On every news show, it's been 'The Purpose Driven Life'

:wtf: I understand a week of concentrating on religion because of Easter. I can deal, but this freaking book is all over the place!

Just this morning the book and the writer has hit all three big networks, CNN and MSNBC. I don't know about Fox, but I won't put it past them to be touting this thing as well.

What's up with this book? Do I wanna know?

read to her captor from. Now it's just an incredible book for the religiously inclined. I'll stick with the Bible. :hi:

It seemed like this book was being equated as great as the bible :eyes: whatever that means.

Sorry.

it's the book that saved the white lady's life from the awful black courtroom shooter maniac.

nothing, nothing but that book could've saved her.

hysteria reigns.

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Funny. Welcome to DU :hi:

And I think Ashley would have come out okay anyway. She's a tough girl, she engaged him in talk and made it personal. It wasn't the book at all.

I'm in the book biz; I think heaven existed (if it does exist) prior to 10/1/2002 (first edition pub date).

he's getting so much attention because a hostage read it to the hostage taker in order to let her go. She said he noticed the book she was carrying and they started discussing Jesus and he saw the light and told her she was an angel.

I think he pretty much lost Larry when the author of the book said that Jesus was the only way to heaven.

It's the lessons of the bible, without the "thees" and "thous."

Do good. God sent you here for a purpose.

Buy my book and answer my prayers for wealth and fame.

From Amazon:

Customers who bought this book also bought
Daily Inspiration for the Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren
The Purpose-Driven Life Deluxe Journal by Rick Warren
The Purpose-Driven Church by Rick Warren
The Power To Change Your Life by Rick Warren
Answers To Life's Difficult Questions by Rick Warren
Meditations on the Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren

I skimmed the book at the Barnes and Noble a few months ago and put it down because it rubbed me the wrong way. I can't remember exactly what it was that I read except to say that my impression was "right wing" blather -- "you can be successful if you just center on God" type stuff

Heard him talking about it on CNN.

that twist the bible in just that oh so special way that allows them to see it the way they want it.
Do on to others becomes oppress others.

in a society that has so many religions and beliefs. I find it grating and disingenuous to hear the hushed droning of hosts who apparently want us to believe they've found the missing tablets of Moses. I regard the book as incredible as the English interpretations of the Bible which contain so much sexist superstition that it rivals most science fiction. As a historical account of the times surrounding the life of Jesus and his followers the Bible is a facinating document, but as a moral guide to the living of our lives, it, along with The PDR, are as terribly flawed as are/were the mortals who crafted them.

when it first came out. I posted this in the religion forum, but this book has just enough good stuff to be dangerous, wrapped around terms like "God hides from us" and that God causes bad things to happen to people. I was in a church study group, slamming my fists on he table to no avail. Finally, another minister's wife and I had to simply quite going. We could make no headway with this group, me by screaming, and her with passionate tactfulness and thought provoking questions that would cause the normal person to stop and think.

Oh well - there's another rant - Happens every time I see the title of this monstrous book.

Rick Warren was talking about the book's emphasis on being a servant to others, to be busy doing little things to help and serve and allow God to make great things happen out of that. My wife pondered, "why does it seem that the ones who praise this book the most are the ones who follow its suggestions the least?"

I added, "Seems to me that if one would simply practice the same ideas that are also in the bible, one wouldn't need this book in the first place."

(Not to diminish Ashley Smith's heroism in any way. I can't imagine keeping my cool like she did in that circumstance, no matter how many books I had read!)

the kids group "Awana". Those two groups, as well as some of this literature are just plain scary. As someone who tries to follow Jesus' teachings, I try to steer clear of cult-like things. My MIL gave DH and I a copy of "A Purpose Driven Life". Actually, she's buying them for EVERYONE she knows, including all her grandchildren. She's actually a chapter before family dinner just so we all get some "religion". Hubby and I read about 2 chapters into it and put it down. Haven't picked it up again. There is nothing in there that you can't get from reading the Bible.

I guess what scared me off most is my MIL saying "It will be a life-changing experience. Just like for me and your FIL." Yeah, well, she said the same thing about PromiseKeepers and we're not too crazy about the way it "changed" my FIL and BIL after their visit to DC. Awana seems to have the same effect on my SILs 5 kids. While I'm sure all three of these have some good in them, it's the cult-like properties that send up big red warning flags.

A literary and spiritual goal of mine is to actually read the Bible from cover to cover before I croak, so I can interpret it myself (I'm up to Numbers). If the fundies are right about EOTW, then I better get crackin' -- no time to waste. ;)

BTW, What do you get when you have 4 liberal Presby.'s, 3 fundies, 2 Wicans, 1 Catholic, 1 Southern Baptist and 6 kids under 6yo together?

Family night dinner every Monday at our in-laws house!

I say you make some great points. In my book, following Jesus is all about relationship, following my own heart, using my own reason, making faith personal. It's not about following the crowd, joining the latest trend or doing whatever is popular. Genuine faith, Christian or otherwise, should be the same whether you are in the majority or whether you stand alone; whether you are in public or in private. Having others join you on your faith-pilgrimage IS important, and I'm not saying one can be an effective follower outside of a faith-community. But I'm not going to give up my change my faith just to conform to everyone else, especially when everyone else is headed off in the wrong direction.

one of the pioneering megachurches, churches with tens of thousands of members with church complexes that look like airport terminals. Various cities have these: in Louisville Kentucky, it's Southeast Christian Church, which the locals call "Six Flags Over Jesus". 18,000 members. A book like Purpose-Driven Life has a ready market in these churches; Southeast Christian Church has a full-service Christian bookstore on site.

He is very conservative socially. Not a friend to gay or lesbian people.

lORDY, lORDY, lORDY!