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posted 8 July 2005 ***
INTRODUCTION
Surfing the Internet to research this article,
I was amazed how many critiques there are of the Purpose Driven Life.
I do not want to 'reinvent the wheel' and so in this article I want
to concentrate on one vital aspect - the misuse of Scripture.
PREVIOUS
Earlier this year I briefly mentioned the Purpose Driven Life in one
of our articles. In summary, this is what we said:
The title puts the emphasis on man and what drives
him rather than on the God who leads by His Holy Spirit... So much of
what we hear and read today is man-centred whereas the normal Christian
life is God-centred.
Rick Warren is pastor of Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, California.
He is the founder of a ministry with the registered trade mark of Purpose
Driven®. Thousands of Christian leaders have read his best-selling book
The Purpose Driven Church and hundreds have attended his Purpose Driven
seminars. His book, The Purpose Driven Life, a New York Times bestseller,
has been purchased by millions of people since its release in September
2002. Scores of churches are also using his materials during special
campaigns called 40 Days of Purpose.
The statistics for the 40 Days of Purpose at Warren's church are impressive.
Within those 40 days he tells that 671 new believers were baptised and
1,200 new members were added to the church. The average church attendance
increased by 2,000; 2,200 previously uninvolved people volunteered to
serve in a ministry of the church; and another 3,700 committed to go
on missions somewhere in the world. On top of this 2,400 six-week Home
Bible Study groups were started attended by nearly 25,000. The aim of
the material seems very good… (Indeed) as with so much these days, within
the book there are many good concepts and we should learn from them,
but we are encouraged to examine carefully what is being taught … I
want to make 4 points and back them up with at least one illustration…
Unfounded Promises
The basis of the book is that, 'The next 40 days will transform your
life' p.10 (All italics in the original unless otherwise stated)
The premise is that all the instances of 40 days in Scripture are ones
of Transformation. At the top of p.10 Rick Warren mentions Noah, the
spies, David, Elijah and Jesus among others. However these instances
are not ones of transformation but trial and testing. Indeed 40 in Scripture
does not mean transformation but testing… Such misreading and misdirected
teaching as the basis of the book does not lead one to have confidence
in what is going to be said. Further on in this introductory chapter
(pp.11/12) Warren tells how he has been praying for 'you' and he is
excited about all the great things that are going to happen to 'you'
as you go through this book. Can we really have such confidence for
every individual 'you' that reads the book? Jesus had to be lead of
the Spirit, indeed for each person mentioned with a 40 day experience
there was a specific time that God led them into. Can we be absolutely
sure it is now?
Misuse of Scripture
In the book, Scriptures are often quoted out of context and many of
the verses are quoted from a paraphrase rather than a translation. (We
will expand further on this below.)
Unwise words
On a number of occasions there appears to be counsel which at the least
is unwise. This in part comes from the fact that the book is dealing
with getting you to the right place and as such sometimes misses out
some areas of necessary fellowship. For instance on p.254 we read:
"You will find that people who do not understand your shape for ministry
will criticize you and try to get you to conform to what they think
you should be doing. Ignore them."
Who? Everybody? Including your elders and fellow members of the body
of Christ? Self-importance and even self-deception is a terrible handicap
within the body of Christ... This same problem comes out in a slightly
different way too. Judge or discern?
So often we hear the words these days that we must not criticise but
we must affirm others in what they believe? But supposing what the person
believes is wrong; do I just ignore it and pretend that all is well?
There does appear to be a weakness in this area. For instance on pp.163
& 164 we read,
"Choose to encourage rather than criticize…God warns us over and over
not to criticize, compare, or judge each other (Romans 14:13; James
4:11; Ephesians 4:29; Matthew 5:9 and James 5:9). When you criticize
what another believer is doing in faith and from sincere conviction,
you are interfering with God's business. 'What right do you have to
criticize someone else's servants? Only their Lord can decide if they
are doing right (Rom. 14: 4 CEV)"
At the end of this day (21), the point to ponder is, 'It is my responsibility
to protect the unity of the church' (p.167.) However, God's Word puts
a slightly different emphasis on this when we read in Ephesians 4:3
that we should be, 'diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit…' Then
in verse 12 we read that eventually as we grow up in Him we will, 'attain
to the unity of the faith…'
I do not believe we can protect the unity of the church; I can be aware
of the things that divide and seek to ensure they are dealt with; I
can seek not to be selfish and lay my life down for others; but how
can I protect the Spirit of God.
