DJP commented yesterday on the deconversion of Anne Rice, of Interview with a Vampire fame.
Before getting to the point, an aside. I note that she deconverted from Roman Catholicism. I want it clear that the Vatican does not preach the same gospel one finds in the Bible or even the early church and the fathers. The Reformation happened for significant reasons that the Vatican has not yet corrected.</aside>
However, I find it interesting that her deconversion is more newsworthy than her conversion. Why? Why does it matter? I believe it is considered newsworthy because there are more people interested in maligning any form of Christian religion. The nuance of doctrine within “Christendom” is irrelevant to an outsider. As far as they’re concerned, the points I make in the paragraph about Rome are meaningless. A person is still all under the umbrella of “Christian,” whether that be Catholic, Mormon, Orthodox, some variant of evangelical, fundamental, reformed, whatever. They are all in the same boat as far as your typical unbeliever is concerned.
In fact, that is kind of a vital part of the story. This confuses the real issues that authentic Christians are trying to tell and allows a person to conveniently lump all the nuts in one bag. “I don’t have to listen to X because I’ve talked with Y before and he was weird before and then deconverted later. Your crazy religion must be false because his was.” Deconversion is glorified by the unbelievers as showing authenticity for their own unbelief. “See! That person was a true believer and deconverted, so it must all be a lie.”
This is part of the reason why I think the doctrine of perseverance is so important. If a person is saved, he remains saved. (John 10:27-28) If he deconverts, it only demonstrates that his salvation was inauthentic to begin with. (Hebrews 3:12) Some have said this leads to some sort of antinomianism (the belief that law doesn’t apply to believers) whereby I can stay saved despite whatever it is I do, but that’s not right. In fact, it is the opposite. You demonstrate the authenticity of your conversion by following the Lord Jesus and obeying the commandments.
This is also why doctrine is important. It’s not enough to be under the “Christian” umbrella as perceived by an unbeliever. You have to know and believe in the correct God. A person who does not persevere, never put his faith into that God. he believed in something or someone else. This happens quite often. (Matthew 7:13-14)
So, despite the glorification of these acts, I will repeat myself as saying that there is no deconversion, only a person changing one form of unbelief for another.
Cheers.
