Monday started with a deluge of much-needed rain here. I had planned to take GG (my dog) swimming. Over the weekend, when I mentioned my plans, my elderly neighbors and I remembered our mothers telling us that we had to wait one hour after eating before diving in. But some fact-checking resulted in the truth—that eating a reasonably sized meal won’t cause stomach cramps. However, overeating leads to lethargy, and it’s probably not a good idea to swim when we’re sleepy (duh). Other common medical myths include cracking the knuckles in your hand causes arthritis; holding a sneeze inside is dangerous, and going to sleep with a wet head will cause you to get a cold. False, false, false—every one of them. Determining the truth of any statement is a reasonable response in all areas of life, not just in politics. There are significant myths circulating in our world today and, unfortunately, in the Christian body. Many of them are not only wrong and false but very dangerous. So, fact-checking against biblical doctrine is essential. “The Christian church has been influenced by quite a few false movements over the years…some of the most dangerous false movements of our time [are]: Word-Faith [Prosperity Gospel], Church-Growth [Seeker-sensitive], Signs & Wonders [The Third Wave], New Apostolic Reformation [new apostles and prophets], Emergent Church [radical sensitivity to the culture], and Spiritual Formations Infiltration [new doctrinal meanings]. (1) This list doesn’t include the “He Gets Us” movement [an “affirmation Christ”], American Christian Nationalism, or Christian De-Conversion [rejection of traditional Christianity and its doctrines by “unconverting ”]. This last one, Christian “Deconversion” or “Deconstruction,” is particularly influential for our youth, as one leader in the movement was a celebrated, effective youth pastor for many years. Because Deconversion is so dangerous and in opposition to the gospel, I have decided to focus on it in today’s devotion.
God’s In Charge
I often say and hear other Christians say that we’re glad that God’s in charge of life events, not us, given our propensity for sin, wrong thinking, and frequently unreasonable emotional opinions. Why should it be any different, if not even more crucial, in Christian theology? Many of us go through spiritual crises at various times in our lives. However, if we have truly been reborn as those who belong to Christ—adopted in God’s family and made new creations—he will bring us back to the truth through the indwelling Holy Spirit. When God converts a person to Christianity, He doesn’t just change our religion—He awakens our dead souls, spirits, hearts, and minds to live lives found only in dependence upon Christ and forever. The gospel isn’t a truck that backs up to unload cargo. It is also not the cargo that gets used up and has to be refilled in order to work. When people try to undo what God has done, it often leads to dangerous consequences. People don’t save themselves, in the biblical sense, by adopting beliefs and then changing them, implying that the gospel served its purpose and is “finished .“Only God can save a person through the gospel of Jesus Christ, and what God does, he never undoes. God does not change his mind or reverse his works, which are always perfect and timely. God also doesn’t cancel our salvation—and thankfully, we can’t cancel the gospel. So deconversion is a complete myth.
An Influential Good Example
I appreciate my pastor’s reminder about Frances Schaeffer’s crisis of faith. He was a minister, theologian, author, and adult convert to Christianity. He started his faith walk by questioning whether Christianity was “real because of ‘the lack of love that characterized the movement — and himself.’ [Christians] had treated people with whom they disagreed unkindly. They had expended more energy attacking fellow Christians than advancing the kingdom against secularism and unbelief. They were zealous for theological precision, but not for obeying Jesus’s command to ‘love one another as I have loved you’ (John 15:12)…If so many zealous Christians were lacking the reality central to Christianity, is Christianity itself real? Thus, Schaeffer was plunged into darkness. In the spring of 1951, he decided to put into question the basics of the Christian faith and the sincerity of his beliefs. For over two months, he paced and thought. He had to know that Christianity was real, that…the gospel was true. As he put it, ‘Finally the sun came out. I saw that my earlier decision to step from agnosticism to Bible-believing Christianity was right.’ He experienced a spiritual renewal. He enjoyed God. He began to write poetry again. He was a free man. He was convinced of not only the truth of the gospel but its power. From then on, he tirelessly stressed the need to join love with truth.” (2) God allows and uses our proclivity toward popular trends to test our faith, which strengthens, not cancel it. What he cancels is a hopeless future through Christ. “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” (James 1:2-4)
Dangerous Worldly Philosophies
The Bible is clear about the consequences of adopting worldly philosophies. “See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority…you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.” (Colossians 2:8-10, 13-15) “The false teacher(s) in Colossae pose a very real threat to the church…[Paul’s] remarks are focused on the particular factional teaching being disseminated at Colossae…The fundamental problem with this philosophy is that it is not in accord with Jesus Christ and the gospel proclaimed by him and the apostle Paul. The Colossians have everything they need in Jesus Christ. Since they are forgiven of their sins by virtue of the cross of Christ and are already living a new life in him, they should not turn to anything or anyone else to ‘complete’ their spiritual well-being…in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily’…In this remarkable statement, Paul affirms that believers share in Christ’s power and authority over every rule and authority by virtue of their union with him.” (3) And we, like they, have and trust Christ’s ultimate, superior authority in its fullness.
