The Purpose DrivenŽ Life: What on Earth Am I Here For?
by Rick Warren
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Book Summary Information
Author: Rick WarrenBrand: Spring Arbor/Ingram
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2007-02-10
ISBN: 0310276993
Number of pages: 336
Publisher: Zondervan
Product features:
- ISBN13: 9780310276999
- Condition: New
- Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!
Book Reviews of The Purpose DrivenŽ Life: What on Earth Am I Here For?
Book Review: When Will the "Purchase Driven Life" Action Figure Be Available?
Summary: 3 Stars
I am seriously concerned about the quality of modern Christian apologetic literature, although this book seemed to be more of a self-help book than a serious examination/explanation of Christianity.
A sincere Christian friend of mine (not the same one who recommended "The Case for Christ" to me), who was also concerned for my salvation because I am a lifelong agnostic, repeatedly urged me to read this book, telling me that it would change my life. So I picked up a copy, more out of curiosity than anything else, because I had heard it was a best seller. And while looking into the purchase, what a franchise I discovered that the entrepreneurial Dr. Warren has built for himself with this thing. You can get the original version, you can get the "commuter's" version, you can get the "Purpose Driven Life Journal," you can even get a "camouflaged" version of it, with the cover done up in Army cammo. I'm waiting for Warren to start marketing lunchboxes and bobbleheads next. In any case, the book recommended I take "forty days" to work my way through it. I didn't have the patience for that, so I simply read it through over the course of a couple of nights.
As an aside, Mrs. Gorilla, who is often mystified by some of my reading choices, inquired about this book, and when I explained that it was supposed to help Christians figure out what the purpose of life was, she asked, in all seriousness: "you need a whole book for that?"
Now you have to understand that Mrs. Gorilla is Jewish (I'm a recovering Catholic myself), and you also have to take a crash course in Judaism 101 to understand the very important and fundamental difference between Christian and Jewish cosmology. Christians are taught that Man is fundamentally a sinner and is responsible for the Fall that basically wrecked everything. Jews are taught that God deliberately made the world imperfect, because a perfect world would be unchanging and pointless - its very perfection would make it imperfect. Thus the world is incomplete - a work in progress - and Man was put here on Earth specifically to assist God in completing creation. In short, from the Christian standpoint, Man is responsible for the world being a mess, while from the Jewish standpoint, quite frankly, God is. But to the Jews, God had good reason to make the world that way. What's great about Jewish philosophy is it quite neatly solves the problem of evil: the world is imperfect because God made it that way. The end. Mystery solved.
Moreover, Jews are taught from birth, for this reason, to get up every day and try to make the world a better place. They believe God put us here to help Him complete Creation, and that you are wasting your life if you do not do everything you can to "repair the world." This perhaps accounts for why they are such overachievers - they are programmed from birth to be that way. But Lord knows they know what their purpose is. Hence Mrs. Gorilla's mystification about "The Purpose Driven Life." She's right. You don't need a whole book to figure this out. Just get up every morning and do the best you can.
That said, "The Purpose Driven Life" is full of lots of little nice sentiments and words of advice. Sort of like a "Don't Sweat the Small Stuff" for Christians. That's why I give this book three stars. You really can't argue with the good stuff Warren is quoting from the Beatitudes and elsewhere in the Gospels.
It's also full of philosophical contradictions. Rick Warren may have a doctorate in Theology, but he clearly skimped on the courses in philosophy along the way. Throughout the book, he keeps telling the reader that God has a plan specifically for each and every one of us. Then, usually in the next day's segment, he goes on and on about "free will." Dr. Warren, you cannot have free will in a fully deterministic universe, and visa versa. It cannot be both. It is exactly like saying black is white, or that a dog is a cat.
Also, Rick Warren has a curious habit of cherry picking the Bible, which of course puts him in the company of most Christians, quite frankly. Now here's the thing. I have not just read the Bible cover to cover, not once, but twice, I have actually studied it and pondered it, particularly the first three gospels and Paul's primary letters to the different congregations (Galatians, 1 and 2 Corinthians, Philippians, and Colossians). There's great wisdom in there, mixed in with some curious passages, and though I am not a believer, I would be foolish to simply dismiss a book that has stood the test of time for hundreds/thousands of years. So I am not ignorant of its contents, and know all about people deliberately taking individual lines out of it to make a point, when what you really need to do is read the entire passage or even book to get the contextual meaning.
To quote another reviewer who said it way better than I can: "Warren's book plays on the ignorance of most of its readers by rewriting the Bible. Warren tells the reader his theories which are not in the Bible and then backs them up by using random quotes from many different translations of the Bible. One of the many problems with that is that anyone who needs to know their purpose or to know God needs to read the Bible itself. The Bible doesn't need Rick Warren or anyone else to explain or expand what is said."
Amen to that. Reading the Bible did not have an inspirational effect on me like it does with some people, but I want to emphasize that I KNOW it inspires many others, in virtually all cases to do good things and to be a better person. More power to them. One doesn't need the Bible to be a good person, as the millions of good people living in places like Japan or India or China prove, but I don't believe for a second that reading it is a waste of time either. It's crazy people interpreting it in a crazy fashion that makes for all the problems. Luckily, Rick Warren does not seem to be advocating anything strange or dangerous here - as I noted above, he largely highlights the very best lessons from the Gospels. So maybe "The Purpose Driven Life" can inspire people too - there seem to be five-star reviews on this site testifying to that - but to me - it seems like if you are a Christian, just read the Bible, and figure it out for yourself. If you need someone like Rick Warren to tell you what it means, that ought to tell you something. Think for yourself.
Summary of The Purpose DrivenŽ Life: What on Earth Am I Here For?
The Purpose Driven Life will help you understand why you are alive and reveal God's amazing plan for you--both here and now, and for eternity. Rick Warren will guide you through a personal forty-day spiritual journey that will transform your answer to life's most important question: What on earth am I here for? Knowing God's purpose for creating you will reduce your stress, focus your energy, simplify your decisions, give meaning to your life, and most important, prepare you for eternity."Movie stars and political leaders aren't the only ones turning to Rick Warren for spiritual guidance. Millions of people--from NBA and LPGA players to corporate executives to high school students to prison inmates--meet regularly to discuss The Purpose Driven Life."--Time
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
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