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Book Review - Rick Warren's The Purpose Driven Life
- 01/12/04
- 140
Rick Warren's The Purpose Driven Life is a runaway bestseller, having already sold over ten million copies, making it one of the best-selling Christian books of all time. Thousands of churches have committed to leading their congregations through the Forty Days of Purpose program. I decided to spend forty days journaling my way through this book to try to determine what they hype is all about.
The Purpose Driven Life proclaims itself to be "more than a book; it is a guide to a 40-day spiritual journey that will enable you to discover the answer to life's most important question: What on earth am I here for?" We see that the author is setting his sights high; he is going to attempt to answer the greatest question we can face - that of our meaning and purpose. He promises that at the end of the journey "you will know God's purpose for your life and will understand the big picture - how all the pieces of your life fit together." The results of this will be amazing. "Having this perspective will reduce your stress, simplify your decisions, increase your satisfaction, and, most important, prepare you for eternity." It is a courageous man who would write a book that claims it will do all of that. Of course these lofty standards help us realize why this book has attracted such great attention!
The format of the book is simple. The book is divided into six parts: an introduction followed by a section for each of the five purposes Rick Warren has discovered. Each day's reading is only a few pages long and is followed by a verse of the Bible to memorize, a point to ponder and a question to consider. The book is packed with over 1200 quotations from the Bible.
There are many positive aspects to this book. The author obviously loves the church and views the local church as a beautiful institution. He speaks of the value and necessity of Christian community that can only be gained through the local church. He is firm on this point, stating that there is no such thing as a lone Christian. He has many good things to say about worship and how so many people view worship as being about themselves rather than being an outpouring of praise and obedience towards God. He speaks of the value of identifying and utilizing our spiritual gifts.
I believe Rick Warren is a godly man who truly wants to reach the world for Christ. In interviews I have read I can see that he certainly has an understanding of the Reformed tradition and has affirmed his belief in the “five solas” of the Reformation. When with Reformed people he certainly can talk the talk, so to speak. Though I do not doubt his faith or his intentions, I find that the book itself deviates from Reformed doctrine on many points.
There are literally hundreds of reviews of this book that focus on the positive attributes of the book. Many of them are written very well and there is little I can add to them. For that reason I am going to focus on some of the concerns I have with this book.
Problems in the Introduction
As I pointed out, this book makes great promises. Though there is nothing wrong with setting high standards, what is the measure of these standards? It seems that all of these standards are based on experience. There is nothing here about having a closer walk with God. As a matter of fact, there is little promised that would not be found in a secular book about finding purpose. Experience will be the ultimate measure of whether this book has succeeded. It does not promise to change the heart or mind.
One of the primary goals of the Christian life is to learn more about God and how He wants us to live. We are then to become more and more conformed to His will. This book has little to say about this process we know as sanctification.
The book is based on a false premise that there is supernatural value to a 40-day study. The author says that "whenever God wanted to prepare someone for his purposes he took 40 days." This is simply not true. Though the 40 day time period is used quite often in Scripture, we should not be superstitious about it. There are many examples of God taking different amounts of time to prepare people. Having to force the book to a length of forty days leads to a lot of repetition, especially in the last four or five chapters.
Thesis
Page 25 seems to summarize the thesis of the book. It says "We discover that meaning and purpose only when we make God the reference point of our lives." This seems to say that if the reader finds God he will also find himself and his purpose. This is not the gospel!
Multiple translations
Rick Warren quotes the Bible over 1,200 times in the text of The Purpose Driven Life. To do so, he uses fifteen different translations and paraphrases. Appendix 3 contains his rationale for this and he provides two reasons for the number of translations. The first is that in any single translation "nuances and shades of meaning can be missed, so it is always helpful to compare translations." The second is "the fact that we often miss the full impact of familiar Bible verses, not because of poor translating, but simply because they have become so familiar." (author's emphases) He believes this will "help you see God's truth in new, fresh ways." (author's emphasis)
The author's logic is faulty as the two reasons he provides contradict each other. If a translation introduces something in a new and fresh way it will necessarily introduce new nuances and shades of meaning. The way to remove nuances and shades of meaning is to use as literal a translation as possible so that the words are God's alone and are not interpreted by the translator. The author can then exposit the text, clarifying what might require clarification. This is nothing more than the traditional means of teaching what the Bible says.
As for verses losing their full impact, this may happen to some Christians, but rather than use poor Scripture translations, the author should help the reader focus on the fact that as a Christian he should love the Bible. As with David, God's Law is to be our delight day and night and not something we grow tired of.
There is a serious impact to Warren's use of so many translations. It shows his view of the inspiration and sufficiency of Scripture. It seems that he does not believe that the Bible as God wrote it is sufficient for people today. He must believe that a very loose paraphrase like The Message can impact people in a way that the real translations cannot. He shows that he is not a faithful expositor of the Bible.
