In early April, writer and blogger Paul C. Maxwell announced he was no longer a Christian, joining the trend of professing Gens Y and Z Christians who have abandoned the faith.
Whether you are familiar with Maxwell depends on how much time you spend online reading articles or hanging out where postmodernists and millennials wrestle with their faith, or whether you are a fan of John Piper’s Desiring God ministry where Maxwell had been a writer since 2014.
Prior to his announcement, thousands read Maxwell’s blogs focusing on issues related to trauma, men, and fitness. And his educational pedigree, work experience in conservative Christian publishing, and the scope of his influence gave every impression that he was a solid voice for hurting evangelical Christians.
So why did he abandon Christianity? I scoured the web, and I could not find a definitive statement explaining his departure. But his initial announcement on social media April 9 echoed the progressive Christian voices declaring that they are deconstructing their faith and finding a way that is, for them, more pleasing.
Maxwell plans to launch a new web site in May, devoted to conversations about theology, philosophy, and faith. Like many postmodernists, he invites others to join him in his journey, ditching any notion that one’s life of faith should have an objective authority to guide it—such as the texts of the Bible.
So what are we to make of these departures from biblical Christianity, and the postmodern progressives who are trying to reshape it? I want to make four biblical observations:
It’s regrettable and unnecessary, but not unusual.
Christianity does not call people to an easy or cushy lifestyle. And Jesus was always clear about the sacrifice it would require (Luke 9:23-26). So nearly as soon as the Christian movement began, many people who at first had proclaimed their allegiance to Christ changed their minds and walked away.
In the Bible and in Christian history, abandoning the Christian faith is called “apostasy.” The term applies two ways–to those who teach false teaching rather than a biblical faith as well as to people who simply decide to depart, such as Maxwell has done.
For instance, Paul mentions Demas (short for Demetrius), who had been faithful in the beginning (Col. 4:14), but by the end of Paul’s life had abandoned the faith (2 Tim. 4:10). Paul’s final mention of him is laced with sadness. They were friends, and now he is gone. Imagine that! Someone who worked alongside the apostle Paul would turn his back on Christianity! What would motivate that?
It’s usually motivated by two things.
Paul’s description of Demas’ defection is enlightening, “Demas has deserted me, since he loved this present world.” That is, he decided that he preferred the values of the world rather than those of Christ.
So the first reason that people might abandon Christianity is their “love of the world” or the things the world offers. That is, they desire to return to a life captivated by physical pleasures, selfishness, and temporal desires. But even more so, the values and mindset of the world pull the person away from following Christ when those two collide. So, simply put, the person who has claimed to follow Christ chooses instead to return to the old life and abandons Christ in favor of the world.
The mind-set of the person who follows Christ and is genuinely changed by Christ is different than that of a person who is not truly in Christ (Rom. 12:2). Frequently the two are incompatible. So the Bible is also clear that the person who defects from the faith was likely not regenerated in Christ in the first place. They may have been a Christian in outward appearance, but they were not born again in Christ (Roman 8:6-8, 1 John 2:5-6, 15). So their values never truly changed, and they eventually returned to the world.
The second typical motivation is a refusal to accept the hard truths of the Bible. For three decades postmodern progressivism has been slowly, but surely, rising like lava in American Christianity. Among the most common themes of progressive bloggers, authors, speakers, and celebrities is the intentional rejection of the authority of the Bible in favor of how they feel, or what doesn’t offend them, or what they prefer to believe. What they end up with is a strange counterfeit of biblical Christianity, and not the real thing at all (see my blog on Aaron Rodgers here).
Why? Because fundamental to biblical Christianity is accepting what God says in the Bible as the truth—God’s truth. Rejecting it is rejecting Christianity.
It will increase over time.
Simply put, the harder the culture makes it to follow Christ, the more professing “Christians” will decide to return to the world. And the closer we get to the end of time, the more difficult it will be for Christians to live for Christ in a culture that is increasingly hostile to the truth.
The abdication of absolute truth in our postmodern culture fuels an abandonment of the faith. That is, it is impossible to faithfully follow Christ while denying absolute truth at the same time (John 14:6, Eph. 4:21, John 8:31-32).
The Bible foretells this escalating defection, picturing a time when false beliefs and anemic Christianity will be increasingly exposed while, at the same time, true beliefs and the credibility of Christ will be increasingly validated (1 Tim. 4:1-2, Luke 8:13).
And doubt is not the same thing as defection.
But last, and maybe most important, doubting is not the same thing as defecting or abandoning your faith. When Maxwell or Hillsong’s Marty Sampson or Joshua Harris or TikTok star Abraham Piper, and so many others, announce their doubt has led to their departure, they imply that leaving Christianity is the only option. It’s not.
The Bible teaches that doubt is the flip side of faith. It should not be embraced, but occasionally can be expected. It’s how we deal with it that matters.
Doubting God or the Bible can lead to sin (Gen. 3:1-5, Luke 1:18-20), and it can make us vulnerable to failing in our faith, crashing in our confidence, or struggling in our spirit (James 1:6), but it can also launch us into renewed strength and new opportunities to trust Christ and to see God work in our lives (Ps. 77:11, John 20:25-28).
So if you find yourself doubting and maybe struggling with your faith in troubling times, or you are wrestling with the hard truths of the Bible, rather than turn away from the Lord, turn toward Him. And rather than refashion the faith into your own image, join the chorus of Christians who have come to the Lord with their doubts held in open hands and said without hesitation, “I believe! Help my unbelief!” (Mark 9:24).
He does. And He always will.