When Deconstruction Builds a Stronger Faith 

What do you do if you discover your house has some issues? Some wood is rotten or there’s a crack in the foundation. The house you were proud of, that made you feel secure, that was an extension of who you are, isn’t quite what you thought it was. 

What do you do now? 

When that house is your faith, you deconstruct. 

As a pastor, I’ve increasingly had my own experiences with this over the past several years as I’ve talked with so many people about their faith-related questions. 

Here are some different definitions for you: 

• Deconstruction means abandoning all things Christian — becoming an agnostic or atheist. 
• Deconstruction means staying committed to Jesus but abandoning religious institutions and churches, or at least those that don’t live up to the teachings of Jesus as they see them. 
• Deconstruction means continuing in a life of devotion to Jesus and participation in the church while rejecting a lot of the related cultural and political issues.  

Here’s an even simpler definition, which seems consistent with how Jesus ministered to people:

Deconstruction is a spiritual journey during which a Christian examines his or her faith to release what’s contrary to God’s heart and embrace what’s true.  

Deconstructing With Jesus

To be clear, deconstruction done poorly can leave a wake of spiritual carnage. I have witnessed it personally. On the other hand, I have also seen that deconstruction done well can be spiritually beneficial. Not only do I think deconstruction can be positive; I’d offer that sometimes it’s necessary.  

You could even make the case that, at times, Jesus was helping people deconstruct their faith. 

For instance, in Matthew 5:43, Jesus says, “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy’” (NIV). Everyone listening would have thought, Yes, I have heard that. Not only have I heard it, I like it! And I live by it! If they’re nice, be nice back, but if they’re not, slit their chariot wheels when they’re not looking! Jesus continues in Matthew 5:44, “But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” 

Jesus was deconstructing their belief system. He was helping them see that what they believed was not true to God’s heart or his Kingdom’s values. In fact, five times in Matthew 5, Jesus says, “You have heard it said, but I say…” He was essentially saying, let’s tear down your incorrect beliefs so we can build new beliefs that are true. 

How Closely Do Your Beliefs Align With God’s Word?

Something powerful happens when we’re honest about our doubts, spiritual questions, and disappointments. God does something special when we take what’s hidden in the darkest part of our hearts and expose it to his light. 

We would be wise to find the courage to express and examine our beliefs to see if they truly line up with God’s Word. We may assume our beliefs all come from the Bible but that’s probably not as true as we think. Too often we subconsciously absorb our beliefs from other people or from our church or culture, and then assume they’re from the Bible. 

Even when we go straight to Scripture, we can’t help but read it through our own filters, such as: 

• Our family background and how we were raised. 
• Our current circumstances, challenges, opportunities, or trials. 
• Our personality and our biases. 
• The teachings of the church we grew up in or currently attend. 

So, while many of our beliefs about God are probably true and biblically accurate, because we’re flawed people who learn from flawed people, we’ve also picked up some flawed ideas along the way. 

4 Beliefs That Don’t Come From the Bible

For example, you may wrongly believe: 

“God will never give you anything you can’t handle.”

When you experience something in life you can’t handle, you feel like God hasn’t been true to his promise. But God never promised that!

This often gets confused with what Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 10:13, “[God] will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear.” He talks about temptation, not life circumstances. 

“If you name it, you can claim it. God will always give you anything you ask for!”

This is based on Bible verses but an incomplete and inaccurate understanding of them. For example, John 15:7 is one often used in this teaching, “If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.“

Besides the qualifying phrases of “if you remain in me and my words abide in you” the context of John 15 is Jesus’s teaching that we are the branches and God is the vine. Verse 5 is crucial: “Apart from me you can do nothing.” Focusing only on “ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you” is like hearing one sound bite out of an interview.

“As a Christian, you have to belong to this political party, which is God’s political party, and the people who belong to any other are not true Christians.”

The problem is that Jesus did not come to establish a political kingdom. And that all parties have policies and ideologies that are true to God’s heart and others that are antithetical to God’s heart.

In the days of Jesus’ ministry, there were essentially two “political parties” — the Pharisees and the Sadducees. Throughout the gospels, he showed no partiality toward either. Yet, to one curious Pharisee, Jesus did say in John 3:16-17, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” “Whoever believes” and “the world” is clearly his invitation to anyone in any party. 

“God wants you happy. He loves you and his greatest joy is your happiness.”

This sounds good! And it is true! But only in part. God does love you, which is why his highest purpose is not your happiness, but your holiness. And if your pursuit of happiness trips up your pursuit of holiness, then it’s not God’s will.

After his faith had been reconstructed, Peter wrote, “But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: ‘Be holy, because I am holy’” (1 Peter 1:15-16). 

What Do You Do When You Realize What You Believe Isn’t True?

You may have grown up in a church that twisted the Bible to support racism or the claim that bowling, movies, and pants on women are sinful. Then one day you wake up and realize everything you believe may not actually be biblical. Therefore, it may not actually be true. 

