We’ve done more than a few home renovations. One involved our kitchen and jack hammering up our floor to move water pipes. The other involved our master bathroom and punching through drywall to again, move water pipes.
My husband got our boys involved in this particular demo project, giving them thick gloves and telling them to practice their taekwondo punches. That first hole was a little scary. But they enjoyed the process of kicking and punching out that wall so that something newer and better could be built.
Now, those same two boys are punching holes in the faith they were raised in. It’s painful to watch as a parent. I long for them to find their way, but their dad and I are giving them the freedom to tear down their walls, to chisel up their floors, praying that they would encounter Jesus along the way.
Demolition can be scary. When we jackhammer up the layers and see what’s underneath, we might not know exactly what we’ll find. Is our foundation completely shattered? Is there mold creeping in, threatening to infect the whole room? What if we miscalculated and the whole thing comes tumbling down?
Asking the hard questions is not a bad thing. Do not be afraid to take a close look at what you’ve been taught. As the Apostle Paul urges Timothy in 2 Timothy 4: “Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear” (2 Timothy 4:2-3, New International Version).
You’ll find throughout this issue on Reconstructing Faith that sometimes our faith needs renovating. Sometimes the arduous process of demolition needs to happen in order for us to find the beautiful within.
Whether you are standing firmly in your faith, questioning a few things, or ready to throw up your hands and be done with the whole Christianity thing, my prayer for you as you read through this issue is that you will let the personal experiences of each writer soothe your heart. Each woman writes gently and vulnerably about her own experience deconstructing and then reconstructing her own faith.
The results, after much tumult and prayer, are beautiful.