Introduction and questions by Sam Rohrer
Answers by Renton Rathbun
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Today’s topic is a critical theme occurring increasingly across America. And one which has developed into a near fad in which young people are questioning, dismantling, and reevaluating deeply held religious beliefs. It has led to the near complete separation of generations. Estrangement of children and grandchildren from their parents is literally now termed divorcing of one’s parents: a conscious decision to distance oneself from family members due to ideological, theological, or emotional conflicts. Perhaps you’re aware of this, perhaps not.
This movement has been termed “deconstruction.” All over the US, young people are deconstructing their faith and walking away from what they have been raised to believe. We won’t be able to exhaust this topic in this article, but we want to think about what we can do to help the next generation stay faithful to the Lord. And while deconstruction is not new nor is it confined to only teens and young adults, its popularity among the youngest is recent. Let’s start with the definition of deconstruction.
What is deconstruction?
To begin with, what we want to make sure everyone understands is, and this is a common misconception, questions are actually never neutral. Any question that anyone asks is based on assumptions, beliefs, and values, which actually determine the question itself. So merely examining the faith is asking questions within the given system of God’s Word in which one’s beliefs, values, and assumptions are laid out. And the anticipation of the answer is within the authority of God’s Word.
Now, deconstruction is not merely having questions about your faith or asking questions about your faith. Deconstruction is the acceptance of the assumptions, beliefs, and values laid out by the world, and anticipates answers to the questions outside of the authority of Scripture. This is a very important distinction. The first is asking questions within the authority of Scripture. The second is accepting the assumptions, values, and beliefs of the world in anticipation of an answer that lies outside of the authority of God’s Word.
Why is deconstructionism so popular with this present generation?
With every generation that comes along, the older generation looks down and says, “What is going on with this group?” And what we find is, fundamentally, we’re all the same. We’re all sinners before we are joined with Christ, and we all sin in the same basic ways. However, the big difference that has made these generations so unique is technology.
Technology isolates. Technology gives you an unhealthy need for affirmation. Technology creates further barriers between adults and kids. Technology creates a strong distrust for authority and creates a strong reliance on one’s own experiences, senses, and feelings as the supreme authority for truth.
Why is this deconstructing of one’s faith so attractive to young people?
Technology has made us expect instant results. And in a generation that expects instant results all the time, the skill of endurance is a dying art. We are no longer patient. The power of long-term resistance to promises of pleasure is no longer esteemed. The ability to deny oneself or one’s bodily desires is shunned largely because of the influence of technology. Social media descends upon our children telling them that their bodily desires aren’t something that they themselves possess. Their desires are who they are. And therefore, kids are beginning to buy into the ideology of obeying bodily drives mainly because it is what their sinful hearts want anyway. Social media just gives them the permission they desire. The muscles to resist this sin for long periods of time have atrophied.
Deconstructionism is attractive to this generation because it relieves them of pain, embarrassment, and the dreaded work of denying the body. We find ourselves back in the garden with Satan and his tempting of Eve. He offered kind of a twofer by saying, “You can obey your desires by eating the fruit, and you get to keep God, too. God just has to become a different version of God than you knew before.” Satan’s promise was that Eve could have both (her sin and God). This promise that you can obey your desires and you can keep a version of God—it may not be your parents’ version; it’s a deconstructed version, but it’s still God, so you get to keep both—kids are very attracted to this.