What is also missing from this equation is also discernment and a testing
of the spirits; a searching of the Scriptures to see if these things
are so. This is not judging people in the sense of condemning them -
we must not do that. But we are called upon to judge, search and test
to see if the things taught and believed are of the Spirit of God.
RESPONSE
This article brought an interesting response from both ends of the spectrum.
Some, including Pastors that I know, said, "How dare you say such things,
we use the course and it is changing lives". On the other hand, there
were those who requested more information.
As we said above, we are not claiming that there is nothing good that
can come out of this, but are there any teachings within it that could
lead you to non-Biblical beliefs, and away from the centrality of Christ.
Talking recently to the Principal of a Bible School, we were sharing
our concerns about how many people do not know their Bibles; many do
not even bring their own Bibles to church meetings. I have to say that
it leads me to wonder, if they actually have one that they use during
the week?
Acts 20:26-30 has much to say to us here:
"Therefore, I testify to you this day
that I am innocent of the blood of all men. For I did not shrink from
declaring to you the whole purpose of God. Be on guard for yourselves
and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers,
to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.
I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you,
not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves men will arise,
speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them."
Paul declared the 'whole purpose of God.' All aspects, not just favourite
texts but everything they would need to know to have wisdom and understanding
as to how to live and be safe in Christ. This is shown further on when
Paul warns that they were to be aware that from 'within' the church,
men would arise, and speak 'perverse' things. Basically it means that
they would distort the truth and try and draw away even the disciples.
Not all the teachings of such ones would necessarily be wrong, but there
would be enough distortion to take their listeners away from the purpose
of God that Paul had preached.
With this in mind, I want, in this article, to concentrate on the Scripture
used in The Purpose Driven Life, and see if there is any distortion.
We will start by looking at what Rick Warren says about different versions:
"I have intentionally varied the Bible translations used for two important
reasons. First, no matter how wonderful a translation is, it has limitations…
so it is always helpful to compare translations. Second… we often miss
the full impact of familiar Bible verses… therefore I have deliberately
used paraphrases in order to help you see God's truth…." - p.325
First, we are told that all translations have limitations and so we
should compare a second translation. No problem with that so far. But,
second, in order to miss the impact of familiar verses, we will use
a paraphrase to discover "God's truth".
Herein lies the problem - a paraphrase does not necessarily reveal God's
truth; it reveals what a particular Christian thinks God is saying.
This might be helpful to get an understanding of the context but it
can also be dangerous if we start claiming promises that God never gave
in the original! It is the latter that causes me concern within this
book.
We indeed need to be like the Bereans and scrutinise, check thoroughly:
"The brethren immediately sent Paul and
Silas away by night to Berea, and when they arrived, they went into
the synagogue of the Jews. Now these were more noble-minded than those
in Thessalonica, for they received the word with great eagerness, examining
the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so." - Act 17:10,
11
But note what they were doing. They received Paul's words - his paraphrases,
explaining the Scriptures and they checked it out against the Scriptures
themselves. A paraphrase is not the Word of God; it may be helpful to
give some understanding but we need, as the Bereans, to take those words
and check them with a clear translation of the Scriptures.
I do not want to look at every verse quoted, but I want to highlight
some of the main ones which Rick Warren uses to make a clear point of
teaching. Is the paraphrase of the text quoted, what was actually said
in the original? We are encouraged to check this out in 1 Thessalonians
5, where we are told to test - examine, scrutinise - all things and
only hold fast to that which is good. In so doing you have laid aside
that which is 'bad'.
Practically what happens is that you hear a sermon and it needs to be
tested out. Is it true? Is this really what God is saying? Unless you
go back to a good translation of the Scriptures, you will never know.
For our purpose we will show the Scriptures quoted in the original paraphrase
and then
1. Show the King James Version (KJV)
2. The New American Standard Bible (NASB)
3. Make necessary comments.
You can then test these things out and decide for yourself whether we
are making a 'mountain out of a molehill' or whether there is a problem
in the texts used for teaching.
