Thinking Out Loud with Alan Shlemon - Deconstructing Is Not Reforming Your Faith

Episode Date: May 10, 2023

Some Christians and many former Christians are promoting a trendy approach to doubting and questioning your faith called deconstruction. Is it the same as reforming your faith? Alan explains the one key element that distinguishes between the two.

Is deconstruction biblical? Is it really just the same as doubting and asking questions about your faith? Well, that's what I want to talk about in the latest episode of my podcast, Thinking Out Loud with Alan Schliemann. Now, I've had doubts about my faith, and I've talked to many of my friends who have also said to me they've had doubts about their faith at times, and I'm guessing that you've probably had doubts as well. And the reality is that no one is immune to wondering whether their convictions about Christianity are true, right? I mean, it just seems to be a common human experience, and one that I would argue is even acknowledged in Scripture. Recently, however, there's been this trendy new approach to doubting called deconstruction,

and it's being billed as this sort of, I don't know, honest and intellectual exercise of asking questions about your faith and jettisoning some of these previously held beliefs. Now, many advocates of deconstruction suggest that this process is simply about reforming your faith. And in fact, they even cite the Reformation's cry of Semper Reformanda, which is a Latin phrase which means always reforming. And these deconstructionists are claiming that their efforts are really no different from what, say, Martin Luther did during their Protestant Reformation, or what Jesus did when he rebutted the unbiblical elements of the Pharisees' faith. Now, there is a fatal flaw with deconstruction, in my opinion. And I think it should be disqualified, I mean, that is deconstruction, should be disqualified from being a viable option for

Christians because it is missing an essential component, and that component is the standard of Scripture. You see, absent from the definition of deconstruction is the requirement to examine and adjust your faith according to a biblical standard. And that's why, despite some deconstructionist insistence, deconstructing your faith is not the same as reforming your faith. You see, deconstruction is the process of rethinking your faith without requiring Scripture as a standard. By contrast, reforming is the process of correcting mistaken aspects of your faith by aligning them with Scripture. And so notice then the key element that distinguishes between the two. The standard of Scripture, right? That's the key. And that's because change,

absence of a standard, is not reforming, right? There's no direction. You're not moving towards a particular destination. Your movement can be in any direction, and it just turns out to be then change for the sake of change, but that's not reforming. If you want to reform something, well, then you're going to move it towards a standard. For example, if you're reforming employee behavior, well, then you're changing it towards the company's policy standards. behavior, well, then you're changing it towards the company's policy standards. Or another example, if you're reforming a society like Martin Luther King Jr. did, well, then you're moving it towards the standard of equality that is set in the United States founding documents. If you're reforming your morality, well, then it's towards a standard of perfect behavior. So in the same way, if you want to reform your faith,

then move it towards the standard of Scripture. Because without a standard, you'll be susceptible to following society's standards or maybe simply your own internal impulses. It's no surprise then that many evangelicals who deconstruct their faith and don't require scripture to be a standard for themselves find that their theology ends up drifting towards progressive Christianity, which is basically Christianity with views that are much more similar to society, or these people find themselves no longer identifying as a Christian. That's why claiming Martin Luther deconstructed his faith is so misleading. Because, yeah, he witnessed abuses in the church where doctrine had deviated from biblical teaching.

And his efforts were, though, directed at nudging Christian towards the standard of scripture. And likewise, Jesus didn't deconstruct. He saw man-made religious rituals and doctrines that had bloated the essence of the faith. And what he did was he challenged those who had deviated from biblical faith to return to the standard of Scripture. So therefore, if you begin to wonder about your faith, it's fine to ask questions, right? It's okay if you experience doubt. The next step, though, is not to pursue a path that is devoid of a biblical standard, right? That's deconstruction. What you should do is examine your faith to make sure it's biblical. Your path should always be guided by the Word of God, right? This is like, you know, Psalm 119, 105 talks about this, right? Or like in Acts 17,

105 talks about this, right? Or like in Acts 17, we should be like the Bereans who tested what they learned against, quote, the scriptures daily to see whether these things were so, end quote, right? That's how Acts talks about their attitude. And so deconstruction does not develop your faith. It destroys it. And often you end up with an unbiblical faith or no faith at all. And though it's true that these Christian reformers did say the Semper Reformanda, the Latin phrase to mean always reforming, it's true they did say that. But this quote is often taken out of context by deconstructionists. And the reason is, is because the guy who originally said this, and I'm going to get his name completely wrong, but it's pronounced, or I think it's pronounced something like Jodicus van Lodenstein. And this

guy was a key figure in the Dutch Reformation. And here's what he wrote. He said, yeah, Ecclesia Reformata, that's true. He did include that. But then he added, or he included also the following. He said, semper reformanda secundum verbi Dei, which means the church is reformed and always being reformed according to the word of God. So notice the key element. Reforming the faith is accomplished when it's done according to the Word of God. That's the standard. It was never about merely changing, but rather changing to line up your faith with the standard

of Scripture. So yes, we do want to be transformed, but not by conforming to the pattern of this world, but by the renewing of our minds with the dictates that God has laid out in His Word. That's our standard, the Word of God. And that's what we want to make sure we always do, is try to line up our faith, our convictions with the Word of God. Well, that's all I have for you today. If you enjoyed these short podcast episodes where I talk about apologetics and theology and sometimes these sort of cultural issues, be sure to rate or review my podcast on iTunes

or Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts. And thanks for listening. I look forward to thinking out loud with you next time. Thank you.