Please Lord, protect our family
A dismantled faith. A departed faith. A deconstructed faith.
What can you do when deconstruction hits close to home?
• Your teenage son or daughter who made a childhood profession of faith in Christ, now moving away from that faith
• Young adults once fervent in pursuit of Christ, now disaffected, wondering, doubting, departing
• Much-loved friends who ghost you, silently departing not only from a relationship with you and your church but from any occasion with those who follow Christ
• Spiritual leaders who abandon their belief in Christ
The deconstruction I’m referring to is not the constructive dismantling of the historic, orthodox (regular!) Christian faith. Analyzing the application of Scripture to contemporary life is essential.
At times our application of Scripture has been faulty, out of balance . . . wrong. May the days be long gone when a genuine Christian is identified almost exclusively by a list of dos and a much longer list of don’ts that are not in the Bible.
Yes, critically think about and properly apply Scripture to this day’s moment. But the deconstruction I’m referring to means gradually moving away from faith in Christ and may involve a wholesale redefinition of gospel truths, Biblical terms, and what it means to follow Christ. Those who are deconstructing, then, accommodate truth to life, bending personal belief systems to personal desires or practices.
- You have reached the end of this article preview. This article was published in the Winter 2023 Baptist Bulletin. Subscribe to the Baptist Bulletin or purchase a gift subscription. If you already subscribe to the print edition, sign up for free digital access.
David E. Strope is interim national representative of the GARBC. He was previously a pastor for 45 years.
