Rick Warren Interview

[ABM]

I thought this was a great interview with Rick Warren. He wrote the Purpose Driven Life.

Some new insights that Rick Warren has, with his wife now having cancer and him having 'wealth' from the book sales. This is a short interview with Rick, 'Purpose Driven Life ' author and pastor of Saddleback Church in California.

In the interview by Paul Bradshaw with Rick Warren, Rick said:

People ask me, What is the purpose of life?

And I respond: In a nutshell, life is preparation for eternity. We were not made to last forever, and God wants us to be with Him in Heaven.

One day my heart is going to stop, and that will be the end of my body-- but not the end of me.

I may live 60 to 100 years on earth, but I am going to spend trillions of years in eternity. This is the warm-up act - the dress rehearsal. God wants us to practice on earth what we will do forever in eternity.

We were made by God and for God, and until you figure that out, life isn't going to make sense.

Life is a series of problems: Either you are in one now, you're just coming out of one, or you're getting ready to go into another one.

The reason for this is that God is more interested in your character than your comfort; God is more interested in making your life holy than He is in making your life happy.

We can be reasonably happy here on earth, but that's not the goal of life. The goal is to grow in character, in Christ likeness.

This past year has been the greatest year of my life but also the toughest, with my wife, Kay, getting cancer.

I used to think that life was hills and valleys - you go through a dark time, then you go to the mountaintop, back and forth. I don't believe that anymore.

Rather than life being hills and valleys, I believe that it's kind of like two rails on a railroad track, and at all times you have something good and something bad in your life.

No matter how good things are in your life, there is always something bad that needs to be worked on.

And no matter how bad things are in your life, there is always something good you can thank God for..

You can focus on your purposes, or you can focus on your problems:

If you focus on your problems, you're going into self-centeredness, which is my problem, my issues, my pain.' But one of the easiest ways to get rid of pain is to get your focus off yourself and onto God and others.

We discovered quickly that in spite of the prayers of hundreds of thousands of people, God was not going to heal Kay or make it easy for her- It has been very difficult for her, and yet God has strengthened her character, given her a ministry of helping other people, given her a testimony, drawn her closer to Him and to people.

You have to learn to deal with both the good and the bad of life.

Actually, sometimes learning to deal with the good is harder. For instance, this past year, all of a sudden, when the book sold 15 million copies, it made me instantly very wealthy..

It also brought a lot of notoriety that I had never had to deal with before. I don't think God gives you money or notoriety for your own ego or for you to live a life of ease..

So I began to ask God what He wanted me to do with this money, notoriety and influence. He gave me two different passages that helped me decide what to do, II Corinthians 9 and Psalm 72.

First, in spite of all the money coming in, we would not change our lifestyle one bit.. We made no major purchases..

Second, about midway through last year, I stopped taking a salary from the church.

Third, we set up foundations to fund an initiative we call The Peace Plan to plant churches, equip leaders, assist the poor, care for the sick, and educate the next generation.

Fourth, I added up all that the church had paid me in the 24 years since I started the church, and I gave it all back. It was liberating to be able to serve God for free.

We need to ask ourselves: Am I going to live for possessions? Popularity?

Am I going to be driven by pressures? Guilt? Bitterness? Materialism? Or am I going to be driven by God's purposes (for my life)?

When I get up in the morning, I sit on the side of my bed and say, God, if I don't get anything else done today, I want to know You more and love You better. God didn't put me on earth just to fulfill a to-do list. He's more interested in what I am than what I do.

That's why we're called human beings, not human doings..

Happy moments, PRAISE GOD.

Difficult moments, SEEK GOD.

Quiet moments, WORSHIP GOD.

Painful moments, TRUST GOD.

Every moment, THANK GOD.

 

[Shooter]

Good stuff. Thanks, ABM.

 

[ABM]

Good stuff. Thanks, ABM.

Rick's got it right, IMHO.

 

[BLAZER PROPHET]

A lot of good things there.

 

[mook]

And I respond: In a nutshell, life is preparation for eternity. We were not made to last forever, and God wants us to be with Him in Heaven.

