What is Your Version of a "Purpose Driven Life"



Preacher and author Rick Warren wrote a book, The Purpose Driven Life, which has sold millions of copies. I've read the book but have read reviews and heard him talk on TV.

So far as I can tell, a "Purpose Driven Life" is to attend church more often, pray more and give more money. It is entirely about believing and practicing the faith more intensely. To me all the things he advocates are about living a life without an important purpose.

To begin with, of course, is the question of what god to worship if one is to worship a god. In Warren's view, it appears worshiping one of the hundreds of other gods is a waste. What if he is wrong and there is a god but it is not Warren's god? His life and his book would have been dishonest and otherwise pointless.

If you set religion aside and thought about things in a secular sense, a "purposeful life" usually refers to a life of self sacrifice. "Purposeful" people would be those who spent their lives making life for others better, not making life better for themselves. The purpose of the "Christian life" is salting away credentials for living eternity is the luxury of "heaven." This is self-centeredness is the opposite of a purposeful life.

A real "Purpose Driven Life" in my view is one which centers on preservation of our earth for future generations. How to do it is not a simple topic nor can I claim to have done my own share in this.

I can't for the life of me see how Rick Warren can thinks spending one's life devoted to his or any other imaginary god is "purpose driven."

http://purposedriven.com/books/pdlbook/#purpose

Comments

  1. tsmMarch 3, 2019 at 10:24 AM

    you should be able to do better than this: pretty sad commentary. everybody has a "purpose driven life". Maybe a quest for wealth, security, comfort, power, a godly life, any number of things. So why single out religion. Oh well. BTW you may have noted that, in recent months, I have not commented much on your site. Why? just plain old boredom. The same old, same old eventually gets tiring.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Jon LindgrenMarch 3, 2019 at 2:18 PM

    I have gathered over time that you purpose driven life is to be the best Catholic ever. That's OK with me.

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  3. tsmMarch 3, 2019 at 3:09 PM

    I don't think I said that: or even implied that. I just pointed out that everybody has what one could call a "purpose driven life". Some end, whether good, bad or indifferent that somehow gives "meaning" to one's life. Not a particularly profound assertion, actually what one could call a truism. BTW your purpose in life: to be the best atheist, ever?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Jon LindgrenMarch 3, 2019 at 6:51 PM

      "BTW your purpose in life..." I explained in the blog what I think is a good purpose in one's life.

      Delete
  4. tsmMarch 4, 2019 at 1:11 PM

    that was a rhetorical question. gratified to know that you place great importance on a life of self-sacrifice. seems to me that that is a good Christian view of life. So much for that. in reality, it seems, most folks, in their day to day doings, are not thinking much about sacrifice, self or otherwise: mostly they are thinking about earning a living, living a reasonably comfortable life, etc.

    ReplyDelete

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