For those who don’t know, Josh Harris is kind of like one of the authors of “purity culture,” the guy whose book, “I Kissed Dating Goodbye” became very popular. He was also a pastor, took over for C.J. Mahaney. Long story, lots of controversy, but basically he was a significant Christian pop culture leader.
Anyway, a while back he repented of his book, apologized for having hurt so many people with it. Not long after that he reported the end of his marriage, how his wife and he are separating. Now in an Instagram post he speaks of something more akin to deconstruction, loosing his faith and falling away from Christianity itself.
Everything Josh Harris seems to have once believed in, trusted, stood on, has now shifted dramatically. I pray he is surrounded by some good friends.
My heart really goes out to those who may have followed him, those who built a faith around his teachings. We follow Jesus Christ, not other Christians, but that can still be some hard stuff to deal with. I remember once turning to a guy in a time of grief who I thought was a strong believer and he suddenly said rather sarcastically, “So where’s your stupid god-god now??” Broke my heart, but it rattled my world too, because I realized people can go through all the motions, say all the right words, know the Bible in and out, and yet have something else in their heart entirely. Also, I had to admit that I can be deceived. That’s kind of scary, makes you realize you’re vulnerable, makes you doubt your own perceptions. Also, it really opened my eyes to placing Jesus first, Jesus before all others. And it did help to send me on a really good journey, one of asking, so what makes someone a Christian?
And that’s the whole problem with Josh Harris and the environment he came from, the Christian culture he helped to create. He was basically part of a legalistic belief system that implies we’re saved by our own good choices, by our ability to obey the ten commandments, by our purity rings, by our politics. In his Instragram post he says he is falling away or deconstructing his faith and that, “by all the measurements I have for defining a Christian, I am not a Christian.”
It struck me as very sad because that’s his answer to what went wrong right there! It is a sentence that just screams out for control, for I have, I am, I define, I judge, I measure, I get to decide. I, I, I,…..
By all his own measurements he now finds his own self lacking. Well of course he does! “As you judge, so shall you be judged….”
I’ve broken up with my faith a few times. I call it “divorcing Jesus.” It’s somewhat amusing after the fact, in terms of heated tantrums and heated grace. The last time I tossed not just my cross out the car window, but my cell phone, too. That’s it, I’m done! And that Still Quiet Voice said, “What makes you think it’s up to you?” That totally blew my mind, but that’s true, that’s actually in the Bible. We love because He first loved us. We come to faith in answer to His call. He invites us in, not just the other way around.
We’re in a two way relationship and then we act as if it is all just a one sided deal, a simple matter of proclaiming, I believe. And tomorrow, I can just squeeze my eyes shut and proclaim, now I don’t believe.
So much of Western Christianity is built around maintaining control, our own, kind of like a pseudo surrender. I’ve totally submitted to Christ…..just on my own terms and under the following conditions with all applicable safe words. It’s an egalitarian relationship, one based on give and take, on dispensationalism. I do this, so God has to do this…….
I am not mourning this “falling away” of Josh Harris because sometimes the false god we have created in our own image needs to fall away so we finally have room in our hearts for the Most High.
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See, there's this thing called biology... 
The perils of legalism. WOW!!
Let us all say: “Master Jesus, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner!”
And … He does.
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Having been a part of that homeschooling culture for over 20 years, I think I can say it wasn’t “legalism” per se.
I.e., they didn’t believe in salvation by keeping the law, as the Jews do. They were very much a “saved by grace through faith in Christ Jesus” culture.
But among the parents, and it was the generation that (generally) came of age during the promiscuous 70’s & 80’s, there was a great fear of their children being exposed to the things they had been negatively impacted by as youths and teens.
They were heavily influenced by people like Doug Phillips who taught a philosophy of “raising them in a purity culture will keep them pure.”
The Duggar’s are an example of that mindset also.
But it’s a frail philosophy and never could have worked because it took the idea of all people being born in sin and struggling with the flesh, and put it in the realm of, “our kids will be safe and godly because we conform to this outward standard.”
It was a recipe for disaster from jump street.
It completely ignored the desires of the flesh that EVERYONE is going to face and took away a dependency we should have had on Christ.
So it was more akin to what happened after salvation, rather than them thinking they could earn salvation by keeping a law.
It’s interesting that many of the main proponents of that culture have had very sad exposure of very deep and harmful failings.
I don’t say that to judge them, I have dealt with my own failings in a somewhat public fashion.
But man, we got so far away from the Bible and the local church to get all wrapped up in leaders like Doug Phillips.
Lord forgive us.
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Amen. Beautiful, deep, and true because it is written around Jesus, the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Thank you.
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Amen!
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God is the ground of our being, it takes a lifetime just to realize this! Some plants spring up quickly without ever realising that they grow and are because… We never heard and understood what Christ meant by “Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth” you are right none should claim God”s work as their own. But who knows whether the Gardener does not have all in hand. Love to read your posts…
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IB, I was not familiar with this young man until the other day when reading the post of another Christian blogger who wrote a post in much the same vein—she wrote that “There’s nothing beautiful about denouncing Christ to the world. Ever.”
And she’s right.
And to your point, we don’t “follow” other Christians but we follow Christ. And so it seems to me this young man began following the world, taking his eyes off of his Savior and resting his sights elsewhere—-
As a teen during much of the 70s during the rise of the Jesus freak movement as I attended Young Life along with our youth group at church I can remember my mom fretting I would fall into some sort of Christian cult— I can remember thinking that with all the drugs and sex swirling around during the same period my mother was worried over me falling in with a ‘Christian ‘ cult— but I get it now as some who preach and lead—- lead the wrong direction—
Christ only.
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I really like that Julie, “There’s nothing beautiful about denouncing Christ to the world. Ever.” Amen. Josh is still chasing a narrative, seeking the approval of others much like he did in faith. His announcement is actually selfish, self absorbed, strategic and political. He’s seeking power and status among a different group now, and likely revenge against those Christians who allegedly wronged him.
As to cults, Matthew 23 really speaks to that whole dynamic, the way we can idolize teachers and leaders. I know people who won’t pray or read the bible, instead they just go and ask their pastor what it says. Well, we all have available a direct wi/fi signal to God Himself, the Holy Spirit within us, and the instruction manual in front of us.
Not that teachers aren’t wonderful, not that pastors aren’t desperately needed, not that we aren’t immeasurable blessed by others wisdom in faith, it is just that we are often cultian volunteers, not victims. 🙂
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Well said IB— it’s as if we prefer being fed by the aid of others rather than working to feed ourselves— leaning to a lazy path of least resistance —
Just like I told Shara on her post, ‘another one bites the dust to the culture gods’
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I must live under a Rock- never heard of the guy. 😉
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Like the commenter above, I spent years in Christian homeschooling circles who had very purist ideals. I have watched with sadness as nearly every family I knew ended up broken by divorce and even leaving the faith. It’s as if they thought their own pure living was the same as a relationship with Jesus, and when it didn’t work as expected, they rejected Christianity altogether. My husband and I distanced ourselves from the culture early on, albeit some of our closest friends were still in it.
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Like some of the other commenters, I am unfamiliar with Josh Harris and his work. I love your analysis of his situation. It’s definitely an ego thing. One of the key verses for my life is the statement of John the Baptist about Jesus: “He must increase; I must decrease.” J.
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Love you concluding paragraph.
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This is a really good take on it that I hadn’t considered… his wording is very telling. That stuff needs to fall away so we can see the real Jesus, not the one we create in our heads. What a tragedy that he has kind of thrown out the proverbial baby with the bathwater and walked away from Him entirely.
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