say what?

I was attempting to read the book, The Purpose-Driven Life by Rick Warren to give me some possible insights on life and maybe learn a lesson or two. I was just skimming the first chapter when I decided to put down the book. It was a disappointment. One look and I figured, this author is probably one of those bible-thumping kind. I'm afraid me & Rick Warren have totally different points of view.

Reading the first few lines from the book and I already disagree with him. Rick Warren mentions that to find the purpose of life, one should not look within himself. He said it's a wrong starting point. He says further that one must begin with God, since we were born by His purpose and for His purpose. Browsing through the other chapters, I found out that every tenet the author has is about God. How do you start? By turning to God. How do you cope? By turning to God, and so forth and so on. True in some sense maybe, but that's just the theological & philosophical way of seeing it. But how exactly do you start? What exactly do you do? One has to be realistic enough to tackle life's problems. Let's face it, prayer is not everything. To some it might help, but it's just the way of saying you can't do anything about it anymore since it's really up to God.

Ever remember the saying, "God helps those who help themselves"? Why don't people just start taking some actions & solving their problems by taking steps towards their goals instead of waiting for some kind of divine intervention? Prayer is tantamount to doing nothing, just waiting for a miracle of some sort. You will not be able to solve any dilemmas you have if you just wait for your prayers to be answered. I'm sure God doesn't want you to depend on Him all the time. You have to do your part. Don't get me wrong, I might be biased since I haven't really read the entire book but it usually turns me off whenever people start "preaching"-- for lack of a better word. The author sounded very self-righteous. That ticks me off. I'm sure I'm gonna piss off a lot of people here. I do not pretend to be wholly religious. I would rather be spiritual than religious. One doesn't have to attend mass or to say the Holy Rosary religiously to be called a true Christian.

For most people, this book might be heaven sent. This might be what they've been looking for. This book might have save them from total destruction. I'm sure a lot of people are inspired by this book, and to be fair, some lines in the book really makes sense. It's just that I find the approach outdated & old-fashioned. The author had total disregard on other self-help books, arguing that tenets in most of these books are wrong. Now, if one would look closely, I think this author is just promoting his book, encouraging people to buy it & just disregard the others. Hmmm... (kaching, kaching!)

My idea of searching for the meaning-- or purpose of life, for that matter is by turning exactly within ourselves. Exploring our wants & needs, analysing our fears, knowing our goals, dissecting the right approach to life. That sort of thing. One can not expect to be truly whole if one doesn't improve himself. How can you even think of spreading love or the word of God if you feel so rotten inside? Naturally, it has to start within your heart before you can face the world.