I think it is helpful to note that many of the paraphrased versions
take the God-centred original texts and turn them into man-centred verses.
This is my biggest concern about the Purpose Driven book and,
indeed, much other preaching that we get today. It revolves around what
I can do; how can I be blessed; how to feel good; rather than, what
God has done; how to serve; and how to be content whatever the circumstances.
THE SCRIPTURES
Page 19 - Matthew 16:25
"Self-help is no help at all. Self-sacrifice
is the way, my way, to finding yourself, your true self." - The Message.
"For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will
lose his life for my sake shall find it." - KJV
"For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses
his life for My sake will find it." - NASB
Rick Warren says that this is not a 'self-help book', you need more
than that. He claims that the book will help you focus on what matters
most, it is about what God created you to be. However, the verse quoted,
from The Message, homes in on self, to be more precise, self-sacrifice,
which is about what you do or more especially what you do not do. However,
the original meaning of these verses is not about self-sacrifice, but
losing your life entirely, and letting Christ live in you. There does
appear to be a problem between law and grace in this book.
The problem between law and grace can be over the same issue. Let's
take as an example, reading the Bible. Self-sacrifice says, "I must
give up my time to read the Bible, it is something that God expects
of me". Grace says, "I willingly give this time to the reading of God's
Word." The Christian life is not about self-sacrifice it is about knowing
we are dead in Christ and that His life now motivates me from within.
The Christmas tree has everything put on from the outside to make it
nice, the apple tree has life from within and fruit is produced. So
much of the teaching of the Christian Life, and I would put this book
into the category, is about what I need to get, not what Christ has
done and will make real in me.
Page 20 - Ephesians 1:11, 12
"It's in Christ that we find out who
we are and what we are living for. Long before we first heard of Christ
and got our hopes up, he had his eye on us, had designs on us for glorious
living, part of the overall purpose he is working out in everything
and everyone." - The Message.
"In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according
to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his
own will: That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted
in Christ." - KJV
"…also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according
to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will, to
the end that we who were the first to hope in Christ would be to the
praise of His glory." - NASB
We have a similar problem with this verse from The Message. The paraphrase
says, "We find out" and puts the emphasis on us and what we get. The
original version says that it is "in Him" and puts the emphasis on Him
and His glory. Warren draws a conclusion from the paraphrase that you
"discover your identity and purpose through a relationship with Jesus
Christ." That may be what the paraphrase indicates but the original
is about us being brought in to God's Eternal Purpose not finding out
who we are and what we do.
This process of putting me at the centre and finding out about me, rather
than Him, is at the root of many other verses such as the summary verse
for day one:
Page 21 - Colossians 1:16b
"… everything got started in him and
finds its purpose in him." - The Message
"…all things were created by him, and for him." - KJV
"…all things have been created through Him and for Him." - NASB
Created by and we are for Him - nothing about finding
my purpose.
Page 31 - Ephesians 3:20
"God… is able to do far more than we
would ever dare to ask or even dream of - infinitely beyond our highest
prayers, desires, thoughts, or hopes."
"Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that
we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us…" - KJV
"Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we
ask or think, according to the power that works within us…" - NASB
This verse is quoted in the section dealing with 5 benefits for living
a purpose-driven life, under the heading, Knowing your purpose gives
meaning to life. Again, the message of the book is brought down
to man-centred and not Christ-centred, which is not the meaning of the
original Scripture. Ephesians is all about Christ at work within me
- these verses are actually a prayer of Paul's, not a direct promise
of God. Such work is from the spirit of God within me, not my prayers
and my desires and my thoughts etc.
I will not continue to bring such examples but there are many more of
them in the book.
Page 69 - Genesis 6:8
"Noah was a pleasure to the Lord." -
The Living Bible
"But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD." - KJV
"But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD." - NASB
The title of the chapter that this verse is quoted in is What Makes
God Smile? And just before Warren quotes this verse from the Living
Bible paraphrase he says, "But there was
one man that made God smile". Indeed the
chapter begins with a very bold statement, "The
smile of God is the goal of your life".
And this is linked with us pleasing God.
