Steingard: Another De-Convert?
How to address high-profile "Christians" who abandon faith?
June, 2020
Jon Steingard, a member of the popular Christian band Hawk Nelson, recently announced that he "no longer believes in God." That's caused some understandable angst in the Christian community. What should we make of this news, and what does it mean for the nature of faith?
My understanding of Jon Steingard's situation is limited, of course, since I don't know him personally. Nor was I especially familiar with him prior to this announcement. Yet, from what I have heard and read, this was a "realization," not really a "deconversion." The way he described his spiritual history, he gradually came to embrace discomfort and rejection with respect to aspects of Christian culture. He always knew he was going through the motions: "playing along." After a while, he accepted that he lacked deep or connected sense of truth. He didn't change his ideology, per se, he only changed his identification.
So far as Steingard's own story goes—in what limited information exists for people like me to see—losing his faith really meant recognizing he never had it. He had vague intellectual agreement, some family traditions, some social connections, and certainly a career path. But when questions arose, he didn't have actual trust. By and large, that's the reason people who once identified as Christians changed their minds. It's not that they were true believers, then stopped; it's that they came to embrace the fact that they were never true believers at all.
The other legitimate possibility is that Jon Steingard is undergoing a prodigal-type experience (Luke 15:11–32). Scripture warns born-again Christians about doubt and disobedience (Hebrews 3:12). If he really, truly is saved, then what we're seeing now is a tragic victory of sin in his life. But if he's a true believer, it's going to be resolved, eventually. Legitimate Christians can sin, and they can struggle with doubt; hopefully, this is where he is, and he'll come out of it (Galatians 6:1–5).
Either way, what he's saying and doing now is heartbreaking. It should be addressed with both love and honesty. It's almost impossible for us to know, for certain, what's happening in Jon's heart (1 Samuel 16:7). Scripture is clear that those who are born again cannot lose that status (John 10:28), but it is also clear that even those who are saved can fall away such that they risk serious consequences (Hebrews 3:12).
The best thing we can do when we have doubts is to recognize that God allows us the space to express them (Mark 9:24; Habakkuk 1:2–4). He knows we will struggle with our experiences (John 16:32–33). It's critical to know that He provides answers when we seek them (Matthew 7:7–8). Both Scripture (John 20:31; 2 Peter 1:16; Luke 1:1–4) and nature (Romans 1:18–20; Psalm 19:1) serve to provide evidence and reasons to believe. That does not make answers simple, or easy, but they are there (1 John 4:1). We can, and should, seek the advice of those with more experience and wisdom to help us answer those questions (Proverbs 11:14; Philippians 3:14–15).
Perhaps more than anything, it's essential to remember that "I don't understand" is not the same as "this cannot be true." Most people who de-convert reach a crisis point where they do not "agree" with God, refuse to accept that they could be wrong, and on the basis of that, they decide God does not exist. Sooner or later, what a person wants to believe becomes more important than the evidence we can provide (John 5:39–40).
Some of our human questions are hard, and not all have happy answers. But with respect to Jon, there are answers to these questions. Steingard referred to issues like the problem of evil, and other questions which have been discussed for literally thousands of years. At the risk of dismissing his concerns, it's hard to believe he could sincerely grapple with such questions and not realize the profound volume of work which has been done on those subjects.
Many, many seekers and skeptics have found answers to those concerns (1 Peter 3:15). Hopefully, Jon Steingard will be one of those who comes back to truth. If not, it only proves that merely using the phrase "I am a Christian" is not self-authenticating, even when the person is sincere (Matthew 7:21–23; Mark 13:13).
-- Editor
