Reconstructing My Faith: "Not Every Doubt is Departure"

I have a lot of books on my list of "need to read" volumes - many of them focused on the current state of evangelical thought & theology:

• Live Laugh Love: The Secret History of White Christian Women and the World They Made
• written by Kristen Kobes du Mez
• I actually wrote about her earlier book as a part of this blog post series
• In Defense of Evangelicalism: A Response to Its Cultured Despisers
• written by Bonnie Kristian
• What Hath Justice to Do with Righteousness?: Reclaiming the Intersection of Protest and Prayer
• written by Charlie Dates
• Reforming Criminal Justice: A Christian Proposal
• written by Matthew Martens
• In God We Trust: Was America Founded As a Christian Nation?
• written by John Fea
• the book actually releases today!

I feel like I have so much to unpack... still. Sorting through what about my faith in Jesus is Biblical and solid versus what is cultural and a product of being ensconced inside the evangelical bubble is not a short-term project.

So it was really nice to see this drop into my social media feed last week. I don't know the author, but I absolutely resonate with his words and the jpeg which I've attached to this post.

We’ve gotten pretty comfortable calling any serious questioning of inherited faith “deconstruction.”

But not every question is demolition.

Not every doubt is departure.

Ask your questions.

Keep opening the Scriptures.

Listen to voices outside the little corner of Christianity that formed you.

Stay in community, even when it’s complicated.

And above everything else, always, always, always, keep coming back to Jesus.

Ian Simkins

Amen.

This is the tenth post in a series... if you'd like to read the first nine, here they are:

#1: Reconstructing My Faith: Rocks, Dross, and Almonds

#2: Reconstructing My Faith: Syndrome, Mars, and the "F" Word

#3: Reconstructing My Faith: Cheaters, Ice, and Déjà vu

#4: Reconstructing My Faith: Flywheels, Smokescreens, and The Medicine

#5: Reconstructing My Faith: John Wayne, Straight Lines, and the Benefits of Being a Nerd

#6: Reconstructing My Faith: Pedigrees, Car Crashes, and Saying Goodbye

#7: Reconstructing My Faith: Worst. Church. Service. Ever.
#8: Reconstructing My Faith: A Question, The Rapture, And Dreaming of Escape

#9: Reconstructing My Faith: Postmodernity, Bullies, and Uncle Carl