Pensees: Two Articles for the Warren-ites

Two Articles for the Warren-ites

Since I have been asked a number of times about Rick Warren’s The Purpose-Driven Life which I have not personally found to be either well-written or all that fascinating, I would like to include a very nice summary by Nathan Busenitz. (Nate ministers at Grace Community Church. I believe he is still John MacArthur’s assistant). This review has been around for awhile, but more and more laypersons are starting to ask questions. . . Finally! The review is not deep or long, but then how do you write a long summary of a very shallow book?

Here is the review of the Purpose-Driven Life by Nate.

The Purpose Driven Life is not outright heresy. In fact, it teaches many very biblical concepts, such as the importance of worship, fellowship, spiritual growth, spiritual service, and evangelism. At the same time, its approach is typical of contemporary Evangelicalism—fluffy, feel-good, and watered-down. Because of its shallow doctrine, its cavalier approach to Scripture, and its market-driven approach, The Purpose Driven Life should be read with much discernment—if it is read at all. Those seeking to deepen their understanding of Warren’s five categories will probably be better helped by any of the countless Christian classics that have more thoroughly addressed those topics.

In the end, The Purpose Driven Life is really just a relatively poor rehearsal of very basic Christian doctrine. As one reviewer put it, “I guess this is a good book if you’ve never heard all this before. Most of it is common sense stuff. I don’t want to take away from the good intentions behind it. God bless good intentions. I got bored reading it” (Amazon.com book review). Or, put more directly, The Purpose Driven Life is Christianity for grade-schoolers; the style is elementary, the sentences short, the print large, the chapters brief, the theology shallow, and the structure overly simplified. For those seeking a spiritual feast in The Purpose Driven Life, leave the fork at home—a straw is all you’ll need.

Secondly, here is another good article on Warren’s and Hybel’s “gospel” by the same illustrious critic. This is worth reading a well.

“(T)he seeker-sensitive movement is quickly moving toward moral compromise and spiritual oblivion. The fact that it attracts large crowds merely suggests that its taking a lot of people down with it.”