Counterfeit

When criminals produce counterfeit twenty dollar bills, they don’t use the portrait of Alfred E. Neuman from Mad magazine. In fact, they use extreme efforts to make the bill exactly like the true government issue. When food manufacturers made attempts to create sugar substitutes, they wanted something sweet and not bitter at all.

Of course, the one is nefarious, and the second is righteous.

There are probably thousands of examples in life that reflect the same principles, producing either harmful or beneficial results.

The central theme of this writing is, of course, about becoming a born again Believer of Jesus. I’ve written before speaking against the Faith Deconstruction movement, but perhaps with some confusion. That is using the wrong phrasing mistakenly giving credence to the error of following its message. You have probably said some things that popped out of your head or blabbered out of your mouth, things you didn’t really mean. When realized, you may have then followed up with an apology or a correction. A reader pointed out my error, and I thankfully re edited my essay — probably too little too late, but nevertheless …

This is a further attempt at correction, and I apologize to anyone who may have read my first attempt for speaking errantly. You see, the principles of Deconstruction are like making counterfeit money. They sound like the real thing. But they are in no way the real thing. I used some phrasinging from the recesses of my brain that were like Mad Magazine…

True Faith in Jesus involves personal changes, getting rid of the old way of thinking and gaining a new mindset. The awareness of needed changes come from reading the Bible prayerfully and the results come from the healing power of the Holy Spirit — not from either one’s own wisdom or one’s own effort.

The difference between Faith and FaithDeconstruction is who is making the changes, the nefarious or the righteous. One is building; the other is destroying. In addition, Deconstruction relies on the individual deciding on their own which is which, that is to say, what stays and what goes — a blighted, run down, shanty.

What is even worse is that the process wants you to grab out of the air whatever you please after discarding whatever you wish. Hence, the idiom, “Whatever.”

Here is what the Bible says about that procedure: “When an impure spirit comes out of a person, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. Then it says, ‘I will return to the house I left.’ When it arrives, it finds the house unoccupied, swept clean and put in order. Then it goes and takes with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that person is worse than the first. That is how it will be with this wicked generation.” (Matthew 12:43–45, NIV)

As I understand this in a modern sense is in how we would picture the conundrum. “We all have our personal demons.” Whether we believe in the spiritual plane or not, we all have personal hang ups and even nagging thoughts which make us more than uncomfortable, and more nefarious thoughts that we do not seem to be able to cast out of our minds. Even things we don’t understand are bothersome, and we want to be rid of them. Or more to my point, we have in our heads principles we have serious contentions with. They get in the way of doing whatever we want to do. Especially what the Bible says seem to be obstructions, and we want to exchange them for something more congenial, more apt to help us “go with the flow.” Isn’t that what Faith Deconstruction is all about? Picking out what we like and discarding what we don’t?

So then, that leads me to this perspective: Generally, the allegorical verbiage used is all about the Construction Industry, of the house in which we want to live. It is all about our mindset or religious beliefs or philosophy. It’s old. It’s falling apart. It needs repair. We are do-it-yourselfers, but don’t mind taking a little advice … But we are also know-it-alls, and want to maintain control over the project.

Don’t know about you, but most of my decisions about my house haven’t worked out very well in the long run …either the physical or the transcendent.

So, here’s mine: Forget the old house.(a) Move to a new site, and have the expert pour a new foundation.(b) Use brand new wood for the structure.© Leave the old furniture and nicknacks behind.(d) Start a new life in a new house.(e)

“By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as an expert builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one must be careful how he builds. For no one can lay a foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. If anyone builds on this foundation using gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, or straw, his workmanship will be evident, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will prove the quality of each man’s work. If what he has built survives, he will receive a reward. If it is burned up, he will suffer loss. (1 Corinthians 3:10–15, Berean Study Bible)

References

(a) — For if I build up again the things which I have destroyed, I make myself a prevaricator. (one who deviates from the truth, Merriam Webster) — Galatians 2:18, Douay-Rheims Bible

(b) — Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures: ‘The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; the Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes’?” — Matthew 21:42, NIV

© — Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. (2 Corinthians 5:17, English Standard Version)

(d) — Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal… (Philippians 3:13, NIV)

(e) — By wisdom a house is built, and by understanding it is established; by knowledge the rooms are filled with all precious and pleasant riches. (Proverbs 24:3–4, Geneva Bible)