Ever considered “Deconstructing” your faith?

Faith Deconstructing has become the thing lately. From Joshua Harris (“I Kissed Dating Goodbye” fame) to Audrey Assad (Christian Music Artist who has toured with Chris Tomlin, Jars of Clay, Matt Maher) to Derek Webb (Cademon’s Call) to Marty Sampson (Hillsong Worship).

What is Christian Faith Deconstruction? Today it commonly refers to the process of a self proclaimed Christian questioning which leads to doubting which leads to rejecting the Gospel and the Christian faith.

Personally, I am ALL FOR Every Christian Deconstructing their faith. In fact, I think one of the big problems in the western church is that most people who identify as a Christian have never Deconstructed their faith.

But … Wait … My use of Christian Faith Deconstruction is different from the definition given above.

What I’m talking about is knowing exactly what you believe as a Believer/Christian. Have a deep understanding of why you believe what you believe. Knowing Who are you following and why.

I’m talking about getting down to the basic foundations of your faith. The few things you know without any doubt are true. The few things you would be willing to die for instead of renouncing. And being confident those things are true.

I’m talking about questioning everything. Is the Bible true? Is Jesus who He said He was? Is Jesus the promised Messiah? Did Jesus come back to life from the dead? How is a person made right with God — Saved? Did Jesus even live? How should I be living if I call myself a Christian — a Follower/Disciple of Jesus? How do I know all these are true or false?

And then being willing to spend the time to dig-in, research, read, study, learn, honestly evaluate what you learn, and draw your own conclusions.

If a person is truly wanting to know the truth than them embarking on the deconstruction process I’m talking about doesn’t worry me at all.

Why? Because God promises if you seek Him with all your heart you will find Him. If a person is seeking the truth with all their heart they can’t help but find Jesus and the Gospel. (Prov 8:17, Her 29:13, John 14:6).

Through this process of deconstruction a person comes out the other side a more committed disciple of Jesus. A disciple ready and willing to give up everything for Him. To suffer for Him. A person that can’t be swayed from being 100% sold-out to doing whatever the Holy Spirit tells you to do regardless the consequences.

To being willing to be raped (both men and women) by persecutors rather than deny Jesus. In fact, looking at the rape as an opportunity to offer your body as a living sacrifice for Jesus (as many are doing around the world where it is dangerous to be Christians. They view the possibility of rape by their persecutors exactly this way).

I firmly believe it is a lack of church goers and Christians in our culture being encouraged to go through the time consuming process of deconstructing their faith that we see the following …

1. When Christian leaders fall that people walk away from Jesus. People are disciples of celebrity Christian leaders and/or a specific church. But they are not a disciple of Jesus. They don’t know what they believe on their own. Only what they have been told by the Christian leader. When the leader falls it destroys their faith in what the leader taught.

2. Christians in our culture are not willing to suffer for the Jesus. We do everything we can to avoid suffering. We view suffering as a negative. As some sort of failure on our part.

3. Christians in our culture are not willing to give up everything for Jesus. We hold on so tightly to our lifestyle and things. We are so reluctant to GO and live among those who most likely will never have an opportunity to hear the Gospel before they die.

4 A western church that exhibits little of the power and powerful witness seen in Acts, the early church, and in the church that exists today in dangerous places to be a Believer.

Years ago my family found ourselves in a situation where we had no answers or explanation for what was happening to us. We were doing our best to follow God and do what we thought He wanted us to do and it was miserable. Absolutely miserable!

It was during that experience that I was driven to honestly deconstruct my faith and ask myself, “What do I believe and why? What am I sure is true?”

Through that process I settled on three things that I could be confident were true AND I knew Why they were true. It wasn’t because somebody else told me. It was because I had spent the time doing the research and study myself to know they were true.

1st: The Bible is true — all of it

2nd: Jesus is the Messiah

3rd: Jesus rose from the dead

After those three foundations I had no explanation for what was happening. But after spending hours and hours and hours researching and learning I knew without a doubt these three were true.

That left me with a decision. I could walk away from the Christian faith and our life would become easier quickly. But I would be walking away from what was true.

Since that time I have had to return to these three foundational truths and remind myself of them when it’s getting hard. Not just go through the list of the three foundational truths but go over in my head Why they are true. And then say to myself, “Brad, you can walk away from God and trying to obey Him and things will get much easier. But you are walking away from what’s true.”

Because of my Faith Deconstructing journey many years ago it has allowed me to take some risks for God that have resulted in making my family’s life more difficult. I could do that because I knew without a doubt those three foundational pillars are true. Because I knew they were true I knew Jesus Was Worth It!

I’m confident there will come at least one point in every Believer’s life when they have to justify Why they believe What they believe. They are not trying to justify it to another person. They are trying to justify it to themself. When that time comes and they are not able to justify it to themself … they are in trouble.

Hey, I’ve got a special going in my coaching program for July of 2023 …

It’s 6 Weeks of FREE Coaching: 6 Men (young, seasoned, or in-between) for 6 Weeks for 6 Hours of 1-On-1 coaching. After the 6 weeks, if they don’t think they got the value of their time investment I will give them $50 — No hassles, No hard feelings. Promise. It’s solely based on their evaluation.

So … If you know any men looking for help in getting from where they are to where they want to be in life …

Feel free to pass along my contact info:

dmcp365@gmail.com, 812–499–9144, direct message on FB or LinkedIn.

Would love to chat with them and see if we’re a fit.

Some people seem to think I’m a pretty nice guy — I won’t bite — that’s another promise.

Brad