Another Gospel (Book)

Another Gospel? is a Christian apologetics book written by Alisa Childers, a Christian blogger who was once a member of the Christian girl group ZOEgirl. The book, published in 2020 by Tyndale House Publishers, tackles the topic of "progressive Christianity", and is based on Childers' own experience with the issue.

After being invited to sing songs for a new church plant, Childers and her husband ultimately began attending it regularly. Shortly thereafter, Childers was invited by her pastor "to participate in an invite-only, small, and exclusive discussion group" which he termed "a ministry training course that would result in a theological education comparable to four years in seminary" (and which was planned to last for four years). (Interestingly, her husband was not invited to participate, notwithstanding Biblical teachings which indicate that the husband is the spiritual head of the household.) She would soon learn that the pastor declared himself a "hopeful agnostic" and the class was set to introduce the attendees to the teachings of progressive Christianity. While her classmates would embrace the teachings with excitement, Childers quickly realized that they were slowly destroying her Christian faith. She also learned that in the class, whenever the pastor asked a question, the only acceptable answers were either "I don't know" or complete agreement; any attempts to defend historic Christian teaching were dismissed as either "living in fear" or unwillingness to "intellectually engage the hard questions of faith". (At one point, she burst into tears near the end of the class and was encouraged to seek counseling. The counselor explained that the pastor was "providing the same candy in a different label"; Childers replied that it was more like "putting the same wrapper on two entirely different kinds of candy".) Though she ultimately left the class after only four months (and she and her husband would leave that congregation), it would leave her in a state of uncertainty about whether Christianity was true.

But instead of following the paths of others like Bart Ehrman or Megan Phelps-Roper (the granddaughter of Fred Phelps, founder of the infamous Westboro Baptist Church), both of whom eventually left the Christian faith, Childers instead went on a search to determine if Christianity was, in fact, true. Ultimately Childers would embrace her faith with more knowledge about it than before.

Her book covers topics such as the authenticity of the Biblical canon (the New Testament, specifically), the doctrine of eternal punishment and the existence of Hell, and other topics generally disavowed by progressive Christianity.

Outline[edit]

• Author's Note
• Foreword
• Chapters

1. Crisis of Faith
2. The Rocks in My Shoes
3. Creeds, Cobbler, and Walter Bauer
4. Fixing What Isn't Broken
5. A Different Kind of Christianity
6. Nothing New Under the Sun
7. For the Bible Tells Me So?
8. Was It True Only for Them?
9. Authority Problems
10. Hell on Earth?
11. Cosmic Child Abuse?
12. Reconstruction

• Acknowledgments
• Additional Resources
• Discussion Guide
• About the Author