Two samples, first a fairly brief review, and then more detailed, from a collection at:
http://www.deceptioninthechurch.com/bookreviews.html
http://www.svchapel.org/Resources/BookReviews/book_reviews.asp?ID=233
The Purpose Driven Life
by Rick Warren
Warren has emerged as one of the best selling authors in Christendom. His first book, The Purpose Driven Church (see our review of this book) has greatly influenced churches throughout the world, due certainly to the fact that the church he pastors, Saddleback Church, is one of the largest churches in America, and a trend setter among new paradigm churches.
There are a number of similarities between The Purpose Driven Church and the book under review at this time. Both, for instance, offer some good sound advice, helpful biblical insight and practical suggestions. And both are riddled with errors throughout. The highly discerning reader can perhaps sift through the wheat and tares and make a good loaf of bread, but most readers, I fear, will swallow the poison along with the substance. Which leads me to ask, "Who is Warren's audience?" I realize that this book will sell in the millions but I was thoroughly bewildered as to whom the author was trying to connect. If it is a book for the unsaved then he fails, for the gospel is never at anytime clearly presented. The closest he came was when he wrote, "Real Life begins by committing yourself completely to Jesus Christ" (p. 58). In Warren's gospel no mention is made of sin, repentance or even the Cross. Real life seems to be the reward and lack of real life the problem. The thesis of The Purpose Driven Life is stated, I believe, on page twenty five, "We discover that meaning and purpose only when we make God the reference point of our lives." Meaning and purpose will be a benefit to the Christian, but they are not the objects of the gospel itself. This is one of the fatal flaws in the market-driven church's message. If Warren is writing for new believers, which seems the case due to the elementary tone and substance of the whole book, he again misses the mark for he uses many expressions and biblical references that would be unfamiliar to the novice. On the other hand, if he is writing to the mature he has wasted paper, for any semi-well taught believer will be completely bored with this book. So, while much praise will surely be lavished on Purpose Driven, it escapes me as to whom will really benefit.
Be that as it may, I want to give credit where credit is due. Warren writes some good sections on a number of subjects including worship, community, the church, truth and spiritual gifts. If some of these sectors could be isolated from the main body they would make for helpful reading. But when interspersed with any number of erroneous ideas, distortions of Scripture and plain false teaching they are of little value, and may prove dangerous.
As I read this book I began marking these errors in teaching. I found 42 such references, plus 18 out of context passages of Scripture, supposedly used to prove his point, and another 9 distorted translations (one of the most disturbing features is Warren's use of many translations, ultimately choosing the one that proved his point, no matter how untrue to the original Greek and Hebrew those translations were). Warren is obviously a disciple of pop-psychology, which is littered throughout. One example, "Most conflict is rooted in unmet needs" (p.154). Try to find some Scripture on that. He quoted a wide variety of dubious authors, from Aldous Huxley and Albert Schweitzer to George Barnard Shaw and St. John of the Cross. He apparently believes practicing Roman Catholics are true believers, several times mentioning monks and nuns as Christian examples, and of course the mandatory reference to Mother Teresa (twice).
We could go on but there is not much point. To carefully refute so many of Warren's thoughts would take a book of equal length. He is not totally off base, and most likely is as evangelical as most evangelicals. Nevertheless when every third page of a book presents either an unbiblical, or at least a biblically unsupportable idea, there is not much sense bothering to read it. And that would be my suggestion - don't bother.
reviewed by Gary E. Gilley, Pastor-Teacher
http://www.biblebb.com/files/pdc.htm
The Purpose-Driven Church by Nathan Busenitz
Copyright 2003, Pulpit - Shepherds' Fellowship. All Rights Reserved.
If numbers were the only standard of success, The Purpose-Driven Church by Rick Warren would stand as one of the greatest books of our time. Having sold over one million copies in 20 different languages, it was selected as one of the “100 Christian Books that Changed the 20th Century.” Its supporters include men like W. A. Criswell, Bill Bright, Jerry Falwell, Robert Schuller, Adrian Rogers, and Jack Hayford. And the church that serves as its paradigm, Saddleback Church of Southern California, has grown from the house where it started (in 1980) to a weekly attendance of 16,000.