Audience
The author aims this book at two distinct audiences - believers and unbelievers. He shows that he is, initially at least, writing for unbelievers by inviting them to pray a short prayer, asking them to say "Jesus, I believe in you and I receive you." He then welcomes them to the family of God. I fear, though, that he uses too many Christian terms and phrases to really connect with unbelievers. Similarly, if he is hoping to reach new Christians, I think the same holds true - the "Christianese" terms and many of the Biblical references may alienate them. On the other hand, if he is hoping to reach mature Christians, much of the book will be too simplistic for them.
We know from the Bible that there is a vast difference between believers and unbelievers. Those who have come to a saving knowledge of Christ have had their very natures changed. They have become adopted children of God and have become heirs to His promises. They have special privileges and they have knowledge and faith that unbelievers do not. This is not to say that a book can or should not be written that attempts to reach both audiences. What it does mean is that an author must be sure to distinguish between audiences, being careful not to mislead either audience.
Warren often fails to differentiate between audiences. For example, in the second chapter he quotes Ephesians 1:4 which reads "just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him." The context of this verse shows that the author is referring to only Christians, yet Warren makes no distinction.
The Gospel
The author does not at any time provide a clear explanation of the gospel message. On page 58 he says, "Real life begins by committing yourself completely to Jesus Christ" but never comes closer than that. He never writes about such crucial doctrines as man's sinfulness and need for a Savior or the work of Jesus. He never mentions the importance Christ's life, the cross or the empty tomb. Yet on page 58 we find him leading the prayer of "Jesus, I believe in you and I receive you" and then saying "Welcome to the family of God!" How can a person become a Christian without any understanding of his own sinfulness or of Christ's sacrifice on our behalf?
The author paints God's relationship with humans as being nothing but love. On page 294 he says “God has never made a person he didn’t love.” Yet we know that God expressed hatred towards Esau and Pharaoh. It seems that the author would have no explanation for such displays of hatred.
Warren's gospel seems to be one of purpose. He teaches that man's greatest problem is purposelessness and this book will remedy that situation by helping the reader discover his purpose. Needless to say, this is not the gospel as taught by the Bible. The Bible teaches that man's greatest problem is that he is a sinner and is alienated from God. Purposelessness is insignificant compared to the possibility of an eternity in hell.
Life Application
The aim studying the Bible is application. We are to study the Bible so we can apply what we learn to our lives, with the ultimate aim of conforming ourselves to the image of Christ. Application, though, depends on proper teaching and sound knowledge. It stands to reason that a person cannot apply to his life something he does not understand. Teaching stands as the foundation that application is built upon.
Since Warren does not explain the gospel and the real means of salvation, how can people truly apply what he teaches? If everything is application, what do they really believe in?
Purpose
The Purpose Driven Life is premised on the teaching that only Christians can live with purpose. It follows, then, that unbelievers have no real purpose to their lives. Yet the Bible teaches that they do! Proverbs 16:4 says "The Lord has made everything for its own purpose, even the wicked for the day of evil." Unbelievers do have a purpose, though it is not the same as the purpose God has for those who believe in Him. Interestingly, in chapter seven the author quotes this passage but omits the second half of the verse.
Bible Use
We have already seen how the author has used multiple translations as well as his justification for doing so. Of even greater concern is his carelessness in his use of the Bible. He continually removes Scripture passages from their proper context in order to make them suit his purposes. He carelessly applies promises to the reader that clearly do not apply. He also distorts or changes the meanings of certain passages to make them say what he wants them to say.
First we will examine promises Warren says apply to all Christians. One clear example of this is Jeremiah 29:11 which he uses multiple times in the book. On page 31 we read "Wonderful changes are going to happen in your life as you begin to live it on purpose. God says "I know what I am planning for you…'I have good plans for you, not plans to hurt you. I will give you hope and a good future'." When read in context we see that this verse is not written to apply to all Christians. It is a promise given specifically to the Israelite exiles. By Warren's logic Jeremiah 44:27 should also apply to all Christians. It reads, "I am watching over them for harm and not for good, and all the men of Judah who are in the land of Egypt will meet their end by the word and by famine until they are completely gone." A pastor once told me "that verse wouldn't sell as many plaques at the Christian book stores."
A second example is Isaiah 44:2. This is used in the heading of the second chapter and is rendered "I am your Creator. You were in my care even before you were born." The author chooses to quote only the first part of the verse. The second part, we see, goes directly against what he wants to say. It reads "Do not fear, O Jacob My servant; And you Jeshurun whom I have chosen." When viewed in the proper context we see that this verse applies only to a specific group (which is, once again, the Israelites).
There are some passages where Warren uses the Bible extremely carelessly. The clearest example of this is in chapter 10 where he discusses the blessing of surrendering to God. As support he quotes Job 22:21 as saying "Stop quarreling with God. If you agree with him, you will have peace at last, and things will go well for you." When we look at the larger context of this passage we see that these are the words of Eliphaz, one of Job's infamous friends. We see that Eliphaz is giving Job poor advice which God later condemns. Warren knows better than this!
