Question from a reader:
I read your post defending David Platt. What you don’t seem to be aware of is that David is a liberal social justice warrior. He was the one most offended by having to pray for the President. He tries to distance himself from Trump and Pence as much as he can. Read his blog the day after Trump won. It is obvious. You saw no such blog or post after Obama won twice. I don't think you really know David Platt.
Answer from Stephanie Anderson, EPM staff:
I’m responding to your message on Randy’s behalf. I looked at David’s site for the article you were referring to. Is it this one? Randy has shared some similar perspectives here (including after the 2016 election).
While Randy has not spent a great amount of time with David face-to-face, he has talked at length on the phone with him and exchanged emails over the years (including in the last year), as well as read his books and materials. He feels confident that David is a man who loves and serves Jesus and seeks to build His Kingdom and be faithful to the Word.
There are certainly articles and perspectives out there saying that David is a “social justice warrior.” I would encourage you (and this goes for me and all of us too) to be careful about believing what we read on the internet. One article I ran across was insisting that because David spoke on and was concerned about racial issues, he doesn’t really understand the Great Commission and has added things to it. Unfortunately, it’s all too easy for an article to take a quote or one tweet from a public figure and build an entire case for that person being a heretic. But often the context of someone’s comments is left out and the entire body of their writing and speaking isn’t taken into consideration. The motivation for such articles doesn’t seem to be speaking the truth in love or honest dialogue, but rather character assassination.
It’s true that David has spoken out about some social issues that are hot buttons in our culture today. Randy says this about when we speak out about issues we feel God has laid on our hearts: “…we will sometimes look like conservatives, sometimes liberals. But what we look like to men shouldn’t matter. What we look like to God, the Audience of One, should.” While David certainly isn’t perfect and will obviously not get everything right (and Randy would be the first to say that about himself too!), given the larger body of his preaching and writing, I would propose that we give David the benefit of the doubt that he is seeking to faithfully follow the Lord and be faithful to God’s calling. His allegiance is first to the Lord, not a political leader or party. He isn’t trying to be a “social justice warrior” but a faithful follower of Christ. May the same be true of all of us!
I hope this makes sense. We wish you God’s very best as you follow Him. God bless.
