The Purpose Driven Life

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The Purpose Driven Life book cover
The Purpose Driven Life book cover

The Purpose Driven Life (2002) is a devotional book written by Christian author Rick Warren and published by Zondervan. The book has been on the New York Times Best Seller list for advice books for 174 weeks (as of May 2006). The book offers readers a 40-day personal spiritual journey, and presents what Warren says are God's five purposes for human life on Earth.

Since September 2002, over 30,000 congregations, corporations, and sports teams across the United States have participated in a "40 Days of Purpose" emphasis. A May 2005 survey of American pastors and ministers conducted by George Barna asked Christian leaders to identify what books were the most influential on their lives and ministries. The Purpose Driven Life was the most frequent response. The Purpose Driven Church, Warren's previous book, was the second most frequent response.[1] The book has sold over 24 million copies (as of October 2006).[2]

Contents

[edit] Content

The book is intended to be read as a daily inspiration, with each of the forty short chapters read on consecutive days. Each chapter contains a personal application section at the end with a "point to ponder," a verse to remember, and a question to consider over the course of that day. Rick Warren described his book as an "anti-self-help book." The first sentence of the book reads, "It's not about you,"[3] and the remainder of the chapter goes on to explain how the quest for personal fulfillment, satisfaction, and meaning can only be found in understanding and doing what God placed you on Earth to do.[4] The book's 40 chapters are divided into six major sections, with the following titles:[5]

  • What on Earth Am I Here For?
  • Purpose #1: You Were Planned for God's Pleasure (Worship)
  • Purpose #2: You Were Formed for God's Family (Fellowship)
  • Purpose #3: You Were Created to Become Like Christ (Discipleship)
  • Purpose #4: You Were Shaped for Serving God (Ministry)
  • Purpose #5: You Were Made for a Mission (Mission)

Each of these is meant to build on the previous - that is, Warren wants the reader to see that each purpose is sequential and foundational for the next step.

[edit] Criticisms

One complaint from a Lutheran perspective, is that Warren fails to present the evangelical Christian gospel accurately--failing to accurately represent the nature of sin, repentance and hell and the blood sacrifice of God's son Jesus as the means to be forgiven by God for sins and allow man to have a relationship with God.[6] Some critics accuse him of absolving his readers of moral responsibility by making Satan into an all-pervasive godlike figure contrary to both orthodox theology and psychological soundness,[7] and some contend that when citing Scripture, Warren jumps from one Bible version to another, cherry-picking whichever paraphrase or translation supports whatever point he attempts to convey.[8] The practice of using translations selectively is defended by others.[9] Yet another common complaint pertains to Warren's statement that "Whenever God wanted to prepare someone for his purposes, he took forty days"[10]--a claim which critics affirm to be both overly broad and contradicted by Scripture.[11]

[edit] Ashley Smith

After hostage Ashley Smith read Chapter 32 to her captor Brian Nichols (who shot four people in Atlanta on March 11, 2005), the book hit number one on several religion and advice best-seller lists - including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today and Publishers Weekly. Smith admitted in her memoirs that she had also pacified her captor with crystal methamphetamine.[12] Smith says Nichols had her bound on her bed with masking tape and an extension cord. Smith says in her book that as the night wore on she tried and succeeded in winning Nichols’ trust by talking about her faith in God and relating to him her personal stories.

[edit] Other books by Rick Warren

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Survey Reveals The Books and Authors That Have Most Influenced Pastors, May 2005, The Barna Group
  2. ^ Nussbaum, Paul, The purpose-driven pastor, 2006, Philadelphia Enquirer
  3. ^ Warren, Rick, The Purpose Driven Life, 2002, p17
  4. ^ Warren, Rick, The Purpose Driven Life, 2002, p25
  5. ^ Warren, Rick, The Purpose Driven Life, 2002, Table of Contents
  6. ^ The Purpose-Driven Life: A Lutheran's Perspective
  7. ^ Price, Robert M. The Reason-Driven Life pp. 243-268
  8. ^ Price, Robert M. The Reason-Driven Life pp. 307-312
  9. ^ Defense of Translations
  10. ^ Warren, Rick, The Purpose Driven Life, 2002, p9
  11. ^ Todd, Tim, Observations about The Purpose Driven Life
  12. ^ Shooting suspect’s hostage: I gave him meth September 27, 2005, Associated Press

[edit] External links