BOOKS: The Purpose Driven Life

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mary bobo:
Guess I am not as astute as some. I was not looking for anything that might be anti-Catholic (even subtlely) and I found none. I was not looking to something from a Protestant point of view, and if it was there, I was able to overlook it because of the wonderful message it delivered. I highly recommend it.
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I did not detect the anticatholic message, but upon listening to experts in our religion discuss it I did recognize it. I think that subtle jabs at our beliefs need to be recognized. Yes, I still think it is a good book. Yet I want to know what parts are anticatholic. We are supposed to be able to defend our faith.
 
Personally I didn’t care for it. Too feel-good, too basic writing that just doesn’t appeal to me–I couldn’t make it half way through the book. But, that’s me. If it’s a book that will deepen someone’s faith, it won’t hurt you to read it.
 
I just picked this book up yesterday (sale at Barnes & Noble!) and I’ve only finished Day one, obviously. I kinda skimmed through some other chapters and I didn’t see anything wrong with it. It is pretty basic but that’s ok, I don’t mind. 🙂 Sometimes basic is nice. Of course it’s not as deep as some Catholic writers, but it certainly gives you food for thought. And I don’t see it being in a bad, anti-Catholic way either. (If there are some comments to that effect later on in the book, well I’m pretty darn sure of my faith so I’ll probably just disregard it and keep reading.) We’ll see how it turns out!
 
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Celia:
(If there are some comments to that effect later on in the book, well I’m pretty darn sure of my faith so I’ll probably just disregard it and keep reading.) We’ll see how it turns out!
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I did not decide that the book was anticatholic. I liked the book. It is basic. However, I listened to Catholic Radio at length about this book, and they made the anticatholic comments. It does not give any credit to sacramental graces was one of the complaints. It leaves out Catholic thought. There is references to our reward in heaven by just accepting Christ into our lives. We all know that we are meant to live our lives in very specific ways to work towards our redemption. It comes down to the basic difference between Catholic and Protestant. It is a Protestant book. It is a good book, but we need to be aware of what it is lacking.
 
Greetings,

I have recently purchased two copies of Purpose Driven Life, one for myself and one for my daughter in law.

I have come to a point in my life, where I don’t pay much attention to critics. All too often they have some sort of agenda.

When it comes to books that are Faith driven, Spiritual and Inspirational as this one is, I look for the fruits in the folks who have read the material.

Everything I have seen has been good. I have a number friends who have read it and have even taken part in a Church program made for the book. They all love it.

I am going to read it and I think enjoy it. So is the daughter in law.
 
It’s ok. More of a cutesy read than a thought-provoking one, but it gets a good message across to people who might need it.

My best friend asked me if I wanted to read it with her last spring. She started a little group thing online, and so we got started discussing the readings day-by-day. But we lost interest after a short while, and never finished it.

I was prepared to find anti-Catholic overtones in the book, but I didn’t find any intentional ones in it.
 
I am on Day 7 and let me tell you so far it is a great book!! I do not read much Protestant literature, because really, if it is a choice between “The Imitation of Christ” and “The Prayer of Jabez” I’m definitely going with the former. But a friend of mine began reading this, he is feeling God call him to holiness right now, and he mentioned that the book said it is good to read with at least one other person, so I agreed to read it… and after a week I think it is great!
 
Oh… someone mentioned it had a Calvinist slant… I really do not think it does, primarily because its most heavy critics are Calvinists, secondly I really havent found any bit of Calvinism in there, though I do have a ways to go.
 
I have read this book, and thought it was very good. I did not find any deliberate anti-Catholic references in it, and a couple of the scripture quotes were from the NAB. I did find references to some particularly protestant beliefs such as James being the (literal) brother of Jesus, and of course it lacked any specific Catholic focus - such as the Sacraments. I also bought LifeWork: Finding Your Purpose In Life by Rick Sarkisian - which seemed more geared toward teens making life choices for vocation and career. I thought The Drive Factor - also by Rick Sarkisian - was also quite good.

I wouldn’t hesitate to recomend The Purpose Driven Life.
 
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Cupofkindness:
Would this be a good book for teenagers?
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I would recommend the two books by Rick Sarkisian - LifeWork: Finding Your Purpose In Life and The Drive Factor for teens - and also Tools from Joseph’s Workshop for teen boys
 
I found the Purpose-Driven Life for a dollar at the second-hand store. I figured that if I didn’t like the book, I could always sell it on Amazon for more money. I may have to sell this sooner than I expected to.
In reading this book, I have noticed some strange ideas. The strangest of all is his claim that when we die, it will not matter what doctrines we believed or what church we belonged to as long as we ‘love Jesus’. But didn’t Jesus teach that if we love Him, we must follow His commandments? He may not teach the rapture and constantly threaten us with hell-fire like other conservative evangelicals but he appears to be the other extreme - providing the shallow ‘health and wealth’ Gospel.
What’s the deal?
 
Despite some questionable things he says, he’s so easy to like. Know what I mean?
 
I’m glad you posted as I have been wondering what the book was all about… the hype rather… I haven’t read the book and I have been wondering if I should. My SIL gave my hubby the book two years ago for his birthday. I LAUGHED my rear end off because his look was “WHAT IN THE WORLD?” because he is sooooooo not the religious type (he’s agnostic). He’s not baptised…nothing. She and I had gotten into a HUGE fight a few weeks before at Christmas about Catholicism and marriage, parenting, baptism, etc. (BTW, FWIW… she’s not married, has no children and refuses to understand infant baptism). anway… she got this book for him… he threw it up on the shelf and there is has sat since. I personally think it was a veiled threat to me that I better not convert her brother… so I took it as a threat. I picked it up, flipped through it and in the back, found the “sinner’s prayer”. I immediately discounted the book. Any religious book that tells me that all I have to do is pray that prayer and I’m saved, makes me question the rest of the book.

So… who else has read the book, found it worth an orthodox Catholic’s time? Should I look more into it and give it a shot? My DH is about to deploy and I’m looking for good material to read to help me grow in Christ during our separation.
 
Your husband is an agnostic? Aren’t Catholics who marry non-Christians excommunicated? Please forgive me if I am mistaken.

For a truly spiritual book with a truly Christian message, I’d recommend The Way of a Pilgrim.

Peace.
 
**Hmm… I flipped to the back of the book, and I don’t see a sinner’s prayer…

I received it as a gift from my Baptist friend, and I read it not only for charity’s sake, but also it helps me for scripture memorisation in my DRV.

Of course, it is a book made my a Protestant as a devotional, so I wouldn’t fire up on theological implications. Being aware of my Catholic faith, it is a daily reminder that I am to live under the Purpose which God wishes me to. It is for the simple folk, because eventually as we love Him, we will be inclinded to follow His commandments.

Praise Yah!**
 
I think it has some worthwhile ideas in there. If you know your Catholic faith, you know what to smile at and leave it on the page and you know what to take to heart. It made me certainly think more about living my life for God, and not for myself, to not be so selfish. I don’t see a whole lot wrong with it, really. I didn’t find the sinner’s prayer either. Maybe there’s different versions or something?

It certainly lacks the theological “deepness” most Catholic works contain, but it is a good reminder of who we’re all here for. So basically, you have to take the good with the bad, but there IS some good in there. At least I thought so. 🙂
 
I read about half of it and found it shallow and not too impressive, but that’s just me. Personally, I’d stick with Catholic books, but again, that’s just me.
 
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