The Purpose-driven Life: What on Earth Am I Here For?

published	October 1st 2002 by Zondervan
first published	2005
binding	Hardcover
isbn	0310205719 (isbn13: 9780310205715)
pages	334
description	The spiritual premise in The Purpose-Driven Life is that there are no accidents---God planned everything and everyone. Therefore, every human h...more [close] The spiritual premise in The Purpose-Driven Life is that there are no accidents---God planned everything and everyone. Therefore, every human has a divine purpose, according to God's master plan. Like a twist on John F. Kennedy's famous inaugural address, this book could be summed up like this: "So my fellow Christians, ask not what God can do for your life plan, ask what your life can do for God's plan." Those who are looking for advice on finding one's calling through career choice, creative expression, or any form of self-discovery should go elsewhere. This is not about self-exploration; it is about purposeful devotion to a Christian God. The book is set up to be a 40-day immersion plan, recognizing that the Bible favors the number 40 as a "spiritually significant time," according to author Rick Warren, the founding pastor of Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, California, touted as one of the nation largest congregations. Warren's hope is that readers will "interact" with the 40 chapters, reading them one day at a time, with extensive underlining and writing in the margins. As an inspirational manifesto for creating a more worshipful, church-driven life, this book delivers. Every page is laden with references to scripture or dogma. But it does not do much to address the challenges of modern Christian living, with its competing material, professional, and financial distractions. Nonetheless, this is probably an excellent resource for devout Christians who crave a jumpstart back to worshipfulness. --Gail Hudson [close]
date added	02-17-07 edit book

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Tucker rated it:

(review of isbn 0310276993)

12/30/07

bookshelves: finished

Read in December, 2007

recommends it for: Christians

"God made you so he could love you" (p. 24), Warren tells us, and the purpose that drives our lives should be loving God in return. "Worship is as natural as eating or breathing. If we fail to worship God, we always find a substitute, even if it ends up being ourselves. The reason God made us with this desire is that he desires worshipers!" (p. 64)

This worldview quickly becomes incoherent. Consider these two statements, made side-by-side: "You are free to choos...more "God made you so he could love you" (p. 24), Warren tells us, and the purpose that drives our lives should be loving God in return. "Worship is as natural as eating or breathing. If we fail to worship God, we always find a substitute, even if it ends up being ourselves. The reason God made us with this desire is that he desires worshipers!" (p. 64)

This worldview quickly becomes incoherent. Consider these two statements, made side-by-side: "You are free to choose what you surrender to, but you are not free from the consequences of that choice. E. Stanley Jones said, 'If you don't surrender to Christ, you surrender to chaos.' (p. 82) The first sentence is a scientific worldview. Actions have consequences that should, at least in principle, be predictable. The second sentence say that our actions have consequences that are chaotic, meaning unpredictable.

In Warren's worldview, people are pawns who unknowingly carry out a plan that is beyond their comprehension. "Most amazing, God decided how you would be born...They [your parents] had the DNA God wanted to make you...Many children are unplanned by their parents, but they are not unplanned by God. God's purpose took into account human error, and even sin." (p. 23) Such an absolutist stance against free will is difficult to maintain. For example, if God creates everything about us, then God must have created heterosexual attraction. "You can be attracted or even aroused without choosing to sin by lusting. Many people, especially Christian men, feel guilty that their God-given hormones are working. When they automatically notice an attractive woman, they assume it is lust and feel ashamed and condemned. But attraction is not lust until you begin to dwell on it." (p. 205) But Warren does not comment on the question of whether God created homosexual attraction.

Warren says, "Of course, sincerity alone is not enough [in worship]; you can be sincerely wrong." (p. 102) However, he shows no recognition of his own fallibility, nor even that a single sentence he has written in this book might be wrong. Assuming Biblical inerrancy, he advises: "Determine to first ask, 'What does the Bible say?' when making decisions. Resolve that when God says to do something, you will trust God's Word and do it whether or not it makes sense or you feel like doing it." (p. 187) But this is unacceptable behavior for anyone--even a Jew, Christian, or Muslim--who does not believe that the Bible and human interpretation of it is infallible. If someone is willing to do things that do not make sense even to himself and he refuses to analyze them, it is unclear how he is supposed to avoid being "sincerely wrong."

He occasionally uses weird, violent metaphors for faith: "You must move against it [fear] with the weapons of faith and love." (p. 29) "If you don't have any Bible verses memorized, you've got no bullets in your gun!" (p. 215) "Lane Adams once compared the process of spiritual growth to the strategy the Allies used in World War II to liberate islands in the South Pacific. ... Our pre-conversion experience is Jesus saying, 'Behold I stand at the door and bomb!' (p.218) I guess this answers the popular rhetorical witticism "Who would Jesus bomb?"

To be fair, he did not intend this book as philosophy. The first half of the book assumes belief in God, in the immortality of the soul, and in the Christian version of the Bible. The second half of the book attempts to persuade committed Christians to join churches to strengthen their faith. Readers who want this material will get what they paid for. But outsiders will find it low on persuasion....less

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