Why Are So Many Christians Deconstructing Their Faith?

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What happens when a Christian begins questioning everything they once believed?

Is questioning your faith always a bad thing?

Does asking difficult questions mean you’re losing your faith?

Or can there come a point when questioning becomes something more—when we begin reshaping Christianity around what we are willing to believe?

Some time ago, I wrote a post, “4 Reasons Christians Lose Their Faith“, a post that caused a lively discussion in the comments section.

What is deconstruction?

Deconstruction occurs when a person reexamines the religious beliefs they were raised with and begins to dismantle them, many times completely abandoning that faith.

When discussing deconstruction, we must realize a couple of key differences.

Deconstruction isn’t the same as detangling, or untangling.

Many Christians have “detangled” or “untangled” the faith they were raised with in an effort to separate extra-biblical or man-made doctrines from actual biblical doctrine.

Similarly, deconstruction is not the same as questioning.

Many people will question beliefs they were raised with in an effort to wrestle through those questions to find biblical answers.

Some questions may be:

• Why does God allow suffering?
• How do I understand difficult passages of Scripture?
• Why does God judge sin?
• How should Christians understand hell?
• Why do faithful Christians disagree about certain issues?

God is not intimidated by our questions. Quite the contrary, He invites our questions because He wants us to know why we believe what we believe and where we can find the answers to those questions in His Word.

The distinction is:

Healthy questioning asks, “What is true?”

Deconstruction can become, “What do I want to be true?”

The problem isn’t that Christians have questions

Christianity is not afraid of honest questions.

Scripture is filled with people who questioned God. The Psalms contain questions. Job asked difficult questions. The disciples asked Jesus questions they didn’t understand.

Faith does not require us to pretend that difficult things aren’t difficult.

But there is a difference between bringing our questions to God and putting God on trial before our questions.

There is a difference between allowing Scripture to challenge our understanding and deciding that Scripture must change whenever it challenges our desires.

Who gets the final authority?

One of the most important questions in deconstruction isn’t simply, “What do I believe?”

It’s this:

Who has the authority to decide what is true?

If Scripture is God’s Word, then I must allow Scripture to correct me—even when I don’t like what it says.

But if I become the final authority over Scripture, then I can simply dismiss whatever challenges my beliefs.

In Isaiah 66:4, God begins by asking His people, “Where do you plan to build my house and how do you plan to do it?”

He goes on to say, “I’m so huge that the seat of my throne is in heaven and the floor of my throne room is on earth. How do you suppose you can impress me by building me a home with things that I, myself, created?”

He is already announcing that there will be a day when His home will be in the hearts of mankind.

He goes on to say, “But on this one will I look: On him who is poor and of a contrite spirit, and who trembles at my Word.” Isaiah 66:2

We see similar statements about being poor in spirit and of a contrite heart in the Psalms and in Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount.

But then he turns and gives a stern warning in Isaiah 66:3 to those who are not poor in spirit, who do not have a contrite heart, and who do not tremble at His Word.

When we create God in our own image

However, there are those who want to dilute God’s righteousness and holiness by questioning how a loving God could send people to hell.

They excuse large portions of the Bible by referring to them as allegorical and cultural; they say that the Bible contains God’s Word, but couldn’t possibly be God’s Word.

They claim that because man penned God’s Word, their human nature polluted God’s Word, so it’s not completely without error.

There are many ways Christians have found to excuse away the inerrancy of God’s Word, thereby releasing them from having to keep all of the commands of Scripture.

In their refusal to submit to God as supreme, in their rebellion against His complete Lordship, they have crafted a permissive god in their own likeness.

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man…Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves, who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.

Romans 1:20-25

God Gives Them Over

These people still engage in spiritual actions, but their hearts are arrogant and rebellious, and they have no fear of God in them.

