Rating: 
Summary: Spirit-Led or Purpose-Driven?
Review: Since its publication in 1995, Rick Warren's "The Purpose-Driven Church" has plunged the evangelical world into the controversial Church Growth Movement, a spiritual wasteland that meets "felt needs" through polls and surveys, evangelizes through contemporary (often rock) music, and establishes consensus-based "fellowship" through small groups. Now drawing upon those same principles, "The Purpose-Driven Life" is Warren's answer to the question, "What on earth am I here for?" This book's premise holds that God creates every person on earth for His five purposes, which are: To provide Him with pleasure, to be a part of His family, to become like Christ, to serve God, and to have a mission in the world. Actually, the purposes outlined are really quite straightforward and are by no means new revelations. They can be easily found by systematically studying the Scriptures, yet one need not be a biblical scholar to discern them. Warren utilizes over 1,000 quotations from some fifteen, predominantly contemporary translations and paraphrases of the Bible, explaining that such diversity provides fresh insight and prevents taking Scripture for granted. That number is impressive, yet readers should be forewarned, for modern translations often alter both the words and meaning of the Scriptures, especially when compared against the "gold standard," the King James Bible. That is, not all translations are alike. But they are selected to fit the points that Warren strives to make. Unfortunately, sources for biblical quotations are inconveniently listed as a separate appendix, requiring readers to flip back and forth. The book emphasizes that love, harmonious relationships, peace, and getting along with other people are prime goals for the Christian life; compromise and reconciliation, but not necessarily resolution, should prevail when problems or disputes arise. To that end, Warren seems to depict God only as an ever-benevolent, sympathetic Friend or Buddy Who will always meet your needs. This deprives God of His omnipotence, holiness, and reverence. Warren not only skims over God as a jealous Judge Who is intolerant of sin, he also makes little effort to emphasize that, upon conversion, one must totally change and put away a worldly lifestyle. All one need do is "whisper" a brief prayer of acceptance, and - boom - you're in the family of God! Because love is paramount, Warren appears to categorize everything else about the Christian life as "disputable": e.g., music, worship methods and styles, and biblical doctrine. Regarding music, Warren says on pp. 65-66, "Worship has nothing to do with the style or volume or speed of a song. God loves all kinds of music because he invented it all...There is no such thing as 'Christian' music; there are only Christian lyrics. It is the words that make a song sacred, not the tune. There are no spiritual tunes." These are hopelessly naïve statements, for it's well known that music alone without lyrics sends its own distinct message, for good or for evil. I doubt if God would take credit for creating raucous rock music. Since its inception, a heavy rock beat has invariably been associated with an immoral lifestyle preoccupied with sex, drugs, violence, and rebellion, and it's not likely to change. In some cultures, a heavy beat is used in pagan rituals to summon demons and other spirits. Sacred lyrics could never hallow such music, for the immoral associations alone would negate the lyrics. Such music of the world is totally unsuitable for worship, as is any other style of music which conjures up images of immorality. And regarding doctrine, on p. 124, Warren says, "Jesus said our love for each other - not our doctrinal beliefs - is our greatest witness to the world." So I guess that as long as you love, your beliefs are superfluous; those with strong biblical convictions Warren would likely label as "legalistic." Lastly, another appendix provides a series of discussion questions concerning each of the five purposes. These are designed to be used in small group sessions which reinforce the consensus process. If readers are determined to spend forty days reading this book of forty chapters to acquire their "forty days of purpose," as Warren recommends, I would first urge that they study an excellent series of Internet articles by Berit Kjos, entitled "Spirit-Led or Purpose-Driven?" They provide much insight into the numerous fallacies and pitfalls of the Church Growth Movement, especially the Purpose-Driven paradigm.
Rating: 
Summary: Stairmaster for the Christian and non-Christian soul
Review: I will refrain from my normal way of reviewing books, which involves lengthy quotes and ponitificating, for this special one. This book was offered to me by a friend who, like me, is seeking to make changes in her life of a spiritual nature; the likes of which would show themselves in every other aspect of her life as it is manifested. I had no idea that this book has already caught on like wildfire around the country when she passed it on to me. Jesus distilled his philosophy of life down to the Golden rule: do onto others as you would have them do unto you. So how can we, Christian or non-Christian, devout or Practicing, Protestant or Catholic, completely fault any writer that endeavors to be as simple and life-altering as this? The answer is "easily", because there are a lot of people who had bad writing and ugly agendas behind religion. At no time however have I yet to feel that Rick Warren is one of those. Should this book be read and adhered to with a certain degree of maturity? Yes; just like everything made for adults. One can easily choose to have a problem (as I did at times) with any number of the quotes in this book, or how they are interpreted. But in the end, you will a hear a voice inside of you that says that finding things to quibble with about a specially made plan that allows you to develop meaning and purpose in your life far beyond your present preconceptions of yourself, is the equivalent of sending away a free personal trainer because you don't like his sweatshirt! Any book that can inpsire ME to let go of my arrogance and submit to the higher calling of my spirit is more than worth your time. Was it completely successful? I don't know--though that depends on what the writer's actual purpose was, as well as mine when I chose to read it, and how well I adhered to its directions. And I am not done with it. I do know, though, that the friend of mine who gave it to me to read and I are close than we have ever been because of it. Give this book forty days, and watch what happens.
