BP139
Over the months, Designer Therapy for Life has discussed topics such as world view, living in the current culture, and deconstructionism. The topic of deconstructionism came up at a conference I am at this week and, since it is fresh on my mind, I decided to review this topic briefly today through some quick points. I want to credit Stefan Wilson at Christ Church in Gilbert, AZ, for inspiring and contributing to this post.
First, what is it? Formal deconstructionism is the systematic criticism of traditional structures. This criticism may not necessarily be bad as it may be a tool whereby believers in Jesus examine their faith to remove religious baggage such as shame that does not come from God (that can produce an unnecessary burden in our souls like anxiety and obsessive thinking) and an unhealthy fear of God when we sin that leads us to keep Him at arm’s length.
It is healthy to examine one’s faith system to identify and deconstruct these types of unhealthy elements that only distance us from a God who wants us to draw near to Him.
Deconstructionism begins to turn dangerous when we couple it with a cultural postmodernism that is skeptical of all truth claims. Postmodernism brings with it a view of the self that goes beyond healthy criticism/examination/reevaluation of traditional structures like faith and ends up rejecting them in toto.
The authentic self as viewed by postmodernism defines itself from within instead of looking to something or Someone (God) outside of itself to define it. I decide who I am. What I feel and declare to be true subjectively overrides outside objective truth. God and science expressed in biology do not tell me who I am or what I should be or do. I am the god who from my (fallen and sinful) mind declares what reality is for me. I create my own version of “truth”.
Postmodernism also advances the concept of the autonomous self that is “totally free to be me.” Any truth claim even from the authority of Scripture that restricts my freedom of choice must be deconstructed, torn down, toppled. The greatest good is just to be me as determined by my personal authority. I not only get to choose what I will do as an autonomous self. I am free to choose who I am as an overall identity. God does not define me.
As one can see, the tool of deconstructionism wielded by the authentic and free self will subtly or actively oppose the bedrock tenet of the Christian faith that an all-powerful, all loving Creator-God designed and made us and gave us an accurate and authoritative instruction book for how to operate in this world. Instead of reading and believing the manufacturer’s manual, we throw it away and then we decide what is true about us.
Objective truth is replaced by subjective opinion.
If we want to put diesel fuel in the unleaded gas tank of our beings, we will do so at whatever cost to us. If we want to declare ourselves vehicles that can drive through four-foot-deep water, we will do so at any cost to the engines God has placed within us. We will do what we choose because once God and His owner’s manual is removed from the picture, we are the final arbiters of who we are and what we are to do with our lives.
The culture I am living in and the decisions flowing from my passions and darkened mind are the lens through which I will define truth and live out my life. Anything that disagrees with me is automatically wrong and must be rejected. Here we find ourselves back at the those familiar words of Proverbs 29:18 and Judges 21:25 that say, “Where there is no prophetic vision, people cast off restraint,” and, “In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.”
Once we deconstruct God and the authority of His Word, making up our own ‘truth’ as we go, we are a people who operate on personal opinion instead of objective truth. Now anything goes. Maybe worst of all, whoever is in power such as in the government has the power to define ‘truth’ and dictate it through the bills and laws they ram through the House and Senate.
Where there is no prophet or godly king to teach us God’s moral standards flowing out of His perfect character, we are in trouble.
The angle I want to take as I close out this post is to look at what we lose if we deconstruct our faith and view ourselves, God, and others through the lens of postmodernism. Maybe said better, more positively, what good do we turn our backs on if we make our subjective feelings, personal freedom, and even our distaste for limitations, the authority in our lives instead of the High and Holy God who inhabits eternity?
If we surrender (probably a bad word for those who exalt personal feelings and the freedom to choose whatever they want) to, follow, and obey the eternal God of the universe who is omnipotent, omniscient, eternal, loving and kind, we gain the following:
- The peace that comes from knowing that the kindest and most powerful Being in the universe is in charge even when things happen in this world that cause us to weep and groan.
