|
0 Comments
When my daughter Dyllan was a toddler, I exercised quite regularly at the YMCA. (And by "exercised," I mean that I read a book on the stationary bike and pedaled as slowly as possible while I enjoyed an hour of free childcare. Not gonna lie.) One day when I picked her up from the kid's room, the childcare worker pulled out the unopened granola bar I had put in Dyllan's bag, handed it to me, and said, "We can't give this to her because it contains peanuts. We don't allow anything with peanuts into the childcare area." I admit I was a bit surprised because it wasn't something I had given much thought to. But I quickly learned that there was almost nothing parents feared more in 2010 than the dreaded peanut. 
I have some exciting news! For almost the whole of last year, I have been buried in research. (Don't worry, that's not the exciting part. Wait for it.) I've been reading progressive and liberal books, listening to lectures and podcasts, and generally trying to immerse myself in the progressive world. I believe God has called me to write a book that will provide a biblical response to this rapidly-growing and influential movement within the church. My original plan was to take as long as possible (procrastinate much?) and dive way deep into the progressive pool and to eventually (maybe someone else will do it first and I'll be off the hook?) write a book that will be easy to read and understand for the average Christian. My plans to wait were foiled a few months ago, when my review of the book, Girl, Wash Your Face went viral. Because of how far this post reached, I suddenly found myself (here comes the exciting part) working with a wonderful literary agent and signing a contract with Tyndale House! I've told a bit of my testimony here, and the book will dive deeper into that journey, addressing key theological points along the way that I believe the progressive church has gotten wrong. I pray it will call the church back to the legacy of love and truth that Jesus called us to preach to all nations. Who is this book for?
My prayer and goal for this book comes from Jude 1:3: "To contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints." I'll be slowing down a bit on the blog, but will shoot for 2 podcasts per month while I take the better part of this year to write the book. I appreciate your prayers! Is the Book of Acts Historically Reliable? With Dr. Craig Keener — The Alisa Childers Podcast #3811/15/2018 
[Originally published on thegospelcoalition.org] “Listen. I gotta break it to you . . . I’m post-Christian. . . . I don’t believe it anymore. I don’t believe any of it.” These are the words former Christian minister Bart Campolo recalls speaking to his famous evangelist father, Tony Campolo, after leaving the faith of his youth. He explained that his journey to secular humanism was a 30-year process of passing through every stage of heresy. In other words, his theology “progressed” from conservative to liberal to entirely secular. He predicted that in 10 years, 30 percent to 40 percent of so-called progressive Christians will also become atheists. Progressive Christianity is tough to define, because there isn’t a creed or list of beliefs that progressive Christians officially unite around. However, progressive Christians tend to reject the historic biblical understanding of marriage and sexuality, and generally deny or redefine doctrines such as the atonement and biblical authority. As a result, Campolo believes that for the most part, progressives have already abandoned Christianity, simply redefining terms in an effort to hold on to some semblance of their faith. He believes the generation behind them will recognize the shallowness of this new theology—and, with nothing invested in remaining a Christian, they’ll basically say, “Let’s just call it what it is,” and leave the faith altogether. De-Conversion Stories The trajectory Campolo identifies isn’t difficult to spot. Husband-and-wife Christian recording duo Gungor recently made headlines when Lisa described her husband’s year-long conversion to atheism in a Buzzfeed video titled, “I Stopped Believing in God after Pastoring a MegaChurch.” The video highlighted the couple’s spiritual evolution from faith to “heretical” to unbelieving . . . and back to belief. Although Lisa’s own atheism lasted only a day, the faith she and Michael have finally come to embrace looks little like historic Christianity. After stating he no longer feels “spiritually homeless,” Michael identified himself as an “Apophatic mystic Hindu pantheist Christian Buddhist skeptic with a penchant for nihilistic progressive existentialism.” CONTINUE READING AT THEGOSPELCOALITION.ORG The Prosperity Gospel and Mystical Miracle Movement: With Costi Hinn—The Alisa Childers Podcast #3711/5/2018 
You might recognize the name Lisa Gungor as one half of the singer/songwriter duo, Gungor, who have written and recorded widely beloved songs such as "Dry Bones," and "Beautiful Things." A few years ago, the Gungors made headlines after revealing they no longer believe in biblical historical narratives such as a literal Adam and Eve, or Noah's flood. They even compared these notions to believing in Santa Claus. For many Evangelicals, this came as an utter shock. But for those who were paying attention, the Gungors had been veering from historic Christianity for a while, and none of this happened in a vacuum. To help connect the dots, Lisa Gungor recently penned her memoir, The Most Beautiful Thing I've Seen: Opening Your Eyes to Wonder. |
RSS Feed