Sunday, June 26, 2005

Joel Osteen - Clarified?

Joel has posted a letter to clarify his position on the nature of salvation. I retract my accusation that he holds to heretical theology. However, I still see a problem with the way he handled himself on Larry King. He is trying so hard to not alienate others that he is not preaching a correct gospel. We, as Christians, must be understanding and compassionate towards people of all faiths, but when our fear of offending someone conflicts with the gospel we must offend. The gospel itself is offending, it confronts people with a truth that is many times hard to take. We should not be afraid to offend, because it is not our job to make explanations for God, but rather serve him whole heartily. Joel is not a heretic, but he needs to be careful when he does interviews and even preaches, because Jesus said, "But I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken." Matthew 12:36

3 comments:

dc said...

Gotch, check this out. I was watching CNN or some news channel one night and they were doing a brief deal on the Osteens and their church. They asked him at ne point how he felt about same sex marriages and abortion, to which he replied; "I really dont know. I've never really addressed those issues. I just want to stay postive. There is so much negativity going around. I just want to stay positive." Then when they asked people of his church what they thought about him and they said; "Well, his sermons aren't exactly biblical or scriptural, there just practical. And that's what we love about him." They also showed a clip of his wife preaching at one of their rallies and she doing all that health, wealth, name it and claim it stuff. She said to a packed arena, "I declare that this is the year of God's favor. You will receive full time jobs with full benefits." These quotes here are of course written from memory, but I believe I have got them pretty close to what was actually said. It was interesting too b/c I had spent a lot of time defending the guy to all the legalist haters at my church that like judging succesful people without adeguate info. Then all this stuff broke on TV annd made me look like an idiot. I at least tried to give the guy a chance, bu failing to take a stand on moral issues of this magnitude is pretty hard to defend. God bless.

Wes said...

dc, I've watched his show before on the religous channel. At the beginning of his sermons he has his congregation say some weird mantra about the Bible, then he leaves it open on the podium and never refers to it again. He's not a preacher, he's a motivational speaker, or as some like to refer to it at Porter, a "life coach".

Gothch, I just started reading your blog last week. I enjoy your stuff. I was just talking to Ssuie the other day about how its been for ever since I've seen you. Hope all is well! Later.

dc said...

Even though I'm not an Osteen fan b/c of his failure to take a stance on moral issues, and health, wealth, and prosperity doctrine, I certainly think there is a place for motivational speaking in ministry. I just dont think it is in the pulpit. And further I dont believe motivators should be filling people with false hopes of getting jobs and money. Sure motivate them to be better people and to realize their potential, but this name it and claim it stuff will leave everbody listening living in a van down by the river.