It is precisely and unashamedly what they criticize it for being: an introduction to Christianity. It is an excellent introduction to Christianity, and I see why it is so well-received. It is no substitute for the Bible, nor does it claim to be, but for those who may be intimidated by the Bible Benjamin Kittleson. I don't even know where to begin with this book It has been suggested that the information provided within is "Christian" in its delivery Though, I would suggest to you that everything in this world that refers to itself as Christian is not necessarily so Simply because a book includes Bible verses does not mean that those verses have anything to do with what the Word of God is commanding of those who would follow Him Marilyn Manson's song lyrics contain scripture, however, no one in their right mind would ever even suggest that his music has anything to do with "God's Plan.
What's dangerous about this book, in my opinion, is that it professes to hold some sort of secret about God and His desire for mankind, that perhaps He has not clearly revealed in His Word The scripture that Rick Warren uses to make his points, and state his case that we should be a "purpose driven" people, seeking out a more "church driven" life, is simply mis-used as many of the books of Mr.
Warren's contemporaries, such as Joel Osteen and T. Both "megachurch" pastors publishing works that encourage their readers and followers to seek out their "divine purpose" so that they can "do more and be more" for Jesus We are to repent of our sins, and trust in Christ - love God with all of our heart, mind, soul and strength - and love our neighbor as ourselves And go into the whole world, and preach the gospel to all of creation That is our purpose, plain and simple If anyone calling themselves a follower of Christ wants to know what more is required of them as a believer, they merely need open the Word of God, not the next Prayer of Jabez.
I try to read this book every year during lent as a reminder of what my purpose in Christ should be, according to Rick Warren there are five purposes to your life: To love God To be a part of His family To become like Him To Serve Him To tell others about Him I love how he reinforces this with scriptures and other materials.
I highly recommend this to anyone who is wondering about their purpose here on earth. Maybe because I read it out loud, or maybe because while I was re-reading this book I recommitted my life to God, it can be a combination of the two but I was really impacted by this book is a strong way. I have been listening to Rick Warren for over 5 years, I start my day listening to his Daily Hope podcast so it was great reading this. If you are wondering about your purpose, if you are searching for reason, if you want to know why you are on earth, I highly recommend reading this book.
Review on April 24th, This is my fourth time reading this book. I generally read this book during Easter because of the 40 chapters and 40 days during Lent.
It is a great reminder on how to find purpose in life. How to make your life not about you and create some form of impact. Review on March 30th This is my third time reading this book. I usually read this book at the start of the year or at the start of lent. I think reading a book one chapter a day for forty days requires not only dedication but it forces you to be in the Word of God.
Everyone wants to know their purpose- why am I here on earth? What is my purpose? These are questions that plague me sometimes when I feel so purposeless. I love how easy this book is to read, how we are given various call to actions and questions to ponder on. You get from this book what you take. Rick Warren doesn't promise you purpose after this book, you need to really work and seek it. A great read- one of my favorites. Dear Mr. W, Thank you for writing such a wonderful book.
I stopped. I felt this hunger within me, a hunger for peace and contentment and I start reading your book again, slowly. It is painful for me to read that book. Every chapter is like a slap. Every paragraph had given me heartaches. Your book taught me a lot. I learned that if we center our lives on Him, everything would fall into their right places.
We are experiencing pain because we are not home yet. Pain is vital because God uses it so we can mature and grow like Christ. God allows us to feel a significant amount of discontent and dissatisfaction in life- longings that will never be fulfilled on this side of eternity. Earth is not our final home and we were created for something much better.
Thank you for reminding me that God has emotions too. He can feel our pain and sufferings. Substituting the Bible for God, and worshiping the Book rather than the Author, has led to many errors that have been preached as gospel truth. The Purpose Driven Life is a book born of setting the Bible up as God, enthroning personal interpretation and religious practices based on what a man conceives God to be in his own mind and to suit his own purposes , and using the Bible as justification to do so.
While Warren promotes the Bible as the ultimate source of authority, he does not know or understand what it teaches because he does not know or understand the Author, Who is the Ultimate Authority. It is revelation. We can turn to what God has revealed about life in his Word. The easiest way to discover the purpose of an invention is to ask the creator of it. Yes, there is an alternative to speculation and opinion, and indeed it is revelation.
Now, there is nothing wrong with consulting with the Bible. It is the inspired Record of God. But the Bible is not God. It does not give revelation. Only God can do that. Jesus Christ is the Word of God to Whom we must turn. Peter received this from God. Peter did not read in the Book that Jesus was the Christ, and recite that back to Him, but received the revelation from God, which he spoke by faith.