Thomas Jefferson once said "The moment a person forms a theory his imagination sees in every object only the traits which favor that theory." The author seems to fall into a trap where he sees teachings about purpose in parts of the Bible that simply are not about purpose. For example, on page 30 he talks about the hopelessness of a life lived without purpose. In discussing this under the heading of "the benefits of purpose-driven living" he quotes the book of Job where Job says "My life drags by - day after hopeless day." Of course familiarity with the book of Job will show that to say Job was bemoaning lack of purpose is ridiculous. A man who has had everything he owned and everyone he loved taken from him and is covered in sores is not likely to be upset by a lack of purpose in his life. In the same chapter the author quotes Genesis 4:12 which says of Cain "You will be a restless wanderer on the earth." Again, this is made to sound like it has something to do with purpose. And again, this is a ridiculous assertion.
There are at least fifty similar examples where the author uses Scripture outside of its context or assigns a foreign meaning. When Scripture is not used in the way God intends, this sort of inconsistency is inevitable.
Sources cited
The author quotes a number of sources other than the Bible. Many of these are quoted as if they are authorities on an area of the Christian life. Among many others, he quotes Mother Teresa, St John of the Cross, Brother Lawrence and Henri Nouwen. None of these people should be considered trusted sources of Christian advice and wisdom.
Conclusions
There are several conclusions we can draw. This book does contain some valuable teachings. Unfortunately it also contains a large amount of false teachings. Most alarming is the author's blatant disregard for the proper use of Scripture. He continually uses Bible passages out of context and assigns them false meanings. He seems to view Scripture as a tool to be used and abused as he sees fit rather than seeing it as God's holy, perfect, unchangeable standard that must be used carefully.
As for the premise of living a life driven by purpose, I remain uncertain as to whether this is really what the Bible teaches. It is interesting to examine the word "driven" in the Bible. We see that the word generally has negative connotations in Scripture. It most often denotes an active force pushing and controlling a passive subject. For example, a ship is driven by the wind and the enemies of the Israelites were driven out of the land. On the other hand the word "led" most often speaks of a believer choosing to follow God's ways through knowing Him better. For instance the Israelites were led by a pillar of cloud which they chose to follow and Jesus taught us to ask "do not lead us into temptation." So perhaps we are not to be driven by purpose but should instead be led by God.
I can recommend this book only to discerning readers. There is certainly some value in the book, but in my opinion the bad outweighs the good. I would certainly not use this as an introduction to Christianity or as a means of reaching unbelievers.
I am interested in seeing whether this book stands the test of time or if it is only another fad. The Christian world loves to find the "next big thing" (ie The Prayer of Jabez) but very few stand the test of time. I expect this book will have very little long-term impact in the Christian world.
I am a follower of Jesus Christ, a husband to Aileen and a father to three young children. I worship and serve as a pastor at 
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Comments (140)
Bookman, you’ve nailed it. Here’s a recent thread at Pastors.com (a PDC/PDL support site) on ‘managing’ opposition in the church:
http://forums.pastors.com/messageview.cfm?catid=22&threadid=17566&STARTPAGE=1
(This post in particular stands out…)
You have to make a determination whether this person is one of the following:
1. A Wounded Sheep2. A Goat3. A Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing
The way you deal with them from there will be determined by which one they are.
You love and nurse the the wounded sheep back into health one on one.
You seperate the Goat from the rest of the sheep and don’t allow the Goat to butt heads and steal the food. Eventually without food the Goat will go to other pastures.
The Wolf…well, there’s only one thing to do with a wolf….shoot them. No sense in trying to stop a wolf from biting the sheep…if he is a wolf, you have to get rid of him.
Not making light of the situation either. I know this is real and it hurts, but you have to confront one on one and stop this from going any farther. By the way, your personal feelings can become a part of the correction as long as you don’t sin. Jesus had all the emotions and feelings that you have and he had some pretty classic responses to all three groups of people.
Lastly, remember that there are a lot more people that are waiting to be led than are causing trouble. Don’t spend so much time with the ones who are causing trouble that you let good people left without solid leadership.
Glen
It’s not about us…it’s a “God Thing”
——-
I don’t think I get his remark about ‘goats stealing food from the sheep’. When members quietly approach their pastor about the lightweight teaching and their desire for more Bible, who is it that’s going hungry?? Also, his advice to ‘let your personal feelings become a part of the correction’ sounds too much like giving oneself permission to indulge the flesh (“Now’s my opportunity to tell them what I REALLY think of them!”).
