Does It Matter?
2008
February
09
Read Philippians 1:15-18 and then come back here. I’ve talked before about my disdain for Joel Osteen and the messages he presents in his books and from the pulpit. For me they are watered down and make Christianity fake. But after reading this I wonder if it makes a difference.
Does the heart behind the message matter? Does the message even matter as long as Jesus is lifted high?
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Tyler Braun.
I happened upon a feature that 60 Minutes did on Osteen recently—interview, tour of his arena, etc. I am no fan and the sense that I had in what he said made me think of 2 Timothy 4:3—I would agree that it is “Christianity Lite”—nothing “bad/negative” only positive.
BTW, I appreciate being able as a “nonblogger” to be able to post a comment on your new blog now.
I have really enjoyed your posts on The Irresistible Revolution.
Debbie Stewart
thanks for the comment debbie. i want the comments to be as open as possible. the discussion in them is usually better than what i have to say, just as long as they are uplifting to the topic and not detracting. I agree with your sense about Osteen’s church, and I watched that same 60 Minutes special.
I didn’t watch the 60 minutes on Osteen nor do I read his books or listen to him now, but I can say that a large part of why my parents, siblings, and my grandmother became Christians is because of him. We moved to Texas when I was young and my family had never gone to church before that, and everyone invites you to their church in Texas. So we went, and then started watching Osteen on TV to learn more about it, and he encouraged us to take the step to become Christians. And back then, I remembered he used Bible verses a lot in his preaching, maybe that’s changed now from what I saw on your last post about him. And so maybe Osteen is good at bringing non-Christians to Christ and attracting those new to Christianity and just that. I do think he has a good heart though, and he desires people to come to Christ. Sometimes I think, we as Christians need to focus more on what unifies our churches instead of putting each other down. When Christians are unified, it attracts the non-believers. Sorry this is a long post.
Having nothing more than a “plain” reading of the Philippians text to go on, I would say Paul’s words have a spirit of optimism about them. It’s kind of like he’s saying that even if the person preaching about Jesus does so out of selfishness, the power of the gospel transcends that person’s selfishness. In other words, the content is greater than the method used to share the content. But with Joel I think we have to challenge not so much the method or the man’s heart , but more the content. Personally, I don’t care for the method, but I really disagree with the content of his preaching/writing.
All I know is that at the end of every one of his services, he ends it with the sinners prayer and invites people to accept Christ as their Savior. After this, he then encourages them to find a good bible-based church. So maybe he knows his church is more like an outreach then a place to grow in your walk.
I’m with you, Tyler. I did a quick blog on this a while back; you may enjoy the linked story:
http://searosecreative.blogspot.com/2008/01/stand-up-straight-for-gods-sake.html