Product Description

Rick Warren helps readers to discover, develop, and fulfill God's purpose for their lives.Read by Rick Warren.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #9735 in Books
• Published on: 2007-02-15
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 336 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Pastor of Saddleback Church, a Southern Baptist mega-church in southern California with weekly attendance of more than 15,000, Warren now applies his highly successful "purpose-driven" framework, developed in the best-seller The Purpose-Driven Church, to individual experience. The same principles Warren has taught to thousands of pastors to help churches be healthy and effective can also drive lives, he says. The book argues that discerning and living five God-ordained purposes-worship, community, discipleship, ministry and evangelism-is key to effective living. His 40 short chapters are intended to be read over 40 days' time, giving readers small pieces of his purpose-discovering program to chew on. Warren certainly knows his Bible. Of 800-plus footnotes, only 18 don't refer to Christian Scripture. He deliberately works with 15 different Bible translations, leaning heavily on contemporary translations and paraphrases, as an interesting way of plumbing biblical text. The almost exclusively biblical frame of reference stakes out the audience niche for this manual for Christian living. It's practical yet paradoxically abstract, lacking the kind of real-life examples and stories that life-application books usually provide in abundance. The book has flaws editing might have fixed. People are quoted without being identified, and subheads simply repeat lines of text, which tends to make the prose sound too simple. This book is not for all, but for those needing a certain kind of scriptural rock, it is solid.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From the Back Cover
What "level of living" are you reaching for? Survival, success or significance?

Rick Warren believes God created you for a life of tremendous significance. One with a mission that fills you with energy, confidence, and satisfaction. A life with direction and impact for God’s kingdom.

A purpose-driven life.

In The Purpose-Driven™ Life, the author of the phenomenally popular Purpose-Driven Church uncovers seven essentials for understanding and fulfilling your God-given life mission:

PRIORITIZE YOUR VALUES

UNDERSTAND YOUR STRENGTHS

RESOLVE TO FULFILL YOUR MISSION

PRAYERFULLY CREATE A MISSION STATEMENT

ORGANIZE YOUR TIME

STRENGTHEN SKILLS, HABITS, AND RELATIONSHIPS

About the Author
Rick Warren is often called "America's most influential spiritual leader." He founded Saddleback Church in Orange County, California, which is now one of the largest and best-known churches in the world. He also founded the Purpose Driven Movement, a network of tens of thousands of churches from all denominations in 160 countries. He has trained over 350,000 pastors worldwide. Calling him a "spiritual entrepreneur," Forbes magazine said, "If Warren's ministry was a business it would be compared with Dell, Google, or Starbucks in impact." Rick and Kay Warren give away 90 percent of the profits from their books to charitable causes, including their global P.E.A.C.E. plan and Acts of Mercy, which services those infected with and affected by AIDS.

Customer Reviews

Purpose-Driven and Market Driven
In this volume, Rick Warren, founder of the famed Saddleback (mega) Church expands on some of the ideas in his previous "The Purpose-Driven Church". Warren tells us that we are created for God's purposes, those purposes being giving God pleasure, being a part of his family, becoming Christ-like, serving others, and spreading the Good News of the Gospel that Jesus has paid the price for our sins. It is pretty much Evangelical Chrstianity 101, peppered with rapid-fire Biblical quotes and memorable anecdotes. Someone who is looking for a basic primer in what the Christian life is all about could do alot worse than "The Purpose-Driven Life".

I especially liked the fact that Warren doesn't assume that everyone reading this book is already signed on for the purposes he discusses. He even realizes that not all of his readers are even Christians. He hits the very basics with an exposition of the gospel and several calls for the unsaved reader to make the commitment to Christ. Another thing I particularly liked in the book was his discussion of how we can discover where we can be of most service to God's kingdom. He talks about several things here -- prayer, Bible study, spiritually discerning friends -- but it was refreshing to see someone say that what you are good at and what you enjoy are also indicators of where you can best serve God. When I was coming along twenty years ago or so, the standard line in most "fervent" evangelical camps was that what you were good at had nothing to do with what God wanted you to do, and that what you enjoyed should be avoided at all costs because it would just be a big distraction from what you really should be doing. I hope this means the Evangelical community is growing up a little.