Im not sure if this will go through because of the note saying not to submit more than one response but here goes,,,If anyone is interested in seeing where all this may be headed they need to look into such things as “Lectio Divina”,”centering prayer”,”renovare”,”contemplative prayer” and the people who are pushing them like”Richard Foster”,”Thomas Merton”,etc. Both Saddleback and Willow Creek are now infested with such teachings which are in reality an attempt to merge some of the teachings of Buddism with Christianity
Some of you may be interested in checking thissite out….it is exactly what we are goingthru with our church….I couldn’t believe howwell the article fit our situation…
http://www.crmspokane.org/pastorletter.htm
I would be interested to find out more in regards to “centering prayer”, etc mentioned in the post above, especially as it relates to PD and CGM.I’ve compiled a page of links to various PD and CGM topics located at http://www.campwest.com/ministry.htmInformation about others would be appreciated.
Scotty - I think you need to concentrate some of your effort on The Purpose Driven Church. It seems that PDC was the book that “softened up” the churches, allowing PDL to flourish to such an extent. If PDC had not had such a huge impact in many churches I doubt PDL would have met with so much “success.”
Your right, Tim. I’d love to spend some more time researching that whole dimension of the PD system.
I’ve tended to think that it is somewhat recipricol, in that while the PD church has ‘soften up’ the churches, the PD Life has also introduced the PD church concept to many.
I’m aware of several churches who do not consider themselves PD, but have introduced their congregations to the “40 Days of Purpose”. I’ve talked with a couple of friends who have raved about PD Life, and were unaware of the existence of the whole system.
What a great (word used advisedly) marketing system going on with it. I wonder what would happen if an equal effort was exhibited by churches to rightly divide the word of God.
Here are a few sites on centering prayer,,,they may raise the hair on the back of your neck,http://www.innerexplorations.com/chmystext/ques2.htm and http://search.netscape.com/boomframe.jsp?query=c
How PDC, and other Church Growth Methods, deals w/ resisters:
http://www.crossroad.to/articles2/04/4-purpose-resisters.htm
I went to the article listed above Re: How PDC, and other CGM deals with resisters and was in tears throughout the reading. Been through it. I love and miss and pray for my “Church Family”.
Since being forced to leave, other folks have begun attending our new church, where THE BIBLE is taught - full time. (One lady attended our former church for 50 years. Her mom used to hold her on her lap while her mom taught Sunday School.) There are still others who are staying on at our former church.
For those of you who have been through this difficult experience - Question: Only the Holy Spirit and the Word can reveal the deception, but what can we do both within and outside the church to help our brothers and sisters in Christ. This is so arkward. Comments please?
BTW-ScottyMac, thank you for your comments and your new web page!
Thanks Susan…we are going thru the samething at our church….attended evangelistic meetings last week at a nother church… and what a refreshing time..showing us what we are lacking in preachingand missing in fellowship thru all of this purpose driven process to change the church…nowwe have to make a decision…this church weattended last week… preaches the WORD from the BIBLE…we feel if we gradually wean away it may be easierbut we have been advised that it won’t be..asI drove by our church last Sunday to attend thisother one…my heart was torn…I felt I wasbetraying everyone by not attending my own..it is a difficult decision and one that can onlybe made thru prayer and God’s guidance…thanksfor sharing Susan…
Thanks “Shelly”,I will check out that site,and yes Brett once a church takes the 40 day program it does tend to become controlled by Rick Warren,,in two ways,,first when implementing the program Warren advises them to take note of those who oppose his purpose driven program and depending on whether they are sheep or goats they arer to be either driven out of the church or shot”meaning destroyed”,,in some unspecified manner,,this means that the present church program is to be pared down using Warrens program and then Warrens “101”program is implemented and any future member must take Warrens “101” course and sign a covenant or they cannot be a church member,,,this gives Warren through his “101”course at least some say and control over who can be a member in most churchs who have taken his “purpose driven program”,so most “purpose driven churchs put on their “Rick Warren” glasses when deciding who can either presently be a member,,or who is eligable to join in the future,,,whatever happened to “if you believe with all your heart that Jesus is the Son of God,you may”
Just read the “Resistors” article…wow. That hurts just a wee bit. All too familiar.
If anyone is interested, two men at my church (one our pastor-teacher, the other a seminary-trained man) wrote a “short” review which is available at: http://www.hbc-boise.org/docs/pdl.htm There is also a PDF version available.
It deals with many of these same issues brought up in this review, while looking at a few other points and providing examples as to how ridiculous it is to think that God will always change your life in 40 days.
As the website (www.hbc-boise.org) indicates, feel free to pass along the review, if you see fit, but please pass it along in its entirety.
In Christ,Eric in Boise
I have not read this book, but may now. I found your conclussions to be utter nonesense and motivated by a narrow , fundametalist, almost fanatical view.
To say Mother Teresa and St John of the Cross should not be trusted is rediculous. We must remember the New Testament was writen by men, 70 to 150 years AFTER Crist’s death, by as many as 5 sources! It is not the word of God, but the Teachings of Christ as remembered by men. It is not the foundation of law, and should not be interpreted as such.