One day my heart is going to stop, and that will be the end of my body-- but not the end of me.

I may live 60 to 100 years on earth, but I am going to spend trillions of years in eternity. This is the warm-up act - the dress rehearsal. God wants us to practice on earth what we will do forever in eternity.

Seems pretty wacky to me.

Imagine you decide to set up a video game called Existence. Now, in the first 30 seconds to 90 seconds people start the game, everything they do will decide how they will play that game for the next 10,000 years. You fuck it up, and the next 10,000 years you are stuck on fucking Pong, but if you do it right you get to play the most orgasmic game ever created.

Add into that that the vast majority of people who play your game never even get to read the rules, and have no clue that the first 90 seconds matter so much. And many of them have to play on a fucked up computer system because they're broke, while others are trying to play the game right after getting sexually molested, having the crap knocked out of them, etc. Some only get to play the game for 1 or 2 or 5 seconds before they are snuffed out for no damned good reason.

Think you'd get many good reviews on Amazon? I guess you'd be considered a genius by the people who aced the first 90 seconds. They'd extol the virtues of all the orgasmic gaming to no end.

Everybody else would consider you a real asshole. What a dumbass way to run a universe.

 

[crowTrobot]

Happy moments, PRAISE GOD.

Difficult moments, SEEK GOD.

Quiet moments, WORSHIP GOD.

Painful moments, TRUST GOD.

Every moment, THANK GOD

grade A cult speak

 

[crowTrobot]

People ask me, What is the purpose of life?

And I respond: In a nutshell, life is preparation for eternity

this is in a nutshell why fundamentalist religion is dangrous.

 

[Shooter]

this is in a nutshell why fundamentalist religion is dangrous.

So it's "dangerous" to believe in God and heaven, and to model your life on Christian principles???

Yeah, sounds extremely dangerous, alright. We better enact some kind of federal legislation to outlaw these radical Christians who pose such a threat to our society!!!!

 

[RR7]

Seems pretty wacky to me.

Imagine you decide to set up a video game called Existence. Now, in the first 30 seconds to 90 seconds people start the game, everything they do will decide how they will play that game for the next 10,000 years. You fuck it up, and the next 10,000 years you are stuck on fucking Pong, but if you do it right you get to play the most orgasmic game ever created.

Add into that that the vast majority of people who play your game never even get to read the rules, and have no clue that the first 90 seconds matter so much. And many of them have to play on a fucked up computer system because they're broke, while others are trying to play the game right after getting sexually molested, having the crap knocked out of them, etc. Some only get to play the game for 1 or 2 or 5 seconds before they are snuffed out for no damned good reason.

Think you'd get many good reviews on Amazon? I guess you'd be considered a genius by the people who aced the first 90 seconds. They'd extol the virtues of all the orgasmic gaming to no end.

Everybody else would consider you a real asshole. What a dumbass way to run a universe.

 

[BLAZER PROPHET]

this is in a nutshell why fundamentalist religion is dangrous.

How so?

Since the existance of God is proven, the prophecy of scripture 100% proven (thus far), documented miracles (mostly from the "biblical times"), documented proof of the life of Christ... is all proven, what makes religion so dangerous. Because a few frauds "use" religion for their personal gain and perversities? I see far more in every avenue of life- it's human nature.

But seriously, I'd like your thoughts on the danger of religion.

Are you speaking of fundamental Islamics? The ones who murder for the sake of murder (to the point they murder other Islamics) and supress women? Well, we see similar things in all aspects of life.

 

[RR7]

How so?

Since the existance of God is proven, the prophecy of scripture 100% proven (thus far), documented miracles (mostly from the "biblical times"), documented proof of the life of Christ... is all proven, what makes religion so dangerous.

Uh, what?

 

[Minstrel]

Since the existance of God is proven, the prophecy of scripture 100% proven (thus far), documented miracles (mostly from the "biblical times"), documented proof of the life of Christ... is all proven

Sarcasm ftw?