Every year, the scene is the same: A student sits across from me in my office, shakes his or her head, and lets out a telling sigh of despair.

“I’m just not sure what to believe any more.”

Anger stirs in my heart as I think about the people who have misled the young man or woman speaking these words. I’ve learned to not linger in this mind-space though, no matter how justified my feelings are. Instead, I smile and offer some words of hope.

———-

Deconstruction.

This might be yesterday’s buzzword, but it still affects the young women and men that I minister to. Students who once held to orthodox Christian beliefs – like the inerrancy of scripture, penal substitution, eternality of hell, and traditional sexual ethic – are sent reeling by professors who “innocently” question their foundation. Whether explicitly or implicitly, young people are encouraged to deconstruct their faith… and left without the tools to build it back up.

While it’s helpful and necessary for me to “rehash” the positive arguments for specific doctrines with the students I meet with, I’ve been reminded of another approach that’s just as necessary. John 6:66-69:

⁶⁶After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him. ⁶⁷So Jesus said to the twelve, “Do you want to go away as well?” ⁶⁸Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, ⁶⁹and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.”

When tempted to fall away from Jesus (or “deconstruct,” as some might put it today), we must first answer the question Peter asks: “Lord, to whom shall we go?”

The truth is, the grass of deconstruction isn’t greener. Far from it. Deconstruction leads straight to the wilderness.

At the coaxing of professors, podcasters, and pundits, Christians leave the side of Jesus because they’re faced with “so many questions.” The problem with the road of deconstruction is that it doesn’t lead to any answers – just more questions that are even harder to answer. Questions like:

If I can’t trust the Bible, what will I trust? Why?

How do I know what is good and bad, right and wrong? And should I influence others with my morality?

Who/what created us and how do we know?

Does our life have purpose and meaning beyond what we make up for ourselves?

Atheists, agnostics, and those with a “progressive” worldview have answers to these questions that are less satisfying than the ones deconstructing Christians were originally posed with. These expert skeptics are great at pointing out problems… but not great at offering solutions. It’s easy to pull others into the wilderness, but much harder to admit that you’re always thirsty.

As Peter concludes, it’s Jesus who has the “words of eternal life.” He offers us fountains of living water. He gives us a firm foundation.

That doesn’t mean Christianity comes without some questions – even doubts. God gave us critical minds. Rational discourse is needed. A faith without fair reason is gullibility.

But it’s good and wise to sit back and weigh the options before abandoning the grass of orthodox Christian faith. The grass isn’t greener anywhere else.