Alisa Childers grew up in a home where faith was living and showed itself in practical results. She loved studying her own Bible, where the stories fascinated and captivated her: they were real in her mind as she imagined herself stepping into the shoes of her favourite characters and experiencing the incredible events they did. She knew the Bible was the living Word of God and she never questioned that. But as an adult, when she attended a special class run by her pastor who questioned almost every claim Christianity has historically made and was more interested in questions than answers, Alisa felt the foundations of her faith shake -- right to their core.
What do you do when everything you've always believed is called into question? Another Gospel: A Lifelong Christian Seeks Truth in Response to Progressive Christianity tells of Alisa's quest for truth, and the answers she found.
"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. After I left the class and spent some time in a fog of confusion, I had an idea. Rather than redefine or reject Christianity, why not go back to the beginning and find out what the real thing is? Maybe the only version I knew was true . . . maybe it was false." ~Alisa Childers
One by one, Alisa examines the objections raised by Progressive Christianity, and the evidence for or against them. What did Jesus really think and teach? We turn to His recorded words to find out. What did the early church leaders understand certain passages to mean? We read their own writings to see. Is the Bible we have today even reliable? Welcome to textual criticism. Does Progressive Christianity present a more advanced, a progressing, understanding of Christianity, or another gospel entirely?
I'm so grateful for Alisa's commitment to discovering the truth, whatever it might be and whether or not she likes it. Her calm, methodical, and purposeful way of searching and examining, followed by clear presentation is a welcome breath of fresh air. I loved reading this beautifully written book; I found it so gripping I didn't want to put it down!
My one complaint is the treatment of hell in this book. While there are some points made which have occurred to me previously and I agree with, it appears to me that different conclusions would be reached with a more comprehensive study of Scripture on the topic. Particularly, Luke 16:19-31 seems to me to negate the idea of the gates of hell being "locked from the inside."
All taken into consideration, Another Gospel is an excellent resource for everyone living today, when Progressive Christianity is so prevalent and seeps in where we might least expect. This book can help you find answers to your questions, equip you to answer questions others present, and strengthen your faith. Do yourself a favour and grab your own copy today!
"As I began to put put all the blocks back in their rightful paces, the finished structure was stronger and more beautiful than ever. Today my faith stands strong against the stormy waves of doubt that challenged the existence of God, the reliability of the Bible, and the truthfulness of Christianity." ~Alisa Childers
I set a new record for making a submission at the last possible moment with this one. The deadline was quickly approaching, but I had plenty more I wanted to say! At 11:59pm last Monday I gave up hope of finishing everything I wanted to say, and uploaded it. I got confirmation of successfully submitting at 12am!! I thought I might continue writing and upload the entire piece here, and I added the text between square brackets in time for my oral submission last Friday. Sadly, there are plenty more problems with the Bill than I've discussed here, but I would like to work on some other things and I've already spent a long time on this so I am calling it done.
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I appreciate the opportunity to make a submission on the proposed COVID-19 Public Health Response Amendment Bill (No 2) which would amend the COVID-19 Public Health Response Act 2020.
Having read the proposed legislation and the Regulatory Impact Statements that are currently available I am deeply concerned about this legislation and its implications for the country of New Zealand and her citizens.
As I read the Regulatory Impact Statements I was struck by the way they focus almost solely on Managed Isolation and Quarantine Facilities, and apparently give no regard to the general population—which is certainly much larger and stands to lose much more. This disregard for the vast majority of New Zealanders is horrifying, regardless of whether it was deliberate or a negligent oversight.
I object to the undemocratic process by which the COVID-19 Public Health Response Act 2020 was originally passed into law, and while it is a slight improvement that the COVID-19 Public Health Response Amendment Bill (No 2) has been open for submissions, the timeframe is still much too short to allow the citizens of New Zealand to read the proposed legislation and accompanying documents, and then prepare a considered response. Many people will simply not have the time to do so and will unfortunately miss out on sharing their views. Given the magnitude of change proposed in this legislation there is no justification for rushing the process and denying people the opportunity to provide well-researched and well-prepared feedback on it.
