“Deconstruction” has recently become one of the most frequently used terms of faith, eliciting many reactions from Christians and non-Christians alike.

Listen to them in the latest episode of Quick Start

Author Alisa Childers, who explores the topic in her latest book, “The Deconstruction of Christianity: What It Is, Why It's Destructive, and How to Respond,” explained to CBN News why she believes this pattern of people following their Unpacking and deconstructing beliefs has become so common.

“I do think it's a fad, although a lot of people would say it's not a fad,” she said. “It's actually this real experience that's happening, but I think it's a fad because you can trace it back to its philosophical roots in the postmodern philosophies that gained traction in the '60s.”

Childers said there are some legitimate problems at the core of deconstruction, pointing to spiritual abuse, legalism in people's childhood, or even some people's search for ways to break away from “bad ideas” while holding on to the “good ones.” “to hold on.”

Despite some viable motivations that might lead a person into deconstruction, Childers said the overarching issues involved need to be addressed.

“The problem with what we see in the deconstruction movement is that very often people have bad beliefs that are actually historical Christian doctrines like original sin and the sacrificial death of Jesus on the cross,” she said. “And theological…teachings that really define Christianity.”

Childers said social media has helped solidify deconstruction as a fad. She assumed that without social media tools, the culture would likely not have the rampant deconstruction movement in its current form.

“I think there's also some social contagion because there's a lot of misinformation in this hashtag 'deconstruction,'” she said. “There are many claims made about Christian theology that are not true.”

Yet this inaccurate information can have an impact on hearts and minds, leading people further out of historic Christianity and into an abyss.

Of course, one of the challenges with deconstruction is that the word means different things to different people. Childers said it's important to ask and understand what someone means when he or she uses the word.

“Maybe there's someone who says deconstruction is when you compare the faith tradition that was taught to you as a child to Scripture – you go to Scripture and say, 'Okay, I think that was an unbiblical belief. ' “I want to get rid of that,” she said. “Others just mean it to maybe address some serious, nagging doubts they had.”

Childers said it's good to embrace doubt in a positive way, ask difficult questions and examine the faith tradition taught by parents against Scripture. Unfortunately, she said some people do something completely different; They experience a “shift in authority from an external source of authority for truth to the authority of the self.”

And it is this turning into oneself that Childers believes has a diabolical influence on the individual and the culture.

“It has devastating effects because it causes people to actually turn away from their ultimate purpose, which is to love God, worship Him and be in His presence,” she said. “And what we're doing culturally is basically telling people, 'You should follow your heart because what you find in it will be good.'”

Of course, the heart often leads people in directions that are contrary to the truth and goodness of the Lord. The solution is not to turn inward, but to “repent and turn to Christ,” she said.

“This whole kind of 'follow your heart, live your truth' movement has caused people to turn very inward and just follow what feels right to them,” Childers said. “And that’s exactly what we see in the deconstruction movement, because theological beliefs are not judged based on whether they agree with Scripture or not.”

Ultimately, Childers said truth is not relative, even though the culture strives to treat it that way.

Childers hopes that “The Deconstruction of Christianity: What It Is, Why It's Destructive, and How to Respond,” which she co-wrote with Tim Barnett, will help parents, pastors and family members of people going through deconstruction.

“Our hope is to help the church understand what it is that is happening in the deconstruction movement and then hopefully enable them to mentor and walk with people in their lives who are going through this “, she said.