3 The Background to (Large-Scale) Deconstruction
Over the last century, a wave of secularization has swept over the western world. This process started much earlier already, especially during the Age of Enlightenment, but since WWII in Europe and about 1980 in North America, the predominant culture has become post-Christian. Tim Keller observes that, “While religion was broadly seen as a social good, or at least benign, increasing numbers of people now see the church as bad for people and a major obstacle to social progress. Traditional Christian beliefs about sexuality and gender are being viewed as dangerous and restrictive of people’s basic civil rights.” 1
Giving this secular environment, it should become obvious that God’s Word is seen as countercultural. In previous centuries, the church was keenly aware of its minority position and the secular opposition, but today most churches apparently seek to be ‘attractive’ and ‘culturally relevant’, which is thought to imply that we must be tolerant to be contemporary, not obviously different and countercultural.
Let’s look at some of the broad cultural trends that have attributed to the current situation.
1. Increased mobility
When we grew up in a strict-conservative church, most of us lived in ‘splendid isolation’. We had our own church, schools, newspaper, political party, Bible study groups, political and social clubs, choirs, etc. Since I was a teacher, my first jobs were also within this same group of people, which had its own distinct subculture. So, naturally we had outspoken bias against “all the others”, with sentiments of disdain as well as fear.
As the community of faith is exchanged for a totally different environment, all the earlier convictions and biases, that appeared self-evident had to be reconsidered and often reconstructed. Geert Mak writes about his father,2 a Christian Reformed pastor, who -after spending time in Japanese captivity in Thailand- was abhorred to read that one of the theology professors claimed that no one could enter Heaven by doing ‘good works’ apart from true faith in Jesus Christ. Although the Bible clearly teaches this, the pastor thought it presumptuous of the theology professors to know the will of God and inconceivable that wonderful Buddhist women, who shared their precious food and water with them dirty guys would not benefit from the grace of God and therefore be excluded from the bliss of Heaven.
Since about half a century ago, it became possible and affordable for most people to take their holidays abroad. This was one way in which the walls of isolation were breached as people got to know other friendly folk, often in a relaxed setting. And so, the whole population started the process of deconstruction.
2. Internet and Social Media
An even greater mobility is offered now through social media. If radio and T.V. brought secular thinking and living into the daily lives of Christians, eroding the traditional values over time, social media now allows (young) people to interact with the thoughts and convictions of peers from all kinds of backgrounds.
Some thirty years ago, a close relative asked me to record or copy the video “Dirty Dancing”.3 She had watched it with other girls from our church. Seeing the title, I was suspicious about the message of this video, so I watched a few short clips. I asked her what (she thought) the movie was about. She insisted it was just an innocent story. I shared with her my idea that the underlying message seemed to be that if you really like someone (of the other sex), you celebrate this ‘love’ by having sex together. To my surprise she agreed with my perception, but somehow, she had never considered this sinful or potentially corrosive to sexual purity as God would see it.
Today, anybody with critical questions, interested in exploring alternative views on church-related issues and feeling threatened discussing this with mature Christians in the church community can easily find kindred spirits in cyber space to share their deconstruction process. And so, they transfer to a more agreeable community.
3. The waning respect for authority
When we were young, most church members would prepare for Bible study by reading a devotional commentary by some pastor in our churches. So, when we would be discussing a passage or raising a question, often somebody would just read a few sentences from the church-approved study material, so that we all would know the answer. I thought this was very frustrating, as it killed a real discussion and discouraged us to do our own research with Bible and concordance. Nowadays, in most such meetings nobody should try to share the ideas of reliable scholars, for everybody must construct their own truth, sharing what they ‘feel” about the passage. Quite regularly, I would hear conversation stoppers, like, “You’re judging!’ or ‘I cannot imagine that God would make a problem about such things’.
As part of my personal Bible research, I often like to consult with the findings of the founders of the Gospel Coalition. These men are from different church backgrounds, yet they can effectively cooperate in studying and sharing biblical teaching, where they seek to submit to the apostolic teaching. Over a period of some twenty-five years, I have found their teachings almost always biblical, yet neither traditional nor liberal in approach. So, if I am addressing a related issue -either in conversation or in writing- I like to insert helpful quotes, with reference to the source. Yet, in recent years I have been criticized for doing so, as if quoting a theologian makes me see him or her as an infallible source or pope.
