Alternatives to "The Purpose Driven Life"?

[SumTinWong]

Inside Out by Dr Larry Crabb was pretty good.

 

[Entertaining_Angels]

I wonder, can we get all we need from the Bible or do we need these other books to supplement?

I guess I'm just at the point where I am finding a wealth of information in the Bible and am just overwhelmed with what I am reading there. I don't need it confused by these other titles.

And, yes, I read the book. I left our small group and eventually our church and PDL was part of the reason.

 

[good4u]

This does not, however, mean that ANY means of reaching people is acceptable. That's like saying that a physician would use any means he desires to heal people, therefore, any form of drug, surgery or pseudomysticism is acceptable.



Indeed, what did the Apostle Paul say?

"But if even we, or an angel from heaven, declare to gospel to you, different from what we have declared to you, let him be accursed." (Galatians 1:6)


​

Paul most certainly did NOT say "God can use whatever technique he wants, so don't get hung up on accuracy!"


"Reaching people where they are" does not justify false teaching.


That is EXACTLY how Satan wants people to think! Nowhere in the Bible will you see Jesus, Peter or Paul commending such a viewpoint.

The world is filled with people who have landed in cults and false religions, simply because they "started out on a journey," thinking that "right theology will eventually come."

It is such a shame you are so bitter, it shows to your embarrassment. I feel very sorry for you and it is a poor witness.

Warren is indeed a committed Christian and you are acting like a smear merchant. Shame on you.

 

[jubilationtcornpone]

It is such a shame you are so bitter, it shows to your embarrassment. I feel very sorry for you and it is a poor witness.

I'm sure that's exactly what people said to Paul when he complained about the gnostics and the Judaizers.

Warren is indeed a committed Christian and you are acting like a smear merchant. Shame on you.

You know what? You have not refuted a single thing that I said. Instead, you have chosen to call me "bitter" and "a smear merchant."

Who's the real smear merchant in this situation, I wonder?

Besides, the issue isn't whether Rick Warren is a committed Christian or not. The issue is whether Rick Warren's teachings are accurate or not. You can be a committed believer and still teach falsehoods--including dangerous falsehoods. I have provided numerous Scriptural reasons why Warren's teachings are unbiblical, and you have not refuted a single one of these.

Let's start with the issues I raised regarding his "forty days" teaching.

• Where does the Bible say that God always used 40 days when he wanted to prepare someone spiritually?
• And where does it say that God used 40 days of rain to prepare Noah? (The logical implication being that God caused Noah to build an ark before Noah was ready.)
• Where does the Bible say that God used 40 days of Goliath's boasting to prepare David? And how do we reconcile this with the fact that David never knew about Goliath's existence until those 40 days were over?

These are some very clear examples of how Warren plays fast and loose with God's Word. If you wish, you can answer by addressing these points... or you can take the low road and dismiss me as being "bitter" and "a smear merchant." I think that these are reasonable points to bring up though, and that they should not be dismissed via verbal abuse and ad hominem argumentation.

 

[GrinningDwarf]

So it is with Warren's book. You can pick out a few things that are theologically correct, but this does not mean that the book itself is A-OK. Nor does it mean that we can dismiss any problems with the book as irrelevant or minor.

I always find it interesting to see how Warren's supporters seldom use Scripture to defend his book. Instead, their defenses usually amount to saying "But it still makes some good points" or "You're just jealous" or "Look at how many copies it's sold!" Heck, as I pointed out earlier, his defenders can't even agree on whether the book was written with believers or non-believers in mind.

For the record, I've never accused you of jealousy, nor do I care how many copies it's sold. And, obvioulsy, some books are better than others (to put it mildly!). The points against Warren's book are valid...but IMHO, they are not insurmountable. That's why I used those points in the class to teach things like "This is why we don't use The Message for a study Bible" and "This is the difference between an opinion of man and a teaching expressed in scripture." Now the members of that class are better able to discern on their own what is wheat and what is chaff. I wouldn't do that with any book...certainly not something like The DaVinci Code or the Gnostic Gospels. But PDL was a good teaching tool for that class.

BTW...before our study of PDL, we studied Galatians. After PDL, we studied Hebrews and are now working on Romans. I agree that a steady diet of PDL-level stuff would stifle growth...but for all I know, Warren might even agree with that. I do know that on The White Horse Inn, Michael Horton said Warren contacted him and asked how Horton would improve PDL...which is a good thing!

 

[jubilationtcornpone]

I agree with you on to a limited extent, then. IMO, The Purpose Driven Life has some good material, if we only stick to his five main points in a bare-bones outline form (and perhaps a few tidbits here and there). The Scriptural support that he uses for these points is outrageous, as are many of the ancillary points that he raised throughout the book.

