In the past decade, a certain buzz word (a popular one here at Under Deconstruction, hint, hint) has surfaced among evangelical Christians. Deconstruction, in this sense, is a fairly new application of a word that really hasn’t been in use very long. But it’s a concept as old as faith itself.
But deconstruction is a way of responding to an emotional, psychological, spiritual state that isn’t a popular, trendy buzzword. Before anyone enters the deconstruction phase, they typically find themselves in a crisis of faith.
What are the symptoms of a faith crisis?
While there’s no official journal of spiritual health, there are some common symptoms of a crisis of faith. If you’re experiencing one or several of them, it could be a sign that you’re going through something more than a difficult stretch or feeling a little down. So here are five common symptoms suffered by Christians (or people of any belief system) who are going through a crisis of faith.
Fear
Fear not is said to be the most oft-repeated phrase in the Bible, appearing more than 300 times. Some might argue that overcoming fear is the primary purpose of the Bible if not of all faith. There is a lot to be afraid of in this world, some of it rational and some of it not so much.
So if you find yourself uncharacteristically stricken by fear, if fear is an emotion you experience often in your dreams, it’s possible that your faith isn’t doing for your spirit what is intended to do. And if fear has been an ever-present part of your life throughout your walk of faith, it could be that faith hasn’t fully taken root in your heart, soul, and mind.
Confusion
We could also call this inner conflict. Do you consistently find yourself conflicted about issues in the church? Do your conscience and your church leadership consistently butt heads? When you come across a passage of Scripture or a teaching based on Scripture, do you often search for a different interpretation or added context to try to resolve what you’re being taught and what you’re feeling in your heart?
While this type of thing happens to literally everyone who has ever had faith, if it is happening so frequently that it causes you anxiety or distress, it may have crossed over from run-of-the-mill conflict into spiritual crisis. This level of confusion, when the nature of faith seems to cloud your ability to think clearly or maintain a spirit of obedience within your church structure or even your relationship with God, can make day-to-day existence close to unbearable.
Shame
You haven’t done anything (recently) you’re particularly ashamed of. There’s no specific reason you can think of that would cause you to feel shame, yet you feel it and heavily. You’re not good enough. You don’t belong. You’re a fraud. If similar thoughts are flooding your internal monologue and steering your emotions, that can break your spirit and leave you feeling shattered.
This is yet another excruciating signal that your faith is not manifesting itself in your personal experience. All of these symptoms can act in concert to make life, especially the quieter moments without distractions, feel impossible, but shame in particular often feeds into another symptom we’ll discuss later: isolation.
Anger
If your fuse has shortened when you discuss spiritual issues, that can be caused by any number of factors: lack of sleep, hunger, general dissatisfaction. It isn’t, on its own, a certain sign of a crisis of faith. But anger is almost always a sign of some deeper root problem other than the exact issue that draws your ire.
But a crisis of faith can also cause anger to appear in all sorts of other areas not related to faith. You might snap at your family members for minor disturbances. Perhaps you catch yourself halfway into a rant at a retail worker over something that would never bother you otherwise. If your temper is flaring more easily and more often than usual, it’s definitely a good time to take a breath and examine what’s going on under the surface that your anger is drawing attention away from.
Isolation
This may very well be most common and most harmful symptom of a faith crisis. Faith is typically a communal experience; it’s what unites you together with your brothers and sisters in the church. You’ve depended on that fellowship to get you through difficult times in the past, but during a crisis of faith people often feel afraid to connect with others.
Withdrawing from the people who care about you when your spirit is suffering is a tragic case of bad timing, but it happens to struggling Christians all the time. The effects of loneliness can range from deep sadness to depression to physical sickness or even thoughts of self-harm or suicide. If you’re being drawn toward isolating yourself from your church and your loved ones, you may be going through a crisis of faith . . . and you definitely need to think about asking for help.
What should you do in a crisis of faith?
If you’re struggling to find the courage to talk to someone about what you’re going through, one of the most powerful tools at your disposal can be a pen and paper. Writing out your thoughts, making lists of the things you believe in and the things you’re struggling to believe in, or writing affirming statements about your faith and the subject of your faith . . . all of it can help translate very nebulous feelings into concrete, rational statements that can help you transition out of the stage that you’re in.
But if you really want to see a change to the chronic anxiety, and the feelings of loneliness or loss, I strongly recommend talking to someone. Follow this link to schedule a free, one-on-one Clarity Call to help make sense of what you’re going through and restore your sense of confidence and peace.