Although the Bill’s stated aim is “to enable the public health response to Covid-19 to continue to function in a co-ordinated and orderly way, informed by the experience of working with the Act since its commencement”, the truth is that health, coordination, and orderliness simply do not come to mind when reading through the Bill. On the contrary, the Bill extends the government’s already drastic powers, and threatens to turn good citizens into criminals through incredible confusion and disorderliness.
This Bill disregards a number of fundamental rights protected by the Bill of Rights Act 1990, attacking the civil liberties of all New Zealanders, both at home in New Zealand and stranded overseas, trying to return.
The huge increase in fines and fees proposed in this Bill is unjustified and unreasonable. Given the rapid changes and large number of rules it would be entirely understandable for someone to break one without even realising. Adding huge fines on top of limiting or entirely removing the ability to work and earn an income would be a huge slap in the face to anyone.
Where is the trust in the “team of five million”? [This Bill shows no regard for personal responsibility, instead removing freedom and imposing draconian regulations on the population at large. We should instead be encouraging people to take personal responsibility for their own health, and allowing the freedom to do so. Fear and extensive rules have been imposed on the entire country over the last eighteen months, but I have no recollection of any encouragement or education in regard to improving overall health, which would’ve reduced any threat posed by COVID-19, and been generally beneficial both to individuals and our country as a whole. Making more nutritious food choices, exercising regularly, maintaining a healthy weight, sleeping sufficiently, and getting adequate and regular vitamin D are all scientifically supported methods to acquire and maintain health and none of them incur any cost to the government.
In a letter, the Ministry of Justice described the measures in the COVID Act as: "[A]rguably the most extreme and significant limitations on New Zealanders’ ability to freely go about our daily lives as has occurred in modern New Zealand history. Their broad scale and scope have the potential to significantly impact on people’s ability to socialise, do business, and move freely.
These observations have proven true in my life and the lives of others I know closely. We have lost work, making it difficult to pay our bills and provide for our families. My car developed some problems several weeks ago, and cannot be driven until some maintenance is performed on it. I am unable to acquire the necessary parts under current restrictions. Long-time family friends recently experienced a death in the family and have been refused travel exemptions to cross the border in either direction, leaving them unable to process their grief properly or comfort one another during this difficult time.
New Zealand citizens have fought hard for the freedoms we have enjoyed until recently, which are foundational to a democratic society and protected under the Bill of Rights and other documentation. The original COVID Act unacceptably removes a number of these, and the proposed Amendment Bill makes no attempt to correct the situation, instead worsening it and allowing for even greater removal of rights from New Zealand citizens.
Clause 12 amends section 22 to allow a class of persons identified solely by their ancestry to have powers to block roads under the ’supervision’ of a constable. No definition of what ‘supervision’ entails is provided, nor is any information or direction given in the Bill regarding what constitutes ’suitably qualified and trained’. On the police have the power to stop the general public and it should remain this way.
Science is all about asking questions and challenging assumptions. The government’s efforts to censor and silence any and all opposing views are deeply concerning, bearing some resemblance to a cult leader who carefully selects the material his followers may view or hear, for fear they will discover the truth and he will lose power over them. Hopefully this is nothing close to the case here, but we will need open debate and uncensored sharing of ideas to re-establish trust in our leaders.]
I strongly oppose the extension to May 2023 of the original provisions in COVID Act, which were due to expire in May 2022.
I also oppose any and all extensions or additions of power as suggested in this Bill.
I recommend that the Bill be withdrawn.
I wish to make an oral submission the COVID-19 Public Health Response Amendment Bill (No 2).
