[tigerstar]

Although I don't agree with most of his advice (and therefore don't remember most of what I read), I do remember feeling really encouraged to pay off the remainder of my debt (student loans) and save up as much as I could for a larger house down payment. I wouldn't be able to go the 15-year route, but I would want to pay off the mortgage in less than 30.

His advice really is centered around the emotional part of debt, not, as pointed out earlier in the thread, on the practical. Of course we know it makes financial sense to pay off the debts with the larger interest rates first. But not many people have what it takes emotionally to do what makes the most common sense. Emotionally, some financially unstable people might like to see the number of credit cards go down faster instead of the balance on their highest-rate debt. They find it encouraging to say "I've paid off X of my (many) debts". I'm still trying to convince my mom to put any extra money towards her CC debt, instead of sticking it in the bank. Emotionally, she'd like to see, say, $5000 in her bankbook, even though it'll only make less than 1% interest, than pay off her CCs at 5-10% percent interest. She finds it encouraging to say "I have some money in the bank" (I did talk mom down to $1000, which she reached last month...now the extra $$ can go to CCs)

Also, since Dave's advice is focused on the emotional rather than the financially sound, as a Christian author, bringing God into the picture makes sense. If he were a believer of any other religion, I'd expect him to try to offer comfort to his fellow followers of that religion as well.