John - To hold such a view is to deny what the Scripture claims for itself. The Bible claims to be the very Word of God and is so much more than just the words of men. Also, I think you will find that there are more than 5 authors in the New Testament.
very strange John D.,because Jesus said”heaven and earth shall pass away,but my words shall not pass away”,,in order for you to be right Jesus would have to be wrong,,guess who I choose to believe is right??,,here is a good site,,I dont know if it is the same one you read or not Scotty,,http://www.crossroad.to/articles2/04/4-purpose-resisters.htm
John,2 Timothy 3:16 says that all scripture is given by inspiration “of God”. Inspiration means GOD BREATHED, not written by mere mortals; and all means ALL!
Eric,I read the article you referenced with great interest…good stuff. I believe one of the authors, Mike Hale, is a good friend from my past. I was not able to find an email address on the site. Can you provide one?
This article provides a good bit of detail in its critique of PDL http://www.twincityfellowship.com/cic/articles/issue80.htm
And this from the perspective of the “emerging-church” movement…http://www.indwes.edu/tuesday/emerging.worship.characteristics.htm
Charity,You have been on my heart and in my prayers. We love and miss our “family”; and it HURTS! But God does know and He is working in and through our prayers for them.
Eric,Thank you for yet another excellent article pointing out the infalibility of the Word of God, but not so - Rick Warren.
I keep coming back to the question, “How could men (pastors & deacons), who say they love God, get so entangled in this MESS?”. The warnings went out, but were ignored, time and time again.
The first thing that I noticed in the PDL article by Pastors Hale & Harris was this statement.
“As two pastors who love God’s people….”
I think I have found the answer to my question.
GOD IS FAITHFUL!
I have asked the same question during this past year…how could so many be decieved into this whole PD structure?
What a contrast between the shepherd who desires to nurture and feed God’s flock, and the pastor whose love is conditional upon how well you fit into his plans and purposes for the church. Stand in the way of a pastor just once and you’ll quickly determine whether or not he is a shepherd. You may just find he is really a CEO in disguise.
I found this ‘pro-PD’ web site some months back. Interesting to see how they place everyone in the fellowship of an emerging PD church into one of four boxes.
http://mintools.com/church-purpose6.htm
counterfeit trap - How alluring to offer something that has an illusion of being real but lacks substance. These are often the short cuts we take or the misinformed directions we embark on because they were the easier, more comfortable, and less inconvenient routes. — See 2 Corinthians 11:13-15; 2 Thessalonians 2:9
This is from the above mentioned minitools.com page. How ironic that it’s being used in defense of the PDC methodology!!
Just reading through some of the comments… This isn’t really PDL/PDC related but more toward the people that suggest a pastor is in the wrong for staying a course.
There has to be a balance. I am not a pastor, nor do I play one on TV, however it is plain that as a leader you have to make desicions and stick with them. If you are pleasing everybody, than you are probably doing something wrong.
Someone is going to complain that the music is too fast. Someone else will complain that the music is too slow. You feel led to lead the church North, but others will want to go South or East. I suggest that it is better to lose some of the nay-sayers and keep the direction that God is calling you to keep. The church will be healthier as it will actually be moving in a direction, and the nay-sayers should be happier in a church that is heading where they think it should be going.
We (The wife and I) weren’t super excited about the PDL campaign. We love our pastor and our church however, so rode it out and guess what… It helped some people! If anything, it got more people involved in small group Bible study! The campaign is long gone and we have more people studying the Bible in people’s homes!
Yes… churches have gone the wrong way and have hurt many people in them. I am not suggesting that we just watch a church go down in smoke… Knee jerking from something because it is big and popular is also wrong though. Just examine why you feel the way you do.
From what I saw, there were some outlines that the pastor could use for sermons and such. Ours, kinda’ followed some ideas, but with his own scripture and ideas. I don’t think however, that the materials were for any longer than the 40 days. It’s not like these churches will be preaching Rick Warren’s messages like good little robots for years to come.
Once again, I wasn’t crazy about the PDL campaign, but I can at least see where it benefited our church and people’s lives.
“…the people that suggest a pastor is in the wrong for staying a course…”
I think any biblically-informed Christian would encourage their pastor to stay a course, even an unpopular one, if they believed it was the right course. The problems with programs like PDL and Wild at Heart are much more serious than music volume. The authors of those books undermine and by-pass the authority of Scripture by mis-interpreting and mis-applying it.
Like I said, we (The wife and I)weren’t crazy about the idea of the PDL campaign. However, God used it and I have seen where it has benefitted people in our church.
It is good to see critical readers. I like to think of myself as one… I won’t throw out the baby with the bath water though, and condemn a whole book, program or whatever for some human flaws. There is good solid Biblical principal in the book. [*insert common sense so no replies of, “So if a book talks about Christ but than talks about devil worship being viable, we should read those too?”*]
There are some mis-applied Scriptures in PDL. I bet there are some books where one would say a Scripture is mis-applied where one simply disagrees with the interpretation. Anyway… I’ll await the perfect devotional type book. ;)
apreik said:
I don’t think however, that the materials were for any longer than the 40 days. It’s not like these churches will be preaching Rick Warren’s messages like good little robots for years to come.
