Podcast Summary: Reclaiming My Faith from Modern Skepticism

Podcast: Focus on the Family with Jim Daly
Host(s): Jim Daly & John Fuller
Guest: Alisa Childers
Date: October 20, 2025
Location: Liberty University (live message)

Overview

This episode features Alisa Childers, a Christian author and apologist, sharing her intensely personal journey through doubt and deconstruction to a stronger, intellectually rooted Christian faith. Her message addresses how modern skepticism and "progressive Christianity" challenge traditional Christian beliefs, and provides practical wisdom for listeners (especially young people) to stand firm in their faith.

Alisa recounts her background in the Jesus movement, her experiences as a recording artist (ZOEgirl) and her near loss of faith after being mentored by a secretly agnostic pastor. Her story is both a cautionary tale and a call to reclaim truth, the Bible, the cross, and the true nature of God in a cultural moment that often encourages deconstruction and relativism.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Faith Formed in the Jesus Movement

• Alisa’s upbringing: Raised by parents involved in the early 1970s Jesus movement, particularly her father, Chuck Girard (Love Song).
• Early faith: Strong personal conviction since childhood, engaging in street ministry and firsthand evangelism outside the "Christian bubble."
• Exposure to diverse worldviews through these ministries shaped her faith as experiential but not yet deeply tested intellectually.
  • Quote:
    “I didn't grow up in a Christian bubble...my faith wasn't blind. I saw the power of the gospel. But...my faith...was weak and untested. And that was the intellectual side of my faith.” (01:46)

2. The Crisis Sparked by Progressive Christianity

• After moving to Tennessee, Alisa and her husband joined a church led by a pastor who privately identified as a "hopeful agnostic."
• The pastor led a private study group aiming to encourage deconstruction and convert participants to progressive Christianity.
  • “In that first class, the pastor revealed...he was actually an agnostic. He called himself a hopeful agnostic.” (~07:55)
• Core beliefs in the Bible and personal experience were systematically dismantled in the group, leading Alisa into a deep faith crisis and doubt.

3. Seeds of Doubt and ‘Deconstruction’

• The movement of “deconstruction”: Growing trend (especially among US Christians) to re-examine and often abandon foundational beliefs.
• Progressive Christianity: Characterized by demoting scriptural authority, embracing prevailing cultural ethics, and redefining Christianity apart from traditional doctrine.
  • “Progressive Christianity...is going to demote the Bible into the realm of just being someone's opinion...embrace all the cultural ethics...but...keep that title Christian.” (~09:15)
• Alisa’s personal struggle: Alone with her doubts, she felt like she was "dog paddling in a stormy ocean" without the anchor of certainty about God’s existence.
  • “It was just me alone with all of the seeds of doubt that had been planted in my heart. And those seeds grew and they propelled me into a faith crisis that I can only describe as being plunged into a stormy ocean with waves of doubt just crashing over my head.” (~11:48)

4. The Intellectual Rebuilding of Faith

• Intense research: Alisa resolved to not simply walk away but to re-examine foundational proofs for Christianity—its historical, logical, and textual claims.
• Five-year journey: Her faith became not only emotionally but intellectually grounded.
  • “I came on the other side of that five-year process, persuaded now, not just emotionally, but intellectually, that the Christian worldview is true and that the Bible stands tall atop the rubble of accusations...” (~14:39)
• Objective truth: Christianity is true whether or not one ‘feels’ it.
  • “Christianity is true whether you feel it or not. And that gives me peace when you don't have the experience or you feel like you can't hear God's voice...” (00:06 and ~15:50 recurring quote)

5. Four Core Warnings for the Next Generation (~16:30 - 23:45)

Alisa offers four key exhortations—a blueprint for standing firm in Christian faith:

1. Don’t Let Anyone Talk You Out of Truth

• Culture and progressive Christianity shift truth from objective reality to preference and internal feeling.
• The foundation for life must be objective and unchanging, not one’s own fluctuating feelings.
  • “If I have my identity rooted in something that's changing constantly, I will never have a firm foundation to stand on.” (~17:40)

