Deconstructing Faith
Deconstructing faith. It seems to be what people are doing a lot these days. Is it wrong? Is it dangerous?
Back when Hurricane Katrina ravaged New Orleans, I led a team of people to gut the homes that had significant water damage. The water ruined sheetrock, carpet, appliances. Everything. Nothing could be spared, no matter how good it looked. As a result, we ripped out everything, taking the homes back to their studs, and filling a stream of dumpsters.
I used to joke that I was great at de-construction. Con-struction wasn’t my forte. Thankfully, the experts followed us and rebuilt these homes for their owners.
Deconstructing Faith is Necessary
There’s a lesson for us here in the world of faith. Deconstructing faith is necessary. We don’t always get it right the first time around. Our humanity often gets in the way and we can easily get off the track of what God intended. We add to our faith what was never intended and remove what is essential.
And for that reason, it’s important to regularly take a hard look at what we believe to determine why we believe it, if we are living it, and if it’s doing us, or the world, any good. We need to take our faith “back to the studs,” deconstructing what shouldn’t be there.
I’ve recently been listening to a number of podcasts related to deconstructing faith. There’s “The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill,” looking at Mark Driscoll and what happened in Seattle. There’s Unfinished: Short Creek, where two reporters look at people from the Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints (Polygamous Mormons) who are desconstructing their faith. And finally, Heaven Bent, where the podcaster deconstructs her pentacostal faith by looking at both the Toronto Blessing and the Bethel School of Ministry in Redding, California. (see below for links to these podcasts). I identified with many of the thoughts and feelings expressed in these podcasts.
You can add my book, Broken Trust, to this group as it looks at the lives of ten people deconstructing faith that they found to be toxic. Deconstruction was important for these people to find freedom from their oppressive religion.
Deconstructing Faith and Reconstructing Faith
As much as I believe in the necessity of deconstructing faith, my concern is that, like me in New Orleans, most people are better at deconstructing faith than reconstructing faith. We find it easy to tear down and discard the rotten parts, only to walk away in disgust and disappointment: a classic case of throwing out the baby with the bathwater. Imagine if homeowners in New Orleans lived in their gutted homes and never rebuilt.
My question is: who is working at reconstructing their faith? That’s the hard part, but necessary if you want a "home" to live in. I feel sad for the many people who have abandoned their faith and are now rudderless in a tumultuous world.
If you are currently taking a second look at what you believe, I think that’s great. It’s healthy. But please consider how you might claim the good (if there is any) and rebuild your faith, this time with more care and wisdom. You might want to find a guide or two to show you the way, people who have been there and done a good job of it.
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