I do so wish you were right, but there is the follow-up course Doing Life Together which is PDL all over again, only stretched out over a period of nine months. As for preaching Rick Warren’s messages for years to come, check this out at the PDC support site Pastors.com - http://forums.pastors.com/messageview.cfm?catid=6&threadid=15819
Ok, well I can stand corrected. This is why I said, “I don’t think…” :) :P I am glad that we are not doing the extended version… I am also glad for the good things that came out if it.
Spiritual gold!! This discernment site is rich with information, not only about the Church Growth Movement, but other ‘waves’ as well. WARNING! Only visit when you have a free hour or two to spare. It’s fascinating…
http://www.erwm.com/WhatsNew.htm
Susan..thanks for caring…Apr…I am not toquestion the validity of how things turned outwith your church…just speaking from my ownexperience it has been a very destructiveand damaging program….when switching to a purpose driven church….trust me….the 40days lasts forever….if you know what I mean..
WHEN I’M PRAISING GOD by Anita Corrine Donihue
MY CHURCH FAMILY
Father, I’m grateful to You for giving me my church family. I stand back and watch as they bustle about, always looking for ways to encourage each other. I can never keep up with the blessings I receive from my church family, the family of God.
When advice is needed, they are quick to listen and slow to offer opinions. When advice is given, it is fruitful, like shiny apples in a finely woven basket.
Brothers and sisters in Christ often share and encourage each other in God’s love. Tiny clusters of believers form, holding up needs in prayer. Cards and letters with encouraging words heal the downtrodden. True, growing believers never put one another down.
Thank You for the example they set for our young people and new Christians. Thank You for caution shown in lives so no one is caused to stumble. Thank you for older people “adopting” younger couples, for younger watching out for elderly. For prayers and praises given for each other, I am so thankful. Bless these helpers and prayer warriors, dear Lord.
Thank You for my priceless church family.
Hebrews 10:24-25”And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much more as you see the Day approaching.”
Only by sumitting to God and letting Him change us from the “inside” can this church come about.
GOD IS FAITHFUL!
While I am not very knowledgeable about the Bible and it’s translations, I have not been able to get through this book. I bought it because of the hype, and it has recently joined my bookshelf, after my getting through about 16 days, over a month-long period.
You mentioned the repetition later in the book. I found that to be a turn-off early on. Also, the memory verses just never stuck with me. SOme of them just seem like they are forced into the chapters, just to have a verse.
I have also found this book to read more like a text book, which makes it difficult to get through, for me anyway. After a week, I got to the point where I would look at how long a day’s reading was before I started, just to see how many pages I would need to suffer through.
Maybe I didn’t give it enough of a chance, and maybe I’ll go back to it someday. We’ll see.
Thanks for the perspective. It was refreshing.
I think what saddens me the most when reading so many negative comments is the attribution of both motives and ideas to Rick Warren that are clearly false. I guess many people are so afraid of someone using various translations that they panic when reading Rick’s book.
Folks we need to get a life here. Every translation is a TRANSLATION. The gospels show Jesus quoting the Septuagint (a Greek translation of the Hebrew text) a great deal versus the Hebrew text. I wonder why? Perhaps because they knew that their audiences would identify with a Greek translation of the bible more than the Hebrew which they could not understand.
We are called to share about Christ, not hammer the technique of someone else in sharing Christ. Rick Warren (whom I do not personally know) has written a book to encourage the church toward that goal (For those who did not make it to the end go back & read the last section on evangelism). Instead of being critical, we should be applauding.
The five purposes are derived straight out of the book of Acts, so they are biblical at the foundation, not something Rick Warren made up.
Ed - Two things. First, there is a difference between a translation and a paraphrase. Most people would be happy if Warren used accurate translations, but he often uses very poor paraphrases. Second, I beleive it is better not to use the Bible than to use it wrongly, and Warren uses it very, very poorly.
I can appreciate Ed’s concern of the various critique’s offered in this rather lengthy exchange of ideas. If it were simply a matter of whether or not the five purposes are in some manner or form found in the Bible, then we would have little upon which we base our disagreement. But to those who have lived in and through a PD church experience, there are deeper concerns. Many of those have already been expressed in this blog.
Despite how the five purposes have been worked into Mr. Warren’s church structure, there is arguably much that has been “made up” in the PD church. To me, the system devised for the church structure in Warren’s PD Church book stands in stark contrast to indepth study of the church as delineated in the New Testament. Few of us have called into question his motives or heart for the Lord. But many have taken upon themselves to be Bereans in this matter. To many, the writings of Warren have been weighed against the truth of Scripture, and been found wanting.
