Rating: 
Summary: I struggled with this popular book
Review: I am a very simple thinker. Here is how I see it, it is either grace or performance. It is either by God's grace we are saved and nothing else; or it is by our works to satisfy God and then when He is pleased He will let us in. I think the Bible says it is grace and grace alone (His grace is sufficent).As I have struggled thru the first 10 chapters of Purpose with my small group, it is obvious to me Warren promotes works in order to gain God's favor. As a matter a fact, anything about grace is 99% missing in his book. Without grace, what do you have? And if you rely so much on performance, as Warren does (he's always saying "do this, do that") then you diminish God's grace. So that's #1 distraction with this book. Next, Jesus Christ is hardly ever mentioned. It seems like a token reference to Christ happens about once or twice a chatper, usually at the end of the chapter. Then, I think, the Holy Spirit is mentioned even less. Perhaps Warren left Christ and the holy Spirit out because he wanted his book and other products to appeal to a broader audience and he was afraid of "offending". Don't know. I just know that Christ and God speaking thru Holy Spirit are vital. Their absence in this book puzzles me. The book addresses "elementary themes", it doesn't have much depth, they are simple christian principles. What concerns me most is that readers, including non-chrisitans, "immature" chrisitan, and those who have been in the church for many years, are diving into this preformance-based book and are missing the majestic grace that comes to us from God thru His Son. Then, when we understand and "see" this perfect grace, wow! we know our purpose.
Rating: 
Summary: Does not explain why we're here
Review: This book offers a lot of stuffy advice about how human beings should act and explains why they should act that way (namely, so that they'll go to heaven instead of hell), but it does not explain why we are here to begin with. I don't think Christianity has ever explained that, or really can explain it. Why would God create billions of beings, knowing that most of them will be sent to eternal torture? You'll never get an answer to that one from the bible.
Rating: 
Summary: What Actually Drives Us
Review: I just finished reading three books that deal with three completely different facets of the human experience. The Purpose Driven Life explores the ultimate reality and why we are what we are and do what we do. The book "From Good to Great" explains how companies and individuals within those companies can create the means for their own success. The third book was "The Craps Underground: How Dice Controllers Are Winning Millions from the Casinos." In this book the author follows successful players and reveals their secrets and adventures. These three books got me to thinking about God, money, and adventure and what the purpose of my life should be, which I think is some combination of those three things.
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Summary: A needed thing
Review: No one wants to be here on earth for no puropse at all. With this book it will help you to confirm things that God has already told you. It will help you to evaluate your life more closely. You will encounter more intense everyday challenges in your life as you go through this 40 day journey. But it is well worth it and it will allow you to become even stronger in the things of God. Try it I dare you. Make sure to do it with someone you trust and can be accountable to. It will strengthen your relationship with them as well.
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Summary: Marketplace Christianity
Review: . The spiritual insights are dynamic, but the commercial emphasis in this book is overwhelming. It cause one to wonder if the author is writing from a perspective of sincerity, or is he saying the right things to advance his religion business. Quite frankly, I don't know. But the marketing angle is obvious and distracts from the message. Books with a clear, undiluted message would include anything by CS Lewis (Mere Christianity is a classic), The Case for Christ and The Prayer of Hannah. All are available on amazon.com.
Rating:
Summary: Praise the Lord!
Review: I truly believe that God used this author to spread His purpose for us and for the world. Some of you believe that this was a terrible book, but most believe that it was a great book. Well, I believe that because it is a best seller, God truly had His hand in the work, and I know that the author would seek God constantly about the book as he was writing it. I give it 5 stars, and encourage everyone to read it!
Rating: 
Summary: The Purpose Driven Life
Review: I have to agree with some of the other comments left by other readers, that this book is mainly for a well seasoned Christian and not for newbies because there were many parts of this book that were misleading. For an example: Warren stated on page 37, and I quote, "There are two kinds of people: those who say to God 'Thy will be done' and those to whom God says, 'All right then, have it your way.'" The very next sentence in the book reads, "Tragically, many people will have to endure eternity without God because they chose to live without him here on earth." Now since this whole chapter-every paragraph before and after the sentences quoted above, is geared towards getting the reader to take the focus off from themselves and place all their attention and energies on to God, the above mentioned sentences could mislead someone into thinking that if they did not take the focus off from themselves, they will not go to heaven. All seasoned Christians know that if they believe in Christ, they will enter heaven because their name will therefore be written in the 'Book of Life." A newbie on the other hand will not catch this and therefore will be mislead and delusioned by Warren. I also did not like how Warren took the scriptures and paraphrased them as a means to justify what he was writing.
Rating:
Summary: From Great to Good
Review: This is an excellent book to stimulate thinking about God's purpose for our life. However, be advised that scriptures should be cross referenced in context while reading this book.
Rating:
Summary: CS Lewis has nothing to worry about
Review: I was given this book as a Christmas present and was eager to read it, having heard it was a best seller. Though a lazy church goer, I consider myself a good Christian and I follow/live church teachings. I was expecting to find an interesting read which would give me pause and reason to reflect on certain aspects of why we are here. But with all due respect to the author and his good intentions, I found the writing style boring and more in line with reinforcing the faith of those who are already strong believers rather than fishing the waters for the "fence-sitters" or those who are new to "the mystery" of faith. Mr Warrens writing reminds me of the chanting we'd do in church every week as children, which I have no problem with, but I was hopeing to find a book that would tell me... "why am I chanting?" If you've read CS Lewis (Mere Christianity) and compare the books, you'll see the difference. Mr Warren asks you to chant. Mr Lewis tells you Why. One can imagine the typical reader of this book to be your vehement church-goer, sitting and shaking his head "yes!" with that "this-writer-knows-exactly-how-I-feel" smile on his face, rather than someone new to faith or an old "chanter" searching for the truth.
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Summary: this and the 17 Lies
Review: This book and Steve Chandler's 17 Lies would be the only two books you would need to create an absolutely great life with written guides to refer back to if you ever went astray. We are said to have 60,000 thoughts a day.....how many of them are
ON our PURPOSE? We get distracted. This book is a navigator, it brings you back on course about a hundred times from start to finish. And Christianity isn't even the main point (although the author may think it is.)
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