The Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren (2002)

This is a book I read out of pure curiosity. As it happens, I am in the fortunate position of already possessing a purpose driven life, and I know that works well for me. Having said that, I know plenty of people who tell me that they are also perfectly happy without any purpose in their life. It has always seemed to me that everyone is so different, some things work for some and some for others. This was the philosophy with which I came to Rick Warren s book; I thought it would be interesting to hear another opinion (isn t it always?)

Rick Warren is a Christian pastor and author; he works for a church in California and is previously the author of a best-selling book along similar lines to this one, entitled The Purpose-Driven Church . Pastor Warren says that he has been praying for each of us, and that he wrote this book dedicated to each of us who read it, in the hope we would come closer to God. That is very nice of him, what a pleasant way to start your book!

This book is designed to be of assistance to individuals who have found themselves to be lost in their lives. By this, we mean to say that the person is living without a sense of satisfaction from their current existence. It is Pastor Warren s assertion that the solution to this very common problem is to dedicate one s life to living according to the will of God, as defined by and in the Holy Bible.

The book is divided into six sections, the first being an introduction to the idea of living according to God s purpose, and the subsequent five sections each delineate and discuss one of the purposes for which God has, according to the Bible, designed you.

Further, the book is subdivided into forty chapters. The reason that there are forty chapters is very specific. Pastor Warren wants you to use this book as a guidebook for a spiritual journey, and recommends to the reader that they read one chapter each day, and practice the exercises as the end of each chapter. Indeed, at the beginning of the book is a covenant page, which the reader is encouraged to sign in order to acknowledge and make firm their commitment to this course of action.

I have personally not done this signing, mine being a library copy, and myself being a person very wary of signing on to anything at all before I know a good deal about it. Perhaps if one had ones own copy, one could quickly skim read it through once, and then if the details of the contract seemed acceptable, one could come back and do the forty day thing. Alas, also my library copy is a seven-day loan, this apparently being a very popular book right now, so I m not in a position to enlighten you on the intangible benefits of performing the covenant-signed journey of self-enlightenment this book encourages.

The introductory section tells us that many self help books seek to assist the reader by having them look inside themselves for the solutions to the lack of meaning in their lives. Pastor Warren asserts this this can never work, since, according to the Holy Bible we were all created by God, for God, in the image of God, and it is only by looking to resign ourselves to the will of God that we can hope to be satisfied with our earthly lives. I must say I know people who argue that this works quite well after all. Pastor Warren also firmly believes in the immortality of the human soul, and argues that this life is a preparation for a life in eternity. This being the case, it doesn t make too much sense to concentrate on ephemeral issues here on earth, but we should more directly concern ourselves about a coming judgment from God, which will be performed according to criteria set out in the Holy Bible, and is clearly described for us in the coming pages. This life, it seems, is a test. No doubt we have all had the experience that an unseen supplier of matriculation is testing us, but this view is often considered pathological in psychiatric circles. Just one example of how your viewpoint can be very different depending on your faith and personal philosophy.

As I have already indicated, the following chapters set out for us the purposes that God has for our lives, as described in the Holy Bible. The purpose of our lives according to the Bible is as follows:

Purpose #1: I was planned for God s pleasure

Yes, I was planned for God s pleasure according to the Holy Bible. Pastor Warren helps us to see exactly what pleases God according to the scriptures. Major themes in this chapter are doing the will of God, surrendering ourselves to His will. Praying a lot, and making clear to everyone our worship of God is also good. Enough said.

Purpose #2: I was formed for God s family

This chapter discusses the nature of God s family. Interestingly, if not disturbingly, Pastor Warren is of the opinion that the Holy Bible should be interpreted to say that God s family, which is to say the spiritual community, or Church, should be more important to me than my own family. I find this very hard to swallow. Evidently I should have spent more time absorbing the lessons of the first purpose in life, which is complete surrender of my own values to those found in the Holy Bible, as interpreted by the Pastor. Pastor Warren is not anti-family of course, but he definitely sees a bigger picture. The reason that my spiritual family should be more important than my physical one is apparently because they are immortal and will last forever. Personally, I have enjoyed the time I have spent, no matter how ephemerally, with own family, and I find it extremely difficult to reduce them in my estimation on the grounds that they may not turn out to be immortal. That s just me, of course.

For Pastor Warren, the finding of one s spiritual community must be accomplished through a church. It is the Pastors interpretation that the words of Christ should be interpreted to mean that the building maintaining and protecting of a church is an important purpose in the life of a Christian. This is of course not the view of all Christians, but it is something that this book believes strongly to be the case.

Purpose #3: I was created to become like Christ

Although beginning by asking the reader to identify themselves with the personality of Christ, most of this chapter concerns the way in which someone can grow as a person, and, as such, it seems to lose it s mission in terms of using the Christhead as a personal motif, but nevertheless is all very interesting. According to this chapter, the portions of the Holy Bible written after the death of Christ strongly advocate that each Christian should try to be God-like. Simple message eh? As usual with self-help books, this is easier said than done.

The remainder of this chapter is largely concerned with the idea that trials and temptations can help us to grow as people. This, by another name, has been known as ethics. Pastor Warren advises that identification with Christ as an icon of ethical perfection can help the person to get in the right frame of mind to grow as a more enlightened (or self-realized, depending on your personal bent) person. This is not a bad idea of course, as Jesus is rightly famous for being a great human being. For those people for whom this form of meditative effort is helpful, Jesus would serve very well. It is the belief of Christians that Jesus Christ is actually a physical human manifestation of God. God, it would seem, would by definition make a decent ethical standard to emulate, but this seems to me a real challenge. Hey, being like God is a challenge, but a good one I guess!

The general theme here is that resisting temptation is good for you, and helps you figure out what your values are, so that next time the temptation comes along, it will be that much easier to resist. Nice argument; this is helpful thinking, though not entirely original. Aristotle had the same thing to say many years ago. Pastor Warren puts a Christian angle on it for us; he argues that temptation is placed in the human mind by the devil. The devil hates you, and the fact that things tempt you from time to time is proof of this. Again, there are many people who would tell you that believing a malevolent entity is responsible for your mental anguish is a pathological and unhealthy viewpoint. Each to his own I guess.

Purpose #4: I was shaped for serving God

This chapter says that according to the Holy Bible I was placed on Earth personally by God to fulfill a purpose in contributing to God s plan for the world. It is my mission, according to Pastor Warren, to accept this initiative and do my best to add to the amount of love and godliness in the world to the best of my ability. I should listen to my heart and follow my passion, to find out what it is I would be best inclined to do with my life. Again, this is a common theme in self-help books. According to Pastor Warren, it will be God who is informing us of what this passion is. This chapter is mostly about accepting yourself. This is always a good idea, and sure to reduce one s stress level.

Purpose #5: I was made for a mission

This book is self-replicating. Purpose 5 is for those who read this book to go out and tell other people about the message of this book. It does briefly mention in passing that the Holy Bible should be the core of the message, but this chapter seems intent on increasing sales of this book, not entirely the Holy Bible. Enough said.

So that s the essentials of the book.

For me, this book was certainly an interesting read. I have come across the self-supplication approach to personal growth and happiness before, and that is the message being repeated here in no uncertain terms. Of course, a Christian writes this book, and sadly the text reads very much as though the author assumes that all those reading the book are already Christians themselves. This is clearly the best use to which the author has found he is able to put himself if we are to believe he has followed his own advice.

The book reads easily, and is very clear. One of the things which I enjoyed the most about it was the fact that it contains a very large number of illustrative quotations from the Holy Bible. The choices are very good, and many of the quotes make very substantial food for thought on their own. The quotes link well with the instructional text on the page where we find them. I was I admit very surprised that I couldn t find a single quote of Jesus himself. So it goes.

At the end of each of the forty chapters is a little box containing exercises for the reader. These little boxes are made up of a point to ponder, a verse to remember, and a question to consider. Many of the questions to consider are strongly leading questions, and this made me suspicious early in the book that the Pastor had a very heavy axe to grind, which was less concerned with the individual growth of the reader, and more concerned with the growth of his and other churches. I fail to see how this question:

Does my level of involvement in my local church demonstrate that I love and am committed to God s family?

can help someone s personal growth.

The pastor is apparently the founder of his own church. This would make it also his source of income, and a source of self-esteem. I can t help but think that this puts him in a compromised position to advise someone how to realize him or herself spiritually, until he rids himself of his earthly ties, which are fairly evident through this book. Another passage that I found particularly unhelpful was

God pleasing is deeply doctrinal

I suppose I could go on, but these would be the main things I didn t like about it. So, some good things in this book, some bad. It lacks a decent index also, something which is sad in these days of digital publishing.