I love the premise of Ben’s book, “There’s A God In My Closet”. And I love it because when I look back over my spiritual journey and my “relationship with God” or the Divine or the Spirit of whatever.
Well.
I realize that I’ve stuffed A LOT of stuff in the way, way, way back of my closet, deep, deep, deep in the recesses of my heart and mind.
The Cross.
The Atonement.
Hell.
The Rapture.
Biblical Inerrancy.
Salvation.
Paul.
… On and on the list goes.
And I think that’s what deconstruction is, really - it’s realizing that your thoughts about various topics (like the things in that list) no longer work and need to go and so you open wide the closet of your life and chuck everything in there and then throw all your weight against the door to lock it up tight.
The door might stay closed for a day.
Or a week.
Or a month.
Or a year.
Or a decade.
BUT.
Eventually you begin to either miss the things you chucked in there or feel the urge to take another look at them with fresh eyes.
Reconstruction, then, is the opening of that door. It’s the opening of the door and very slowly reaching in to feel around and one by one pull out the various things that you locked in there so that you can re-examine them, re-think them, re-evaluate them, and (only sometimes) re-integrate them into your life.
I hope our podcast is a tool for you on that journey. It’s my hope that every episode takes you by the hand and either …
ONE - helps you throw something in the closet that is hurting you or weighing you down or making you feel tied up inside.
OR.
TWO - helps you reach in the closet to pull something out so that you can take a look at it with fresh eyes and with a fresh heart.
Wherever you’re at - whether you’re leaning against the closet door and looking for a hammer and nails so that you can nail it shut or you’re reaching in to grab something so that you can begin re-assessing and re-thinking … wherever you’re at, I hope and pray that our little community of listeners makes you feel less alone.
Be sure to JOIN THE FACEBOOK GROUP or JUMP ON PATREON and become a member of the MARCO POLO GROUP. Deconstruction and Reconstruction can feel like an incredibly lonely journey, but it doesn’t need to be.
Much love,
Glenn
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New Blog Post (and updated website).
"As a kid I can remember having nightmares that I had been "left behind" or, worse, that I was given a Golden Ticket but my family wasn't and so I would wake up in a cold sweat thinking about what it would be like to float away to heaven while my ...
Mom.
Dad.
Grandma.
Aunt.
Uncle.
... Were left behind to burn with the rest of the world.
I began to wonder if I'd be happy in heaven. Or if I'd feel joy. Did I even want to go there? Everyone told me that heaven was this magical place where everyone smiled and worshipped Jesus 24/7. There were no problems, no sadness, no worry, no fear - just pure, 100% bliss.
BUT.
How?
Right?
My young mind couldn't imagine how I would be happy if my whole family was being tortured on earth, and I couldn't imagine how I'd have the desire to worship a Divine Being that didn't lift a finger to stop it.
And so I poured myself into evangelism and put immense pressure on myself to make sure that my mom, my dad, my grandma - my whole family - had said "the sinner's prayer" and that they were "saved". I told them about heaven and hell and I told them about Jesus's second coming and the rapture, and I did my best to pitch the salvation story again and again and again not so much because I cared if they "accepted Jesus into their heart", but because I was deathly afraid of spending eternity alone."
Merch.
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