The History of “Deconstruction”
“In the 1960s, a French philosopher named Jacques Derrida began to advocate for a postmodern philosophy of language and its relationship to our conceptions of meaning that he called ‘deconstruction’…For Derrida, there is no meaning outside the text of a philosopher’s written work—no absolute truth that the writer is shedding light on for the reader. There’s only the writer’s construct of meaning, of truth…[and] there is no absolute truth inside the philosopher’s text either… The motive behind Derrida’s strategy of [deconstruction] stems from his alarm over illegitimate appeals to authority and exercises of power…Over the decades since Derrida introduced his philosophy of deconstruction, the term has worked its way into the common vernacular where it now has come to generally mean ‘the critical dismantling of tradition and traditional modes of thought’…a kind of shorthand term that, in addition to critically questioning traditional ways of thinking, also implies a refusal to recognize as authorities those who see themselves (or are perceived to see themselves) as ones who ‘claim to speak from a privileged perspective’ about what truth is. In the Christian world, this translates to critically questioning traditional modes of Christian belief, and often refusing to recognize as authorities those perceived as occupying privileged Christian institutional positions who ‘supposedly speak for God.” (4)
But God…Doesn’t Cancel Believers
People cannot save themselves by adopting beliefs; only God can save a person, and what God does, he never undoes—God does not change his mind or reverse his works. “The foundation for spiritual growth is recognizing that it is God who began a good work in you and will bring it to completion…His faithfulness ensures that he will be with believers until Jesus returns (the day of Jesus Christ) They can have confidence that the God who has saved them will never let them go, and that they will inherit their eternal reward.” (5) “And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” (Philippians 1:6) “To declare one’s spiritual autonomy, one’s unshackling from Christianity’s ‘constraints’ and old-fashioned ideas about sin and morality, is simply to nod, along with Oprah and her vast tribe of suburban moms. To disown a God of limitations, boundaries, and wrath—in favor of a God who only wants to fund your ‘best life’ dreams and promote John Lennon–style ‘love” and good vibes’—to join the ranks of frat boys obsessed with Joe Rogan, ‘name it and claim it’s prosperity preachers, and the vast majority of bestselling authors in ‘religion, spirituality, and faith’ of the last 20 years. So before you file divorce papers from the Christianity of your youth, know that doing so is in no way countercultural. Like marital divorce, it’s thoroughly acceptable and common. I want to suggest that the far more radical—and truly countercultural choice isn’t to abandon Christian faith because it is maddening, difficult, and out of step with the contemporary… [trends]. The radical choice is to keep the faith.” (6) Christ and his apostles knew how dangerous the world’s philosophies were and are. John wrote, “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.” (1 John 2:15-17) We get the gospel right by investigating every new trend or idea—indeed, every sermon, comment, and commentary—fact-checking continually against Scripture’s truth about the gospel. “We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ.” (2 Corinthians 10:5) “De-conversion” isn’t any more true than “Becoming a Christian will solve all your problems;” or “We can share the gospel without words.” Let’s all do some internal fact-checking and stick to the gospel as it is written in Scripture by God and his apostles.
Related Scripture: John 12:31; Romans 6:3–11; 7:1-25; 1 Corinthians 2:6–8; Ephesians 6:12-16; James 4:4-7; 1 John 5:19-21.
Notes:
1. “False Movements/Teachings Within the Church,” Truth Ministry, https://www.4truthministry.org/false-movements/.
2. “The Faith Crisis of Francis Schaeffer,” Desiring God Ministries, https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/the-faith-crisis-of-francis-schaeffer
3. English Standard Version Study Bible Notes, Colossians 2:8-10, (digital edition), Crossway, 2008.
4. Desiring God Ministries, “What Does Deconstruction Even Mean?”, https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/what-does-deconstruction-even-mean.
5. ESV Study Bible Notes, Philippians 1:6, Ibid.
6. McCracken, Brett, “Deconversion Is Not as Countercultural as You Think,” The Gospel Coalition, https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/deconversion-not-countercultural/
June 13, 2024
Divine Wisdom for Daily Living by Joanne Colvin 