Pastor, here’s how to answer “I’m more loving than God.”

Almost nobody says it out loud: “I’m more loving than God.” What you hear instead is “I’m more loving than that church,” “more loving than that pastor,” “more loving than Paul.” You hear it from former youth group kids, from people in your comments, sometimes from people still in your pews. But follow the sentence all the way down and that’s where it lands. It’s a sermon of the serpent. Here’s how to spot it early, and how I answer it as a pastor.

What deconstructionism is

Deconstructionism is dismantling historic Christian belief one piece at a time, Paul first and then Jesus’ own words, and building a custom God that fits the deconstructor’s preferences. It divorces God from how He has revealed Himself in creation and Scripture, then generates a new Jesus.

It’s usually sold as a purer faith. Deconstruction, the pitch goes, will give you a more pure version of the church. But that version is not the thing. It’s a new Jesus, a new Paul, and a different gospel. People even wear it as a badge. I’ve seen someone advertise as a “deconstruction coach,” which is effectively an offer to lead you away from God.

The serpent’s question

Deconstruction follows both of the first two lies from the garden. It asks “Did Jesus really say that, or was it just Paul?”, which is “Did God really say?” (Genesis 3:1) with a modern accent. And it promises “You will be like God” (Genesis 3:5): you’ll be the arbiter of your own truth.

The key technique is questioning the explicit. Deconstructionists question what is plain in Scripture, because what is plain is coming against what they want to do.

Step 1 — Learn the ladder

Deconstruction rarely goes straight to “I’m more loving than God.” It climbs a ladder. First, separate Paul from Jesus. Then separate Jesus from His own words. Then build the new thing. Learn the ladder so you can spot step one when it shows up in your church.

What they really have a problem with isn’t Paul. It’s Jesus Christ the Lord. They won’t say that out loud, because they know the strategy wouldn’t work if they did. That’s why step one always sounds so reasonable.

Step 2 — Preach Paul as Christ’s apostle

Don’t treat Paul as a problem to manage. Paul calls himself an apostle “sent not from men nor by a man, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father” (Galatians 1:1). Peter put Paul’s letters alongside “the other Scriptures” (2 Peter 3:16). If you quietly apologize for Paul from the pulpit, you’ve already handed someone the first rung of the ladder.

Paul also warned about exactly this: people turning to “a different gospel,” which is really no gospel at all (Galatians 1:6–7).

Step 3 — Bring the life to the text, not the text to the life

Why do people question the explicit? Very often it’s around sexuality. Scripture is clear, and the person wants something else. So the text has to be removed, ripped out, or given a bizarre hermeneutic that justifies what they already want to do. It also quietly negates the cosmic justice of God and replaces it with socially generated justice.

We don’t read the Bible looking to justify our activity. We bring our life and lifestyle to the standard of Scripture, and we submit, repent, change, and live a new way. And when someone says, “That’s not loving,” ask a gentle question: by what standard? A framework that makes you the authority can’t even define love.

Step 4 — Take the millstone seriously

Jesus said it would be better to have a large millstone hung around your neck and be drowned in the sea than to cause one of these little ones to stumble (Matthew 18:6). There should be great fear here, for anyone leading others away from the truth, and for pastors who make that road easier.

We’ve seen this before. I can remember the emerging church movement fifteen or twenty years ago and how many fell away. The modern deconstructionist movement is doing it again. It’s a slippery slope, and at the bottom of it is death, not freedom.

Deconstructionism is, at bottom, a rejection of the authority of God and His word over how we live. So here’s the answer to the saying: God is more loving than you, and His truth is more loving than anything you could concoct.