Posted on 08/01/2009 9:11:08 PM PDT by prasiolite
I grew up as and am a Catholic and I don’t believe I have ever been in a Catholic Church that does not have a cross prominently displayed. I thought that many Protestant churches do not display the cross?
Other than that, although Osteen is Christianity-lite, he does encourage those in attendance to read the Scripture. I’m sure there are many who do come to know Christ in that simple act alone. If Osteen led them to do that, then he deserves credit for doing so.
If Osteen leads people to Christ, he does deserve credit for that. I guess we’ll have to take it on faith that he does. :)
I knew of someone who opened the Bible and changed her life, the preacher who helped her to do that was someone just as questionable as Osteen.
Lightin’ up, Tex. LOL!
A “euphemistic remark to a bodily function”...let me guess who.
The...”ignorance of scripture is ignorance of Christ and if you are interpreting it, you really ought to be able to read it in the original language.”
Well, I'll somewhat agree there. But still, there are many who can read scripture in the original Greek, and still remain...lost.
So? Besides parsiolite is a female who loves Jesus. Paranoia will destroya.
Is there a rule that a newbie can't post a vanity thread? Deal with the issue and don't make it personal.
I don’t know that I’ve ever heard Osteen say anything about that Mercedes or BMW or whatever. I have, however, heard him try to apply the Gospel to our everyday lives — to be a success not only monetarily (or even necessarily monetarily), but in all aspects of our lives.
When I was growing up, religion consisted of a bunch of sayings with a few “thees” and “thous” thrown in. Really very hard to relate to it all. Osteen I think makes it all much clearer and practical for our everyday lives.
As far as the monetary gains Osteen has achieved, well, I think that just about every tv preacher has done the same. And I don’t think Osteen has ever held himself out to be perfect. Let’s face it — all of us and that includes tv and non-tv preachers — have sinned at one time or another in our lives. We are not perfect; we are not without sin. As far as I know, the only one who is sinless is God. We do our best; we strive to be good, but we’re not going to be 100% perfect. The point is to strive for goodness, and hopefully, when the time comes to meet our Maker, He will look over our record and decide that our good deeds and words outweigh the sins we have committed.
But...I have to also say that religion is a personal thing. You can follow Osteen or any of a number of preachers on tv, or the ones in your neighborhood, or don’t follow any of them. As long as we still have freedom of religion in this country (and we are in danger of losing that), we should follow whatever faith works for us in our daily and spiritual lives.
If all power belongs to God- and that those who obey are promised prosperity- then Osteen must be doing something that the Lord finds useful.
Osteen isn’t fire and brimstone, but isn’t there a saying in the Gospel about ‘those who are not against me are for me’.
A Christian pastor who never mentions "sin" is not preaching the gospel. IMHO Osteen is NOT a "Christian pastor." He is nothing more than a motivational speaker.
Welcome to FR. You’ve posted what I’ve been thinking for a long time.
Don’t get discouraged by some of the responses.
You might be right.
It would be refreshing to see the[se] charismatic/enthusiastic preachers back up their messages, which SHOULD have real-life applications (but that is a baby-food vs. meat-and-potatoes issue moreso), with the scripture.
For example the death penalty (specifically for murderers), God endorses it right after the flood giving the rationale that “man was made in God’s image.”
That cannot be overstated in my opinion with regards to some issues, like abortion. We have to realize that this assumption is no longer axiomatic in disturbingly large segments of this society.
Osteen’s approach is pure salesmanship—it doesn’t appeal to me but I have no problems with him drawing in some self absorbed yuppies and teaching them a little something about Christ. Whatever they learn can’t hurt.
Joel Osteen is as fake as his smile. Rick Warren is as dirty as his goattee.
He’s too busy smiling.
Do not use potty language - or references to potty language - on the Religion Forum.
From my memory, John Osteen(Joel's father) became a preacher when he was 18 and had children. When his daughter was born with cerebral palsy, John went into an extended reflection on life, the Bible, and healing.
In this time he gained a new insight. He realized the Bible is a profoundly positive message, and that traditional teaching was focused too much on sin, guilt, etc...
He brought back the new message to his church, and the parish mostly hated it. He left and formed Lakewood, in the stockroom of a hardware store.
Joel is open that his theology is not perfect. But the positivity characteristic of his messages are to me, what the “good news” is of the Bible.
Personally, I attend Catholic church weekly, but also believe a more inspiring message would help swell our numbers in attendance. Our priest was removed last year for being found guilty of homosexual abuse when he was a teenager. IMO this entire mess lays at the feet of the Catholic Church.
In the end, the true message and power of the Bible is what we are after. Different perspectives on it grow my understanding. To get more specific, the fruit of the Holy Spirit is Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Gentleness, Faithfulness, and Self Discipline. It is not Love, sin, guilt, unworthiness...
Where did you get this idea?
Really? Is there?
**Personally, I attend Catholic church weekly, but also believe a more inspiring message would help swell our numbers in attendance. **
I pray that you get a new pastor who fulfills your needs. We also need to be keenly aware that we are sinful, and thus must go to Confession frequently (if we don’t want to end up in hell or in Purgatory.)
PS. Hopefully you attend church on Holy Day Feasts of Obigation too.
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