Apologetics: Debunking Deconstruction – What is Deconstruction?

Now that we’ve established why the Bible is reliable, it’s time to start debunking the reasons for deconstruction, which means we have to define it first. I had originally thought about doing this post before talking about the Bible’s reliability but felt that this fit the stream of thought better. So, what is deconstruction and why should Christians and society at large be worried about it?

To define deconstruction, we need to go all the way back to Genesis to the first person to deconstruct, Eve. Deconstruction basically revolves around false assumptions of God’s character. When the snake said to Eve, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” (Genesis 3:1), he was planting the seeds of deconstruction as he further misconstrued God’s words before making his sales pitch, which Adam and Eve took and while they didn’t drop dead, they killed humanity spiritually because sin was introduced, separating us from God.

From this, the Christian can then define deconstruction as such: a breaking away from Christianity (or a form of Christianity) because of a misconstruction of who God is for a variety of reasons.

Since Eve, there have been many deconstructors, with a notable example being Demas, who deserted the apostle Paul for the world. However, in more recent times, deconstruction has seemingly become the hip new thing, especially in the years following 2016, when Donald Trump became president for the first time. Hashtags such as #exvangelical and #deconstruction have become quite popular, racking up millions of views and posts. But what are these people really deconstructing from? Is it actually Christianity that they’re breaking away from or something else?

To answer these questions, you have to understand that many of these people aren’t breaking away from true, biblical Christianity. Many of them deconstruct as a way of coping with past trauma. Perhaps they were victims of sexual harassment or assault within the church. Maybe they were bullied. Maybe they went through a church split and saw so-called Christians doing horrible things. If any of these things happen, what they often do is see it as a representation of who God is, not listening to who the Bible says God is. They can’t distinguish between the sinful people around them and God, so they leave. Other reasons why they might leave is political views or just not wanting to try to live the Christian lifestyle anymore.

This is all concerning for Christians and for society at large for two reasons. First, all of this is ultimately a result of bad discipleship in the church. When churches don’t teach the Bible as it should be taught, instead making it fluffy to get butts in seats, spending more time perfecting their worship service than reading the Bible, it becomes easy to pin your problems on God because you don’t actually know who He is. If this isn’t fixed, the problem is going to get worse.

Secondly, it’s concerning for society at large because when you move away from Christianity, you also move away from morality because there is no divine law giver. All of a sudden, morality is what you or your government wants it to be. Truth is now relative, not subjective. If I think that I’m a bird, that’s my truth and you can’t say otherwise. When there is no objective truth, there can be no objective morals because morality defines laws which enforce truth. For example, to Jeffery Dahmer, I’m sure that it was his truth that humans were delicious with a bit of ketchup and should be eaten. However, because Christian morality teaches that human life is sacred, not only is murder illegal, but so is cannibalism, which is why Dahmer got 15 consecutive life sentences. As people move away from Christian morality, society moves further into a dog-eat-dog world where if the person with more resources and power says something is true, you better believe that thing is true against unless you want to be punished. We’ve seen this time and time again, especially in atheist countries like North Korea and the former USSR. If we do not return to Christianity and a Christian understanding of the world, we are royally screwed.

Until next time,

M.J.