A week ago, I attended Winter Jam 2022 in Nashville. Your band, Skillet, was headlining. I've been listening to you guys for over half my life (since Awake and Alive in 2009), and your music has been really influential to me over the years. I've seen you play at Lifest almost annually, and you've always been one of my favorite bands to see live. So it was a bit surprising and hurtful when, as you talked between songs, declared war on... well, me.
I guess it wasn't me, exactly. But in a lot of ways, it was. You talked about the things that were destroying Christianity, and eventually said that you were declaring war on deconstruction. That it was the world lying to our children and trying to tear them away from Jesus.
I'm writing this now because I wanted to respond to some of the things you said. I know you are standing up for what you believe in, and you think you're doing the right thing. I know that in your mind, you are taking a stand for Jesus even when it's unpopular, which is good and I admire that. But frankly, I think this will do much more harm than good (Hopefully you'll understand what I mean as you read though my post). As someone who has gone through a phase of deconstruction myself, I want to offer a few points and a bit of my story that it sounds like you may not have heard yet.
I'm assuming you've met people who have deconstructed. I know there have been a few big names in the Christian music industry that have announced this recently. I don't know them personally, so I can't claim to know their hearts or where they're at. But what I can say, is from my experience, and from the stories of people I have met, I don't think your war on deconstruction is productive or good, for two main reasons.
1. Most people who are going through deconstruction are hurting.
The vast majority of people in my circles or that I have listened to/read who would describe themselves as having gone through deconstruction are people who have experienced pain or abuse in the church. I've read stories of people who have been sexually abused by pastors, and when they went to the church for help, instead of receiving love and care, they side with the abuser, sometimes even going so far as to sue the abused for defamation of the pastor.
I've seen stories of those who were simply cast out or rejected by their faith communities.
There's so many stories. I think you know some of them. I read your Facebook post about what your "war" is about. You know that there is hurt, and you mention that those people aren't who your war is against. But when you are attacking deconstruction at your show... you don't say that. Again, as someone who has been a fan of you for years... it felt very personal to me. The only reason I've gone this far to write this and to read more of your posts and try to interact with you is because you've been so influential in my life and because I respect you. But someone who doesn't have that as part of their story doesn't know that. And they might take your statements more personally than I did, which will push them even farther away.
This is a topic that is very hard to talk about to Christians. There are many people who sound like you, and only talk about how dangerous deconstruction is. We are not taught that it is okay to have questions. For me, as someone who grew up in the church as a pastor's kid, it definitely wasn't. We were taught that while we can ASK questions, they can't remain - we ask them, and then we will get a definitive answer that will remove all doubt, because the Bible has a clear answer on every topic, and we always needed to have every answer, and full confidence in that answer. That our way was the best way, and even though there are thousands of denominations of Christianity that are all reading the same Bible, ours was somehow better because we actually took the Bible seriously and had all the right beliefs that the other people didn't.
The Bible is not always that easy to understand, and many of us have been hurt in the process of learning that maybe the denomination we grew up in didn't have all the answers right that they thought they did. And this can make deconstruction a very lonely road. I wrestled with my doubts for over a year before I ever told anyone about them. The whole time, I wondered whether having these doubts meant I wasn't a real Christian. And I DEFINITELY didn't want anyone to know if that was what was at stake. Christianity was my identity, and I had no idea who I even was without it. I couldn't give that up.
In logging on to this site to write this post, I actually found another post in my drafts that I wrote back in 2019. It was about the questions I was wrestling with and how I was struggling in my faith. Ultimately, I ended up not posting it for that exact reason - fear. How will people look at me or treat me or talk about me differently if they knew I was going through this?
Eventually, I was finally able to find people online who had some of the same questions as me. As I found community around people who were "deconstructing" some of the things they were taught, I learned a lot. About the Bible, about how God feels about those with questions, and so much more. But the main thing I learned was the second thing I want you to know...
2. Most people go through deconstruction to SAVE their faith, not to escape it.
I realize this may not be your perspective on the issue. To you, people peddling deconstruction are trying to lure others into their trap. Is this the case for some people? Sure, probably. There are always going to be false teachers, but there are plenty of those that would be seen as within the bounds of evangelical Christianity as well.
But for the majority of people, deconstruction is what allows them to continue following Jesus. They've come into problems that they have no way around other than to accept that they've gotten things wrong, and so now they need to re-evaluate the things they've learned to figure out what to keep and what to replace. That's what deconstruction is.
At the end of your post, you quote 1 Corinthians 3:11, which says, "For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ." And I wholeheartedly agree. Jesus is who I go to whenever there are things I don't understand. When I have questions, I look to his words and his actions while he was on earth. Colossians 1:14-15 and 2:9; John 1:1, 5:37-40, 10:30, 14:9; Hebrews 1:1-3; 2 Corinthians 4:4, and countless others are what I look to. Jesus is God, and Jesus is Lord. When I know nothing else, I know this. Jesus is my foundation, and I want to take the rest of what I believe and make sure that it aligns with who Jesus is and what He says.
When you say that there are those who are trying to suck people into giving up on the truth, that's where I just disagree. Again, are there some of those people? Probably. But I don't know of anyone who was simply "deceived" by people who were deconstructing. I know of people who had problems with faith they couldn't answer, and deconstruction is the process they are going through to try to make their faith make sense again. To make the Bible make sense again.
For these people, they are in a stage of deconstruction, but that isn't the end goal. We are stripping down to the foundation that you've already named - JESUS - and then rebuilding beliefs based on Him and what he reveals about the Father.
And as I said earlier - deconstruction tends to be very lonely! There is so much fear in admitting doubts or questions like this to anyone else in the faith. I think that's part of what some of the more public deconstructionists are trying to prevent - people who are struggling alone, and eventually give up altogether. I think you know that being alone is where we are most vulnerable. But it's the place that many of us feel pushed, out of fear for what the church will do.
And ultimately, I think that your war on deconstruction will only aggravate this. You are stoking fear in the hearts of Christians. Whenever they hear the term "deconstruction", they'll remember what you've said about it, and how dangerous it is, and how it's going to lead people away from Jesus. As I've argued here, albeit briefly, I just don't think this is the case. And your war is going to make it even harder for people who are struggling to feel safe bringing it up to their brothers and sisters in Christ. It will drive us further into hiding to avoid the scrutiny and shame that will come from admitting that we feel lost. We need to be loved, not to be told that we are the enemy. I know you are trying to protect the faith, and I'm glad you are willing to take a stand. But I fear that by doing this, you will be harming many more people than you are helping.
I recognize you don't have the time to go into this level of detail and disclaimers when you are just talking between songs. So I beg - please just don't do it. I think we both can agree that deconstruction is a term that has become way too broad. There are many categories of people who can be considered "deconstructionists", including perhaps some of the dangerous ones you are speaking of. But please don't spread fear when it comes to this term. There's too many of us who have used this word to find community among others who are wrestling with God. Please don't cause more people to have more stories of how the church (or our favorite Christian artist) has hurt us. Speak out against false teachers, sure. But I know how I felt when I stood there listening to you declare war against me. I remember feeling like all the air had left the building. There were many people with me who heard your message and thought it was great, which left me feeling even more abandoned and ashamed. That damage will be done to many others as well if you continue this war on deconstruction.