To begin with, I'd like to start by disassociating the term 'Christian Deconstruction' from deconstruction; the school of thought in philosophy and literary criticism. The two have very little in common! I'd also like to remove the idea of a wrecking ball from your minds, that is destruction whereas what I'd like to discuss is a much more ordered and careful activity.
There is a need, I really do feel, for Christians to begin to carefully examine the world in which they live. More and more, there are things growing up around us in society that are dangerous and powerful influences against us. They are being 'constructed', make no mistake. The enemy and sinful mankind, hand in hand, are creating structures, systems and ideas designed to obscure and remove God and to lead people away from him. These come in all shapes and sizes, a great deal of the time very subtlely and almost subliminally. Genesis says of the devil, in the form of the snake, that he is 'more cunning than any beast of the field' Genesis 3:1.
Films, television, music, magazines, advertising, politics, books. A massive range of things which have input on our minds and our thinking are riddled through with these ungodly influences and I think the time has come where it's either fight or flight... and far too often I see people endorsing the 'flight' option; to totally remove these influences from their lives. No! No! No!!!
A direct biblical response to that: Ephesians 6:12 - 'For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers...' We don't wrestle against flesh and blood but we do and should wrestle against principalities and powers. What follows in Ephesians 6:13-18 is a carefully-considered, divinely-inspired description of how we should go about our 'wrestling'. I'll be unpacking that in another article so that this one doesn't get too long!
Basically I firmly believe, as believers and vessels of the Holy Spirit, we have a role to play in actually dismantling and exposing these 'structures'. As people obsessed with God's truth and justice being seen, we are obliged to counter and destroy the attacks and attempts against him. For us, this takes a really simple, straightforward approach. We apply the principles, the worldview and truth of scripture to aspects of our culture. Advertising, movies, television, books, music etc., should be looked at through the scope of Christian Deconstruction. This brings an added bonus that the positive influences of these things will also become clear! We can see where they are effective and how they might be used for God rather than against him.
The beauty is that all we need do is to write. Essays are the simplest, most practical way to deconstruct something and see into its heart and motivations. I hope that you will listen to this call to arms and benefit greatly from my instructional, scriptural principles which follow in the next few weeks. I sincerely hope that you are already taking this idea and making it your own!
Take up the Word of God as a sword and, using its razor sharp tip, begin to pick apart the world, the culture that you live in!
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