Rick Warren Quotes
Through salvation our past has been forgiven, our present is given meaning, and out future is secured.
Warren, Rick. The Purpose Driven Life: What on Earth Am I Here For?. Zondervan, 2002.
Much of the Catholic Church was greatly influenced by Aquinas long past his death. This quotation laid the foundation for the view, that anything the Church does, even if seemingly wrong or absurd, has some positive value. Here, Aquinas refused to totally condemn the Church practice of giving indulgences (official absolution for serious sins) to the rich in exchange for money. His view assumes that there must be some good in all acts of the church, even if we can not now determine it. This view makes reform very difficult even after the evil is recognized. Some theologians argue that although this perpetuates some bad practices, it provides stability and prevents leaders of the church from constantly trying to adapt the church to meet current popular or civil criticism.
Richard Duane Warren is an American Baptist evangelical Christian pastor and author. He is the founder and senior pastor of Saddleback Church, an evangelical megachurch affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention in Lake Forest, California, which is the sixth-largest megachurch in the United States (including multi-site churches). His books include his guide to church ministry and evangelism, The Purpose Driven Church, which has spawned a series of conferences on Christian ministry and evangelism. His subsequent book, The Purpose Driven Life, has sold more than 30 million copies, making Warren a 'New York Times' bestselling author.