In an interview on “100 Huntley Street,” apologist Wes Huff discussed what he believes has contributed to the recent wave of faith deconstruction stories.
“100 Huntley Street” is a Canadian television show that “tells the amazing stories of people who have had life-changing encounters with God,” according to its website.
Wes Huff is the vice president of Apologetics Canada. He is currently working on a Ph.D. in New Testament at the University of Toronto’s Wycliffe College, and he regularly posts YouTube videos discussing theology and apologetics.
Faith deconstruction has been a subject of conversation among evangelicals for several years, as a number of high-profile Christian influencers have shared about changes in their faith. Some, including YouTubers Rhett and Link and pastor and author Josh Harris, have left the Christian faith entirely.
“If we’re talking about what I think are probably the legitimate issues with a lot of people who go through ‘deconstruction,’” Huff told host Lara Watson, “I’m not sure that they were given the proper nutrients and foundation and soil quality to be able to grow roots that actually gave them subsistence, so that when those things did happen, it was somewhat too late already.”
“What I would want to encourage people [with] is that the point of deconstruction is reconstruction,” he continued. “Because if you deconstruct something and you don’t reconstruct it, it’s just demolition. Your worldview perspective shouldn’t be a movement of demolition.”
Huff added, “Doubt is not a problem, but it’s just not the destination.”
“If we see doubt as the destination and we get fixated with that, we’re not actually getting to the answers that we should be pursuing in a lot of those things,” Huff argued. “And unfortunately, I think that’s what I see a lot, is that people are kind of taking doubt and putting it in…the final place where the answer should come from.”
“And they’re pushing into their questions but without actually trying to seek answers. And in that sense a lot of people become cynics rather than skeptics,” he said.