But there are a couple of problems with this book. Most egregious is Warren's insistance on quoting scripture from various "hyper-modern" translations like the CEV or the New Living Translation or even paraphrases like "The Message" or the Living Bible. (Don't tune me out here, folks. I am *not* in the "King James Only" camp!) Warren says he likes to quote from these versions because "... we often miss the full impact of familiar Bible verses, not because of poor translating, but simply because they have become so familiar! ... Therefore I have deliberately used paraphrases in order to help you see God's truth in new, fresh ways." What the reader (especially the "inexperienced" Christian reader that Warren is writing for) needs to realize is that the reason these translations and paraphrases sound so "new" and "fresh" is that they are just plain bad translations. They don't sound like the old translations because they are changing the meaning of what is being translated! Read this book with an NIV or an NASB Bible in hand and refer to it frequently!

Something I find a little dangerous in this book is Warren's tendency to say things like, "The Bible tells us we are here for the following five purposes..." and "The Bible tells us God wants us to look at our lives in the following three ways ...." and so on. Why does this bother me? Think about it. If I can write a book that can reduce all the things the Bible tells us to a few short lists, then what do we need the Bible for anymore? Warren continually sends us back to the Bible, thank goodness, but it's not clear why he would feel the need to if his book really covers all the things he seems to imply that it does.

Of less importance, but still worth mentioning, is Warren's style of writing. He likes short sentences and short words and lots of lists and little cute decorative pictures in the margins. He has definitely written this book for an American population that expects to see everything said through MicroSoft PowerPoint.

So much for the book itself. Now, about the book in context. Like I said, if you're looking for a primer in basic Christianity, you could do alot worse. But I have a hard time understanding the curent Evangelical fascination with this book because it doesn't present anything that lots of other Evangelical books haven't been presenting (often more eloquently) for most of the past two centuries. The "Experiencing God" Bible study, which was a hit about ten years ago, comes to mind, as does J.I. Packer's classic "Knowing God". There is also Eric Liddel's "The Disciplines of the Christian Life", published posthumously in the mid eighties and John Stott's "Basic Christianity" from the late fifties. If you're new in town and aren't familiar with these older books, starting with Warren's book is just fine. But you really need to know that if you have these books already sitting on your shelf, you aren't going to learn anything new in "The Purpose-Driven Life."

And then there's the marketing campaign. First, Warren, or Saddleback Church, or somebody has actually registered a copyright for the phrase "Purpose Driven". Crassness aside, isn't that a little like trying to claim that you invented the phrase "nutritious and satisfying"? And then there are all the Purpose-Driven (TM) paraphernalia you can buy: the Purpose-Driven Life Journal, Purpose-Driven scripture memory cards with mahogany wood card holder, the music CD, the videos, the t-shirt, the baseball cap, the Purpose-Driven Day Timer, the bumper sticker. (Now, half of those are real and half of them are my own invention. Can you tell which is which?) I'll end my sarcasm here and let all the paraphernalia speak for itself.

End result: 4 stars for content and 2 for the horrid marketing campaign gives this book an average of 3.

What's All The Controversy About?
There are many reviews here which summarize much of what I discovered about this book, so I will summarize some of my greatest concerns. Even if you are one of the many who has thoroughly enjoyed this book and perhaps find it has changed your life, I'd encourage you to keep reading.

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." He believes this will "help you see God's truth in new, fresh ways."

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.

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?

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?

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. This is well-documented in other reviews on this site.

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.

A Book with a Purpose
This is a good an analysis of scripture and religion on a personal level. The book is extremely helpful to those who are experiencing difficulties in life or who are questioning if God even really cares about them. I do believe this is certainly an enlightening tool for many searching for a better relationship with God in all respects, daily interactions and spirituality. The Purpose Driven Life will give anyone who reads this, a clear picture of why we're here on earth.