So must we have like faith and revelation. Otherwise, the Bible is a closed book:. Rick Warren has not turned to the Lord and come to Him, but has his eyes on the Bible, attributing to it what only Jesus Christ can do. The Bible, you can be assured, does none of these things.
If it did the multitudes reading and praising it would have the things Warren attributes to it. There were many lepers in Israel where the Bible readers were in the days of Elisha, but only a stranger, Naaman the Syrian, was healed.
Warren has not had communion with the One Who does all those things. If he did, he would not be crediting the Bible. He was not faulting them because they did not read or believe the Bible. He was referring to Himself, and what He represented according to His substance that was testified to by His words, which they rejected. Abiding in His Word is believing and committing oneself in totality to Him. It is not about reading the Bible, except to those who worship the Bible, and who say things like this:.
Decide that regardless of culture, tradition, reason, or emotion, you choose the Bible as your final authority.
When God drew me to Christ, and gave me faith in Him, I did not need to pull myself up by the bootstraps to believe the Bible was truth. He opened my eyes to see that, and to receive the truth contained therein.
He decided on what to reveal, when to reveal it, and how. He was and is the final Authority. And when I fell in sin, He sent a man of God to tell me my specific sin. The Bible did not tell me that, though the testimony was there when I received the truth. It is easy to submit to a book without understanding or conviction of sin, harder to submit to a man speaking from God that calls on us to forsake our idols.
Indeed, it is impossible for men to have the humility to receive and submit to Christ coming in the flesh, but with God all things are possible. Faith is His doing and His gift. Only one set on his or her own thing will worship an idol, be it the Bible or any other thing. People worship idols because they serve themselves, not God. Rick Warren is not serving God. He serves himself, and needs to repent. False Christianity is all about the future or the past, but never His presence here and now.
Listen to what He says about eternity and Heaven:. But you see Me. Because I live, you shall live also. Who is it that does not need wisdom and therefore the fear of God , in any age or at any time?
When is a good time not to keep His commandments? Why should His praise be silenced? And what does the Bible say of the one man, Abraham, who in particular is described as the friend of God James ?
Only those who fear God are His friends. His fear is not the kind that men exert on one another, but is the kind they do not know, especially in this day where every man sits on the throne of his own opinion. The fear of God is reverence of the highest order.
Those who lack it have not seen or known Him whatsoever. Unlike the Old Testament priests who had to spend hours preparing to meet him, we can now approach God anytime…. God invites us to enjoy friendship and fellowship with all three persons of the Trinity….
God deeply desires that we know him intimately. In fact, he planned the universe and orchestrated history, including the details of our lives, so that we could become his friends. Firstly, and do check out the appendix of this letter for more in-depth looks at some of these issues, there is only one Person Who is Father of spirits, Lord of lords, King of kings, God of gods, Savior.
God came in the flesh as the Lord Jesus Christ to put away our sins, overcoming death and hell for us. Secondly, He does not need us to include Him in our lives, as though He were dependent on us. He calls and draws near whom He wills into His intimacy. He will approach me when I invite him, for who would dare come uninvited? Nor are those outside of Him not part of His doing, and being as if He were dependent on man to get it together for Him to have any part in our affairs, blasphemy!
And He has made all nations of men of one blood to dwell on all the face of the earth, ordaining fore-appointed seasons and boundaries of their dwelling, to seek the Lord, if perhaps they might feel after Him and find Him, though indeed He is not far from each one of us.
But Warren does have it right that God planned everything including the details in every life so that all would come to know Him. Now it yet remains for Rick to enter into the reality, according to the will of God. The only way to become like Christ is to be born of His Spirit.
That which is born of something grows up to become that same thing. The true and mystical Church of God is His body. Use breath prayers throughout the day…. For they think that in their much speaking they shall be heard. Rick is not preaching the works of faith, but faith in works of the flesh. Flee fornication! He is teaching you to commit adultery with another god, in the Name of Christ.
Rick offers this explanation for the troubles that befall many who follow these evil ways in the Name of Christ, and come under the wrath of God:. Everything that happens to a child of God is Father-filtered, and he intends to use it for good even when Satan and others mean it for bad. He is not a filter, waiting for whatever happens to roll down the pike. He is the Doer!
I am Jehovah, and there is none else; forming the light and creating darkness; making peace and creating evil. You may be suffering from the fruits of your doings, that yes, serve for good, but which are there as a present rebuke and destruction from God because of evil. This I know: Only by the mercy of God will one receive correction and repent. Warren does not acknowledge the need for repentance and the cross. If a man does not acknowledge and receive rebuke for evil, how much less will he receive the cross?
