Seth’s World View

I had heard about Rick Warren and his The Purpose Driver Church for many years, and more recently, about The Purpose Driver Life. I’m all about purpose, and am very willing to shed meaningless tradition (tradition itself can be a good thing, but not if going through the motions) if it will better impact people inside and outside the local church body. Saddleback Church (Warren’s pastoral) is a huge, successful church in Southern California. I’m sure they are doing some great things there.

All that said, after reading half of The Purpose Driven Life, and watching him speak on video several times, I don’t like Rick Warren. His book and program contain truth and have impacted many people, and that’s great, but Rick Warren makes me uneasy. Part of it is style. Rick seems to like cliches and formula. I simply don’t believe that life is simple, and that following a formula guarantees a good life. His speaking style also doesn’t work for me. His laugh and jokes are lame, and his manner of speaking is okay for a family church, but it doesn’t work well for people like myself who don’t fit in the nice little Christian mold. Also, I’m not into hype, the kind that says: This campaign is the one that will change your life forever. Give me a break. I can “change my life” by reading one verse in my daily quiet time. My life has been changed lots of times, in lots of ways, and honestly, I think the quality of writing and insights in this book are on the bottom tier of the Christian living books I’ve read. More significant though is his handling of Scripture. I already knew from reading some reviews on Amazon.com that Rick Warren relies on many different versions of the Bible, and most of his quotations are not from translations but paraphrases. When I saw him speak for the first time, I watched as he constantly went from version to version, even for consecutive verses! In his book, in order to increase readability, when he quotes a verse, he doesn’t list the verse location or version in the text, only in the appendix. I know for a fact that in some cases the verses he chooses, especially the ones from paraphrases, are in some cases 100% different from a reliable translation. While most quotes are probably pretty similar across different versions, the ones that differ make me uneasy, and unable to trust Rick Warren. Simply taking the verse from the version of the Bible that best fits what I want to say is not good exegesis, nor do I even think it ethical, because it’s easier to twist Scripture to make it say what you want. I can excuse style differences, but not misquoting Scripture. If a church or group wants to use Rick’s material, then I wish them well, and hope their efforts produce much fruit. I, however, want nothing more to do with Rick Warren.