And God says, “So will I choose their delusions, and bring their fears on them; because, when I called, no one answered, when I spoke they did not hear; but they did evil before My eyes, and chose that in which I do not delight.” Isaiah 66:4

He says that when they come before His altar to bring a sacrifice, they behave without reverence and sincerity; and even do so in pagan ways, and actually delight in their sin.

So, He had no choice but to give them up to their delusions. Paul talks about this too, in 2 Thessalonians 2.

The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

2 Thessalonians 2:9-12

Dear sisters, we must have a love for the truth. If we don’t love the truth – God’s Word being the source of all truth – God will have no choice but to give us over to strong delusion, that we should believe the lie.

And what happens when we are given over to strong delusion?

We will be condemned and perish.

What we see and read about in these final chapters in Isaiah is a warning of God’s righteous judgement, His promise of heaven, and the execution of His judgement.

For behold, the Lord will come with fire And with His chariots, like a whirlwind, to render His anger with fury, and His rebuke with flames of fire. For behold, the Lord will come with fire and with His chariots, like a whirlwind, to render His anger with fury, and His rebuke with flames of fire.

‘For as the new heavens and the new earth which I will make shall remain before Me’, says the Lord, ‘So shall your descendants and your name remain. And it shall come to pass that from one New Moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, all flesh shall come to worship before Me,’ says the Lord. ‘And they shall go forth and look upon the corpses of the men who have transgressed against Me. For their worm does not die, and their fire is not quenched. They shall be an abhorrence to all flesh.’

Isaiah 66:15-16, 22-24

What happens when we can’t reconcile God’s love with His holiness?

One of the questions frequently raised in conversations about deconstruction is: How could a loving God send anyone to hell?

That’s a serious question. And Scripture doesn’t avoid it.

But we have to be careful about the conclusion we draw from it.

If we begin with our own definition of love and then judge God’s character by that definition, we have already made ourselves the final authority.

Hell is real. Matthew 25:41-45, Mark 9:44, Luke 12:4-5, Revelation 14:11

But heaven is also real. And God’s desire is for all mankind to live with Him eternally in heaven. But that desire does not overshadow His holiness and justice.

God’s love does not cancel His holiness.
God’s mercy does not cancel His justice.
God’s patience does not cancel His judgment.

His desire for us to live with Him in Paradise does not tempt Him to compromise His Word.

His holiness and righteousness are as pure as His love, and they demand that same purity in us. A purity that is only attained by recognizing our own inability to attain that purity on our own.

We must humble ourselves with a contrite heart, acknowledging our own destitute spirit, allowing the blood of Jesus to cleanse us, and submitting ourselves to the complete Lordship of God in our lives.

When we do this, when we refuse to form a likeness of God in our own image, but instead submit to the God we see in the Scriptures, we will have our names written in the Book of Life and enjoy an eternity in Heaven with Him!

What if I’m struggling with my faith?

Perhaps you’re reading this and you’re not sure where you stand.

Maybe you still believe in Jesus, but you have questions.

Maybe something you’ve been taught no longer makes sense to you.

Maybe you’re angry with God.

Maybe you’ve encountered hypocrisy in the church and don’t know what to do with it.

Maybe you’ve opened your Bible and found yourself wrestling with things you don’t understand.

Please don’t be afraid of honest questions.

Bring them to Jesus.

Bring them to Scripture.

Bring them to mature believers who love both you and God’s truth.

Don’t deconstruct your faith. Deepen it.

If your faith is being challenged, don’t be afraid.

Go deeper.

Open your Bible.

Ask hard questions.

Pray.

Seek wise counsel.

Study.

Wrestle with the difficult passages.

And then allow God—not your feelings, your culture, your fears, or your desires—to have the final word.

Because the goal of Christianity isn’t to construct a God who agrees with us.

The goal is to know the God who has revealed Himself to us.

We don’t have to understand everything before we trust Him.

But we do need to decide who gets to define truth.

When your faith is shaken, don’t walk away from Jesus. Walk closer.