Did anybody read "Purpose driven life" from Warren?

purpose driven life is about how we as christians are to live, it is the basics, only the beginning.

 

If you read the good stuff nearly as much as you read the junk you might learn something.

 

You have got some great advise. If you have questions about it, read it. Its an easy read.

Warren is the pastor of a seeker-friendly church (Saddleback Community Church), but please understand that even that label can mean many different things. To sum Warren up as "a church should do everything to attract the people" is a gross generalization. Defining a church by how it seeks to engage the lost is kind of like defining a marriage by describing how the couple met.

Warren's philosophy behind Saddleback is not found in Purpose Driven Life. Its found in an older book he wrote called, "Purpose Driven Church." And yes, they are two different books. His idea is quite simple, and its not his idea...its Biblical, that a church exists for 5 purposes: Worship, Evangelism, Fellowship, Discipleship, and Ministry/Missions.

Both PDC and PDL are heavily criticized. If you were to judge by this board, you'd think that anything Warren does is heavily criticized. Why? Who knows? Some people are so prideful of their own traditions that they criticize anything different. Some are jealous or lazy and hate to see things that are successful. Personally I find that a lot of Christians do so little for evangelism, see so few come to know Christ, that they assume that is just the way it is and anyone who is evangelizing and is seeing results must be "watered down."

Others have theological differences with Warren. You can look at Saddleback's website and see their statement of faith. It is really not much different than that of any other Baptist church. Warren has been eager to work with people of varied faiths, backgrounds, and politics...of course, so was Jesus, but this can bring criticism too.

You have already heard the best advice: Read for yourself. PDL is readily available. You will probably find it to be very basic. That's all its intended for. I think of it as a large version of a tract. Its designed to introduce people to Christ. There are some things I don't care for about it, but for what it is, it works. However, there is no need to take anyone else's word for it. Just read it. See what you think. If you have further questions about Warren's church model then read Purpose Driven Church. If you want to know what he believes, check out his website. First hand information is always best.

 

The word impressionable comes to my mind...

Stop taking everyone opinion and running with it. If you want to find out something, study it, and learn about it.

Be it a book, author or the Bible. Study it for yourself, and then ask questions about it, instead of asking for others to "give" you an opinion...

BTW, I haven't read the book completely yet, but I have heard that is was both good and bad.

Jamie

 

It is not a good idea and is one thing that is preached by those who "just want the whole world to get along". Jesus preached there should be division between the unbelieving and the believing when it comes to Truth. Warren's book would be good for delivering the milk of the Word and I guess that was his intention. I am reading it now but have not finished yet.

He shows his lack of study on important matters such as translation acuracy when he promotes the use of ALL translations and tells us to thank God for them all!

God Bless!

 

The only problem is that Warren wasn't writing about the believers and non-believers. He was writing about different believers. Shouldn't we work with other believers - regardless of denomination - on certain issues??? How about sharing the Gospel? Or feeding the hungry or helping the homeless? Or, is it better not to associate with those other folks? After all, we're not really sure they are even Christians anyway. At least, not Christians like us.

Somehow I think if the church (little c) spent more time focusing on the big things that actually unite us instead of the little things that divide us (we could spend a week or so coming up with that list) we might actually have an impact in our world.

Yes, much of PDL is Christianity 101. But isn't that what the world needs?

 

PDL is a good book. You can pick it up at Costco for about 11 dollars. Read it and judge for yourself!

 

==While reading what someone else says is fine, if at all possible, you should read the book yourself. Other people may take things out of context, ignore certain statements in favor of others in a way that favors their argument/agenda. Other people may also overlook things that you may pick up on, or may make an issue out of something that once you have read the book you don't see as being an issue anymore. With Warren's book you can go to any local library and check out a copy, you can go to most bookstores, Walmart, Target, or any store like that and they will have a copy. You can also order a copy online. With that kind of access condemning the book, without reading it, is just unexcusable. There is simply no excuse not to read the book for yourself.

As for me, I have not read Warren's book. So I can't comment on that. However generally I am not a fan of Rick Warren (based on sermons I have heard him preach and interviews).