Purpose Driven Life

Strengths
There are many very wonderful things about this book.  I applaud Rick Warren for giving attention to the edification of believers – a priority much neglected in the Seeker movement.

Warren makes some excellent and very helpful points in the book – especially for new believers who have never thought through the basics of what it means to have an awareness of one’s purpose and reason for existing.  Rick Warren has a great mind for applying common sense and human wisdom to the Christian life.

Weaknesses

Elevation of Human Wisdom

But that strength is also related to one of the weaknesses of the book.  Most of the points in this book are ideas that came from Warren’s experience and common sense, rather than Scripture.  He often attaches Bible verses as support, but the ideas themselves, most of the time, are not taught in the Bible verse.

The ideas that come strictly from his own, human wisdom are presented with exactly the same authority as those that come from Scripture, or from a quote of some famous person.

Shallow Presentation of the Gospel

By far the greatest weakness of the Seeker movement has been the watering down of the Gospel.  Scripture teaches over and over that the Gospel is offense to most, and will be rejected by most.  

But those who want to get huge crowds to respond to their invitations invariably find a way to present the Gospel such that it offends hardly anyone, and that is very attractive to most people.  This is what Rick Warren has done, and it is how he has build such a massive “church.”  

I have visited his church and personally heard him give a “gospel” presentation followed by an invitation in which the name of Jesus was never even mentioned!

This shallow presentation of the Gospel is seen on pp.58,59, where he says, “I invite you to bow your head and quietly whisper the prayer that will change your eternity: “Jesus, I believe in you and I receive you.” Go ahead.  If you sincerely meant that prayer, congratulations!  Welcome to the family of God!”

Is that all it takes?  Reciting that sentence and meaning it?  No repentance, no taking up one’s cross, no forsaking the old life, no clarification of the truth about who God is, who Christ is, what He did on the cross, the resurrection…  Just say those words, and you are assured to be in the family of God?

The reason I say this is the greatest error of the Seeker Movement and of the ministry of Saddleback in general is because it produces false conversions by the thousands.  People who are not willing to repent and who therefore do not have genuine, saving faith are assured they are saved.  

Those people are now infinitely harder to reach, because they think they are saved.  The cruelest thing you could ever do to a person is to convince him he is saved when he is not.

Rick Warren seems to regard any profession of faith or signing of a card as a true conversion.  “Through Crusade staff around the world, the Four Spiritual Laws tract, and the Jesus film…more than 150 million people have come to Christ and will spend eternity in heaven.” p.84.  

Misuse of Scripture 

Warren quotes almost exclusively from paraphrases rather than translations.  A paraphrase is a cross between a commentary and a translation.  It describes the idea the Bible writer is teaching in different words.  Paraphrases can be helpful in giving a new perspective on a passage, but one must be very careful.  The more a passage is explained, the more there are ideas that are introduced that are not actually stated in the passage.

In many, many cases, Warren quotes a paraphrase in order to prove a point that is not even addressed by the actual text of Scripture, but seems to be stated in the wording of the paraphrase.

One example is on p.161, where Warren insists that we should always focus on points of agreement rather than disagreement.  

I would agree that we should not be argumentative or contentious, but I also believe there is great value in addressing points of theological disagreement so those differences can be resolved, bringing unity (we are commanded to think the same thing – 1 Co.1:10).  

So I looked up the verse he gave as a proof text for why it’s wrong to focus on any issues of disagreement. 

The reference was Ro.14:19, which says a;ra ou=n ta. th/j eivrh,nhj diw,kwmen kai. ta. th/j oivkodomh/j th/j eivj avllh,louj (so therefore let us pursue the peace and the things concerning the building up of one another)

You may be puzzled at that.  How does that verse prohibit us from focusing on differences?  It doesn’t.  But the wording of the paraphrase, combined with Warren’s comments, seem to imply that.  Here’s how it reads in the book:
“Focus on what we have in common, not our differences.  Paul tells us, ‘Let us concentrate on the things which make for harmony’.”

This is a case where Warren is teaching an unbiblical idea, and making it appear as though it is supported by Scripture.  He seems to oppose all conflict.  In fact, on p.162 he says, “Conflict is usually a sign that the focus has shifted to less important issues…When we focus on…interpretations…division always happens.”  

