Seems that non-Christians have more discernment than most Christians in this regard. According to this article, which also shows how American Christianity has become commercialized while selling out the Gospel,
With the rise of the self-help gospel, popularized by the Rev. Rick Warren’s best-selling book, “A Purpose Driven Life,” evangelical Christians have shifted their message away from combating sin and hell’s fury to one of coping, of reaching full potential, of mending relationships and broken marriages.
Why am I surprised that non-Christians can see through Warren's deception, while Christians cannot?
[HT: Watcher's Lamp]
I haven't read his book. But I was under the impression that his book was one that focused on evangelism.
ReplyDeleteSidharth
Hello Sidharth,
ReplyDeleteeh not exactly. It is meant for evangelistic outreach, yes, in the sense that you invite people (preferably non-believers) to study the book together and hopefully they will 'accept Christ' as they are presented with Warren's version of the Gospel. However, it is supposed also to 'refocus the church back to its original 5 purposes which they should be doing', as what the 40 Days of Purpose program is meant to do.
Of course, what Warren doesn't tell us is that through this, a church would be remoulded to follow his idea of worship, fellowship, discipleship, service and evangelism; his 5 purposes, and the interactions between each of them. Not to mention other ideas of his that comes smuggled with the package.
If you would like to know more about how such ideas like his alters the church, I can recommand a book by Pastor Bob DeWaay entitled Redefining Christianity. It is a good book to know how Warren's views are changing the churches, and DeWaay really displays his love for the Church of our Lord Jesus Christ. My book is on the various doctrinal and practical errors in the book, which would be more useful to those who have read the PDL book before though.