
Reformation and Return Happens One Step At A Time!
If backsliding happens one slip at a time, then reformation happens one step at a time. In my case it came with crying out to God in my confusion. I wasn’t sleeping properly and had started having a glass of wine or shot of whiskey to help me sleep, except it didn’t.
I woke up one morning and the words from the chorus of the old hymn “Great Is Thy Faithfulness” were going through my mind.
“…all I have needed Thy Hand has provided, Great is Thy faithfulness Lord unto me…”
John, my closest friend in life (other than my wife) came and wept in front of me, and shared that he was concerned for my soul. It was time to return.
One Step At A Time
I started reading the Word of God twice daily, two chapters of the old and new testaments first thing of a morning, and last thing of a night. After many months I started praying about finding a church and the Lord led me to a Bible based church in town. Was it perfect? Well if it was, it isn’t now because I’m there.
The reformation process for me has been one of (at times) seemingly endless repentance, to God and to others, and forgiveness of others, as well as prayers for others who’d been hurt and fallen away to be restored.
I have learned that I don’t always have to be right, and that I don’t know everything. I have learned that while doctrines matter to whatever degree, that Christ came to give us life, and life more abundantly.
And finally, Jesus says “this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.” Jn 17:3 NKJV.
Below: Jamie Bambricks excellent video: