Yet even more on The Purpose Driven Life...

In his December 28, 2003 radio show, Greg Koukl, from Stand to Reason, describes the first video in Rick Warren's Purpose Driven Life series. The tape series is designed to be shown in homes in which, presumably, non-Christians have been invited as part of the outreach of 40 Days of Purpose. Greg's issue with the tape is that it appears to water-down the Gospel. There is no offense, no presentation of the reason why we need the atonement of Christ, namely - that we SIN. Greg reads, verbatim, the prayer that Pastor Warren leads the listeners through. It's a good prayer, as Greg says, but its geared for believers - kind of along the lines of "lead me onward towards my God given purpose." The problem is that, after the prayer is finished, Warren welcomes those who prayed it into the kingdom of God. Yet there was no mention of sin, no mention of repentance, indeed, no Gospel message presented whatsoever. Listen for yourself at this link. It's a 2 hour show, but Greg hits this issue in the first 15 minutes. Is this important? I think so. It is indicative, to me, of a growing trend in the Church to tone down Christianity's message so as not to offend any non-Christians to the point of their turning away from the message. But where is the logic in that? Change the message so they'll accept the message? What message? That we have Purpose or that we need a Savior? This thinking seems to permeate our Western mentality in Church Growth movements such as "Seeker-Sensitive," or "Emergent Church." Granted, the motives are sincere - the desire to reach the unsaved; but at what point have we altered the Gospel to the point where it is no longer The Gospel?