Last week I gave my first ever oral submission, which I'm pretty sure was awful given how nervous I was! I'm not going to attempt digging up the recording and subject you to that, but I will share the "notes" I made in preparation, which I had intended to use as a basis and build around. I stayed up pretty late writing them though and ended up just reading directly from them, so what you see here is almost verbatim. With more time I would've liked to smooth it out a bit and improve the ending, but this is what I managed with the short timeframe.
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Thank you for the opportunity to share my concerns about Supplementary Order Paper 59 on the Births, Deaths, Marriages and Relationships Registration Bill today.
According to the Department of Internal Affairs website, "A New Zealand Birth Certificate is an official document containing registered information about a person's birth as at the date of issue." (emphasis mine)
As an official, legal document, a Birth Certificate should contain the facts of a person's birth, and if we allow people to change details as they choose, we render the document untrustworthy, and ultimately meaningless. Whatever choices we make later in life do not and cannot change the details of our births.
For many of my childhood years, I wanted to celebrate my birthday with a big, mid-summer barbecue. Unfortunately for me, I was born right in the middle of winter! Perhaps I should apply to change my birthdate?!
As crazy as that would be, claiming that I am six months older or younger than I actually am would be a much smaller thing than claiming my sex is different than identified at birth.
I loved studying genetics during my high school years and it fascinates me that our XX or XY chromosomes are found in every cell throughout our bodies -- except for a very small portion of the population who are intersex. Many cells behave differently based on these chromosomes, and no amount of adding or removing body parts changes our DNA.
We've had a few male cats castrated over the years and although their reproductive tendencies were curbed, they never stopped acting like boys. I guess the vet left their DNA intact!
Of course, allowing people to choose and change their identified sex at will opens the door wide for pedophiles and other sex offenders to create more victims. This proposed change would allow boys and men into girls' and women's schools, sports teams, prisons, and bathrooms. If an offender is sentenced for rape he needs to be locked safely away from women where he can't make any more victims, not to change his birth certificate so he can be sent to a women's prison, as this proposal would seem to allow.
Regarding parental information on Birth Certificates, biology is very clear that there are two parents, a father and a mother. Birth Certificates should be equally clear; there's no need to introduce ambiguity with the neutral term "parent" replacing the more specific terms "father" and "mother".
For these reasons I am deeply concerned about Supplementary Order Paper 59. Please, throw it out.
Thank you for your time.
As my family sung this together, there were a couple of main things that stood out to me strongly (although there are plenty more things to reflect on as well!). Firstly, "to Jesus". It is to Jesus that we surrender. Have we done this? Do we continue to do this? And what other people or things are we inclined to render our submission to instead of Jesus? Perhaps we are inclined to break away from submitting to Jesus claims about truth or right and wrong when it's unpopular, and instead render that submission to our society through political correctness or "tolerance." Maybe we brush aside Jesus' call to follow Him, choosing rather to follow Hollywood or sports celebrities.
Secondly, "all." If we have indeed surrendered to Jesus, have we surrendered all, or are we withholding some things? Which areas of our lives do we resist handing over to Him? If we're single, maybe we aren't willing to give up our desire for marriage. Perhaps its our finances we're holding onto. Or we give up Bible reading and prayer to keep our TV time when life gets busier. Complete the phrase: "All I need is Jesus and _______." Whatever you filled the blank with is something not surrendered to Jesus.
Perhaps we surrender an hour and a half of our Sunday to Jesus (when Aunty Cindy says we're allowed to attend church and worship our Creator), but when COVID came along we surrendered to it our jobs, churches, Bible studies, holidays, education, thoughts, speech, bodily autonomy, family, finances, and even the New Zealand Bill of Rights. If we surrendered to Jesus even half of what we have surrendered "to COVID," what would our lives look like? [Give me a few moments as I reflect on my own conviction.]
Our Savior is infinitely loving and infinitely trustworthy. He'll never let us down or harm us. We can hand Him everything without reservation. All to Jesus I surrender.