If we are to be of one mind and think the same thing, it is essential that we discuss and debate our conflicting interpretations of Scripture.  If we just keep our differences quiet or pretend they don’t exist, we make the disunity permanent. 

Another example is p.164 where he teaches that all criticism of believers is of the devil.  Paul criticized Peter to his face (as did Jesus).  There are cases in which it is necessary to criticize something someone is doing – especially if it is harmful to the body or dishonoring to Christ.

The “Scripture” quote Warren uses seems to prove his case: “Let’s agree to use all our energy in getting along with each other.  Help others with encouraging words; don’t drag them down by finding fault.”

That seems to prove his point.  But if you look up the reference, you find that, once again, the reference is Ro.14:19.  This time it’s taken from a different paraphrase (because Warren is making a different point).  This particular paraphrase makes it sound as though all criticism is forbidden.  But again, that idea is not in the original (so therefore let us pursue the peace and the things concerning the building up of one another).  Sometimes criticism is necessary in the effort to build one another up, particularly when there is a dangerous teaching about which the rest of the flock needs to be warned. 

There are many, many other examples throughout the book.  Perhaps that would explain the very strange practice of relegating all Scripture references to end notes at the end of the book.  If you read where he says, “The Bible says…” and goes on to quote a paraphrase, and you want to check the reference in a translation to see if it is being used correctly, you have to flip back to see which of the 40 days you are on, then flip to the back of the book and find the endnotes section, look up that chapter and find the number of that note in order to get the reference.  Then you can look it up.  If the goal is to get people into God’s Word, why such a goose chase?  Why not do what most every other Christian book does and put the reference in parentheses right in the text, or at least in a footnote on the same page?

Other Minor Weaknesses
	
Taking passages of Scripture out of context:
There are many, many examples of this.  One is on p.139 where he takes a statement about the authority of Christ being present during church discipline when there are 2 or 3 witnesses, and using that to suggest there is some special presence of God in a group as long as at least 2 or 3 are gathered.

Another example is on p.253, where he says we are never to compare ourselves to others, then quotes a couple passages that only forbid comparison with those who are worse  for the sake of justifying yourself.  Comparison with those who are better for the sake of growth is a good thing.

Deliberate alteration of Scripture:
On p.165 Warren simply changes what Jesus said.  Step 4 in church discipline is to treat the person as a pagan or tax-collector (shun him), but Warren says, “treat him as an unbeliever” (which justifies their practice of welcoming unrepentant sinners back into the church just like they do other unbelievers).

He follows the feminist practice of changing “man” to “human beings” when quoting Gn.1.  (p.171)

Teaching a shallow approach to study:
He advocates both reading and studying God’s Word.  For reading he recommends an extremely fast skim through Scripture (reading the entire Bible in 91 hours).  And regarding study: “The difference between reading and studying the Bible involves two additional activities: asking questions of the text and writing down your insights.” p.189

That’s his idea of study.  No wonder his handling of Scripture is so poor.

Use of romantic language to describe our relationship to God: 
“This is what real worship is all about – falling in love with Jesus.” p.67

Advising against long prayers:
Warren advises against long prayers and recommends instead to stick with short, one-sentence prayers (so we don’t lose our concentration).  

It’s hard to see how one’s prayer life could follow that of Jesus or even Paul with this approach.  Paul labored in prayer for all the churches and prayed night and day for some many people and some many churches; it’s difficult to understand how he could have done that in sentence prayers sprinkled throughout the day.

And Jesus sometimes spent an entire night in prayer (Lk.6:12).  He rebuked the disciples for not even being able to watch and pray for one hour (Mk.14:37).  

It’s good to be in communion with God throughout the day with sentence prayers, but it is also crucial to spend some time in concentrated, extended prayer.  

Making the essence of true fellowship primarily being close relationally rather than giving. (section 2)

Conclusion

Many people can profit from reading this book, but it should not be read by unbelievers, lest they be deceived about how one becomes a Christian.  And those Christians who read it should consider all of it to be nothing more than human advice, rather than God’s Word.