J. Dean
Puritan Board Junior
I'll give you a couple of references about Chan and Platt right off the bat, many of which are consistent with the portions of their works that I have read from these two.Would you mind providing some references to where they have taught this?
The following are reviews of people who have read the works of Chan and Platt, with some pretty extensive quoting of the authors: A review of Chan's "Crazy Love"(Sidenote: while the blog author does come off as a little too Antinomian in some parts, his points about Chan's impression of making salvation contingent upon works is not without foundation)
Here's another review from http://www.drcone.com/2012/04/11/ca...n-teeth-a-review-of-francis-chans-crazy-love/ Again, while I don't agree with every point the reviewer makes, he is essentially correct on the following criticism:
Unfortunately, based on my own perusal of Chan, there's some merit to this criticism.His (Chan's) statements on p. 86 can be formulized as follows:
To get to heaven, we must love Jesus faithfully. (85)
To love Jesus is to obey His commands. (85)
Therefore, to get to heaven we must faithfully obey His commands. (85)
That is inarguably a prescription for works salvation. The author brings together the two separate aspects of justification (God’s declaration of our righteousness through the applied blood of Christ) and progressive sanctification (the process of discipleship and spiritual maturity, culminating in heaven with our glorification).
For a quick point of reference on the significance of the book’s description of salvation, consider Paul’s words in Galatians 1:9.
Concerning David Platt's book Radical, check out this review by Kevin DeYoung: Getting to the Root of Radical: A Review and Response – Kevin DeYoung (Now I know that Platt came out in his second book and tried to clarify that he wasn't trying to teach salvation by works or guilt-laden Christian living, but one does not get that impression from the first book. Like DeYoung says, Platt seems to insinuate guilt for ordering french fries.)
I'm sure that, if you asked Platt and Chan, they'd tell you they believe in salvation by grace through faith in Christ alone. But they need to be more careful about their writings and discussions concerning Christian giving and support. They (and all of us) also need to be careful to not judge people based on what they appear to give or not give based upon what they see in a person's front yard or garage; I know a great many people who are generous in ways that are not seen by the general public.
As for Piper, he has a chapter about this in Desiring God, and it basically comes across in the same manner as Chan's and Platt's points regarding possessions.
I agree completely that materialism is a problem. And as somebody who has seen pastors financially struggle and missionaries needing funding, I'll be the first to say that the church probably could be a whole lot better about this. But to paint a picture that implies "salvation by monasticism" is simply false.