Have you ever been let down by someone who claimed to follow Jesus? Maybe you just shook your head and moved on. Or perhaps the disappointment ran deeper, leading you to doubt not only their profession of faith but also the truth of what they said they believed.

Today’s post comes from a part of my “work-in-progress” that tackles that very issue. When people disappoint us, does that justify deconstructing our faith?

Let’s jump in.

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Let’s tackle the obvious debris first: the opinions and actions of men. In one of his points, Mattera makes an astute observation and summarizes the problem: “Some mistake disillusionment—disappointment with church structures, leadership failures, or hypocrisy—for a reason to deconstruct their faith entirely, rather than recognizing that fallible humans do not invalidate biblical truth.” It’s my goal to challenge us to think critically about whether our disillusionment is with God—who he is and what he says—or with the imperfect representations of his professing followers. If it’s the latter, shouldn’t we give biblical truth more careful consideration and weight before discarding our belief system?

Disillusionment with church culture and leadership.

“Scandals, abuses of power and failures in moral accountability among high-profile leaders have led many to question the integrity of the evangelical church. The gap between professed beliefs and actual practices of some spiritual leaders has created deep mistrust.”

In the early 1980s, I attended Liberty University, a Christian college in Lynchburg, Virginia. The school was barely ten years old and led by its founder and chancellor, Pastor Jerry Falwell, Sr. A few years earlier, in 1979, Mr. Falwell had established a political organization known as the Moral Majority. He was also the lead pastor of Thomas Road Baptist Church, which we were required to attend twice weekly.

As a naïve, barely eighteen-year-old, I paid little attention to the news, but even I became aware of the lightning rod the Falwell family had become for Christian conservative ideology. The more Falwell spoke out against contentious topics like abortion, pornography, and secular rock music, the more visible he grew. As his popularity among professing Christians increased, so did the voices of his critics. He faced attacks on his personal character, was vilified, and was continually mocked and dismissed by those who opposed his messages. Of course, this only made him more popular as a leader and hero of his supporters.

Christian leaders are not immune to the siren call of popularity and influence, even when God has orchestrated the circumstances that lead to a greater platform. Wise and godly leaders accept the role with fear and trepidation, acknowledging the potential for influencing others to seek after and follow God, but also realizing the opposite outcome that could result from personal faith failures.

I don’t recall any serious scandals arising from Dr. Falwell’s life, although his detractors often accused him. His son, Jerry Jr., however, caused significant harm after inheriting his father’s mantle as president and chancellor in 2007. Serving in a time when social media reveals everything, his lifestyle choices later in his career brought shame to his family name, the university’s reputation, and, most importantly, the cause of Christ. He was one of many we could mention who had years of effective public service and gospel ministry but ultimately dishonored the name of Jesus. Understandably, this can cause one to say, “If that’s Christianity, I want no part of it.”

The Bible tells us God’s view of those who profess to be His loyal followers, but, just like unbelievers, are susceptible to moral failings. These fall into two categories: true believers and imposters. David is a good example of the first, described as a “man after God’s own heart” (1 Samuel 13:14). From a young age, he sought to worship and obey God. He was a gifted musician, the youngest of seven sons tasked with caring for the family flocks. As a teenager, he was anointed to be the next king of Israel, but would spend decades waiting for God to fulfill His promise. David wrote between 70 and 90 psalms and is remembered and revered as Israel’s most beloved king. He was also chosen as the line through which God would bring the Messiah.

Under David’s leadership, the kingdom was united and enjoyed years of prosperity. David witnessed God’s hand of protection and blessing over and over, yet there came a time when he grew a bit complacent. Tempted by a beautiful woman, he committed adultery, an affair that led to an unplanned pregnancy. In fear of his sin being exposed, David went to unspeakable lengths to hide it. He arranged for his faithful servant and friend (one of the thirty-seven mighty men who protected him personally) to be killed in battle. David, a man after God’s own heart, committed adultery and murder.

God sent a prophet to confront David and call him to account for his sin. David’s heart was broken. He readily admitted what he had done and asked God for forgiveness. “Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Against You, You only, I have sinned and done that which is evil in Your sight, so that You are justified when You speak and blameless when You judge” (Psalm 51:2-4).

David’s response—confession and repentance—reveals he truly was a child of God. His faith was genuine, even though his sinful flesh had for a time drawn him away from the God he loved.

Scripture also tells us that not everyone who professes faith possesses faith. Many are deceived, thinking their self-righteousness and good works done in the name of the Lord are sufficient. Others are the deceivers, people who claim to speak for God but lead the naïve and foolish astray. In the Old Testament, God often rebuked the Jewish people for this, saying they “draw near with their words and honor Me with their lip service, but they remove their hearts far from Me, and their reverence for Me consists of tradition learned by rote” (Isaiah 29:13).

The New Testament mentions impostors to the faith. The apostle John wrote to warn the church of antichrists—those who claim to speak for God but do not know him, and soon walk away from the faith. “They went out from us, but they were not really of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us; but they went out, so that it would be shown that they all are not of us” (1 John 2:19). In other words, not everyone who speaks for Christ, or claims to be in Christ, belongs to Christ!

If the failures of others have caused you to walk away from the faith, I challenge you to apply the same logic to matters of Christianity as you would to any other relationship. Suppose you owned a law firm with several partners. Your team consisted of men and women whom you trusted implicitly to act with integrity and honesty, and for the company’s good. After working together for years, you find out one of your “most loyal” law partners has been embezzling from the firm. He has stolen from your clients and put your company in danger of bankruptcy. This is devastating to you personally; he was a man you trusted, in whom you had full confidence. Soon, his moral failure begins to affect the company’s reputation as the news becomes public. Suddenly, no one wants to hire your firm. Many employees quit because they are afraid to be associated with you.

Would you consider that your partner’s actions were an accurate reflection of you? Was it your failure that caused him to sin? Should people no longer have confidence in your law firm, or for that matter, in any law firm? After all, if he wasn’t who he claimed to be, then wouldn’t that mean all lawyers are thieves, and all law firms are not to be trusted?

Consider the fallout and impact a wayward child has on his parents and family. A husband and wife raise a son to be a responsible, respectful, and productive member of society. They teach by words, by experiences, and by modeling. To their dismay, at the age of fifteen, the boy decides to abandon all he has been taught. He joins a gang. He gets addicted to drugs. He participates in a robbery. He fails his classes and gets expelled from school. Despite all of it, the parents love the child. They weep for the mess he has made of his life, and they do everything they can to bring him back to mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual health. Whether or not he responds, is he still their child? Are all parents failures, because one child made poor choices? Should we stop having children and abandon the family unit entirely?

I hope you can see the logic. Faith in Christ is not based on the faithfulness of human beings, and we cannot determine if God is who he claims to be, or if his word is true, based on the actions of others, whether good or bad. God is faithful when men are not.