What Are the Four Meanings of “Deconstruction”

Like so many other words in the English language, the word “deconstruction” means different things to different people. 

1. A Rejection of God

There are many who have turned away from a traditional Christian worldview, rejecting God, Christ, the church, and the Bible. For them, deconstruction means secularism to the point of being agnostic or, worst case, atheistic.

2. A Rejection of the Monotheistic Christian God

There are those who have broadened (deconstructed) their view of religion beyond Christianity, to the view that there are multiple paths to an eternal paradise just as there are perhaps multiple gods (ex. Pantheism). 

3. A Rejection of the Church

There are others who see the traditional church as an evil institution but have kept their faith in God and Jesus Christ. Often they have had one or multiple bad experiences within a group of believers (church) and have fallen out of fellowship. For this group, deconstruction is a focus on denigrating the Christian church. For some, their bad experiences are valid. But most miss the reality that church attendees are simply sinners gathering together for the worship of God. To reject the church is a convienent way to justify and continue to engage in their chosen behavior and beliefs which fall outside of traditional Christian theology.

God established the Biblical Christian church (Acts 20:28, Eph. 2:20-22, Matt. 16:18, etc.) as a point of worship, fellowship, and accountability under the process of Christian sanctification. Some have drifted to more liberal churches, while others have deconstructed into a more isolated religious existence, for example, seeking out social media platforms that reinforce their newfound theology.

4. A Rejection of the Bible

Typically, rejecting the Biblical Christian church has initiated fault lines in the deconstructionist’s understanding of the Bible since God, documented in His word, clearly established the church (note verses above). The Bible speaks to behaviors and commands that run counter to today’s secular culture and so, if one is to “fit in”, they have to either reinterpret or reject the Bible entirely as a source of truth.

Is there Reconstruction

Many deconstructionists argue that once they land at a place they feel comfortable (rejection of God, the church, the Bible or any combination thereof) they desire to reconstruct. In reality, reconstruction, if it could even be defined, is basically gaining comfort in the place they have theologically landed by associating with others traveling on the same destructive path. 

Summary

Deconstruction has as its primary objective the reconciliation of one’s personal views with their changing religious beliefs. As one becomes more comfortable rejecting God’s word, deconstruction begins to take on different forms and degrees of disconnection from a traditional Biblical Christian worldview. Ultimately, each step in the process draws one farther and farther away from the God of the Bible. 

“All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.” (2 Tim. 3:16-17)

“For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” (Hebrews 4:12)