As regards the five purposes, I’ve wondered if they are not more of being symptoms than goals of the man who is passionate toward God. I’ve wondered also why Prayer is not considered as one of the five purposes. I believe it is conveniently tucked under one of the other headings. However, in Acts 2:42, it is listed as one of the four characteristics of the early church. In that same verse, we read that the early church was devoted to the apostle’s teaching. Many are concerned that the PD church seems a bit more preoccupied with the teachings of Warren then proclaiming the whole counsel of God.
One of the many weaknesses with the whole PD movement is the tendency to principlize and summarize the word of God into little spoon size bits. Both PD Church and PD Life are rife with trying to reduce biblical truth into a few major principles for living. If that was God’s choice for His word, He certainly could have economized better with paper and effort.
If the five purposes are indeed all found in the Book of Acts, then I suggest that the Purpose Driven books and plethora of materials are superfluous. Let’s cut out the middle man and go straight to the Bible.
Thank you so much for this powerful expose of the damaging church growth movement, PDC in particular. It is so encouraging to know there are still many other sincere Christians who love the Lord and cling to His word as Truth and who are willing to stand up and be counted, even to the point of being ostracized and persecuted. My wife and I have lived this trauma personally, but we are now in a solid church after spending almost thirty and forty years respectively in an old established church that slowly grew liberal in its practice and perverted in its pulpit. Again, I say thanks and praise to God for others out there who understand. May He grant the gift of discernment to thousands more blinded “Christians.”
This is to Charity,I just had to write and find out how you are doing? I am still holding you up in prayer. :-)
Our new plant church is “in the Word” for Sunday School (for children & adults), Sunday Morning and Evening Services and Wednesday Night Prayer. What a difference!
My prayer continues to be that God will “Open Eyes” and help people see that there is no satisfaction found outside of a “daily, personal” relationship with God through Jesus Christ.
GOD IS FAITHFUL!
When I read the book, I felt it was a nice, contemporary discussion of priorities and spiritual disciplines. In short: your first priority should be to glorify God, your highest purpose is to bring others into His kingdom, and you begin to cultivate Christlikeness through personal purity, prayer and Bible study. I didn’t have the impression the book was presenting some kind of gimicky formula, ala “The Prayer of Jabez.”
I agree with the criticism that Warren uses scripture out of context. But, I don’t think that the book is unbilical as a whole. In fact, the themes I identify above I think are profoundly Biblical.
As with any devotional resource, the reader needs to approach it with balance and discernment. My church is doing a “40 days” campaign now and I think is doing it well. The Pastor modifies the sermons as he feels appropriate (even to the point, last week, of emphasizing that no book or program other than the Bible itself is authoritative for our belief and practice) and there are some good home Bible studies going on.
Dopderbeck, here are a couple of excerpted paragraphs from an article which addresses the points you have raised:
http://www.letusreason.org/Pent53.htm
Is the Change that has come over the Church, come over you?
We have all heard the statement “eat the meat and spit out the bones,” but only the mature can discern good from evil. What parent would feed a new child a fish with bones and expect it to know what to do. This is not a good answer for the newborn, weak or immature in faith. Only the mature can do this and even the mature cannot discern the cleverness of things disguised. Each person needs to know what the biblical line is and make up his or her mind and not compromise by going over it.
Certain Scriptures are used as proof-texts for aberrant doctrines and to promote a lie. Feel good sermons that boost ones morale and self-esteem and worthiness are the order of the day. We forget Satan does not make people feel bad, but has them feel good to deceive them, as he comes as an angel of light.
Thanks, Shelly, but I don’t think that link addresses my points at all. What I said was that, despite some faulty exegesis in some places, Warren’s principles in PDL generally are Bibically sound. That’s a far cry from saying that we might draw a nugget of truth from teaching that is fundamentally Bibically unsound.
Everything we do in a local church is mediated by people. People deliver sermons, teach sunday school classes, lead music, etc. People are inherently sinful and imperfect. Therefore, nothing we ever do in a local church will be perfect. As believers who accept the Reformed doctrine of the priesthood of all believers, we always have to be prepared to “eat the meat and spit out the bones.” This doesn’t mean we condone false teaching; it just means that a dose of realism is required to function as part of the body in a local church.
Dear dopderbeck,
Every bit of God’s Word can be trusted. Why settled for “second best”?
Susan,
If I follow your reasoning, I’d have to say that we should do nothing at the local church other than open the Bible, read it aloud without any commentary, and then go home. Actually even that wouldn’t work — we’d have to read in the original languages. And yet even that wouldn’t work — we’d have to read from the original autographs. And even if we had the original autographs, that wouldn’t work — we’d have to have some guide as to which of the writings are canonical and which aren’t. What I’m suggesting isn’t a matter of not trusting God’s word, it’s simply a recognition that God works in the local church through imperfect people.
I want to re-ephasize my last comment.
Why settle for anything but “THE BEST”?
Hebrews 4:12 states “For the Word of God is LIVING and POWERFUL, and SHARPER THAN ANY TWO-EDGED SWORD, piercing even to the division of the soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.”
