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Deconstruction Reason #3 Humanistic Assumptions
The third reason I have seen Christians deconstruct is that they have absorbed and adopted naturalistic approaches to the Bible. I use the term “humanistic” in the title, because all the descriptors that can be used for this error—naturalistic, atheistic,...
Knowing Our Personal God through Suffering
“Do you remember when Dr. Behr was here yesterday?” my wife asked me. I searched my memories but had no recollection of a Dr. Behr. It was Day Six in the hospital and between the fog of opioids and the constant flow of doctors, nurses, cleaners, dining service, and...
Deconstruction Reason #2: Bad Company
“Do not be deceived; bad company corrupts good morals” (1 Cor. 15:33). The second reason I have observed for professing Christians to deconstruct their faith is that they expose their hearts and minds to error (for my definition of deconstruction and the various...
Knowing the Aseity of God through Suffering, Part 2
See Part 1 here. In his book, The Great Divorce, C. S. Lewis beautifully describes in a fictional encounter how God will help us make sense of our suffering when we finally see Him. “This is what mortals misunderstand,” says one man to another. “They say of some...
Knowing the Aseity of God through Suffering, Part 1
“Hmmm…excuse me for a minute. I need to step out of the room.” The ultrasound tech had been tasked with imaging my transplanted kidney to make sure that the surgery to remove the pituitary tumor at the base of my brain would be safe for the kidney. Kidney transplants...
Deconstruction Reason #1: Hurt from Churches, Pastors, and Christians
See the first post in this series here. New posts drop every Friday. Types of Deconstruction As I unpack my Ten Reasons Christians Are Deconstructing Their Faith, let me make a few introductory comments. My original post created a little firestorm on Facebook in a way...
Knowing the Goodness of God through Suffering, Part 2
Part 1 here. Several times through my year with cancer I asked myself, “Was the growth I experienced in my trust and love for God worth all that I went through? Put another way, if God had said to me, “Mark, this year I am going to move you to greater understanding of...
Knowing the Goodness of God in Suffering, Part 1
As I write this essay (summer 2020), I am five months past my last chemo treatment. My hair is almost fully grown back, although I think I will keep it shorter than I used to because it is easier to manage. It is July and I have been swimming in a friend’s pool for...
Knowing God Through Suffering, Part 1
“So, this is it. This is how I’m going to die,” I thought as I kneeled over the toilet in my underwear, waves of pain slamming my stomach. For the sixth time in two weeks I was experiencing unbearable pain, caused by the lemon-size tumor in my small bowel. What I...
Ten Reasons Christians Are Deconstructing Their Faith
I have been observing former students, classmates, and friends deconstructing their faith for years. I have been grieved, puzzled, and angered (at the Evil One) at the loss of once-professing brothers and sisters in Christ. By "deconstructing," I mean they have turned...
Knowing the Sovereignty of God through Suffering, Part 2
See Part 1 here. My comfort in suffering comes from the knowledge that God ordains my suffering for my eternal good and his glory. It is not enough to say that God allows my suffering. After all, why would God allow something if it wasn’t for the best. For God to...
Knowing the Sovereignty of God through Suffering, Part 1
“More bad news.” Throughout my nine-month ordeal with the brain tumor and lymphoma there were few positive developments. Even what we thought were positive developments turned out to be false hopes. My wife and I felt like we were slowly descending into an abyss. I...
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