In other words, I would not use the book at all -- but if I were, I would do so with heavy disclaimers throughout, such as "This is an example of ecumenism, which is unscriptural" or "This is an example of how to do sloppy exegesis." (You talked about how you would use the book to illustrate why you would not use The Message paraphrase, and I would agree with you on that point. I would just go further than that in explaining why this book is not very good at all.)

You talked about how the book is "salvageable." Well, I'll agree with you to a limited extent. I know one pastor who was asked to preach from The Purpose Driven Life. He studied the book, but like me, he was severely disappointed in the teachings and Scriptural support that was used throughout the book. So he ketp Warren's five main points, threw everything else out, and used an entirely different set of Scriptures to support these five points.

I think this pastor had the right idea. Is The Purpose Driven Life salvageable? In the sense that one can take some of Warren's ideas and provide better Biblical support for them, sure. To my mind though, this would basically amount to a complete rewrite of what Warren put down on paper... which is basically what that pastor did.

 

[Jabronie]

The Bible...

Nice!

 

[BigNorsk]

I too would tend to use disclaimers if teaching from the Purpose Driven Life. The fundamental one is the way it reads to me it is teaching a theology of glory, not the theology of the cross. Warren makes some very good statements at times, it is that when he starts to apply things that everything gets a bit wonky (technical theological term for wishy-washy). But a lot is how you want to read it, and here's what I tell people who want to read it.

Rick Warren seems to me to be an evangelist and not a teacher. His focus, his drive is to get people to stop refusing God. He really isn't a detailed theological fellow. The problem comes that people tend to kind of put the person whom God used to get to people on some sort of pedestal and expect him to be the end all be all of theology.

The people that drive me crazy are the ones that have been Christians for a long period of time and seem to think Warren's writings are some really deep wonderful writings unlike what they've experienced before. That's the people I don't understand.

To Warren's credit, as things have grown, instead of following a common pattern of getting stranger and stranger theology, he has actually gotten better and better, and he seems to be bringing in those solid teachers.

To those people who are the good solid teachers once people get in the door, reading someone like Warren is like listening to tape recordings of fingers on the chalkboard. But for some reason, those solid teachers seem incapable of writing a really popular book.

So the way I look at it is it comes down to the body of the church. Warren has his place, the solid teachers of doctrine have theirs and it works the best if we use them all, not limiting ourselves to just using a part of the body, or expecting one part of the body to be complete in itself.

Now an evangelist isn't someone you use with new Christians, or older Christians, it's someone to reach nonChristians, and that's the best use of Warren. Secondary would be for those who are Christian but are just a bump on the log never moving or doing anything.

It's a little frustrating, because you do end up at some point needing to correct misunderstandings, but it isn't just the people who read Warren who have them. I think it's much better to have someone coming to church where they can be taught than not and so I praise God that even when the Law and Gospel are not presented perfectly, God's Word is still so powerful that people are reached.

Marv

 

[cathmomof3]

I thought of the Purpose Driven Life as rather shallow and more of a "self help" type of book.

I usually read several spiritual/religious type books each month. The best that I have come accross are from the website www.directionforourtimes.com . They are amazing!

 

[Gal328]

For a modern book that is similar in scope the the PDL, I would reccomend Dallas Willard's The Divine Conspiracy.

Drawing nearer by John Macarthur

No more excuses by Tony Evans

The immitation of Christ

 

[Bill777]

Sure...there are deeper works out there. Try biting off some of Calvin's Institutes of the Christian Religion, or Martin Luther's Bondage of the Will. I just ordered John Owen's The Death of Death in the Death of Christ from CBD. I should get it in time to start this weekend!! But just because everything out there isn't that deep, doesn't mean it's bad.

So, you are admitting that there ae deeper works out there. And yet nobody is trying to force down the throats of believers Calvin, Luther, or John Owen's works.. Then why are churches trying to impose a shallow book like the purpose driven life on believers?

This is where the problem lies my friends, the purpose driven life together with new purpose driven programs (like 40 days of community) is taking churches over. The church is driven by purpose driven programs. The fact is the church should be driven by the word of God the bible, and not by books written by man.

Rick Warren's pride and arrogance are beyond belief. I would never, listen to me, never push a book that I wrote or my own ideas on the body of Christ. Anybody that is a christian would recommend the bible as the inspired word of God to teach others and not his own books, how arrogant can it be for man to think that he can write a book that can add to the bible and have churches adopt it as a program to indoctrinate believers.

The purpose driven life, together with Luther's and Calvin's works belongs at best in bible colleges and at worst in a psychology course of a university. But please leave the purpose driven life outside the local church and bring the bible and Sunday school back.