Yet, numbers are not the only measure of success—in fact, they’re not the standard at all. Rather, God teaches that His standard is faithfulness to His Word. After all, 1 Timothy 3:15 says that the purpose of the church is to be “the pillar and support of the truth.” And 2 Timothy 2:15 says that the purpose of the pastor is to accurately handle “the word of truth.” It is “the knowledge of the truth” that leads to godliness (Titus 1:1), and it is “obedience to the truth” that purifies the soul (1 Pet. 1:22). Thus, “as fellow workers of the truth” (1 John 3:18), pastors should seek to minister “for the sake of the truth” (2 John 2), in order that the people in their congregations might be those “who walk in truth” (2 John 4). The biblical standard of success is never numbers, but rather the accurate proclamation of God’s truth (2 Tim. 2:15; James 3:1). With this in mind, Warren’s seeker-sensitive model reveals several weaknesses.
Entertainment v. Exposition
A primary weakness in Warren’s approach is that he emphasizes the pastor’s ability to entertain over the pastor’s responsibility to speak the truth. On p. 231, Warren argues:
I’ve heard pastors proudly say, ‘We’re not here to entertain.’ Obviously they’re doing a good job at it. A Gallup poll a few years ago stated that, according to the unchurched, the church is the most boring place to be. . . . To the unchurched, dull preaching is unforgivable. Truth poorly delivered is ignored. On the other hand, the unchurched will listen to absolute foolishness if it is interesting.
While homiletics is certainly an important part of preaching, it is not the most important part. For Warren, the presentation seems to be more important than the truth being presented. The Apostle Paul’s priorities, however, were just the opposite—how he preached was not nearly as important as what he preached:
For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not in cleverness of speech, so that the cross of Christ would not be made void. (1 Cor. 1:17)
And when I came to you, brethren, I did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God. For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling, and my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God. (2 Cor. 2:1-5)
In light of his desire for relevance, Warren’s preaching is naturally determined more by His audience than by the Scripture. On p. 227 he says:
One reason sermon study is so difficult for many pastors is because they ask the wrong question. Instead of asking, “What shall I preach on this Sunday?” they should be asking, “To whom will I be preaching?” Simply thinking through the needs of the audience will help determine God’s will for the message. . . . People’s immediate needs are a key to where God would have you begin speaking on that particular occasion.
Of course, Warren is referring to "felt needs" - people's own perception of their needs, which translates into what they want. Again, when compared to Paul, Warren’s method comes up short. Instead of beginning with his audience, simply telling them what they wanted to hear, Paul started with the truth he knew his audience needed (even if they did not want to hear it). He says:
For am I now seeking the favor of men, or of God? Or am I striving to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a bond-servant of Christ. For I would have you know, brethren, that the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man. For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ (Gal. 1:10-12).
In contrast, the seeker-sensitive model appears to put a higher priority on pleasing the audience than on honoring the Lord. It is no wonder, then, that Warren can say: “Being seeker sensitive in our worship is a biblical command” (p. 243) and “Keep your pastoral prayers short in your seeker services. . . . The unchurched can’t handle long prayers; their minds wander or they fall asleep.” Again, the question remains, should unbelievers determine what we do in the church, or should Scripture determine what we do? Warren’s answer seems to be unbelievers (see p. 189).
Sensitivity v. Sovereignty
Because of its seeker-sensitive approach, Warren’s model encourages easy-believism whereas Scripture emphasizes sin, repentance, and self-denial. On pp. 303-305, Warren works through practical steps for persuading unbelievers to make a commitment for Christ. In fact, on p. 219, he states, “It is my deep conviction that anybody can be won to Christ if you discover the key to his or her heart . . . . The most likely place to start is with the person’s felt needs.” At least two problems immediately arise with Warren’s model.
First, Warren dilutes the gospel in order to make it easier to believe. Stephen Lewis, in reviewing The Purpose Driven Church says this:
Not once does The Purpose Driven Church give a clear gospel message. In asking what people want (rather than what the Bible says they need) has Warren created followers or multitudes based upon their desires or perceived needs? Ironically, in John chapter 6, Jesus rebuked the very people He had just fed, because they only followed Him in search of more bread to satisfy their immediate hunger. Jesus met people’s needs as a way of revealing and/or authenticating Himself before men. Any model purposing to create followers based upon fulfilling perceived needs risks making this into an end in itself. Again, where does The Purpose-Driven Church give people what they really need, the gospel of grace?” (CTSJ 6/2 April 2000, 56)
Second, Warren denies the sovereignty of God in salvation. By assuming that he can lead anyone to Christ through felt-needs, Warren directly contradicts the biblical doctrine of election. After all, Scripture makes it clear that only those whom God calls will repent (Matt. 11:27; John 6:65; Rom. 9:18-24; Acts 13:48; Eph. 1:4-11; 1 Peter 1:1-2). Warren’s seeker-sensitive approach denies the power of the Holy Spirit to use God’s truth, no matter how it is presented, to penetrate the heart and bring spiritual life.
