Doubt, Deconstruction & “Progressive Christianity”

A Movement Seeks to Redefine Christianity. Some Think that It Is a Much-Needed Progressive Reformation. Others Believe that It Is an Attack on Historic Christianity.

Alisa Childers never thought she would question her Christian faith. She was raised in a Christian home, where she had seen her mom and dad feed the hungry, clothe the homeless, and love the outcast. She had witnessed God at work and then had dedicated her own life to leading worship, as part of the popular Christian band ZOEgirl. All that was deeply challenged when she met a progressive pastor, who called himself a hopeful agnostic.

Another Gospel? describes the intellectual journey Alisa took over several years as she wrestled with a series of questions that struck at the core of the Christian faith. After everything she had ever believed about God, Jesus, and the Bible had been picked apart, she found herself at the brink of despair . . . until God rescued her, helping her to rebuild her faith, one solid brick at a time.

In a culture of endless questions, you need solid answers. If you or someone you love has encountered the ideas of progressive Christianity and aren’t sure how to respond, Alisa’s journey will show you how to determine―and rest in―what’s unmistakably true.

A groundbreaking book on the true nature of faith deconstruction

Alisa and Tim help the reader to deconstruct the deconstructionists and thus to respond to them, both with arguments and with love and sensitivity. This is a timely book! — Carl Trueman, author of The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self

A movement called ‘deconstruction’ is sweeping through our churches and it is affecting our loved ones. It has disrupted, dismantled, and destroyed the faith of so many, and this book can help you not only understand what’s happening but also stand your ground and respond with clarity and confidence.

• Maybe you have a loved one who is deconstructing their faith, and you are struggling to know how to respond;
• Maybe you are trying to understand the radical spiritual makeover your friend or family member is going through;
• Maybe your relationship with a loved one has been strained or even cut off because of your “toxic” Christian beliefs and you don’t know what to do;
• Maybe you’re experiencing doubt yourself and facing hard questions about truth, God, the Bible, theology and the gospel.

Some who leave the faith feel wounded by the church. Others feel repressed by some of the moral imperatives found in Scripture. For some, it leads to a custom-made spirituality. For others, deconstructing their faith leads them away from the truth into agnosticism, atheism, the occult, or humanism.

In this seminal book, Alisa Childers, author of Another Gospel?, and Tim Barnett, creator of Red Pen Logic, will help you understand what deconstruction is, where it comes from, why it is compelling to some, and how it disorients the lives of so many. You will be able to think through the main issues around faith deconstruction and explore wise and loving ways to respond from a biblical worldview.

A chronic doubter responds to 20 of the most difficult questions about Christianity

From the Foreword by J. Warner Wallace: “A book written by a man who has genuinely struggled with the questions, wrestled with doubts, and emerged faithful on the other side. He understands you.”

Does Christianity still make sense? Years after Bobby Conway became a Christian, this question haunted him. Even though by then, he was the pastor of a thriving church, it seemed as if his entire belief structure was being dismantled. Had he been duped? Perhaps you can relate to how Bobby felt. Maybe you find yourself questioning in the same way.

In this book, Bobby describes his own long journey through chronic doubt to a settled and confident trust. In this book, he responds to the twenty toughest challenges to the Christian faith, including these difficult questions:

• Why are there so many scandals in the Church?
• Aren’t Christians just a bunch of hypocrites?
• Why do Christians use God’s name to oppress others?
• Why are so many Christians racists?
• Why does God allow evil in the world?
• Is there reliable evidence for God’s existence?

Join Bobby in this book as he explores these questions and many more while describing how he was hammered with doubts for years.

Are you tired of feeling like you have to check social media to find out what you’re supposed to think? Are you weary of the latest self-help books that promise to set you free but only imprison you with laundry lists of studies to consider, positive affirmations to recite, and Facebook groups to join?

We’ve all seen the memes that populate the internet: live your truth, follow your heart, you only have one life to live. They sound nice and positive. But what if these slogans are actually lies that unhinge us from reality and leave us anxious and exhausted? Another Gospel? author Alisa Childers invites you to examine modern lies that are disguised as truths in today’s culture. Everyday messages of peace, fulfillment, and empowerment swirl around social media. On the surface, they seem like sentiments of freedom and hope, but in reality they are deeply deceptive.

In Live Your Truth (and Other Lies), Alisa will help you to:

• uncover the common lies repeated within progressive circles
• hold on to the soul-restoring truths that God’s Word offers
• be empowered to live the way your Creator designed you

Being the captain of your own destiny and striving to make your dreams a reality is a huge burden that you were never meant to bear. Discover true freedom instead.

How to analyze and reevaluate your Christian beliefs and experiences in the church while keeping the core of your faith intact.

The number of Christians leaving the church today is significant. Many feel there is no place for them within the faith—they no longer feel at home in their church community or tradition. For various reasons, they are unsettled by the version of Christianity they’ve inherited.

Stripping away the nonessential aspects of Christianity, Sean McDowell and John Marriott will help you navigate the jarring questions and cultural challenges that lead many to walk away from the faith. You’ll come to recognize that there are other ways Christians throughout history have understood what faithfulness to Jesus looks like.

Each chapter provides practical advice on how to disassemble, rethink, and reassemble beliefs that are truly Christian and culturally and personally relevant. You’ll learn how you can continue to seek an authentic faith by:

• Establishing Jesus and his teachings as the foundation.
• Utilizing the creeds as boundary markers of what is essential.
• Seeing the entire Bible as a truthful revelation from God.
• Seeing Christianity as a historic and global tradition that encompasses diverse communities and viewpoints.

The authors of this book can personally identify with the process of disillusionment that many young believers go through. They wrote Set Adrift as people who had to navigate their own way back through the fog of deconstruction. They wrote it to offer their own personal suggestions for what to do when you’re not sure what to believe anymore.