The example and teaching that Warren gives is evil. To instruct us in candid honesty, God gave us the book of Psalms — a worship manual, full of ranting, raving, doubts, fears, resentments, and deep passions combined with thanksgiving, praise, and statements of faith.
The carnal man may see this, but the spiritual man will not, because it is not what the Spirit is saying or doing through the Psalmists. How long will you people consult with the dead in the Name of the Living? How long will you heed presumptuous sorcerers, prophets of Baal and Ashtoreth? Nothing was beneath him because he came to serve. This is that false Jesus we have been identifying from the beginning, whom Warren preaches and many others depict as well.
While the Son of Man was not a slacker, neither did He come as a servant to men as Warren portrays Him. He was not a social worker.
He was not a do-gooder. He was not a bleeding heart Hallmark card icon with long hair and a faraway gaze. He was none of those things, or anything that men can and do conceive of as lovely and desirable. Why is that? Because He came not to serve man, as men do, but to serve God in the laying down of His life.
That is the real Jesus Christ, Whom no man knows. And He Who sent Me is with Me. Jesus Christ looked neither to the left nor the right, but lived with singleness of mind and purpose to love God with all His heart, mind, and soul. He laid down His life according to the commandment of God given to Him. And in so doing He served mankind by becoming Lord and Christ, the Savior of all men. If we follow Him, we will know Him. If we know Him, we will become like Him, and neither will men know or recognize us, just as they do not recognize Him.
Who Are the Sons of God? Who Then Can Be Saved?! Here is a list of the five fundamental errors on which this book and its evil advice is predicated: Error 1 You can receive Jesus Christ by reciting a prayer, a decision God is waiting, and depending, on you to make.
Error 2 You are born of God when you do this. Error 5 The Bible, as final authority, teaches all these things. We will now review each of the errors: Error 1 You can receive Jesus Christ by reciting a prayer, a decision God is waiting, and depending, on you to make. Is entrance into the Kingdom as easy as Warren puts it? Is it not good to know He is running the show? It is rest for the weary. Error 5 The Bible, as the final authority, teaches all these things. And to whom is the Word of salvation sent today?
Login or Register. Notify of. Newest Oldest Most Voted. Inline Feedbacks. Load More Comments. Provide your email if you would like to receive periodic correspondence from us. You can leave a comment here x. Purpose-Driven Salvation Warren assures his readers that "God won't ask about your religious background or doctrinal views. The only thing that will matter is, did you accept what Jesus did for you and did you learn to love and trust him?
Welcome to the family of God! On the other hand, if you reject his love, forgiveness, and salvation, you will spend eternity apart from God forever.
Surely God doesn't care about "religious background or doctrinal views"! But Warren's assertions are themselves "doctrinal views," unstated and undefended. More urgently, is Warren talking about the same "eternal life" as Jesus did, the Jesus who taught that "the gate is narrow and the way is hard, that leads to life, and those who find it are few" Matt.
Warren is right that we must love and trust Jesus, but Jesus himself told us what that really meant. For starters, Jesus said: "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent, and believe in the gospel" Mark He also said, "Not every one who says to me 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven" Matt.
And to those who say "Lord, Lord," Jesus warned that God may reply, "Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels" Matt. But Warren makes little if any mention of sin, damnation, repentance, or the cross. Purpose-Driven Liturgy Warren proclaims: "There is no 'one-size-fits-all' approach to worship and friendship with God. God wants you to be yourself. This is not the historical Christianity given to us by the apostles.
When Jesus meets the Samaritan woman at the well, he promises her that "true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth" John Warren interprets this verse as Jesus' condemnation of "external" or "ritual" worship.
But Jesus was referring to the pure worship that he would inaugurate at the Last Supper see John ; Luke In John 4, Jesus is looking forward to the Eucharist. If the heavens are not open, then whatever liturgy was is reduced to role playing and, in the end, to a trivial pursuit of congregational self-fulfillment in which nothing really happens" Joseph Ratzinger, In the Presence of the Angels I Will Sing Your Praise [www.
Warren says, "There is no such thing as 'Christian' music; there are only Christian lyrics. It is the words that make a song sacred, not the tune. There are no spiritual tunes.
You probably don't like it all, but God does! If it is offered to God in spirit and truth, it is an act of worship. There is no biblical style! Warren describes his church as "the flock that likes to rock. Unfortunately, we have seen the effects of this kind of approach to music in Catholic liturgies. Nevertheless, the Church has always made a distinction between sacred and profane music.
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