The Purpose-Driven Life: What on Earth Am I Here For?
The Purpose-Driven Life
My church has just kicked off "40 Days of Purpose," a campaign that utilizes Rick Warren's book The Purpose-Driven Life: What on Earth Am I Here For? These 40 days are intentionally lined up within the Lenten season so that we will wrap up on Easter weekend.
For our kick-off meeting, we watched a 90-minute DVD presentation from Rick Warren that was quite enjoyable to watch and listen to. I am not normally much of a note-taker, but he had me scribbling notes in the margin throughout the presentation. Once I have my notes in front of me, I might include some of those thoughts in this post.
If you're not familiar with The Purpose-Driven Life, read this snippet from purposedrivenlife.com:
The Purpose-Driven Life is a manifesto for Christian living in the 21st century…a lifestyle based on eternal purposes, not cultural values. Using biblical stories and letting the Bible speak for itself, Warren clearly explains God's five purposes for each of us:
- We were planned for God's pleasure, so your first purpose is to offer real worship.
- We were formed for God's family, so your second purpose is to enjoy real fellowship.
- We were created to become like Christ, so your third purpose is to learn real discipleship.
- We were shaped for serving God, so your fourth purpose is to practice real ministry.
- We were made for a mission, so your fifth purpose is to live out real evangelism.
That said, there were a couple things in Warren's presentation that made me raise an eyebrow, though. The one item that still has my mind whirring was during his section on evangelism. He said something to the effect of "If we don't tell others the Good News, someone who should be in heaven might not be there." I realize that he was trying to convey the urgency of evangelism, but something just didn't sit right with me on that. I'm not a Calvinist to any appreciable degree, but this seems to have brought out some Calvinistic sentiments in me. If someone should be in heaven, I feel like they would end up there via other means. Maybe I'm just using Calvinistic views to avoid the urgency of evangelism, but my hesitancy seems deeper than mere avoidance. Then again, perhaps it is simply semantics — particularly with the word "should." In philosophical circles, "should" carries with it a certain weightiness. I'm not saying I'm right about this, and I'm not saying he's wrong. I'm just saying it still makes me a bit uneasy.
I have already read portions of The Purpose-Driven Life, and it holds so much amazing information in it. I'm really looking forward to delving into it, and hopefully I can actually apply it to my life instead of merely reading it.
This entry was posted
on Saturday, February 5th, 2005 at 22:22 by Novac and is filed under All, Philosophy.
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February 6th, 2005 at 15:00
I agree, I think he should have used the word "could" instead of "should" or perhaps he was using should as in - God wants everyone to be with him in heaven and as the word says about marriage, "What God has joined let no man pull apart" applies in a sense that out of our choices, we affect the lives of others and but for our refusal to offer the word to someone they choose a different path. But I agree…when I read your post, my anti-predesination feelings kicked in big time.