However, the original Scripture is to do with God's grace, not my pleasing
Him, which I cannot do. To turn the word grace into having too do something
is missing the point altogether. Grace means that I receive something
I do not merit, and can do nothing in order to receive. Noah was not
spared from the flood because of his righteousness, but because of God's
grace. By now saying that Noah was "a pleasure to the Lord", it has
made this passage say the exact opposite of what God originally said.
Page 82 - Romans 6:16-18
"Offer yourselves to the ways of God
and the freedom never quits… [his] commands set you free to live openly
in his freedom!" - The Message
"Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his
servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience
unto righteousness? But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of
sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was
delivered you. Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants
of righteousness." - KJV
"Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves
for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin
resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness? But
thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient
from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed,
and having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness."
- NASB
Warren only quotes a small part of these verses; I have quoted them
all in the KJV and NASB in order to get the meaning in context. He is
making the point that one of the blessings of surrender is freedom.
The context puts a very different picture on this.
First, it is not any freedom, it is freedom from sin. Second, he does
not add the last part of the verse, "you
became slaves of righteousness." A third,
and vital issue we also need to understand, is that this is not something
we grow into - this is in the past tense - you were and you became.
This action is the foundation of our Christian life and without this
'transfer of slavery' we are not even saved. The whole message of Romans
chapters 6 and 7 needs to be studied here and not just this one verse
taken out of context.
In the next paragraph on p.82 we read about Joshua and because he was
surrendered he won a "stunning victory at
Jericho". Was he any less surrendered
at Ai? Surrendering once does not bring stunning victories all the time
- it is the way we live our lives in daily drawing on the life He has
given.
Page 152 - 2 Corinthians 5:18
"[God] has restored our relationship
with him through Christ, and has given us this ministry of restoring
relationships." - God's Word Translation
"And all things [are] of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus
Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation;" - KJV
"Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through
Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation" - NASB
This is the text at the beginning of the chapter for Day 20 entitled,
Restoring Broken Fellowship. Further down the page, using this
verse, Warren concludes, "The Bible tells
us that God has given us the ministry of restoring relationships."
And the next pages are all about restoring relationships between the
reader and another individual.
I would not deny that the restoration of these relationships is important,
but that is not the ministry we have been given. If the context of 2
Corinthians 5:18 is studied in a true translation, it becomes clear
that the ministry we have been given is to declare that unbelievers
can be reconciled to God, through faith in the person and work of Jesus
Christ. To use this text as a Biblical support for restoration of relationships
between individuals is to misinterpret God's Word. It can also lead
to depression, if someone starts claiming that this is a God given ministry
but it is not working.
Page 165 Matthew 18:15-17
"If a fellow believer hurts you, go and
tell him--work it out between the two of you. If he listens, you've
made a friend. If he won't listen, take one or two others along so that
the presence of witnesses will keep things honest, and try again. If
he still won't listen, tell the church." - The Message
"Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him
his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast
gained thy brother. But if he will not hear [thee, then] take with thee
one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word
may be established. And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell [it]
unto the church: but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto
thee as an heathen man and a publican." - KJV
"If your brother sins, go and show him his fault in private; if he listens
to you, you have won your brother. But if he does not listen to you,
take one or two more with you, so that by the mouth of two or three
witnesses every fact may be confirmed. If he refuses to listen to them,
tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church,
let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector." - NASB
The context that Warren sets this in is for resolving 'hurts,' but the
context of these verses is beyond that. The Greek word translated 'hurt'
in The Message is hamartano and is more properly translated as,
"sinned against". This is not for every little hurt that there might
be, this is for serious sin. There is a danger in the way that this
verse is used here. The person could be 'treated as an unbeliever' simply
because he hurt my feelings!
Page 219 - II Corinthians 3:18
"All of us! Nothing between us and God,
our faces shining with the brightness of his face. And so we are transfigured
much like the Messiah, our lives gradually becoming brighter and more
beautiful as God enters our lives and we become like him." - The Message
"But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the
Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, [even] as
by the Spirit of the Lord." - KJV
"But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory
of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to
glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit." - NASB
Warren actually only quotes the last part of the verse from "our lives"
onwards. However, he gives 'our' a capital 'O, seeming to put it at
the beginning of a sentence. The point he goes on to make in the text
is that growth is gradual and, "maturity
is never the result of a single experience." Yet,
these verses do not speak of experiences; they deal with 'seeing the
Lord'. It is to do with the revelation of the Spirit of God, through
the Word of God, not experiences along the way. We may learn from experiences,
but the change takes place because of the work of the Holy Spirit making
real the Word of God within us. It is about relationship not what we
do.
