Skillet, John Cooper, And Deconstructionist Christianity
Back on February 10, 2022, Faithwire put out an article titled ‘It Is a False Religion’: Skillet Frontman John Cooper Says ‘It Is Time to Declare War’ Against ‘Deconstruction’. In this article, John Cooper, the lead singer of the Christian rock band known as Skillet, offered the following commentary about the deconstructionist Christian movement.
“It is time that we declare war against this deconstruction Christian movement. I don’t even like calling deconstruction ‘Christian.’ There is nothing Christian about it. It is a false religion.”
John Cooper didn't stop there, however, as he railed on the deconstructionist movement even more:
“I want to know why these celebrities’ lives are so absolutely screwed up if they really believe they are so happy, and then they brag about their debase lives in front of our young people. And they check into rehab over and over and over again, and they keep leading all of our young people astray. I’m here to tell you — especially you young people who have been ripped off — we’re here to tell you this tonight: The world will tell you that you need to separate yourself from Christianity in order to find happiness.
We are here at Winter Jam to tell you tonight there is no such thing as freedom outside of Jesus Christ. And for all of these formerly Christian people who have tried to tell all these young folks that they think they found a third way, their third way is this: It’s OK if you’re into Jesus, just don’t be into the Bible. I’m here to tell you, young folks, there is no such thing as loving Jesus but not loving His Word.”
We get a good definition of deconstructionist Christianity from an article by Breakpoint called The Problem With Deconstructing Faith. In this article, we read the following:
"At the risk of committing an etymological fallacy, “deconstruction” carries with it the philosophical baggage of postmodernism, particularly the denial that truth can truly be known. It carries both the assumption of permanent doubt, and our culture’s skepticism of authority. That’s why, when applied to Christian faith, so much deconstruction is about severing the links between the Church and Jesus, Christianity and Jesus, moral teaching and Jesus, and (especially) the Bible and Jesus… as if the Church isn’t His Bride, Christianity isn’t His worldview, morality isn’t His teaching, and the Bible isn’t His Word. That’s why, when applied to Christian faith, deconstruction means taking apart the faith, keeping only the palatable (like Jesus’ love and compassion), and discarding the difficult (like sin and penal substitutionary atonement).
Deconstructing faith rarely ends at merely rejecting corruption or jettisoning historical baggage, and instead culminates in an entirely new faith that features what is culturally acceptable. Abandoned along the way are essential doctrines of Christianity (such as the deity and exclusivity of Christ or the authority of His Word), and its moral teachings (especially those having to do with sexuality and abortion). Shaped by a commitment to skepticism, “deconstruction” presumes that truth is illusionary and knowledge is impossible."
In a nutshell, deconstructionist Christianity is a false religion that jettisons all the teachings of the Bible that are inconvenient to the world system, and it integrates what the world system says is true about reality into what is left of the Bible in order to create a false religion that vaguely resembles the Biblical worldview like a cheap knockoff.
