Answering Aaron Rodgers, his “progressive Christianity,” and reconstructing the foundation of a biblical faith (Part 2)

In Part 1 of this blog (if you haven’t read it, please stop and read it here before you continue), I summarized quarterback Aaron Rodgers’ journey out of the faith of his youth. It’s a cautionary tale of the impact of postmodern, progressive Christianity and its influence on people who are struggling with faith.

In July 2019 the UK web magazine premierchristianity.com ran a story called “Deconstructing faith: Meet the evangelicals who are questioning everything.” The title is self-defining. “Deconstruction” is a term coined by early postmodern philosophers that has trickled down over the last few decades from ivory tower academia into evangelical Christianity. Now in its popular use, to “deconstruct” Christianity is to “question everything” inherent in a biblical worldview, “figuring out which beliefs are true and good, and which are false and harmful.” Progressive young believers are “deconstructing” their previous beliefs and searching for “answers in new places.”

“New places” means, of course, other than the Bible or the local church. And there’s the problem of postmodern, progressive Christianity. By discarding the Bible and historical Christianity, you have only one way to determine what is “true and good” or “false and harmful.” You have only your personal opinion. Your feelings. Yourself. Your truth is whatever is truth to you. And you will inevitably always decide that what is “true and good” is what makes you feel good. What is expedient for you, what is comfortable for you, or what doesn’t require you to change. Is that really what you want to build your life on?

Even so, progressives hope that after they “deconstruct” the faith of their youth they will “reconstruct” a better, more agreeable version of their Christian faith. But here’s the thing–once the faith is deconstructed, there is nothing left to build on. The foundation is removed, the dust settles, and the struggling doubter finds himself alone in the wilderness (Ps. 11:3). The end result is confusion, frustration and an empty, unsatisfying truth-less faith.

But it doesn’t have to be that way.

Christians frequently experience doubt or struggle with faith. That’s not bad. It can even be helpful. Often the struggle with faith launches us to greater experiences with God and strengthens our trust for the journey ahead. Examples abound. Moses. David. Gideon. Esther. Peter.

But in the Bible, when people struggle with faith or wrestle with doubt, they are restored in their relationship with God by listening to Him, by going to His Word and affirming who He is—not by affirming what they feel or what they think of themselves (Ps. 31:22, John 14:1).

See, untethered from the anchor of biblical truth, doubt just sends us reeling into confusion (James 1:6). It’s not a “safe place.” It is a dark, lonely place.

And that brings us back to Aaron Rodgers. His “deconstructed” faith serves as an example of the hazards of progressivism for Christians. But when we return to the Bible, we can restore the foundation to a strong biblical faith.

So we begin at the beginning. Like most progressives, every problem Rodgers has with Christianity, every complaint and every denial, begins with a simple rejection of absolute truth. To reconstruct a biblical faith, that’s where you must begin.

Because God’s truth is absolute, universal, and transcendent, and we can depend on God’s truth. When we depart from God’s truth, nothing changes. We have nowhere to go for answers. And we are left without real, objective hope for our lives. That’s why Christianity without absolute truth is not biblical Christianity.

For example, postmodernism teaches that the person reading a text, such as the Bible, brings the meaning of the text with them. And this perspective has been adopted by postmodern progressivism and smuggled into Christianity. This is so common that we hardly notice it anymore.

Here’s what I mean. Let’s say you are in a Bible study group. Someone in the group reads the text aloud, and then the person who has volunteered to lead, even though “we all agree there are no right or wrong answers,” looks at you and says, “how does that make you feel?” Or, even more common, “what does that verse mean to you?” You offer some personal insight, usually something about how good it makes you feel, and everyone affirms you. Then the person beside you goes through the same process, but notably, the way they “feel the text speaks to them” is vastly different from what you said. Still, everyone smiles, nods, and affirms them, too.

Is that a “Bible study”? No, it’s an exercise in self-affirmation. Truth is whatever is true for you. In that version, no one is changed, transformed, or able to construct a new life in Christ.

Instead, when you are in a Bible study and the leader says, “Here is what Paul meant, so how would you apply that to your life?,” the leader assumes that Paul, inspired of God, meant just one thing, but you and I can seek how God applies that to our lives. In other words, the biblical text means one thing, provides specific, universal truth, and I need to seek God in how that truth changes and shapes my life. And if you start to deviate from that, the leader would say, “wait, but that’s not what Paul meant. Let’s look at that again…” Or, something like that.

Self-affirmation doesn’t change lives. God does. And He does it through the direct and loving application of this unchanging truth.

The Bible reveals God’s truth and His truth sets us free (2 Tim. 3:16, John 8:32). When we embrace God’s truth, we begin to restore our relationship with Him (Ps. 145:18). And when we apply God’s truth we are transformed (Rom. 12:1-2).

If Rodgers returned to the truth of God’s Word, his doubts would be addressed and his confusion  would be calmed. He would be reminded that God is our Creator (Heb. 11:3, 6), and that He is indeed loving, but also righteous (2 Cor. 5:21, Rom. 6:23). He would find God’s explanation of the afterlife (John 14:1-6, Luke 16:22). And he would follow God’s plan to reconstruct a way back to Him (John 3:16).

And he would remember that Christianity exists, not to be a crutch, but as a reminder that God loves us. That we are created in God’s image and designed to know Him (Gen. 2:27, John 17:3, Phil. 3:10). And that knowing God is our most basic need, and the one relationship that makes our lives make sense. And outside of that, we will never be satisfied, and we will always be confused about who we are (Jer. 29:11-13, Ps. 139:14).

And that in Christ, God has come to us (John 1:1-10). So we could come back to Him.

And that is the unwavering, universal truth that you can count on.