The Purpose...
...Driven Life. It was written by some pastor named Rick Warren. If I'm going to critisize a book I'll read it before I do so.Now, for starters, this book has sold millions of copies, as did Scott Peck's "The Road Less Travelled". Self-help books always sell well, simply because it confirms that we are pretty damned fucked up and won't admit it in public, but in the quiet of our homes, as we dismay about our relationships and the like, we look to outside sources to give some sort of meaning to our lives. And we hope asshats like this can do it.
This book's basic premise is that all things we're pre-determined when God made the world and everything, EVERYTHING, that has happened since is a part of the creation. You are and do what you do because God made it so. As he states on page 25, "There are no accidents".
This is a theological nightmare. Because if you've lived long enough you know how little sense that makes. But he goes on and on about how God has a plan for your life. And he continues with biblical tidbits to try and support his thesis.
Boys and girls, I've read the bible, twice. It's a big damned book, full of allegory, metaphor and innuendo. It has gone through countless revisions. If you know anything about hermeneutics then you know the differences languages can mean to the translation of something.
Basically I think all this book did was pad this guys pockets. As they usually do with most people that try to exploit the notion of God for their own gain. Recent news about "god men" confirm this. You hide behind God and put on a good show and you have it made.
What's my solution, you ask? I have none. I happen to believe in God, and pray to that being everyday. Never for myself, but for all the others to whom it might make a difference. I happen to think it's a process, an interaction between God and us. The same as it is in daily life. Their are flaws in any theory, as there are in this one. And it's likely we'll never know. It's kinda like the mutual agreement thing; you don't fuck with me and I won't fuck with you. If I need help I'll ask. If you need help, well, God help us all.
My whole point of this was an old memory that came up. After the boys were born the X thought we should start going to church. We must have tried 10. I would dutifully put on my Sunday duds and sit through the same ole drivel. And without a doubt the head honcho would call from the church that wanted to come by to witness. And invaribly I would be sitting at the kitchen table, beer in hand, shirtless and in shorts, and have a discussion with them. And every time they left shaking their head. And I went back to playing or reading with the boys, then the bath, then the frolic time. That was our "God" time.
Oh yeah, I know God, and it ain't me. And if you want to get to know God, tip the pizza delivery guy $5 next time and see the smile on his/her face. That's what Jesus would do.
This book's basic premise is that all things we're pre-determined when God made the world and everything, EVERYTHING, that has happened since is a part of the creation. You are and do what you do because God made it so. As he states on page 25, "There are no accidents".
This is a theological nightmare. Because if you've lived long enough you know how little sense that makes. But he goes on and on about how God has a plan for your life. And he continues with biblical tidbits to try and support his thesis.
Boys and girls, I've read the bible, twice. It's a big damned book, full of allegory, metaphor and innuendo. It has gone through countless revisions. If you know anything about hermeneutics then you know the differences languages can mean to the translation of something.
Basically I think all this book did was pad this guys pockets. As they usually do with most people that try to exploit the notion of God for their own gain. Recent news about "god men" confirm this. You hide behind God and put on a good show and you have it made.
What's my solution, you ask? I have none. I happen to believe in God, and pray to that being everyday. Never for myself, but for all the others to whom it might make a difference. I happen to think it's a process, an interaction between God and us. The same as it is in daily life. Their are flaws in any theory, as there are in this one. And it's likely we'll never know. It's kinda like the mutual agreement thing; you don't fuck with me and I won't fuck with you. If I need help I'll ask. If you need help, well, God help us all.
My whole point of this was an old memory that came up. After the boys were born the X thought we should start going to church. We must have tried 10. I would dutifully put on my Sunday duds and sit through the same ole drivel. And without a doubt the head honcho would call from the church that wanted to come by to witness. And invaribly I would be sitting at the kitchen table, beer in hand, shirtless and in shorts, and have a discussion with them. And every time they left shaking their head. And I went back to playing or reading with the boys, then the bath, then the frolic time. That was our "God" time.
Oh yeah, I know God, and it ain't me. And if you want to get to know God, tip the pizza delivery guy $5 next time and see the smile on his/her face. That's what Jesus would do.
posted by GalacticallyStupid at 11:01 PM
3 Comments:
Bob,
When you write items like this you are fun to read. If I have a purpose driven life, it's not scripted by God or anything else. Its me groping to do the right thing---- after I've spent a good
amount of time and energy trying to figure out what "right" is. God may have a plan for me but, my willful duty is to make my own way as I discern and determine events. If I'm a robot traveling along a predetermined path then, I believe, god may be a little bit self absorbed. Maybe a little mean spirited too. Thats not the God I pray to though.
I pray for you even when you don't.
Hope this note finds you well. Oh, by the way, instead of moving the couch maybe replace it with a love seat.
Thank you for this post.
The problem is not his recognition that an omnipotent, all-knowing God is sovereign and in control, that follows logically. It's that he then goes on to talk primarily about you and what you do and why you matter and living your life and doing this, that, and the other thing...
Which kind of begs the question "if God's so sovereign, why does he need my help so badly?"
The other problem is that Christianity is primarily about Jesus Christ and the gospel, not about what we do and how we live. Leave that out and you're largely indistinguishable from Islam, Judaism etc.
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