Another Gospel?: A Lifelong Christian Seeks Truth in Response to Progressive Christianity

by Alisa Childers

I wanted to progress in my faith . . . in my understanding of God’s Word, my ability to live it out, and my relationship with Jesus. But I didn’t want to progress beyond truth. Once I was put through my own type of deconstruction, I wanted to reconstruct my faith by planting my flag on the firm bedrock of truth. I needed to know what was true.

Between the pre–New Testament creeds and the New Testament documents themselves, we have the original beliefs that defined Christianity and made it unique in the world. Sure, things went haywire from there. Even in the first century, heresies and false versions of Christianity began finding their way into the communities of believers who claimed the name of Christ. But if we look at church history as a whole, every reformation was an attempt to get back to the earliest, most biblical, and most authentic version of Christianity.

But the fact is that the gospel demands everything of all of us. If someone thinks the gospel has somehow slotted into their life quite easily, without causing any major adjustments to their lifestyle or aspirations, it is likely that they have not really started following Jesus at all.

But “the truth” was true whether I felt it or not. God was there. God is sovereign. He is good and trustworthy. I’ve tasted and seen. My heart is resolute, echoing the sentiments of Peter, who answered Jesus after many had walked away from him, “To whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life” (John 6:68).

Augustine quipped, “You ought to say plainly that you do not believe the gospel of Christ. For to believe what you please, and not to believe what you please, is to believe yourselves, and not the gospel.”

Like wheat and tares, true ideas and false ideas have grown together throughout church history, and it’s up to faithful Christians to be watchful and diligent to compare every idea with the Word of God and see if it lines up.

We, like all the people who have gone before us, are influenced by our cultural paradigms, societal norms, and collective intellectual assumptions. Just because our culture has come to a consensus on something does not make it true or right.

I marveled at Jesus, who could in one breath offer rest for all who would come to him, and in the next, address the religious leaders as a brood of vipers. A man who was laid in a smelly manger at birth yet claimed to sit on the throne of the universe. A man whose first uttered sounds were the cries of a newborn baby yet who appeared in Revelation with a sword in his mouth and a voice like rushing water. A man who split history in two and challenged every person who would ever live to either call him a liar or worship him as Lord.

I would later learn this is what theologians refer to as progressive revelation. It’s “progressive” in the sense that God continued to reveal more information to human beings as time went on. But it doesn’t mean that the revelation progressed from error to truth.

If the gospel was fabricated by a bunch of first-century Jewish men, their tendency would be to simplify, unify, clarify, and beautify Jesus’ sayings—to make Christianity much broader, easier, and more pleasant. But they didn’t because it’s not broad, easy, or pleasant. It’s incredibly difficult. It’s described as a narrow road that few people actually find (Matthew 7:13-14).

If the doubter will keep reading—keep searching, keep digging—the truth will come out. It takes work, and the hungry doubter will do the work.

If certain parts are more “sacred” than others, this leaves the reader in the position of deciding which parts to obey and which parts to throw out.

With a Bible remade in our own image, we are no longer obeying God; instead we’re following our own thoughts, feelings, and preferences.

The devil quoted the Scripture correctly but twisted its meaning. This wasn’t just a battle over what was written; it was a battle over interpretation. But Jesus wasn’t having it. Rather than engage in a lengthy debate about hermeneutics, Jesus replied, “It is written,” once again.

“If we believe the Bible is God’s Word, doing what it says it isn’t bibliolatry. It’s called obedience,” I said. “I mean . . . the Bible didn’t die on the cross for my sins. Jesus did. But the Bible is where I get my information about Jesus. They go hand in hand.”

Grace isn’t about being rewarded for doing and saying the right things. It’s not about getting what you deserve. It’s about not getting what you deserve. Grace is Jesus looking at every human and saying, “You deserve death because of sin, but I’ll take what you deserve and offer you the eternal life that I deserve.”

Christians have always seen the Cross as the ultimate picture of divine love, but they also recognize that a righteous God cannot abide sin—not because he’s intolerant but because of his goodness and holiness, and because of the havoc sin wreaks on his creation.

The wrath of God means that one day all evil and sin will be quarantined and that those who have put their trust in Jesus will be entirely separated from wickedness and safe from the clutches of suffering and corruption forever.

Scripture tells us of a God who not only gives us an answer for the problem of evil but literally becomes the answer. God looked on the evil and sin of the world, stepped into his own creation, and took our sins upon himself to effectively end sin and evil forever.

If you recognize the truth about yourself, you know how desperately you need God (human depravity). If you cry out for him to save you from your sin (Christ’s atoning death) and trust him for your salvation (the necessity of faith), all while knowing deep in your gut that you can’t save yourself (the necessity of grace), things get real.

The strength of evidence for the Christian worldview is so strong that one would have to willfully shut their eyes to it. But discovering that information takes time and effort and determination. Learning logic and philosophy is not easy. Examining the evidence and digging for truth takes mental energy. Studying the Bible can be daunting and confusing. But isn’t every treasure worth the hunt?

There’s nothing better than feeling that your life and your family’s life are planted deeply in the truth of Scripture.

I can testify to this.

We don’t get to completely redefine who God is and how he works in the world and call it Christian. We don’t get to make the rules and do what is right in our own eyes and yet claim to be followers of Jesus. Our only option is to do it his way or not at all.