So I was flipping through the channels getting ready to go to bed, out here in Altus, OK. I stopped at a broadcast of Joel Osteen's Lakewood Church in Houston. (You probably know where this is going, but I've never really watched him for an extended period of time.) During a thirteen-minute sample (which was about all I could watch), Joel mentioned the Bible a grand total of one time (with the super-specific phrase, "in the Scriptures, Romans says...") The word "God" was mentioned four times. Six times, on the bottom of the screen, there were advertised how to purchase messages, or where next to have "An Evening With Joel," (you can go watch Joel in St. Louis, London, or Manchester, England!) I lost count of the times he said "happy."
Ummm...this is church? I don't want to be overly critical, because I'm sure there are lots of people being changed in Houston (and St. Louis and Manchester!), but I'm sure there are just as many that are like me, that just randomly tuned in. What is Joel telling these people, in not so many words, about the Church? That it's a self-help clinic with a super-cool gold model of the world spinning ever so peacefully behind the speaker? That the goal of Christianity is to be "happy?" That if you accept Jesus as your savior, or if you purchase Joel's latest message, "Don't Allow Critical Voices to Steal Your Dreams," or if you go spend "An Evening With Joel," all your problems will go away? Is he just a motivational speaker?
It may just me being cynical, or maybe it's just late and I need to sleep, but I don't think the Church is about us. I don't think pastors should spend the majority of their time telling us how we can be happy. And maybe they should reference the Bible once in a while. Calvary Chapel does it right, going verse by verse and chapter by chapter for their sermons. There are plenty of ways to make sure your church is rooted in the Bible, and actually referring to and talking about the Bible is a good start.
Maybe my thirteen minute snippet wasn't enough to get a true picture of what Lakewood and Osteen are about. It's probably not a fair evaluation, and I realize that. My point is that with millions of people as your audience, you have to be extremely careful with your message. Maybe we should talk less about us and our happiness and talk more about what God actually says.
4 comments:
every time i seen osteen i think - fluff! you should do a search on youtube of joel osteen. you can get an idea of how shallow his theoloy is.
We talk a lot about the Bible in Seminary (go figure) and we just covered II Cor. and Romans in my NT survey class. One of the issues we covered was suffering and its inevitability. We are called to sacrifice everything to have a relationship with and to serve God. In Romans, Paul is very clear that life with Christ also means death with Christ, which can involve some pretty uncomfortable stuff. It makes me pretty upset when people misrepresent the gospel message. Rich Young Ruler much?
Great post. My Dad used to tell me to watch out for the people who smile too much. He smiles too much. I saw the Larry King interview and came away scratching my head. It's like he's "ashamed of the Gospel."
KING: What if you're Jewish or Muslim, you don't accept Christ at all?
OSTEEN: You know, I'm very careful about saying who would and wouldn't go to heaven. I don't know ...
At this point, even Larry King appears surprised by Osteenís answer. Then Larry tosses Osteen a "soft-ball" to explain his previous answer. And again Osteen openly denies that Jesus Christ is the ONLY way of salvation.
KING: If you believe you have to believe in Christ? They're wrong, aren't they?
OSTEEN: Well, I don't know if I believe they're wrong. I believe here's what the Bible teaches and from the Christian faith this is what I believe. But I just think that only God will judge a person's heart. 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. And I don't know. I've seen their sincerity. So I don't know. I know for me, and what the Bible teaches, I want to have a relationship with Jesus.
Could you please be more wishy washy.
Example of being sincere but wrong:
I really believe that UK will win the NCAA tournament this year.
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