Faith Deconstruction 101
Below is an excerpt from our brand new ebook, Faith Deconstruction 101. At the end of the excerpt, click the button to download the full PDF and keep reading. And as always, we’d love to know what you think! Simply comment your thoughts below.
Do you remember your first “doubt” or “big question” about life, faith, or the world? Do you remember how you responded to it? Did you keep it to yourself? Did you bring it up to a parent, pastor, friend, or trusted relative? Did you try to search for answers elsewhere, like a book or the Internet? Looking back, how do you feel about the experience of having that doubt? (Whew! That’s a lot of questions! We apologize. But trust us, taking the time to think about them will be helpful in your spiritual journey.)
Questions, doubts, and dissenting opinions are an interesting topic. One’s background will determine whether they were met with openness, honesty, and encouragement—or if they were regarded as negative and a thing to be feared, a sign of one’s lack of faith. Faith communities tend to have the latter reaction, so those who grow up in religious households are more often than not taught to run away from them as quickly as possible, all the while praying fervently for God to “help their unbelief” (Mark 9:24).
Yet even in religious households that are more tolerant of doubts, there is an unspoken time limit. Sure, it’s fine for you to question and wonder and doubt and even research other belief systems, especially when you’re young, but if you’ve struggled with that same question for too long or if you’ve reached a certain age (the cutoff varies, but it seems you’re expected to have everything figured out by the time you have kids or hit your thirties, whichever comes first), then clearly you’re just choosing to remain a skeptic.
But what about those of us who have reached our thirties and beyond and still don’t fall in line? Or what about those of us who are “mature” in years and faith but are starting to question things we’ve always taken for granted? What are we to do then? Are we really just horrible apostates who enjoy doubting and being different? Is there something wrong with us, with our trust in God?
Or is there another, truer narrative, one that makes room for doubts, questions, differing conclusions, and diversity? Is it possible that rather than being a destination, faith is a journey that stretches from our first screaming cry to our last breath?
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