Why Do Protestants Convert?
Michael Easley and Dr. Christ Castaldo discuss his book, Why Do Protestants Convert, and the difference between Catholicism and Protestantism.
After coming off the road from touring, Alisa and her husband put down roots in the Nashville area. Here they found a sense of community with like-minded believers and a pastor who took an intellectual approach to his sermons. After eight months of attending their church. Alisa was invited to join what the pastor described as “An inner circle type study and discussion” with a promise to come out with seminary-level education after four years.
Alisa was understandably excited and ready to dig back into her faith after the burnout of traveling. However, what she encountered in the class was something she couldn’t have prepared for. On day 1, the pastor admitted to being a ‘hopeful agnostic,’ which immediately raised red flags for Alisa. Seeking to keep an open mind, Alisa continued to listen before finding herself in the position of questioning every precious belief she held about God. The pastor picked apart and deconstructed the truths she grew up with, leaving many in the room to abandon their faith or redefine themselves as ‘progressive Christians’.
This experience threw Alisa into a dark time of doubt within her soul, bringing her to the edge of agnosticism. She cried out to the Lord and begged for help seeing the truth of who He was. The Lord faithfully led her to the study of apologetics, which allowed Alisa to rebuild her faith.
One of Michael’s dear friends, Jason Germaine, introduced him to the term ‘moralistic therapeutic deism. The phrase comes from a 2005 study interviewing the average American teenager on their view of God. They found that the participants saw God as a giant therapist in the sky who just wanted them to be nice, happy, and good to each other. This was a very obviously unchristian view of who God really is and how He works that has bled into the church.
This has partially resulted from the contemporary Christian music industry. Alisa notes, “They have secular record companies that they have to report to and that they have to make their numbers for and that they are accountable to. So really, the spiritual life of the artist is inconsequential as long as they’re selling records and as long as they don’t cause too much trouble with whatever they’re doing.”
Alisa points out that many bible colleges today are deeply influenced by culture. This brings about pastors who have no understanding of critical thinking about the Bible and a false idea that they need to engage in the culture. On the contrary, the Bible tells us to make disciples, work evangelically, follow God’s design, etc. Michael and Alisa agree that the church has placed unnecessary importance on using the small amount of time they have each week to make a case for the Bible to engage and give a voice to atheists and agnostics.
The language often used by progressive churches painted their view as a “higher view of the Bible than the typical evangelist.” Alisa points out, “What they mean by that is that they’re taking it out of the realm of being the revealed Word of God that’s authoritative for our lives, that’s without error in everything that it records. What they actually mean is… this is a human book that’s about God…. This is their story, kind of their theological, spiritual memoir, so to speak. And so it’s not necessarily authoritative.” Alisa believes this came about through the influx of critical theory into the culture.
Alisa points out an essential truth about the lies our perception can tell us. “Not every scripture will resonate in our little hearts because we’re sinners, right? But I think that’s what it all comes down to, is really how you answer the question, are you a sinner or not? Because if you’re a sinner, you know you can’t always trust that internal moral compass.” Michael points out that Godly guilt and shame, not one that is overwrought, should lead us not to repeat a sin we know the result of.
Among progressive writings, you’ll hear different Bible verses presented wherein the person sharing them will decide to believe the parts that lead to wholeness but reject the parts that harm. Alisa goes on to say, “As any parent knows, if you’ve ever taken your kid to the dentist, the kid in the dentist chair thinks they’re being harmed. But of course, the parent knows this is actually for their good and to avoid greater pain down the road. And so how much more information does God have?”
Michael believes part of the blame falls on seminary training and the church leaders who won’t put their foot down on being clear over clever. Alisa explains how progressive Christians place all issues, salvation, and non-salvation, on the same level of importance. A lot of progressive literature will speak along the lines of ‘Maybe it doesn’t have to be a physical resurrection for it to be meaningful. Maybe it can be symbolic; maybe it’s a metaphor. Maybe it’s something we can use as a good moral lesson.’
Progressive Christians are open to reinterpreting and redefining virtually everything. However, if God truly is sovereign, He is still loving no matter what He does. Alisa shares an experience talking to high schoolers. She says, “This kid gets up, and he’s like, what about your God committing genocide? And I explained how I don’t qualify that as genocide… It was a sin problem. I’ll even describe how corrupt and wicked that culture was.”
Alisa believes it comes down to trust, inviting us to ask, ‘Do we trust that God is good? Do we trust that He is just?’ We fail to realize that God knows far more than we do, which requires daily trust in Jesus. Faith is different from faithfulness.
The core gospel in progressive Christianity tells people they’re not inherently sinful. Progressives will not deny that sin exists, but they will deny that sin would separate you from God. To them, you need to realize how loved you are. Because of that, there’s a rejection of the atoning sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. The existence of a literal place called hell is rejected. Instead, what you often hear in progressive churches is something along the lines of being a good member of your community or a good neighbor. The good works you’re doing then become the heart of the gospel.
Alisa explains, “In the eyes of the progressive, any unequal outcome being oppression, well, then you have the heterosexual couple that’s allowed to get married and back before the law was changed, the same-sex couple was not. Well, that’s an unequal outcome. Therefore, that’s oppressive to the same-sex couple, which is why the activism in the progressive church always goes into that social justice kind of critical theory influence that we see in culture today.”
When gay marriage was legalized, Stephen Justice Breyer was quoted as saying, “This will be the test of religious freedom… It’s not just about baking the wedding cake anymore; it’s now that you will officiate the service, you will celebrate the service. If you don’t, you’re a fascist, a misogynist, or any other category of label. “
It’s hard for most Christians to accept that you’re not genuinely being loving if you don’t call the sinners to repent. So many Christians desire to be seen as the ‘good Christian’ who is loving and tolerant. However, to be counter-cultural today means being a clear-minded, biblically based Christian.
“Bear in mind that we have the same Word of God that Christians in the church have always had, and let’s plant our feet on that because not only is it true, not only is it God’s revealed Word, but it doesn’t change. And the reason that should bring us so much peace and comfort today is because we’re living in a culture where you literally have to check Twitter every five minutes to find out what you’re supposed to think.”
“Ultimately, it’s God that we want to please… And so to have that mindset of the audience of one, the mindset of planting our feet in his revealed Word and living that Word out to the best that we can with the Holy Spirit’s help, of course, that’s what’s going to start to change things… We have to stop worrying about what people say about us. We do. I am living proof that you can get called a whole bunch of horrible things, and you will not die. Your family will still love you. It doesn’t affect your real life all that much. And we have to just start not apologizing for believing true things. And so those would be my two things.”
Resources
Books:
Live Your Truth and Other Lies
Alisa’s Podcast seeks to equip Christians to identify the core beliefs of historic Christianity, discern its counterfeits, and proclaim the gospel with clarity, kindness, and truth.
Christianity and Liberalism, J. Gresham Machen (1923)
About Alisa Childers
Alisa Childers is an American singer and songwriter who writes at alisachilders.com, an apologetics blog for doubting Christians and honest skeptics.
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