God, the Holy Spirit, has blessed the church with gifted people, men and women, for various tasks and roles, and we would be foolish not to value these. Everybody learns and gleans from other people, and it is good to keep track of our sources and to share these to help others. Yet, in the current postmodern world, there is no absolute truth and even church leaders sigh that, giving the multitude of personal interpretations and views, the Bible has become ‘a very difficult book’.4 What makes you think you have superior insight in the views you hold- regardless of your biblical references or the quality of your reasoning?
We have already started on the next cause:
4. the outworking of postmodern thought.
When I took my first hermeneutics class, the prof started with a simple sketch of what it involved. “There is an ancient author, embedded in his culture, writing a text… and now, here are you as modern reader, embedded in your culture. How do we interpret what his message means for us in today’s culture?” I was surprised, for -although I realized the author wrote in and for his culture, he did not write from that culture, but from the perspective of God, and his perspective was rarely on the same page as the culture of that time (not only the pagan culture, but often the culture of God’s people). In other words, the unique character of the Bible as God’s inspired Word appeared to have been shelved in this literary analysis. When I asked the professor where God was as author, he replied that that was coming later, but somehow, I never heard that part.
It was my introduction to the new way of interpreting the Bible. Observing a shift in ideas from Old Testament to New Testament (like, from accepted polygamy to monogamy as the only acceptable form of marriage), modern interpreters often argue for another, post-apostolic shift, as if it is our mandate to extrapolate from the apostolic teaching to see how that ought to be adapted to our (post)modern world. In this process, however, the apostolic teaching is no longer the real norm for us, today. Actually, we are then at great risk that today’s cultural (read: secular) ideals become the goals to which the apostolic teaching must be aiming.
This then becomes a powerful tool, like an interpretive crowbar. Finding some uncertainty about Paul’s teaching about head coverings for women, the conclusion is made that all Paul’s teachings are culturally colored and maybe rejected for us, today.
A few years ago, newspapers reported that scientists found that drinking wine increased the chance of getting cancer. A colleague and brother explained to me that here was another example how we ought to be careful in taking the apostolic advice too seriously, for if Paul had known ‘these facts’ then, he would not have recommended Timothy to drink some wine. Therefore, if Paul had seen how today’s gay men can live decently and faithfully together, he certainly would not have rejected or condemned this. Some extreme forms of postmodern thinking are now found in critical theory and the pressure for us to be woke. 5
5. You become what you consume
Paul warns the church in the worldly city of Rome not to conform their thinking and living according to secular society, but to have these transformed by the Spirit of God.6 Yet, the only way to do that is to be more informed by God’s Word and Spirit than by the talk and walk of the world that does not reckon with its Creator and Provider. Perhaps, we ought to do this exercise: For a few weeks, record all the time we are tuned in to secular opinions, whether blatantly or subtly expressed, from colleagues, friends, family, and neighbors, through radio, TV, newspapers, and Internet and do the same for the time we are exposed to Bible reading, godly sermons, Christian websites, like Desiring God or The Gospel Coalition. I would dare suggest that most Christians or ‘Christians’ today are far more exposed to godless ideas and opinions than to godly instruction. So, over time we can expect the erosion of biblical convictions and opinions. And, when we then hear someone argue that Peter or Paul thought differently, we might shrug our shoulders and bemoan the ‘fact’ that some people are not with the times.
6. My people perish for a lack of knowledge
When we follow modern western thinking, convinced that all slavery is always bad, and then see how Paul and Timothy volunteered to be slaves of Christ, we shudder. If we have been convinced that men and women are at all times interchangeable, we revolt when the apostolic teaching insists that women may not be elders or preachers in the church. When we realize the brutality of stoning someone to death, we protest when we read how often the Old Testament demands that someone be stoned to death.
Then, the God who revealed Himself in Scripture cannot escape our judgment, for then we are convinced we are more loving, more righteous, and more merciful than God. Or, we conclude that the Bible is not really the God’s reliable self-revelation in which he effectively communicated his character and will to the church of all times and places.
Before we get to this stage of deconstruction, we had better study the Old Testament, like the book of Exodus. Time and again, God’s people accused God of being too cruel or too demanding, until God showed them His, (the True) perspective of the situation.
1. Introduction to ‘How to Reach the West Again’.
2. Geert Mak, De Eeuw van Mijn Vader (Amstel Uitgevers, 2005), p. 466
4. 2 Peter 3: 16 – Paul’s letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction.
6. Romans 12: Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
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