Reconstruction Is Not Re-Indoctrination

As I’m preparing to launch Square 1 – a new 90-day transformational program that helps people move from Deconstruction to Reconstruction – I feel the need to clarify a few things about “Reconstruction.” Specifically, the notion that “Reconstruction” of our faith involves telling people what to believe.

For the record: Reconstruction has nothing to do with Re-Indoctrination.

Think about it: You’ve just spent months, perhaps years, re-thinking and deconstructing your Christian faith; questioning the doctrines your pastors and parents and Bible teachers handed to you – relentlessly abandoning the toxic status quo of American Christianity – only to roll over and allow someone to tell you what to believe about Hell, or the Bible, or Salvation, etc.

Really?

I think not.

Reconstruction is not about telling people what to think. It’s about helping people re-learn how to think for themselves.

Here’s the deal: If you’ve gone through a long and painful process of deconstruction, the last thing you need to do is to jump right back into another situation where some spiritual guru spoon feeds you another set of doctrines.

That’s insane.

To be clear, actual Reconstruction involves the following:

*Learning to forgive those who have hurt us

*Accepting our own spiritual responsibility for growth and connection

*Developing new spiritual practices to replace the toxic systems we abandoned

*Re-wiring our brains to create new thought patterns that lead us to life, joy and love

*Re-connecting ourselves with the Divine to experience God rather than merely talk about God/Theology

The one thing Reconstruction absolutely does NOT involve is enslaving ourselves to another spiritual leader or human authority who leads us around by the hand as if we were children who cannot think for ourselves.

Please understand: This 90 Day Square 1 program will help people to develop new spiritual disciplines and practices that lead them to experience real freedom from their old, toxic Christianity and equip them to discover and experience Christ directly – without any need to depend upon me, or anyone else, for their ongoing spiritual development.

We will spend 13 weeks together exploring the essential elements of Reconstruction, develop new habits that lead us to greater connection with the Divine, release ourselves from every entanglement that prevents us from fully escaping religious control systems, retrain our brains to focus on the positive aspects of faith, establish new patterns that replace old ways of thinking, and above all – learn to think for ourselves.

So, fair warning: Anyone who tries to tell you that spiritual Reconstruction involves submitting yourselves to another spiritual guru is not concerned about your best interests. They want to re-enslave you to yet another toxic religious system where you are under control and easily manipulated.

Don’t do it!

The truth is, this is why Reconstruction as I’m describing it is so essential. Because without recognizing our predisposition to operate within religious systems that control us, we will easily fall right back into those old patterns and grooves that are still active in our brains.

We need to not only re-think our theology, but also completely disconnect from that old way of thinking – a way of thinking and being that many of us have spent years reinforcing over and over again.

That pattern in itself is something that needs to be broken and replaced with new patterns that lead us to experience actual freedom and real life-giving spirituality that is totally free from Top-Down control.

Hopefully this clears up any confusion on the matter. Reconstruction is not about Re-Indoctrination. It’s about learning to set ourselves free from toxic religion so we can continue to experience and enjoy that freedom without taking any other yoke upon ourselves.

If you’d like to un-learn these old patterns and really move into the complete freedom of Reconstruction, I invite you to join me at Square 1 on Sept. 30. We have 10 seats still available.

Learn more here.

**

Keith Giles was formerly a licensed and ordained minister who walked away from organized church 11 years ago, to start a home fellowship that gave away 100% of the offering to the poor in the community. Today, He and his wife live in Meridian, Idaho, awaiting their next adventure.