Some of my friends have found my views on Rick Warren and "The Purpose Drive Life" to be disturbing. They were surprised to find that someone would disagree with his premise. After digging deeper into it, they are even more surprised that thousands of other Believers disagree with Warren.
From my theological view, Warren and “The Purpose Drive Life” are presupposed on a world view that teaches God has finished creating. This would imply that world events and lives are pre-ordained. Good events and bad events play out based on our following His script/purpose or our failure to follow his script/purpose. By Warrens teaching, our task is to discover the life and goals that God has created for us.
A standard assumption is that God created everything, from start to finish in seven days.
When folks find out that I am a Deist, they immediately think about the "Watch-maker" analogy and assume all Deists hold that view of God and Creation. However, I am a Process Deist, I see God after a Sabbath day of rest, arising on the morning of the eighth day and going back to creating. In other words, God is still creating and has never stopped. The Creation dwells within God and God dwells within the Creation. Thus the creation has had an impact or an influence on what was created in the past and what will be created in the future.
Many Christians who disagree with Rick Warren have found a book by Bruce G. Epperly to be a great guide for group study or personal development. Epperly’s book is “Holy Adventure”, 41 Days of Audacious Living.
http://www.ucc.org/ucnews/decjan09/holy-adventure-explores-new.html is a link to an article by Jeff Woodward which explores the contrast between the two authors.
