A Purpose...
That word in the Christian world has almost become synanomous with the Purpose Driven Life and the Purpose Driven Church both authored by Rick Warren. The titles as well as the words on the pages are both very deceiving to believers and non believers. I have come to the conclusion that these books and the motivation behind them could be the most detrimental thing within the body of Christ today. They are part of the 'seeker-sensitive' movement. The purpose of this movement is to make the 'seeker' feel comfortable enough that they will come to church and they will eventually cite the 'receive and believe' prayer located on page 58 of the Purpose Driven Life. There is no mention of repentance, no personalization of sin, no mention of judgment, and certainly no mention of hell! This goes completely against the teachings and life of Jesus Christ! Jesus used all of those things to bring a person to true repentance and to bring them to the saving faith that we all need.
The reason I am writing this today is because in the past week or so I have been in contact with many people who have fallen for the facade of finding their purpose in life through these books. If you are truly seeking out your purpose in life then you should turn to the Bible and find your purpose in light of God's word and His will. We should be focusing on God at all times. We are never to focus on man! Also, in these books there is an unhealthy emphasis on making God your friend. Yes, He is our friend, but above all we are to recognize His holiness, His righteousness, His sovreignty, and we are to worship Him and revere Him and even fear Him!
The Purpose Driven Church is far worse than the Purpose Driven Life in my opinion. They focus on making man comfortable and making God uncomfortable instead of the other way around. They tell the people they are okay just as they are and that it is fine to stay the way they are. They never have people recognize their sin and how we as man have completely and totally wronged our Creator! Instead, they tell them their life is going to be wonderful once they put on the gospel of Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour. The truth is, Jesus promised us a much different life. He did not promise us a life of health, wealth, and prosperity. He promised us tribulation, persecution, and said the world would hate us! Imagine the converts reaction when all these things come to pass and the wonderful life he was promised by the church is seemingly a complete lie! The reason we are to come to Christ is not for a wonderful life, it is so that we can be forgiven our sins and escape the judgment and wrath of God. We all stand guilty before Him, each and every one of us and it is only through Christ's blood that we are able to escape eternal death and move into eternal life!
The reason I am writing this today is because in the past week or so I have been in contact with many people who have fallen for the facade of finding their purpose in life through these books. If you are truly seeking out your purpose in life then you should turn to the Bible and find your purpose in light of God's word and His will. We should be focusing on God at all times. We are never to focus on man! Also, in these books there is an unhealthy emphasis on making God your friend. Yes, He is our friend, but above all we are to recognize His holiness, His righteousness, His sovreignty, and we are to worship Him and revere Him and even fear Him!
The Purpose Driven Church is far worse than the Purpose Driven Life in my opinion. They focus on making man comfortable and making God uncomfortable instead of the other way around. They tell the people they are okay just as they are and that it is fine to stay the way they are. They never have people recognize their sin and how we as man have completely and totally wronged our Creator! Instead, they tell them their life is going to be wonderful once they put on the gospel of Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour. The truth is, Jesus promised us a much different life. He did not promise us a life of health, wealth, and prosperity. He promised us tribulation, persecution, and said the world would hate us! Imagine the converts reaction when all these things come to pass and the wonderful life he was promised by the church is seemingly a complete lie! The reason we are to come to Christ is not for a wonderful life, it is so that we can be forgiven our sins and escape the judgment and wrath of God. We all stand guilty before Him, each and every one of us and it is only through Christ's blood that we are able to escape eternal death and move into eternal life!
posted by Monica at 9:05 AM
5 Comments:
Gday Monica and welcome to Blogsville.
It is interesting to get your take on these two books and, franky, their title alarmed me. Having a depressive illness the idea of being "driven" just freaks me right out! Also, given the fan-fair I thought they will probably be unread and forgotten in five years time, i.e. they may just be the latest glossy distraction in Christendom to be used to prop up unrealistic expectations of what the Christian life is all about. I also read the author's invitation, of sorts, just a few pages in from the front, the one about 'me' now, there, with this book in hand as being my saving moment, or some such pretentious claim, raised the hair on the back of my neck. Still, I think I will read them just to be informed. Do you know of any published critiques of the books?
Oh yeah... do these books seem to say... everyone is IN (the kingdom) unless they make a personal choice to opt out, i.e. reject Christ explicitly? I know someone who is getting around say such an alarming thing.
Hi Poetpete! Thank you for stopping by and commenting on this post. You asked if I knew of any published critiques on these books and I have a few websites for you to check out if you are interested:
http://www.biblebb.com/files/pdc.htm
http://crossroad.to/articles2/2003/1-purpose.htm (There are four parts to this one; it is very indepth)
http://www.myfortress.org/RickWarren.html
There are many more out there but those are some of the best that I've found.
In answer to your other question. It appears Rick Warren does not have any intention of ever telling someone that Jesus is the only way to heaven. He chooses rather to accept all religions and just go after those who don't have one. This is highly disturbing to me. Also, he claims he does not want to be 'devisive' but he is dividing the church many times over by changing the music and the atmosphere for one group of people instead of uniting them on the One we are to be worshipping!
I wholeheartedly agree.The purpose driven stuff has always been a concern. We are fighting a battle against postmodern "theology", which disregards scripture as basis and authority. Over at my blog,I tend to be in your face and a bit hard which elicits amazing responses from the post-modern emergent church types.
Be prepared, as they will view you also as an unloving, literalist, fundamentalist. I like the direction you are going on this blog and offer my encouragement.
Thank you for the encouragment Chris! I know there are plenty of people who will not like what I am saying, and it doesn't bother me a whole lot. People have created something that they can be comfortable with, something that is appealing to them...and in essence have stopped searching out the Scriptures for the true and full nature of God. I care about what God thinks and I strive to keep Him my primary focus at all times!
Monica, I found your writings quite accidentally, being directed there by my nephew who believes in nothing at all but research. He was researching the Proctor and Gamble advertisement. But as an older woman of the body, I am glad to find that there is a younger mother busy setting her light out where it can be seen and heard or read. Well done, young woman. It is our part in the body to be the example, to teach the younger women, etc. But in relation to you, I can only give you encouragement and say that I am glad to have found what you do and urge you to press on while your children rest and you have a moment of free time. It is time well spent, time the Father will bless, daughter. Well done, young woman. Well done.
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