Crazy Love: Overwhelmed by a Relentless God

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lorianne.r, September 1, 2011 (view all comments by lorianne.r)
A must read on any Christian book list. Chan is real and to the point. I couldn't put the book down and when I had finished I wanted to start again. The type of book I want to read yearly, it's that good. Chan's passion is so inspiring. Check out his sermons too. I want to love God like this man does!

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BBauer, February 6, 2010 (view all comments by BBauer)
WORKS-BASED SALVATION

"Waking up the sleeping church!" "Potent paradigm shift." "A clarion call to on-fire living for Christ." This is a sampling of glowing tributes on online book sites about the popular book "Crazy Love." A minority of comments stands in stark dissent: "Mean-spirited." "Unbiblical." "Confused." "Works theology." Count me among the latter group, the disenchanted.
To be fair, there were a couple of things that I liked about the book. First, the first few chapters were fine, speaking about the greatness of God and about examining one's life and mortality.
Second, I believe that the author had good intentions of wanting Christians to experience radical living for God. Sadly, much of the rest of the book morphed into a judgmental diatribe of Lordship Salvation teaching. As true of all such doctrine, the book muddies the distinction between justification and sanctification, melding them together while distorting the simple straightforward message of salvation by faith in Christ Jesus alone.

In chapter four, Chan assembled a lengthy arbitrary list of what it means to be "lukewarm." Here is a sampling: "Lukewarm People attend church fairly regularly. It is what is expected of them, what they believe 'good Christians' do, so they go" (p. 68). "Lukewarm People rarely share their faith with their neighbors, coworkers, or friends. They do not want to be rejected, nor do they want to make people uncomfortable by talking about private issues like religion" (p. 71). "Lukewarm People say they love Jesus, and He is, indeed, a part of their lives. But only a part. They give Him a section of their time, their money, and their thoughts, but He isn't allowed to control their lives" (p. 72).
After creating his list of the lukewarm, Chan chops them down like matchsticks in Chapter Five: "As I see it, a lukewarm Christian is an oxymoron; there's no such thing. To put it plainly, churchgoers who are 'lukewarm' are not Christians. We will not see them in heaven" (p. 84). Think about the drastic implications of Chan's statement. He has just said, in effect, if you are not in that possibly two or three percent of super-christians, then you simply are not going to heaven! Chan's acrimonious assessment stems from, in my opinion, his misinterpretation of the lukewarm Laodicean church of Revelation 3. Chan teaches that they were all unbelievers who were spit out by Jesus. The text itself refutes that viewpoint. The Laodicean church was one of the seven churches (church means "a body of BELIEVERS") to whom Jesus addressed his words of affirmation and entreaty to live lives befitting of the spiritual heritage that they already possessed in Christ. Rev. 3:19 in particular refers unmistakably to believers: "Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline." Hebrews 12:6 calls those disciplined by God "sons," clearly, BELIEVERS. As with the other churches of Revelation, Jesus calls the Laodicean church to repent, not for salvation, but for believers to get right spiritually with God, returning to blessing and fellowship with him.

Chan also misinterpreted other passages of Scripture utilizing erroneous lines of argumentation to make his case. Here are two examples:
1. "My conclusion? Jesus' call to commitment is clear: He wants all or nothing. The thought of a person calling himself a 'Christian' without being a devoted follower of Christ is absurd" (p. 85). RESPONSE: Chan makes an interpretation based, by his own admission, upon a superficial childlike reading of the gospels. He cites no specific Scripture whatsoever. To which gospel is he referring? It's doubtful that he spent much time in John, for it says repeatedly that eternal life comes through believing in Christ alone for salvation: John 3:16-18, 36; 5:24; 6:28-29, 37, 40; 7:38; 10:9, 11:25-26; 14:6; 17:3. Chan must have targeted "discipleship" passages, spoken primarily to the apostles and intimate disciples, most of whom were already believers!
2. "Some people claim that we can be Christians without necessarily becoming disciples. I wonder, then, why the last thing Jesus told us was to go into all the world, making disciples of all nations, teaching them to obey all that He commanded? You'll notice that He didn't add, 'But hey, if that's too much to ask, tell them to just become Christians---you know, the people who get to go to heaven without having to commit to anything" (p. 87). RESPONSE: Chan misquotes Matthew 28:19-20 [incomplete quotation] from the NIV without citation. He says this was the last thing Jesus told us; actually Jesus' final words are recorded in Acts 1:8. Chan sardonically constructs a straw man, then razes it. Without legitimizing his mocking mischaracterization of the Free-Grace postition, I must say that I've never heard anyone else define Christianity the way that he did. Of course a person must commit to something when becoming a Christian; that something is a SOMEONE, namely Jesus Christ. Acts 16:31 says in a most simple and straightforward way, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved" (Titus 3:5, Romans 4:5, Ephesians 2:8-9 and John 3:16-18 give the same gospel message).
Chan amalgamates the gospel message of salvation by faith in Christ alone with issues of discipleship and commitment (a front-loading of the gospel). Discipleship and commitment are issues of sanctification (a process of spiritual maturation, growth). To frontload the latter issues into the salvation message creates a complicated mess planting unreasonable demands upon the unsaved. This line of teaching also can destroy assurance of salvation for some believers who can never be sure if they've done enough.

For further reading: "Simply by Grace," by Charles C. Bing; "Secure Forever: God's Promise or Our Perseverance?" by Thomas Cucuzza; "So Great Salvation," by Charles Ryrie.

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kelligene, June 21, 2009 (view all comments by kelligene)
francis chan is a beautiful preacher and a great author as well.
his book compels you as well as his live sermons...great book!

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Product Details

ISBN:

9781434768513

Author:

Chan, Francis

Publisher:

David C. Cook

With:

Yankoski, Danae

Subject:

Christian Life - General

Subject:

Christian Life

Subject:

Christianity - General

Copyright:

2008

Edition Description:

New

Publication Date:

20080531

Binding:

TRADE PAPER

Language:

English

Illustrations:

Y

Pages:

192

Dimensions:

8.19x5.56x.55 in. .54 lbs.