Page 232 - Mark 8:35
"If you insist on saving your life, you
will lose it. Only those who throw away their lives for my sake and
for the sake of the Good News will ever know what it means to really
live." - The Living Bible
"For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall
lose his life for my sake and the gospel's, the same shall save it."
- KJV
"For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses
his life for My sake and the gospel's will save it." - NASB
This Scripture is applied to make it say that, "If you aren't serving,
you're just existing, because life is meant for ministry. God wants
you to learn to love and serve others unselfishly."
That undoubtedly is true, but this verse is not about serving others,
it is about laying down our lives for the Lord. In such a position,
not doing anything, but being before Him.
Page 242 - Romans 12:6
"God has given each of us the ability
to do certain things well." - New Living Translation
"Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to
us, whether prophecy, [let us prophesy] according to the proportion
of faith." - KJV
"Since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us,
each of us is to exercise them accordingly: if prophecy, according to
the proportion of his faith;" - NASB
This verse is in the section headed, All our abilities come from
God. That is not what Romans 12:6 says. This tells of certain God-given
gifts; not any natural ability we might want to use for Him, and therefore
say that it comes from Him. The interpretation that Warren gives can
easily be misused, if taken to extremes.
Page 268 - Galatians 5:26
"That means we will not compare ourselves
with each other as if one of us were better and another worse. We have
far more interesting things to do with our lives. Each of us is an original."
- The Message
"Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying
one another." - KJV
"Let us not become boastful, challenging one another, envying one another.
- NASB
The emphasis in The Message is that we do not compare ourselves with
others because we have better things to do with our own lives. We do
what we want to do, and not look at what others are doing - this clearly
centres on me again. I also have no idea where the phrase, "each of
us is an original" comes from? However, the emphasis is not necessarily
on what we do at all, we just do not give an attitude that could provoke
someone else to jealousy.
CONCLUSION
Where does all this lead us? Well, of course it does not necessarily
make us a sinful Christian and it certainly will not cause us to lose
our salvation. Through the book we may also learn many good principles
and hopefully the Lord will speak to us. However, it will also have
led us into looking at a number of Scriptures from a man-centred, selfish
point of view, instead of a God-centred perspective. This is not helpful
for our growth in Christ; in fact it can severely hinder us.
It has also led us to claim certain promises from the Word of God that
are not what God said. This can lead to disappointment and distrust
of God.
Third, it will have encouraged us to live our lives outwardly like the
Christmas tree and not inwardly like the apple tree.
In all these ways our growth and walk with Christ will be hindered.
Gary E. Gilley sums up his website
article on the book with the following paragraph
"So, what difference does it make? What if
Warren is misrepresenting Scripture over 40 times as well as peppering
his book with extra-biblical psychological theories and other earthly
pieces of wisdom, disguised as biblical principles? Overall he says
many good things, and even in the sections where Scripture is abused
he often says the right thing but uses wrong Scripture to support it.
What's the big deal? The big deal is this: once we sign off on this
kind of Christian teaching and torturing of Scripture, the sky is the
limit. It should not go without notice that every cult claims to believe
in the Bible. The uniqueness of cults is that they twist the interpretation
of Scripture to say what they want it to say, and failing that they
write their own translations… Should we endorse these same methodologies
when evangelicals promote them? Or should we refute those who openly
sanction such approaches to Scripture? Remember we are not discussing
different opinions on interpretations of certain passages. That too
cannot be ignored. But of a more serious nature is this careless and
wanton mishandling of Scripture that we have been discussing. To purposely
ignore the proper translation of a passage and insert one that has no
basis in the original languages in order to undergird a particular point
of view is about the most dangerous thing that I can imagine."
POSTSCRIPT
In May 2006 Calvary Chapel stopped
supplying the various Purpose books. In
this article Roger Oakland gives some insight into this decision.
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