I am slow to respond to questions about books I have not read, because my view of such books is often more colored by positive or negative reviews that I have read about the book than about its actual contents. I have never had any interest in reading the book in question, but I am asked so frequently about it that I feel I will probably have to get around to reading it, so as to answer these questions knowledgably.
I have such limited time available for reading these days that I try to limit my reading to books from which I expect to gain something, either spiritually or intellectually. However, occasionally, a book in which I have no interest receives so much publicity--even among non-christians--that I feel obliged to read it, even if I anticipate being bored or annoyed in the process. I privately entertain the hopes that the fad will pass, along with questions about it, before I am forced to read the current offering. I managed to get through the
Bible Code era and the
Prayer of Jabez era without having to read those books. I have been hoping to do the same with
The Purpose Driven Life.
Because of the frequency of being asked about it, I purchased a copy of
The Purpose Driven Life back in 2003 and tried to read it. I had the same problem that Homer described. I can barely stand to read a book where the author seeks to use the Bible to bolster his position, but where he cannot use a REAL Bible for that purpose.
The Message has got to be the most abominable paraphrase of scripture that I have had the displeasure of reading, and any pastor who quotes from it as authoritative, I think, loses credibility in my mind to speak to the church about biblical matters. If he does not know that
The Message is trash, then his discernment would seem deficient, and if he knows it to be trash, but uses it anyway to support a weak point, then his regard for the sacredness of scripture is equally disappointing.
Apart from this, the few chapters that I read of
The Purpose Driven Life did not contain more disagreeable subject matter than do most popular Christian books, and I found nothing in its doctrine that made me recoil in horror, but it was so shallow that it put my feet to sleep up to the knees! I simply couldn't bring myself to waste the amount of time that I calculated it would take me to read the whole thing (I am a slow, but attentive, reader).
I have met a number of Christians who said that the "Forty Days of Purpose" at their church really changed their lives for the better, but these particular people were usually young Christians or Christians about whom I had noticed rather disappointing shallowness in their understanding of the things of God, and who were quite wrapped-up in quasi-Christian psychology, recovery programs, self-esteem or other movements that I see as distractions from (and alternatives to) Christian discipleship. Therefore, the good reports I have heard have not been from people that I would be looking to for spiritual advice generally.
Recently, I have heard a large number of negative reviews of the book, which is what I would probably be inclined to give, were I to write one. However, a lot of these critics are people who are considerably more narrow-minded and less charitable than I prefer to be. They often seem to be hyper-critical of relatively unimportant defects in the book. While I might, or might not, find as much to criticize if I were to read the book myself, these critics do not gain my sympathy to their cause by being overly petty.
One very serious complaint I have heard more than once (not so much about the book itself, but about attending the "Forty Days of Purpose") has been that some people have been kicked out of the groups for actually citing a REAL Bible in the discussion. One lady friend of mine, a life-long missionary, was censured privately by the group leader because she had had the audacity to share the Gospel with unbelievers in the meeting. It is clear that the citations from
The Message are not the only indicator that this book belongs to a movement that has little regard for the Word of God.
Without having read the book, but having read part of it and various reviews of it, I do believe there are better books for the aspiring disciple of Jesus than
The Purpose Driven Life. This book is a product of that widespread "seeker-sensitive" philosophy, that assumes that church life should be tailored to the interests of the lowest spiritual common denominator that can be coaxed into coming through the church doors. My understanding of what the church is has nothing in common with that of this movement. I believe it to be the church's task to provide uncompromised biblical training and discipleship for the committed people of God (that is, the true Christians, who are really the only people that belong in the church meetings anyway).
Seeker-sensitive churches seldom get around to that activity at all, nor (apparently) make it their goal. Their goal seems to be to give enough spiritual pabulum to unregenerate "seekers" to somewhat improve their quality of life and to keep them coming to church and supporting its activities. I'm sure the stated goal of these churches is that these people would eventually "come to Christ," but it does not seem likely that the real Jesus and His uncompromising claims are likely to be encountered through their church meetings.
In the New Testament, evangelism was done in the world, where sinners live. Once they were converted, they belonged in the church, where they were rigorously discipled. I am not prepared to recommend anything associated with the seeker-sensitive movement, because it bears so little in common with Christianity as practiced by the founders. It seeks different results than did Christ and the apostles, so it is no surprise that the results obtained are so different.
That some people may be at the stage in their religious journey where they could be assisted toward Christ by some of the truths in
The Purpose Driven Life, I do not doubt. But for the time invested in reading, there are many books that I would recommend to a person hungering for spiritual reality above this book. [for a partial list, see the follow-up question at
http://www.wvss.com/forumc/viewtopic.php?t=414 ]