Or, worse, you don’t realize that it’s not biblical, but you do realize that it’s not true. And now, what do you do? Do you have to chuck your faith? Do you walk away from Jesus? 

No. 

You don’t. 

You deconstruct. You let go of what’s not true. 

You reconstruct. You hold on to what is true. 

Too often, instead of throwing out the bad and keeping the good, people throw everything away, even the parts that are true. Finally, what they’re left with is nothing. Or, sadly, they become toxic and bitter. Now they have to figure out how to navigate life without any real foundation or framework. 

At first it might feel freeing. You’re not confined to your old house anymore! My son-in-law James Meehan is one of the primary communicators to the young people in our church, and he helped my thinking for this article. James says it this way: “The empty spot where your ‘house’ used to be will make you feel empty on the inside too.” Why? Because instead of deciding to reconstruct your belief system by finding what is true and beautiful, you took a wrecking ball to it and lost the entire thing. 

But there is good news. 

Really good news. 

Jesus was a carpenter. 

And carpenters know how to build.  

Digging Deeper Into Doubt: Opportunities for Reflection

Rather than doubt being a wrecking ball that smashes everything, it can operate as one of those detectors used for measuring radon, carbon dioxide, or toxic mold. These devices indicate where the problems are so they can then be remediated. The troublesome areas might need to be torn out and rebuilt, but the solid, nontoxic parts of the structure remain intact. 

If you’re struggling to see doubt in a more positive light, just consider Peter, the disciple who may have doubted more than Thomas. One scene in particular in Matthew 14:13–33 illustrates the way Peter’s faith could go from fantastically buoyant to fearfully weighted by doubt. Jesus, after miraculously feeding more than five thousand people, sent the disciples ahead by boat as he dismissed the crowd. He then spent some time in prayer before catching up to them shortly before dawn. Only, Jesus caught up to them by walking on the water. 

Caught by Jesus

The disciples were terrified and cried out that they must be seeing a ghost. But Jesus reassured them, saying, “It is I. Don’t be afraid” (verse 27). Peter evidently wasn’t convinced. In spite of the fact that he had just witnessed the miracle of Jesus feeding the five thousand, he was not prepared to witness the miracle of Jesus walking on the water. So, rather than waiting to see what would happen, Peter blurted out, “Lord, if it’s you… tell me to come to you on the water.” To this, Jesus responded, “Come” (verses 28–29). 

We are not told how long it took for Peter to get out of the boat, but he eventually followed the Lord’s instruction and “walked on the water and came toward Jesus” (verse 29). Peter had faith that if Jesus could walk on water, then he could empower him to do so as well. Yet his faith quickly hit a snag: “When he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, ‘Lord, save me!’ Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. ‘You of little faith,’ he said, ‘why did you doubt?’” (verses 30–31). 

Perhaps the reality of what Peter was doing suddenly registered with him. When he saw the wind whipping up the water’s surface, his doubts distracted him. Peter became afraid, began to sink, and cried for Jesus to save him. Notice the sequence of what happened next: (1) Jesus “reached out his hand and caught him,” and then (2) Jesus said, “You of little faith . . . why did you doubt?”  

We might assume that Jesus was calling Peter out for allowing his doubts to pull him under. But in light of how quickly Jesus reached out to grab his disciple, this isn’t necessarily the case. Instead of tsk-tsking Peter for having doubts, what if Jesus was inviting Peter to consider what had just happened and use it to strengthen his faith? What if Jesus was reminding Peter of what he knew to be true — almost as if saying, “Don’t you remember who I am? Remember those times you’ve seen me do the impossible? Water into wine? Loaves and fishes to feed thousands? Restoring sight to the blind? You know me, Peter, or you wouldn’t have gotten out of the boat. You had faith enough to walk on water. So keep believing!” 

The next time you experience doubt, look for the hand of love to pull you up. 

View your doubt as Jesus’ invitation to experience a deeper faith. 

Questions for Reflection and Discussion

• When has your doubt felt more like a wrecking ball than a problem detector? Why were you tempted to stop with deconstruction rather than assess how to rebuild your faith? 
• What stands out for you in the scene with Jesus and Peter walking on the water? Why do you think it resonates so strongly with you? 
• When have you experienced spiritual growth only to sink suddenly when something caused you to doubt? What did you learn from that situation? 
• How will reconsidering doubt as an invitation to a deeper faith change the way you deconstruct your beliefs? What areas of your faith still need to be addressed based on the doubts that you have?

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Adapted from The Benefit of Doubt and The Benefit of Doubt Workbook by Craig Groeschel.

God can handle your difficult questions and use them to deepen your relationship with him.

At some point, almost all of us have had questions about Christianity and doubts about God. We’re afraid we might never find answers, yet we aren’t sure if we are ready to abandon our faith altogether.

Bestselling author and pastor Craig Groeschel has walked through the valley of doubt himself, and in The Benefit of Doubt, he shows us how asking questions, seeking answers, and wrestling with doubt can actually draw us closer to God.