"A shallow gospel presentation that doesn't present the reality of eternal judgement, the reality of the Law of God, the reality of condemnation, eternal hell, does not warn of God's wrath, that does not crush the sinner under the weight of his violation of the Law of God, that does not make him stand before God guilty.
The gospel presentation that doesn't do that isn't a faithful gospel presentation. And then to tell somebody, "Welcome to the family," as if you knew. This is fantasy." John MacArthur
As you can see from the video, Pastor Rick Warren takes sort of a beating. Let me be clear about this. I do not believe that Pastor Warren is particularly a horrible person and I believe that he genuinely believes that he is doing a great service to the Christian community. While I applaud his efforts within society in regards to his social campaigns, we cannot overlook the damage that his best selling book has done within our churches and to Christians and to the lost.
I, like some of you, went through this class and read this book many years ago. I thought because my church was promoting it that it must be good. I vividly remember getting to the end of the book and thinking something was wrong. I can also tell you that as I write this today I can honestly tell you that when I read the book, I only thought I was a Christian. Reading this book only made me continue to feel comfort in an un-repentant, sinful, evil spirited person that I was. I needed one thing when I read that book many years ago. I needed the Gospel.
Instead, I got a soft message from a very popular book and a lot of church people telling me how solid and great it was. The Purpose Driven Life certainly wasn't the first bad book and it isn't the last but it is one that I will always remember because at a time that I was headed to hell. The last thing I needed was The Purpose Driven Life. I needed The Gospel.
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As a member of Saddleback Church for several years, I can attest to the truth of this post. Rick does not talk about sin, repentance or judgment. He presents Jesus as one who died for our sins, and by believing in Him and accepting Him, you will be saved. This is Rick’s constant message. My fear, and the reason I decided to leave Saddleback Church, is that members of that church believe they are saved without ever confessing their sin, and repenting. In fact, I am sure many continue to live in unrepentant sin but believe they are saved. There is no “fear” of God in Saddleback Church, and thus wisdom has not begun.
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