Other Theological Considerations
In his Shepherds' Conference seminar “Evaluating the Church Growth Movement,” Rick Holland identifies several other theological problems with Warren’s seeker-sensitive model.
Warren assumes that the primary purpose of Sunday morning church services is to reach out to unbelievers (see p. 243). In the New Testament, however, the reason the church gathers is for worship and equipping (Eph. 4:11-16; Acts 2:37-47). Evangelism is to primarily take place in the believer’s life context (“as you go”—Matt. 28:18-20) rather than being the main focus of the Sunday worship service.
Warren assumes that unbelievers are “seeking,” yet Scripture says, “There is none who seeks for God” (Rom. 3:11; Ps. 14:1-3).
Warren assumes that the gospel can be made inoffensive to unbelievers if presented correctly. Yet, Scripture teaches that the gospel is, by its very nature, offensive to those who hate God (1 Cor. 1:18, 21, 23, 25; 2:14; 1 Pet. 2:7-8).
Warren assumes that the style of music a church uses is one of its most important keys to reaching the culture (see pp. 280-281). Interestingly, the New Testament is silent regarding this “critical” element of church growth.
Warren assumes that large numbers indicate true success. He even says, “Never criticize any method that God is blessing” (p. 156) and interprets the “blessing” as that which draws a crowd. But what about the prophet Jeremiah’s ministry? He faithfully proclaimed the truth his entire life and yet saw no fruit. According to Warren’s model, Jeremiah was a failure.
Final Assessment
While Warren’s book does offer some practical tips for making a church larger, it fails to expound the foundational theological truths that make a church more biblical. Because it overemphasizes the felt needs of unbelievers and de-emphasizes the priority of clear biblical teaching, The Purpose-Driven Church seems to be driven by the wrong purpose—namely, a man-centered desire for acceptance and influence rather than a God-centered affinity for truth.
In this vein, the words of Al Mohler are very appropriate:
One of the fundamental issues of misunderstanding that leads to corrupt churchmanship in our generation is the failure to distinguish between a crowd and a church. The failure to distinguish between a crowd and a church is . . . to misunderstand everything about preaching, everything about ministry, everything about our task. If we think our business is to build a crowd, frankly any of us can do it. There’s a way to bring and draw and attract a crowd. . . . Let us never mistake a crowd for a church [or] think our business is to draw a crowd.
(Shepherds’ Conference audio recording, March, 6, 2003)
. . . .
Been too much of a battle scared vet of too many
CRUCIFY-RICK-WARREN threads. Peddle it elsewhere.
Blue, I just finished reading post #88, and I want to include Tommy Dale in this, too.
I have read both of Rick Warren's books, and I have read the criticisms of it, both here and on other threads, and in other material.
To refute all the critical comments would just take too long. Suffice it to say, while I'm sure these men are good Christian leaders and love the Lord as much as anyone, frankly, they do not make compelling arguments. Having said that, I am certainly not an apologist for Rick Warren, nor do I think his book can't stand a little criticism.
Gary Gilley makes a huge point of not knowing who the book is aimed at. What difference does it make? More people are being influenced by it than by any number of efforts to reach people. Will everybody turn their lives over to Christ? Probably not. But if just a few have their lives reached by the Love of Christ, and think about the Purpose of their life...how bad is that!!??
There are simply too many assumptions that Gilley makes about the book that are incorrect, including the assumption that the purpose of the book is to "feel good". Nonsense, the purpose of the book is for the reader to find God's Purpose for their life.
Gilley makes a big deal about the fact that Warren quotes the Bible out of context. Well, I wonder if he has ever read Oswald Chambers' "My Utmost for His Highest" which is posted daily on Free Republic. Since he is a graduate of Moody Bible Institute, I'm sure he has. If you want to talk about taking the Bible out of context, Chambers wrote the text book on it (Hoo boy, am I going to get creamed for this). In fact, "My Utmost for His Highest" could well be the theme of "The Purpose Driven Life".
Submitted with all due respect.
Yep. Only got a few pages in, and zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz......