{"id":980,"date":"2006-11-25T00:20:28","date_gmt":"2006-11-25T00:20:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/aletheiabaptistministries.org\/Blog\/november-qthe-purpose-driven-problemq\/"},"modified":"2014-02-02T07:44:33","modified_gmt":"2014-02-02T07:44:33","slug":"november-qthe-purpose-driven-problemq","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aletheiabaptistministries.org\/Blog\/november-qthe-purpose-driven-problemq\/","title":{"rendered":"The Purpose Driven Problem"},"content":{"rendered":"

President Theodore Roosevelt said, \u201cWisdom is nine-tenths a matter of being wise in time.\u00a0 Most of us are too often wise after the event.\u201d<\/span>1<\/sup> However true this is of all of us, it is still better to be wise late about something than not wise at all.\u00a0 When I first read Rick Warren\u2019s \u201cPurpose\u201d books I set them aside for lack of interest.\u00a0 When The Purpose Driven Church came out in 1995 I wrote a review of it in this paper as another \u201cnickels and noses\u201d church growth book (which it truly is).\u00a0 Having grown up around large churches, I didn\u2019t see new concepts, just new methods put to the same old philosophy.\u00a0 I still would argue that this first book is much more definitive of Warren\u2019s philosophy of church growth than the second.\u00a0 When The Purpose Driven Life came out in 2002 I wrote a shorter review in this paper (both of which can be read online), not thinking at all that it would be as popular as the first.\u00a0 I saw it as a sort of large religious (I don\u2019t say \u201cgospel\u201d) tract that didn\u2019t need 40 days to read but for some reason was making that request.\u00a0 There were much better explanations of the Christian life and of Christian doctrine on my book shelf than to spend too much time on this.\u00a0 I was greatly surprised to see the enormous popularity of this obviously mundane book, not just among Christians but non-Christians as well.<\/span><\/p>\n

Therein lies part of the reason for my late re-thinking about The Purpose Driven Life.\u00a0 Why had this book become so widely popular with \u201cChristendom\u201d of all stripes and of all levels, but more intriguing, even with \u201cnon-Christendom\u201d people such as Fidel Castro, who requested an autographed copy, which I suppose he received, or the president of Rhawanda (though a professing Roman Catholic)?\u00a0 Upon a second reading of the book and after reading several other opinions (and having the advantage of hind-sight) my view of the book has been refined.\u00a0 I believe it is a self-centered, self-help version of Christianity that is obviously palatable enough even for unbelievers, and is something like the old Mother-Hubbard dresses that cover everything and touch nothing. The best example is the only explanation of salvation in the book (p. 58).\u00a0 It is a short paragraph and, ironically, requires much previous Biblical knowledge if one is to respond with any cognitive understanding of the gospel (of course, this gospel sleight of hand allows the reader to read into it anything that suits him).\u00a0 I have heard others say that the salvation explanation at Purpose Driven conferences is no better.<\/p>\n

It ought to make us cautious when the most spiritually immature among the church desire a certain thing.\u00a0 It is not insignificant that in churches where the Purpose Driven philosophy is \u201ctaking over,\u201d the older people are being driven away or asked to leave, and the younger people are taking ownership not just of the worship service but also of the facilities and assets.\u00a0 It ought to make us even more cautious when lost people desire a certain thing because it makes them comfortable in the church and makes them even more emboldened in their unbelief.\u00a0 Today\u2019s Evangelical love-affair with Roman Catholicism is one of the most obvious examples.\u00a0 From the ECT document to Promise Keepers to The Passion, Evangelicals have tried to convince themselves that Catholics are born again.\u00a0 It is not politically correct to say otherwise (which will be proven by the response I\u2019ll get to these few lines).\u00a0 The point is that when these phenomena are present, the offense of the cross is absent, and where the offense of the cross is absent, the natural man gravitates especially in religious matters.\u00a0 Self-help and self-esteem are the religions of the natural man and if you couple those with self-revelation tailor-made for the individual\u2019s life-style and belief system, well then, you have yourself a big winner in this world!<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

Self-Revelation<\/h3>\n

It is this point that I think is most potentially dangerous to the gospel and Christianity in general: the specific revelation of God to individuals apart from the Scriptures.\u00a0 This is largely seen in the flippant use of \u201cPurpose\u201d and other words\u00a0 such as \u201cVision\u201d and \u201cDream\u201d or even \u201cHeart.\u201d\u00a0 Slight equivocation with words has never seemed to bother us much.\u00a0 We can call any amazing thing a \u201cmiracle\u201d and not care that the definition has been violated; we can say that \u201cGod told us\u201d something and not be bothered that, had this really been true, it would legitimize everyone from Mohammed to Joseph Smith.\u00a0 But the \u201cbeauty\u201d about such uses is that anyone can attach whatever nuances one wishes to the meaning.\u00a0 In Rick Warren\u2019s world, \u201cPurpose\u201d is a mile wide and an inch deep.\u00a0 And it fits with a growing list of words that the natural man loves.<\/p>\n

I have long objected to the popular use of the word \u201cvision\u201d to mean the particular direction God has given to some leader.\u00a0 If we could use this word \u201cin-house,\u201d so that the nuances never strayed from orthodox theology, we could excuse the liberties taken.\u00a0 But this word has come to mean that God gives leaders their own individual revelation about what He wants them to do.\u00a0 This becomes the mark of a gifted leader and followers are supposed to fall in line because, of course, this is the will of God!\u00a0 Those who disagree are acting contrary to what God wants.\u00a0 George Barna has made this tact popular more than any contemporary writer even titling one of his books, The Power of Vision.\u00a0 In almost all of his writings he pushes this leadership quality.\u00a0 For example he says, \u201cWhen God raises up leaders, He has a specific vision for the people those leaders have been called to mobilize.\u00a0 Knowing God\u2019s vision for the ministry is the starting point for effectively leading people forward.\u201d2<\/sup> From this we develop \u201cvision statements\u201d (like every hamburger joint in town!) that, transcending previous doctrinal statements, become declarations of what God has told this particular leader to do.\u00a0 The natural man loves this kind of talk.\u00a0 It releases him from the unchangeable Scripture which everyone must follow if they are to be right with God.<\/p>\n

Bruce Wilkinson is now trying to develop the word \u201cDream\u201d in the same vein with his book, The Dream Giver.\u00a0 The believer is encouraged to seek the dream God has for him.\u00a0 When he accepts this, he finds that his dream is merely part of the larger dream that God Himself has.\u00a0 The \u201cdreamer\u201d is supposed to pray, \u201cPlease make me into the person I need to be to do the Dream You have created me to do.\u201d3<\/sup> This should be no surprise from the man who gave us The Prayer of Jabez, the prosperity-gospel book on prayer.\u00a0 These kinds of books are so popular because they make man the receptor of his own divine revelation.\u00a0 The Scriptures are still there but, as in the Catholic Church, only as another revelation.<\/p>\n

Another popular book has been John Eldredge\u2019s, Wild at Heart.\u00a0 Here, a man\u2019s \u201cheart\u201d becomes the receptacle for God\u2019s specific purpose and revelation.\u00a0 Again, in an equivocating but unapologetic manner, he writes, \u201cThere are no formulas with God.\u00a0 Period.\u00a0 So there are no formulas for the man who follows him.\u00a0 God is a Person, not a doctrine.\u00a0 He operates not like a system\u2014not even a theological system\u2014but with all the originality of a truly free and alive person.\u201d\u00a0 Eldredge then quotes Archbishop Anthony Bloom, \u201cYou must enter into it and not just seek information about it.\u201d4<\/sup> This is more great news to the sinner running from God.\u00a0 The conviction of his heart may only be God revealing a new and better direction.<\/p>\n

Warren has hit upon this natural desire in a popular way.\u00a0 What better word than the seemingly innocent word \u201cpurpose?\u201d\u00a0 Throughout his book this theme reoccurs:\u00a0 \u201cYour purpose becomes the standard you use to evaluate which activities are essential and which are not\u201d (p. 31); \u201cGod wants you to use your natural interests to serve him and others.\u00a0 Listening for inner promptings can point to the ministry God intends for you to have\u201d (p. 238); \u201cCelebrate the shape God has given you\u201d (p. 252).5<\/sup> Warren has some good Baptist roots, and his use of \u201cpurpose\u201d is sometimes directed toward Scripture, but not always and not clearly.\u00a0 I am afraid that, to the sinful world, \u201cThe Purpose Driven Life\u201d is another name for \u201cMy\u201d purpose and God\u2019s special revelation to \u201cMe.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

Self-Help, Self-Esteem<\/h3>\n

A second danger in Warren\u2019s (and others\u2019) writings is the definite belief that people are not as bad as \u201cmean-spirited\u201d preachers have made them out to be, and that whatever their heart desires and expresses is simply an expression of how God made them, not of some sinful bent.\u00a0 Warren says, \u201cGod doesn\u2019t expect you to be perfect, but he does insist on complete honesty.\u00a0 None of God\u2019s friends in the Bible were perfect\u201d (p. 92).\u00a0 \u201cThe best style of worship is the one that most authentically represents your love for God, based on the background and personality God gave you\u201d (p. 102).\u00a0 John Eldredge says, \u201cThe Big Lie in the church today is that you are nothing more than a \u2018sinner saved by grace\u2019 . . . In the core of your being you are a good man\u201d (p. 144).\u00a0 Now, anyone who dares challenge such positive language, Eldredge calls a \u201cPoser\u201d and Wilkinson calls a \u201cBoarder Bully\u201d and Warren says, \u201cHolds things up.\u201d<\/p>\n

The equivocation comes when people who know both sides of an issue only write about one side.\u00a0 Warren knows (I assume) that man is a sinner; that his heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked.\u00a0 He surely knows that sinners don\u2019t choose the things of God by nature and that the imagination of man\u2019s heart is evil continually; that this is because of the Fall into sin which changed the whole relationship of the original creation into what it is today.\u00a0 But this part of Biblical information is almost entirely absent in the \u201cPurpose\u201d books.\u00a0 Man is seen as basically good in his nature and sin is only a minor glitch in the human personality.\u00a0 Salvation then becomes a discovery of the real \u201cyou,\u201d the real \u201cpurpose\u201d that God has given you, the \u201cdream\u201d that needs to be realized.\u00a0 I heard Dr. Kevin Bauder say not long ago, \u201cPelagius denied the good news by denying the bad news.\u201d\u00a0 I am afraid, for whatever good may be in the Purpose Driven material, the real Good News is woefully lacking because the bad news cannot be admitted.<\/p>\n

The appeal to the natural man is nowhere seen more today than in the area of \u201credeeming the culture.\u201d\u00a0 This has become an excuse for anyone to participate in any questionable thing he chooses while confessing that he is simply trying to redeem the good cultural qualities.\u00a0 If a cultural \u201cmandate\u201d can be added, then there is also even a command from God to change the social structure, the political climate, the arts and entertainment, and so on.<\/p>\n

Where will this \u201ccultural relevancy\u201d take us?\u00a0 One advertisement from Branson, MO invites church groups to a Rock concert with this explanation:\u00a0 \u201cRespect yourself, be generous, be diligent in your craft, and celebrate the good of what rock represents.\u00a0 Don\u2019t concentrate on the anger and rebellion, appreciate the freedom rock brought to music and is expressed in the music; freedom which is the hallmark of our country, freedom which is fought for.\u00a0 And give honor to those serving in our armed forces and defending our freedom today.\u201d\u00a0 An ad in a Tennessee newspaper says, \u201cSpiritual event wants GodMen, not girly men:\u00a0 Testosterone-fueled alternative to Promise Keepers debuts here.\u201d\u00a0 Then the first paragraph contains this:\u00a0 \u201cAt the daylong GodMen event downtown Saturday, men will be able to cuss, smoke cigars, watch videos of football pileups and car crashes . . . Listen to specially composed Christian rock songs such as Testosterone High.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

And So . . .<\/h3>\n

Have we ever seen a day when it has been more needful to preach the whole counsel of God?\u00a0 We must reclaim the Bible as our Final Authority\u00a0 and recast a complete and honest view of man\u2019s sinful condition before a just and holy God.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
Notes:<\/address>\n
1. Quoted by J. Oswald Sanders, Spiritual Leadership (Chicago:\u00a0 Moody Press, 1971) 52.<\/address>\n
2. George Barna, The Second Coming of the Church (Nashville:\u00a0 Word Publishing, 1998) 164.<\/address>\n
3. Bruce Wilkinson, The Dream Giver (Sisters, OR: Multnomah Pub., 2003) 121.<\/address>\n
4. John Eldredge, Wild at Heart (Nashville:\u00a0 Thomas Nelson, 2001) 209.<\/address>\n
5. Rick Warren, The Purpose Driven Life (Grand Rapids:\u00a0 Zondervan, 2002) 252.<\/address>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

President Theodore Roosevelt said, \u201cWisdom is nine-tenths a matter of being wise in time.\u00a0 Most of us are too often wise after the event.\u201d1 However true this is of all of us, it is still better to be wise late about something than not wise at all.\u00a0 When I first read Rick Warren\u2019s \u201cPurpose\u201d books […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","episode_type":"","audio_file":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[123],"tags":[170,136],"class_list":["post-980","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles","tag-methodology","tag-progressivism-conservatism"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Purpose Driven Problem - Aletheia Baptist Ministries<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/aletheiabaptistministries.org\/Blog\/november-qthe-purpose-driven-problemq\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Purpose Driven Problem - Aletheia Baptist Ministries\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"President Theodore Roosevelt said, \u201cWisdom is nine-tenths a matter of being wise in time.\u00a0 Most of us are too often wise after the event.\u201d1 However true this is of all of us, it is still better to be wise late about something than not wise at all.\u00a0 When I first read Rick Warren\u2019s \u201cPurpose\u201d books […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"http:\/\/aletheiabaptistministries.org\/Blog\/november-qthe-purpose-driven-problemq\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Aletheia Baptist Ministries\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AletheiaBaptist\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2006-11-25T00:20:28+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2014-02-02T07:44:33+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/aletheiabaptistministries.org\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Book-Reviews-1024x1024.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Rick Shrader\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Rick Shrader\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"11 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/aletheiabaptistministries.org\/Blog\/november-qthe-purpose-driven-problemq\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/aletheiabaptistministries.org\/Blog\/november-qthe-purpose-driven-problemq\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Rick Shrader\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/aletheiabaptistministries.org\/Blog\/#\/schema\/person\/588b75c574dc86d40cf5fb13774181b2\"},\"headline\":\"The Purpose Driven Problem\",\"datePublished\":\"2006-11-25T00:20:28+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-02-02T07:44:33+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/aletheiabaptistministries.org\/Blog\/november-qthe-purpose-driven-problemq\/\"},\"wordCount\":2114,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/aletheiabaptistministries.org\/Blog\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"Methodology\",\"Progressivism \/ Conservatism\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Articles\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"http:\/\/aletheiabaptistministries.org\/Blog\/november-qthe-purpose-driven-problemq\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/aletheiabaptistministries.org\/Blog\/november-qthe-purpose-driven-problemq\/\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/aletheiabaptistministries.org\/Blog\/november-qthe-purpose-driven-problemq\/\",\"name\":\"The Purpose Driven Problem - 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