Here’s a wonderful song many of us remember learning in Sunday School.The B-I-B-L-EYes, that’s the book for me.I stand alone on the word of God.The B-I-B-L-E.
It’s more real today, than when I first learned it, because GOD’S WORD has been PROVEN TRUE!
Sadly, God’s Word has not been represented accurately in Mr. Warren’s book. This is why many of us have come out in opposition to it. We have also seen the destruction that the methodology wreaks on churches. Yes, I said WREAKS!
Methodology over the LEADING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.Pragmatism over LOVE. VCR Tapes over OPEN BIBLES.
Ah, but GOD IS FAITHFUL!
Now, if I can take any kind of music of the world and put some “Jesus” liriks or how they are oftenly called “Christian Words”, will make that song Christian? or Holy to God?!My question is then, if I take a group of Christian girls form my church and take them to a night club and make them strip dance, to atract people to preach them the Gospel….will that work to Mr Warren…you will not put your wife in from on the streets to dance naked to atract a group of people to preach them the message of salvation, will you?I might sound a little hard with this example, but is the same thing than making a rock concert with hevy rock music that have some “Jesus-I-praise-you” words to get the attentio of the people to give them the Gospel.Sometimes I wonder what will the reaction of Jesus will be in a situation like this if he was here on earth today. Do you think he will do the same thing he did when he came into the temple and saw all the people selling and makeing business in his holy temple…think about it, you cannot mix darkenss and light.
Juan — how exactly is the musical style of rock music equivalent to dancing naked ladies? I don’t get it. And, if we follow this logic, we’ll need to do away with most of the “great old hymns” we love so much — many of the tunes to those hymns were derived from popular driking songs of the day. (The original tune to “O Sacred Head Now Wounded,” for example, was for a song called “I’m crying in my beer stein.”)
As for Jesus’ reaction, you might be right about the commercialism of the Christian music industry. As to the style of music, however, I think you’re dead wrong. Jesus preached using examples and metaphors from the everyday lives of the people to whom he ministered, and stood against the trappings of “religion” at that time. Just ask the Pharisees about Jesus’ tolerance for adherence to old, empty formalisms.
Here is the history of ‘O Sacred Head…’http://www.cyberhymnal.org/htm/o/s/osacredh.htmI see no mention of beer steins ;p
No one is defending old empty formalisms, but I know lots of people who are very unhappy over the NEW empty formalisms of Sutherland, Hybels, Warren et. al.
Juan’s logic is not elusive, though I personally have no issues with contemporary worship. It appears that he is taking issue with the foundational practice of the ‘seeker friendly’ church in trying to attract the world to church. Perhaps he is challenging the ‘end justifies the means’ approach that is often used in these churches. If that is not his argument, then I beg his forgiveness for misrepresentation.
Even if he is not taking up that argument, I shall. There is no biblcial precedence for creating a church or church service intended to attract the lost souls in the world. There is no biblical teaching encouraging pastors to shun teaching the word in favor of messages intended to be practical, positive, and relevant. Those that do are violating the teaching of I Corinthians 2:1-5.
I find it fascinating that in both Paul and Peter’s last written words before their deaths, they exhibited a considerably passionate plea to the church. These pleas are as relevant today as they were then. (2 Timothy 4:1-5 and 2 Peter 3) These are not words of instruction to the church to attract the masses.
Actually Shelly, that’s not a complete history of the hymn, because it doesn’t give the history of the tune. The tune came much later than the hymn, and is in fact derived from a German drinking song and a “secular” love song. See http://www.reporterinteractive.org/news/031004/hy031004.htm for a reference to the love song. I heard the reference regarding the driking song on a radio show, and I’ll try to find a written reference to it.
Interestingly, the words from which the text of the hymn are derived were penned by Bernard of Clairvoix, a Catholic monk who lived in the 12th Century. So, if you love that old hymn, you are adopting sentiments of a person who in many other respects you probably would consider exegetically unsound and theologically suspect.
ScottyMac: “There is no biblical precedence for creating a church or church service intended to attract the lost souls in the world.” I think you are overlooking the Great Commission. Yes, I know the Great Commission isn’t itself concerned with the forms of how we do church. It certainly does, however, provide the imperative to win lost souls to Christ.
I think that point is overlooked in this debate: “contemporary” church movements are often missiological. The idea of “contextualizing” the gospel so that it can be understood by a target people group is not novel. Missionaries have been doing it for generations. I agree that it’s a grave error to contextualize in such a way that the message itself is distorted. Again, however, the presence of some bad examples doesn’t make the case against contextualization itself. In fact, you can’t do missions or evangelism at all without contextualizing the message.
Care to give a few examples of good contextulizing? I think we agree about the bad ones, such as calling our sins ‘mistakes’, or depicting God as a being who is biting his nails over whether you’ll do him a big favor and except his free offer of salvation.
The classic example of contextualization is in scripture itself: Paul’s sermon on Mars Hill. Here is a relevant link: http://pages.preferred.com/~mdepew/mis1.html