2. Don’t Let Anyone Talk You Out of the Bible

• Scripture as the inspired, infallible, and authoritative word of God is under attack; progressive faith places authority in the individual instead.
• The deconstruction of language (postmodernism) removes objective meaning, freeing people to give the Bible any interpretation.
  • “Don't let anyone nuance you out of believing that the Bible is the inspired, infallible, inerrant word of God.” (~19:15)

3. Don’t Let Anyone Talk You Out of the Cross

• Progressive Christianity often rejects substitutionary atonement, portraying the cross as divine child abuse.
• Alisa emphasizes the biblical foundation and necessity of Christ’s sacrificial death for sin.
  • “Behold the man upon the cross. His dying breath has brought me life. I know that it isn't finished. There are people who will offer you a quote, unquote, Christianity without this reality. But you know what, friends?...Don't budge on that. Don't get talked out of substitutionary atonement.” (~21:00)

4. Don’t Let Anyone Talk You Out of the Character of God

• The fullness of God's justice and love—both mercy and wrath—is often denied by progressive religion in favor of all-inclusiveness.
• Faithfulness to Jesus’ teachings is marked both by inclusivity of invitation and exclusivity of salvation.
  • “Jesus is more good, more loving, more kind and more merciful than you know. And Jesus is more severe and wrathful than you think.” (~23:30)

Memorable Quotes & Moments

• On Objective Truth and Feeling:
  “Christianity is true whether you feel it or not. And that gives me peace...He is who he said he is, and it is true objectively in reality, whether your feelings line up with that or not.”
  — Alisa Childers, 00:06 & 15:50

• On Deconstruction:
  “Progressive Christianity will offer you a religion apart from the authoritative standard of scripture...I can see why that's appealing. But I would ask my young self, what is the Bible? Is it primarily a human book about God, or is it God's self revelation?”
  — Alisa Childers, ~19:50

• On the Cross and Atonement:
  “Don't budge on that. Don't get talked out of substitutionary atonement. It's a good opportunity to do a heart check. Because you will not find the substitutionary sacrifice of Jesus beautiful unless you know that you're a sinner.”
  — Alisa Childers, ~21:35

• On Culture’s Lies:
  “Every media platform...are telling you you are perfect just as you are. You should trust your good heart, follow your heart, trust your instincts. But friends, the Bible tells us that the heart is deceitful and wicked.”
  — Alisa Childers, ~22:10

• On God’s Full Nature:
  “Jesus is more good, more loving, more kind and more merciful than you know. And Jesus is more severe and wrathful than you think...You have a choice. You can be at war with him when he comes, or you can be at peace with him under his mercy.”
  — Alisa Childers, ~23:30-23:42

Important Timestamps

• 00:06: Alisa on faith being true regardless of feeling
• 01:46 – 07:55: Childhood and music ministry background
• 07:55 – 11:48: Joining the problematic church, the pastor’s deconstruction agenda
• 11:48 – 14:39: Seeds of doubt leading to spiritual crisis
• 15:50 – 16:30: Intellectual journey to reconstruct faith
• 16:30 – 23:45: Four core exhortations for standing strong against skepticism and progressive Christianity
• 23:30-23:42: Alisa on God’s mercy and judgment—the choice before everyone

Concluding Wisdom

Alisa closes with a call to clarity and courage: that listeners anchor their identity and hope in Christ’s objective truth, not fluctuating feelings or culture. She urges all—especially young people—to know what they believe and why, and to accept both the breathtaking love and the righteous severity of God revealed in Jesus.

This episode serves as encouragement and practical apologetics for anyone wrestling with doubts or witnessing deconstruction in their community. It is a plea to hold fast to the historic truths of Christianity in an age of skepticism and shifting spiritual trends.