October 18, 2004

Purpose Driven Confusion

I was watching the Today Show this morning and Ann Curry announced that she would be interviewing Rick Warren discussing his book, The Purpose-Driven® Life. I had not seen him since his appearance on NBC Dateline a couple of weeks ago and was interested to hear what he would be saying regarding this 22 million best seller.

It was surprising to hear some of his comments with regards to his book not being "all about you" unlike most self-help books when in fact it becomes apparent as you read from chapter to chapter that it is "all about you." I was more concerned with what he did not say; instead of using this opportunity to present a clear gospel message to all of the viewers, he left a muddled explanation of how this book has been able to reach all religions giving them a sense of purpose.

The entire interview ran for over five minutes and I was able to record it in its entirety, and here is the transcript of the interview:

Ann Curry interviewing Reverend Rick Warren on the Today Show, 10/18/04

Ann - "Reverend Warren, good morning to you."

Rick - "Thank you, just call me Rick."

Ann - "Okay Rick, well, I'll start with that. Now this book seems to come at time when Americans, especially Americans post-9/11, are searching for meaning. It's interesting that you come out at the same time people are wishing for love. Did you know that when you wrote this book you would strike a chord?"

Rick - "No, no, I had no idea. I do know, you know, that right now there are these issues of terrorism, and there's the issues, there's polarity in our nation, it's split in so many different directions, and in history that has often been a prequel to a spiritual awakening. And I see enormous spiritual hunger in people all over America."

Ann - "You say that we should not be looking inside of ourselves [RW - "yeah"] to find the meaning [RW - "yeah"] to our lives, we should be looking to God."

Rick - "Yeah. That's actually one of the reasons why I think this book is, uh, is selling so well, is, it's kind of the anti self-help book. For the last 25 years, almost all of self-help books have said, it's all about you. It's about your needs, your desires, your wishes, and, uh, I think people realize, that doesn't cut it. The selfish life, the self-centered life is really pretty unfulfilling, and so, when the book comes out that says, the first sentence, "it's not about you," [Ann laughs] that's kind of, uh, counter culture. [Ann - "slap in the"] It is, its kind of a slap in the face and says, 'well, maybe I have to check this out.'"

Ann - "God, any God? Do you have to be an evangelical Christian ... God, or can it be a [RW - "yeah"] Jewish God?"

Rick - "This is the God of the Bible, but I have to say that I received letters from Jewish people, Muslim people, Hindu people [Ann - "Buddhist"], non-religious people, Buddhist people,...every kind of religion. This clearly has broken out of a, a simply, a Christian type book."

Ann - "All these people can have a purpose-driven life, [RW - "They're all looking"] if they do what?"

Rick - "We're going to spend about 80 years here on earth, maybe a hundred at the most. We're going to spend thousands of years in eternity. And one day my heart is going to stop but that's not going to be the end of me. And so, what am I supposed to do here on earth; well, this is the warm up bat, it's the preparation, it's the kindergarten, it's like the first race around, before the race begins and in the book I talk about, that your not an accident and that God does have a purpose for every life."

Ann - "So the question is then, how we find the purpose for each one of our lives, And in your book, you try to do this [RW - "yeah"], having people read a chapter a day over the course of 40 days, 40 being a significant number [RW - "yeah"] in the Bible [RW - "yeah"]. And you found your own purpose interestingly enough, uh, at one of the worst moments in your life. You were a young pastor, young, what, you had a hundred and fifty people [RW - "a hundred and fifty people"] in your congregation.

Rick - :We had, I went through a [Ann - undistinguishable]  burn out period, I went through a mid-level, mid-age crisis at 25.

Ann - "You fell into a depression."

Rick - "Yeah, I did and in that depression I began to say, 'You know that there are three questions in life. There's the question of uh, of uh, intention; what is my purpose? There's the question of existence; why am I alive? And there's the question of significance; does my life matter? And I was asking all three of those.

Ann - "You were asking all three?"

Rick - "All three of those; does my life matter and what is the purpose of it all?" I think it's pretty fundamental, you know, Ann, there, there are levels of life. There are, there's the survival level where a lot of people are at and uh, we don't live at that in America except that emotional survival level. A lot of people are just putting in their time and live for the weekend. That's emotional survival. Then there's the success level where people have the options, I can go out to dinner, I can go to a movie and by the world's standard we are all successful in America, by the world's standard, we're not worried about am I going to have the roof over my head. But there have been a lot of books that came out that said, 'If I've been so successful then why am I unfulfilled?, why don't I feel more happy?' It's because we were made for more than success, we were made for significance! And significance only comes when we understand our purpose. And that gives meaning in life."

Ann - "You found meaning in founding [RW - "uh, yeah"] a church in Orange County with what, eighty thousand members [RW - "yeah, it's a"], a nineteen million dollar budget [RW laughs], you have daughter churches all across the country. [RW - "yeah"] You know what, so many traditional churches [RW - "hmm"] are having trouble [RW - "hmm"] getting people to come through their doors. So what is the thing, is there one thing that you're doing or is it many things that you are doing that's different from the way traditional churches are reaching out to people?"

Rick - "It's a matter of speaking in the language of people today, that they can understand. I work very very hard in this book to try and make it simple. Einstein once said, 'You can be brilliant but if you can't say it in simple ways, it doesn't, its not worth anything."

Ann - "In fact, you dressed up for me today."

Rick - "Yes I did. [Ann - "You hardly wear"] I don't hardly wear a suit, I never wear a suit and my, uh, and my idea of comfort is I, you know, I, I, I don't wear socks unless its winter [both laugh]. But uh, all of these things have to do with the fact that there is something going on in our nation and I don't know what it is, but it may be the precursor to a new spiritual awakening. I see it all over the country, I see it, you see, the 40 Days of Purpose actually started in churches but now its being done in corporations, it's being done by most of the professional sports teams, ya know, Oakland Raiders and Kansas City Royals and NCAA and uh, NASCAR and LPGA. They're all doing it. And so, matter of fact, now it's even being done in prisons."

Ann - "Reverend Rick Warren, thank you so much."

Rick - "Thank you, Ann.

As I watched the interview, Rick seemed to be more interested in pitching his book rather than using this opportunity to reach to the viewers with the gospel of Jesus Christ, who was not mentioned at all in this interview. In all fairness, Rick does say in answer to Ann's question, asking if only a Christian evangelical could have a purpose-driven life, that he is referring to the "God of the Bible." But I do, for some reason, wonder if Rick has a problem being candid about his own relationship with the Lord, almost purposely avoiding the opportunity so as to not offend anyone.

How he answered Ann left me and I am sure many thousands of viewers with the vague impression that all religions lead to God and that he is just providing another way to guide those who would read his book into realizing their purpose for life. Instead of giving us a clear and decisive direction by stepping in and answering Ann with the truth of God's Word, we are left to our own devices and asked to read Rick's book which cannot give us a clear understanding of our purpose in life without a relationship with our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. There is an ambiguity that speaks more of an ecumenical approach to God; that anyone and everyone, no matter who we worship, can find their purpose in life by reading this book and taking part in the 40 day program.

It is interesting to note that what we are left with is an ecumenical New Age concept of God that has been introduced without any correction. There has been a concerted effort to avoid the emphasis on presenting the real gospel of Jesus Christ and we end up confused as to who God is, if we think that the God of the Bible is remotely similar to the god of the Muslims or the many gods of the Hindus and Buddhists. We are told that by reading through the Purpose-Driven Life over 40 days we will find our purpose in life and that might lead us into a relationship with God. And above all, the world loves it and that should raise the flags of warning for most.

Steve Muse, Eastern Regional Watch

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