- The groundedness that flows from trusting God’s book to direct our steps and teach us what is true even if it goes against our authentic and liberated self. Ephesians 4:17ff says, “Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. But that is not the way you learned Christ!–assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.”
- The unconditional love that the Spirit cultivates in us as we walk by faith in God instead of relying on our extremely limited and conditional human love that often does not rise above tolerance.
- The “Jehoshaphat confidence”, namely, the ability no matter what is going on in us or around us to say with King J, “We don’t know what to do, but our eyes are on you.” God is our strong and unchanging anchor. We do not look for hope and comfort in our circumstances, our strength, or the opinions of the culture.
- A manual/love letter inspired by and given to us by God, a reliable source of truth we can daily turn to for moral guidance, spiritual sustenance, instruction on how to abide in Him, and a reminder in every verse of His presence with us. We are not alone in this world because His Spirit lives in the Word and in our hearts to counsel and teach us.
- The comforting awareness of knowing where we came from and where we are going. We are not accidents in the universe but are beings created by God that carry within us the imago Dei, and God will not allow the people He has created to navigate this world alone. He sent His Son for us so that those who believe in Him will be reconciled to the Father and have the promise of one day going home to live with God for an eternity.
- The fact that we don’t have to guess at what is normal and abnormal, healthy and unhealthy, light and darkness, right and wrong, truth and opinion. We have His Word and His Spirit to show us what is true, good, and right. We don’t rely on our opinions but look to the inspired Word of God.
- A clear explanation concerning why humans are capable of great evil and also the truth about how they can grow by God’s grace into who they were created to be.
- Related to the point above, a divine Being who tells us what our identity is instead of relying on our subjective visceral feeling to know who we are. As I have often said, “I may be a nut, but at least (in Jesus) “I’m screwed onto the right bolt.” He is our true north, our godly positioning system, our source of our true identity since He designed and made us.
- Already alluded to above but worth repeating, namely, an assurance that we not only come from God, but we will also go home to be with Him one day. We will not die and return to the dust forever. God’s Word tells us a great truth: “I tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality” 1 Corinthians 15:50ff.
- The experience of abiding with Jesus and knowing His Presence every minute of every day until you leave this earth. “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full” ~ John 15:9ff.
- Divine power to live life. “For this reason, I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being” ~ Ephesians 3:14ff.
- A joy that abides deep within us even in the darkest valleys when all human hope and happiness has long departed us. “Though you have not seen Him, you love Him. Though you do not now see Him, you believe in Him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls” ~ 1 Peter 1:8ff.
In summary, there are many benefits that accrue as we pursue God’s truth with all our hearts instead of deconstructing the truth of God’s Word and relying on our own opinions and subjective feelings. I have named but a few of the benefits here.
You get the point: We all have a choice to make. Will we see reality through the lens of the current culture and our fallen minds and passions or will we see the world through His eyes, not ours. Will we choose to walk by faith or walk by sight?
Always be aware of Satan’s lies that call you away from God toward “truthiness” and darkness.
It’s okay to doubt. Just be sure to run toward God and His people to work through your doubt instead of turning to the world that will only help you solidify your doubt.
Do remember that you are in a battle every day you live in this world. There is a war raging for your eternal soul, mind, and affections every minute. Your heart is a battleground where truth will be clutched tightly or released and replaced by the opposite of truth. What will you choose?
“Thus says the Lord: ‘Stand by the roads and look, and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is; and walk in it, and find rest for your souls. But they said, ‘We will not walk in it'” ~ Jeremiah 6:16
Proverbs 4:18ff says, “But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn, which shines brighter and brighter until full day. . . . My son, be attentive to my words; incline your ear to my sayings. Let them not escape from your sight; keep them within your heart. For they are life to those who find them, and healing to all their flesh. Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life. Put away from you crooked speech and put devious talk far from you. Let your eyes look directly forward, and your gaze be straight before you. Ponder the path of your feet; then all your ways will be sure. Do not swerve to the right of to the left; turn your foot away from evil.”
