Joel Osteen and the Gospel
From Good Morning America
Oct. 20, 2005 — Author and televangelist Joel Osteen attributes much of his success to his positive message.Osteen is the senior pastor of Lakewood Church in Houston, which is attended by more than 40,000 people and the services are watched by millions on television. Osteen's father, a Pentecostal preacher, started the Lakewood church with a few dozen members in 1959.
"I think it has to do with the fact that I am positive and I preach a message of hope and encouragement," Osteen said of his success. "I don't believe in beating people down. We believe in making it simple and practical," he added."I think a lot of it is just God's blessings and favor," he said.
Osteen delivers a similar message in his best-selling book, "Your Best Life Now: Seven Steps to Living at Your Full Potential," and his new book "Daily Readings From Your Best Life Now: 90 Devotions for Living at Your Full Potential," which is coming out next week. His new book is a reworking of his first book into 90 bite-sized pieces for daily reading and inspiration.
"I just challenge you to change your attitude," he said. "It's a choice you make. Thank God you're alive and breathing. There are a lot of people in this world that are a lot worse off than all of us." "Just believe that God has a great future for us and life is what we choose to make of it so we have to make the most of it," he added.
Osteen has faced criticism for recently commenting on a cable TV program that non-Christians may not go to heaven. "I'm very careful about saying who would and wouldn't go to heaven," he said on CNN. "I don't know … I spent a lot of time in India with my father. I don't know all about their religion. But I know they love God … I've seen their sincerity. So I don't know."
Osteen has since apologized. "I just don't like to take the approach of just being the judge of who's going to heaven and hell," he said. "I'm here to present the gospel, which is called good news," he added.
Asked about whether Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers' religious faith should be a consideration as the Senate prepares to take up her nomination, Osteen said: "Well, I don't think it should hurt you in any way. To me, having faith gives you character and helps you walk in integrity." "But I think you have to be qualified on all points," he added.
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Here's my take: I am saddened by this because he does not truly present the Gospel: Christ crucified and Christ risen. I have watched his program many times and I commend him for wanting to be practical, but the Gospel is practical without cutting out the essentials. It's more than a smile and calling it "good news". Osteen teaches moralism and self-help, not trusting in transforming power of Christ.
I firmly believe that the Gospel transforms all aspects of our lives, from how we deal with our vocation to marriage problems. The thing is that the Gospel is so powerful that we don't have to water it down in order to help it help people. We can preach on having a good attitude and still have the full brunt of the Gospel without being "mean". We can preach on success without compromising the Gospel.
We can preach on any topic without compromising the Gospel, but here's the thing; when you have Christ centered, Gospel sermons, it offers more help than just a smile. It offers a real solution to the problem of the human condition: Christ. It also shows that our dependence shouldn't be on how well we think, or how great we smile, if we don't get mad when things go wrong, it shows us that there will be times when we're man, when we frown, when we aren't thinking the right thing, but in those times, we don't seek to change ourselves, we run to Christ to change us.
I think the Gospel offers a better solution.
Oct. 20, 2005 — Author and televangelist Joel Osteen attributes much of his success to his positive message.Osteen is the senior pastor of Lakewood Church in Houston, which is attended by more than 40,000 people and the services are watched by millions on television. Osteen's father, a Pentecostal preacher, started the Lakewood church with a few dozen members in 1959.
"I think it has to do with the fact that I am positive and I preach a message of hope and encouragement," Osteen said of his success. "I don't believe in beating people down. We believe in making it simple and practical," he added."I think a lot of it is just God's blessings and favor," he said.
Osteen delivers a similar message in his best-selling book, "Your Best Life Now: Seven Steps to Living at Your Full Potential," and his new book "Daily Readings From Your Best Life Now: 90 Devotions for Living at Your Full Potential," which is coming out next week. His new book is a reworking of his first book into 90 bite-sized pieces for daily reading and inspiration.
"I just challenge you to change your attitude," he said. "It's a choice you make. Thank God you're alive and breathing. There are a lot of people in this world that are a lot worse off than all of us." "Just believe that God has a great future for us and life is what we choose to make of it so we have to make the most of it," he added.
Osteen has faced criticism for recently commenting on a cable TV program that non-Christians may not go to heaven. "I'm very careful about saying who would and wouldn't go to heaven," he said on CNN. "I don't know … I spent a lot of time in India with my father. I don't know all about their religion. But I know they love God … I've seen their sincerity. So I don't know."
Osteen has since apologized. "I just don't like to take the approach of just being the judge of who's going to heaven and hell," he said. "I'm here to present the gospel, which is called good news," he added.
Asked about whether Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers' religious faith should be a consideration as the Senate prepares to take up her nomination, Osteen said: "Well, I don't think it should hurt you in any way. To me, having faith gives you character and helps you walk in integrity." "But I think you have to be qualified on all points," he added.
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Here's my take: I am saddened by this because he does not truly present the Gospel: Christ crucified and Christ risen. I have watched his program many times and I commend him for wanting to be practical, but the Gospel is practical without cutting out the essentials. It's more than a smile and calling it "good news". Osteen teaches moralism and self-help, not trusting in transforming power of Christ.
I firmly believe that the Gospel transforms all aspects of our lives, from how we deal with our vocation to marriage problems. The thing is that the Gospel is so powerful that we don't have to water it down in order to help it help people. We can preach on having a good attitude and still have the full brunt of the Gospel without being "mean". We can preach on success without compromising the Gospel.
We can preach on any topic without compromising the Gospel, but here's the thing; when you have Christ centered, Gospel sermons, it offers more help than just a smile. It offers a real solution to the problem of the human condition: Christ. It also shows that our dependence shouldn't be on how well we think, or how great we smile, if we don't get mad when things go wrong, it shows us that there will be times when we're man, when we frown, when we aren't thinking the right thing, but in those times, we don't seek to change ourselves, we run to Christ to change us.
I think the Gospel offers a better solution.
posted by Bobby's blog at 3:18 PM
2 Comments:
I could not agree with you more. It saddens me deeply that Osteen has been given such an awesome opportunity to further the Gospel of Christ, and rather than use it for the glory of God, he is using it to line his pockets. I pray he wakes up before it is too late.
That's the problem with most of todays churches. A come as you are, feel good, easy believism, that does nothing to change & remove the inner depravity of man known as sin.
Keep the fith,
Brian Snelling
Cincinnati, OH
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