Does deconstruction = woke?


Is deconstruction the same thing as “being woke”?

No, they *can* overlap, but one does not mean the other is present - at least in the way that the word “woke” is used in our culture today.


For me, deconstruction simply means that I changed my thinking on a lot of big picture issues when it came to what I believe about faith in God, what scripture is and what it’s for, and what “church” is supposed to be in my life and what it is “supposed to be” in real life for those who believe.


To an outsider who comes from another Christian religious tribal background or tradition, they would probably just see me as someone who changed a few of my beliefs about Christianity.


To an outsider who does not come from a Christian religious background, they also would possibly see me as someone who changed a few of my beliefs about Christianity.


To many from my religious tribe of origin, they would probably see me as someone who has abandoned my faith entirely, but that’s not how I see it at all.


In our culture today, many people use the word deconstruction as if it describes someone has walked away from belief entirely and become some kind of terrible, sin-chasing Satan-worshiper and/or an atheist.


For some people, that might be true. But that is more of a ridiculous stereotype than anything.


For other others it could be a significant readjustment in how they see all those things described above, but it does not necessarily mean that they have walked away from belief or faith in God.


There’s a spectrum with a wide range of directions - it’s not one size fits all.


_______________


A couple of years ago when I quit working for a church, stepped out of full-time ministry after 35+ years, and shared that I had been going through deconstruction and rebuilding, I had some people reach out to me from different backgrounds and ask me if I had come to certain, specific new beliefs about a variety of topics that were essentially asking me to “virtue signal” my thoughts on certain hot topics that would show if I was “woke” or not.


Some were asking to see if I had “joined their team” as it were. Others were asking to see if I had “left their team” or was trying to start a new one.


For the most part, all those hot topics had nothing to do with my deconstruction. And they still don’t. And because of the nature of people, some still will read into that what they want to believe.


My deconstruction and rebuilding process was not begun because I had some political awakening or felt pressure from some movement or event in culture. 


For me, the pressure to pick sides on certain topics disrupts the actual deconstruction and rebuilding process and causes a person simply to jump from one not-very-well-thought-through worldview to another. 


From what I’ve seen, many do that so as to quickly replace a community or set of relationships they left behind. Kind of an “any port in a storm" situation. 


I have watched a variety of other people who have gone through what they call deconstruction and it seems they not only changed their belief about things, but they needed to go a step further and burn down everything they left behind.


That’s fine for them and that’s their journey. But that is not my journey.


My guess is that some of them will have another time or two they go through when they realize that being a person who has gone through deconstruction is not making them special or unique anymore and they will grab on to something else.


That’s not a judgment about them or their character, it’s just human nature from what I’ve observed.  


_______________


I do still believe in God. I believe that he made everything and did something special in and through and as Jesus and that he works on and in us through his spirit today.


Probably the biggest change for me is that I don’t live in fear of God anymore like I had learned to growing up.  


There are a couple of places in the Old Testament where we are told that the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom. 


I believe that’s true.


I don’t think some people actually read what it says and instead assume that the fear of God equals a relationship with God AND that if we don’t constantly fear or live in terror of God that we don’t have a relationship with him.


What it says is that the fear of God is the beginning of *wisdom*.


Understanding the nuances of language, I know that “the fear of God”, when it was originally written, was meant to communicate a sense of awe and humility because you know there is something greater than yourself.


That is the beginning of wisdom.


That’s just an example of something from my deconstruction and rebuilding process.


More on all of that another time – I just wanted to clarify for some people that have been wondering about that particular question.


Peace and goodwill.


_______________


Next time: What causes someone to believe?

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