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointed....very elementary
Review: This book came highly recommended from a friend. I was very disappointed though. As many reviewers have stated, it would be an excellent introduction to Christianity or as a book to any
4th or 5th grader. Theres really not much substance in it to the knowledge seeker. A few rehashed ideas, mixed with his opinions (largely
fundamental protestant). I know he is a pastor, but the writing style is very poor. Dont get me wrong, there are a few bright points such as expounding on ways to worship and an
enlightening passage on meditation/prayer techniques. Just overall I was disappointed. He built up to this nugget of wisdom about midway through :"Almighty God wants to be your friend". ugghhh. Hope he is able to use all the proceeds in a positive way though.
Rating:
Summary: Book doesn't offer much purpose
Review: I do not see how this view of the world offers any meaningful purpose for a person's life. 'Worshiping God' just isn't much of a purpose. Being told that God created us so that he would have people to worship him - this makes God sound like some kind of tyrant or monster. And explain this: Warren says we are each supposed to belong to a group of believers. But this 'purpose' assumes that the world is necessarily divided into believers and non-believers, and this in turn suggests that there are people who are designed to be non-believers. After reading this, I get the impression that Christianity is really about giving people hope after death, not with giving them a purpose during their life.
Rating: 
Summary: great book
Review: A great book that inspires christians to continue on God's path. Ranked 15 on Amazon Sales rank!!!!
Rating:
Summary: 40 DAYS TO GREATNESS!
Review: I have read a lot of books on christianity and I have read alot of books on personal development. This books ranks right up there with Stephen Covey's 7 Habits of Highly Effective People in terms of being a great personal development/self help book and ranks up there with the best of the best in Christianity books. I recommend reading a chapter a day for 40 days and then repeating the process and supplement with the Bible. In another regard, I really cannot understand the 1 star reviews and bashing of this book. But then I noticed that some people even gave The Holy Bible 1 stars and bashed that book. Heaven help us when people bash the Holy Bible. Says a lot about those people. I highly recommend The Purpose Driven Life for anyone who wants to reach their potential.
Rating:
Summary: A new view on Christianity
Review: I read this upon being encouraged by a friend and a group study at church. Reading it alone, it really didn't make a difference in my life. However, the discussions with the group at church really helped put a new perspective on my life. I recommend reading this with a friend or a group so you can have some discussion. Also, read it with an open mind. It is really just one person's thoughts and ideas. Read it slowly. You have to take some time to apply and meditate on what you've read. Overall, it's a really good book and will add some new views on your life!
Rating: 
Summary: An opinion from a Southern Baptist
Review: A good friend from school recommended this book, as she was starting a Bible Study with a college group. I read it on my own time. While this book has some merit, I disagreed with the author on several things. For instance, he mentions that we should not disagree with our leaders. I could of sworn I had read, in the BIBLE, of all places, parts where famous Bible characters, argue with God over various issues. Warren feels that leaders are held accountable to God, and that this is enough. I've seen churches split over this. They don't want to talk to the leaders; they've had Warren's mentality of "thou shalt not question thy leaders" as a result the church splits. Ironically enough, a local religion swears alligeance to a living prophet; I could have sworn Christians were different. Another problem I had was the many, many translations used in the book. Warren seems to use at least ten different ones, apparently to make sure that what he is saying is valid. Couldn't he get the same idea from using one version of the Bible? Apparently not. Warren's views on worship--how you don't have to be a guitar player or a singer to worship God--are right on target, and the idea that you should be living your life for God is also on target. last but not least, I couldn't help but think--this guy pastors a mega-church, supposedly the same denomination as mine (Southern Baptist) and yet, on some points his views and those preached at my church seem to differ... Take this book with caution. Use your Bible as you read it. I prefer the NIV and used it to read the scriptures he presents in his book. Several are radically different than the NIV, so on many points I don't get what he is saying. Don't forget, this is the opinion of one guy. The Bible is what you should be reading, not this.
Rating:
Summary: Good for Religion, but Needs to Add Spirituality
Review: This book is good for encouraging the Christian to faith, but what do you do with the faith after you have it? We see that God has used faith in the past for wonderful miracles, including healing, prophecy, and supernatural events. Combine this book with books showing you how to use your faith to help others, not just for personal satisfaction. A good one is Psychic Gifts in the Christian Life by Tiffany Snow. Another good one is an old one I have that is out of print, but maybe you can find - How Faith Can Change Your World by H.S. McGraw.
Rating:
Summary: Book is Good,Not Excellent
Review: 12/25/03 As I browsed through Rick Warren's "The Purpose Driven Life" ,I was inspired more often from "direct biblical quotes" than by the interpretations by author Warren of the quotes..there were a few instances of "food for thought" but based on the book being 337 pages the number of instances was not high enough in my opinion to rate it in a higher percentile.
| 
