Purpose Driven Life [Paperback]

Great for the person who is very, very new to the Christian thing. Who wouldn't want to know their purpose? ...especially in a world like ours. Our world has made us into what it wants us to be. We're so busy, who has time to think about eternal things or our purpose. It get's the attention of many. A good tool. But when you get down to it...1/2 of it is pretty sketchy theology. Some people say they don't get into theology...but they do. Everybody has a theology...it's just "good" theology or "bad" theology.

Great money maker for the "seeker" oriented church push. Read Romans 3:10-14. If that is correct. There is no such thing as a seeker. God is the seeker. Humanity runs from God. Humanity rejects God. God pursues us.

He has a lot of good words, but ultimately this book cannot reach my generation. The question, "what on earth am I here for?" is telling; it reveals a deeper problem in the church that people my age (I'm a teenager) struggle with. Church has become a pep club, a group of vegitarians wanting everybody to live their way so they can be healthier and all save the dolpins together. Christianity, almost by existing, should already answer the question, "What on earth am I here for?" The fact that it doesn't is fatal.

The section on Evangelisim is rather disturbing. We are to be "attractive" and "attract" nonbelievers to our churches. Whatever happened to having no "comeliness that you should desire him?"

The Bible says, "Every good and perfect gift comes from the Father..." the fact that this book is imperfect and not good shows that God had very little, if anything to do with writing it.

Reading this book was like eating a mouthful of sand. If you are seeking to find a spiritual path, this is not it. The Author is himself lost. His opening dedication paragraph (pg5)is a borrowed theme from the earlier published Neale Donald Walsh series of "Conversations With God". Warren is obviously searching for answers to Life himself or he would not have been able to state, "Contrary to what many popular books,movies,and seminars tell you, you won't discover your life's meaning by looking WITHIN yourself." (pg18) But on pg197 we find,"What happens outwardly in your life is not as important as what happens inside you." In pg209,"God has promised never to allow more on you than he puts WITHIN you to handle." On pg182, "To be Christ like you must develop the MIND of Christ." Is the mind not "within"? In Luke 17:21 Jesus tells us,"...because the kingdom of God is WITHIN you." Warren is obviously confused. He criticizes the "self-help books" (pg18-19) that steer one to finding your life's purpose as they are "self-centered". But the author has come to a revelation expressed in this book that "If you want to know why you were placed on this planet, you must begin with God. You were born by his purpose and for his purpose." (pg17) I guess this makes God "need" me for HIS purpose and "self-centered". I always thought God needed nothing as after all God has everything because God IS EVERYTHING and my Life was a gift, not a need. He has put himself above the "brilliant philosophers" who have tried to determine the purpose of life, because he thinks he knows. The Purpose of Life can be spoken in 5 simple words. The Meaning of Life can be spoken in 3. Pastor Warren just hasn't been listening to God, he has been listening to himself, or he would KNOW how simple it really is. He believes we only live on Earth once and we better get it right or an eternity in Hell is where you are going. (Chapter4) Yet Jesus tells us that we do indeed return. Matthew 17:11-13,"Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him," and they knew Elijah was John the Baptist. Is Jesus wrong? Is Warren right? If Warren is right, then the Bible must be wrong. On pg41,"How you define your life determines your destiny." But in Chapter 2 he goes on to tell us how God planned everything about us,"The Bible says,'You saw me before I was born and scheduled each day of my life before I began to breathe....".(pg23) Even the Ancient Sumerians knew of Destiny and Fate. Another contradiction from Warren. He states,"We aren't God and never will be. We are humans."(pg79) And, "Many religions and New Age philosophies still promote this old lie that we are divine or can become gods." (pg172) Well Pastor, read John 10:34-63,"Jesus answered them,'Is it not written in your Law, I have said you are gods? If he called them 'gods', to whom the word of God came-and the Scripture cannot be broken-". No we aren't God with big "G", but we are ALL gods as we are sparks from the divine, so small "g". Jesus also tells us in John 14:20,"On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you." Jesus tells us we ARE divine. I guess the Pastor just can't seem to get a handle on this New Age philosophy which comes straight out of the Bible. Next,Warren doesn't seem to have a handle on Love just yet. Yes GOD IS LOVE. But what does that mean? At least Warren is consistent in his word to look outside of yourself because he cites many sypmtoms of Love that we see in the external world. But what if we look WITHIN? The author is not able to answer this because he doesn't really know what Love is....and yet it ONLY exists WITHIN us and does not exist outside us, only its actions exist outside us. He follows Christian believe to the letter as all Chrisitans believe Jesus was God in the flesh. But if he had read Isaiah more carefully, he would KNOW the TRUTH. Christianity is idol worship. Jesus never claimed to be God, only the Son of Man. You can't lay claim to be the Son if you are the Father. Jesus also clearly explains this when he talks of the Father "in" him. Few people will ever understand. Matthew 13:10-17 gives us the clue. The author falls into the category of "righteous men" who did not see it nor hear it, but thinks he does. Amazingly the writer tells us to follow the ways of Jesus, to be like Jesus. I wonder if we checked on the Pastors assets and net worth if he is anything but like Jesus. I don't think the chandelier above his dining room table would compare to a lamp light that Jesus may have had. Wasn't Jesus poor? The majority of the book deals with being a Chrisitain and living the life style and what is required. So this is not a book really on a "40-day spiritual journey" unless you seek to find the end of this journey sitting on a pew in a Chrisitian church riddled with guilt worrying about sin and Satan and seeking salvation by being "born again" living your life for the purpose of God and not your own. But once you get there, you will know you have matured and are no longer immature or self-centered and can now serve God as well as the church and its believers. If Faith is Belief without proof, then why do we need religion to prove we have Faith? If you want to start a spiritual journey, I suggest reading in this order. The Four Agreements, by Don Miguel Ruiz, Awareness by Anthony de Mello, and Communion With God (the 10 illusions) by Neale Donald Walsh. Pastor Warren needs to read Tomorrow's God by Neale Donald Walsh. Even one who is so wrapped up in religion trying to find God can all but block out the God who is trying to find YOU.