Well, it has happened again. Another "Christian singer" has defected, has "deconverted," has declared his allegiance to "no God." He's done it in typical "deconversion" style by not only saying, "I don't believe anymore," but adding, "And neither should you." Or, to put it more clearly, "I no longer have any hope, and neither should you."
How should we view this? Jonathan Steingard, frontman for the "Christian rock band" Hawk Nelson, was a pastor's kid playing in a "Christian band" and "having the word 'Christian' in front of most of the things in my life." And now ... he isn't.
He's not the first and he's not exceptional and he's not alone. He's just the headline These "deconversions" are fairly common especially among the young church kids headed to college and coming out unbelievers. Why? What's going on? What are we to think? Are we doing something wrong? Is there something we need to do better?
Well, first, what do we know? There is a significant portion of Christendom that believes that "deconversion" is a real thing, that you can be a genuine, saved-by-faith Christian and then ... not. You can lose it all. This group takes seriously the warnings of the Bible that urge us to test ourselves, to examine ourselves, to see if we're in the faith, to persevere to the end. Oh, most believe you can get it back again (despite the clear contradiction of Hebrews 6:4-6), but lose it you can. Another significant portion thinks that "deconversion" is a mistaken construct and can't, actually, happen. They take seriously the statements in Scripture that "No one can take them out of My hand" (John 10:25-29), that God always wins (e.g., Rom 8:28-30; Eph 1:13-14; Php 1:6; Jude 1:24). Considering these two (both based on Scripture), we can conclude that God is reliable and salvation cannot be lost or that God is not reliable and salvation can be lost. Or, of course, we can conclude that Scripture is not reliable.
Assuming Scripture is reliable and God is reliable, what then? How do we account for these so-called Christians being so-called deconverted? John wrote, "They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out that it might become plain that they all are not of us." (1 John 2:19) If we take this at face value, "deconverts" are "not of us" and never were and their departure is simply a revelation that "Christian" was a mistaken identity. But, of course, lots of people don't like that conclusion because, well, these people actually thought they were believers and actually are not and if they were mistaken, which of us are equally self-deluded?
The other question is "What are we doing wrong?" If you hear what many (most? all?) of these "deconverts" say, it is apparent that they never really grasped the truth. God never lived up to their expectations. Their objections and confusions are not without clear, coherent, cohesive answers. So are we just not doing our job? Are we not providing answers or even being aware of the problem? To that question I'd suggest the answer is "Yes" and "No." Yes, we really aren't paying attention and we really aren't providing answers. Modern Christians in America are largely not being renewed in their minds (Rom 12:2) and don't think too clearly or too deeply about this -- they aren't loving God with all their minds. And, no, that's not the problem. God is not limited to our ability to correctly and sufficiently and completely express the truth. God is not mopping His brow and wringing His hands up there. "Oh, no, not another one. Why didn't you guys see this and help him and fix him? Now I've lost another one." We don't get the credit for conversions because of our precision and explanation of the Gospel. And God isn't tied down to our faithfulness or abilities.
How, then, are we to think about all this? Here's what I would recommend. First, let's try starting with Scripture. Not the news. Not our perceptions of our experiences. So when we are commanded to "love the Lord your God with all your ... mind ..." (Mark 12:30) we should seek to do that. When we are told to "be transformed by the renewing of your minds" (Rom 12:2), we should seek to do that. When we are commanded to "make disciples" and teach them "to observe all that I have commanded you" (Matt 28:19-20), we should seek to do that. When Scripture warns not to put young converts in positions of spiritual leadership (1 Tim 3:6), we should seek to do that. And when we fail -- any or all of that -- we should confess and repent (1 John 1:9). Secondly, as we think through this, we need to come to a more robust understanding of "Christian." Most of us do this by discarding the warnings for believers and hanging onto the promises of God or discarding God's promises and heeding the warnings. And most of us don't even take all that (either the promises or the warnings) too seriously. Brothers and sisters, these things ought not be. We should be able to put together the warnings and the promises to arrive at a coherent and cohesive understanding rather than a conflicting one. But for too many of us, that's too much work. (Go back to Mark 12:30 and Rom 12:2 and start over.) By all means, however, do not discard the warnings. Each of us should "Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves." (2 Cor 13:5) We should all pray, we should seek the Lord, we should obey, we should minister to each other, and, at the core, we should trust God. Because if we don't have a reliable God, we have nothing. And then we're right where the "deconverts" are, and that's not a good place.
10 comments:
This topic is way to big for a blog comment or post, but I think that when evangelicals turned away from grounding their faith in the intellectual, but instead went to a free for all of untrained traveling pastors who dealt in emotion and manipulation.
I think the other big hit was when matters of religious doctrine were unilaterally removed from the realm of fact, and relegated to opinion.
Too many churches do a horrible job of preparing their kids to face the world we live in and to ground their faith in Truth.
Christianity’s lynchpin is the crucifixion/resurrection of Jesus. Since the first century this event was understood and presented as a real event, that happened to a real person, and that could be verified by witnesses. Once we lost the battle for the Truth, the rest seems preordained.
Clearly a lot, and there are some good resources that deal with it.
Short version. We lost a battle we didn’t know we were fighting.
I don't think it's disputable that we have failed to "make disciples" and teach them to observe all that we're supposed to, especially in this day and age. I think it's certain that we've failed to love God with all our minds in a culture that assures us that "faith" and "mind" are not connected. I'm quite confident that folks like Charles Finney who pioneered the "gin up their emotions so they will do what we say" kind of approach to evangelism and worship have done long-term damage.
Certainly we've lost people to Satan that we didn't know we were supposed to be fighting to, but I'm quite confident that God has not failed to retain every one of the sheep He intended to save. Somehow we need to keep the "We need to do more in obeying our Lord" right alongside the confidence that God always wins.
Definitely agree that God is still sovereign and in control. He’s got His held in His hands.
"How should we view this?"
With all the worry as we do about bird-poop on our windshield. Hit the washers and carry on.
I tend to think "jettison the lost and get on with life" isn't the best response.
The dude was ostensibly immersed in the Word while a "Christian singer". He jettisoned himself. Let him have his way. I'd like to think there was an appeal to reconsider by his friends and/or family, so from the distance between me and him, I stand by my statement.
You certainly may. I cannot. Some sort of abiding love and concern for lost souls, I guess. One of my many shortcomings.
What’s that parable about the sower?
We know the parable; what is the point you are making?
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