Posted on 09/27/2012 2:54:55 PM PDT by NYer
September 27, 2012 (LifeSiteNews.com) Texas Megachurch Pastor Joel Osteen squirmed under a barrage of question about his beliefs on homosexuality during a discussion on CNNs Talking points with Soledad OBrien last Thursday.
The conversation began as a discussion between Osteen and New Age self-help guru Deepak Chopra about the importance of positive thinking, but then abruptly turned to homosexuality.
Almost every time we have a pastor on, its a conversation we have, CNN host OBrien explained to Osteen.
I always wonder when you say homosexuality is a sin and there’s a bunch of people who clearly are gay who are in your church, she continued. You’re calling them sinners. I mean, that is the opposite of uplifting, I would think.
Well, Soledad, I don’t necessarily focus on that. I only talk about that in the interviews, Osteen replied.
When asked if he thought he had an important voice to lend to the public debate about homosexuality, Osteen answered, I think part of my, if you want to call it success, Ive stayed in my lane and my lane is lifting peoples spirits and there are issues that good, Bible-believing people see on both sides of the fence.
However, when OBrien suggested point blank that Osteen would say Scripture condemns homosexuality as a sin, Osteen responded, exactly.
When I read the scripture, that’s what I believe, that the scripture condemns it or says it’s a sin, Osteen said. It also says, you know, lying it and being prideful is.
Osteen was then asked by panelist and gay rights activist Richard Socarides whether he had chosen to be heterosexual. Osteen replied that he had not, adding, I don’t understand all those issues and so, you know, I try to stick on the issues that I do understand. I know this. I’m for everybody. I’m not for pushing people down.
Osteens performance earned him the ire of Albert Mohler Jr., president of Southern Baptist Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, who wrote that while OBrien had established the perfect platform for Osteen to respond with the gospel of Jesus Christ, Osteen did not.
Viewers of CNN saw a display of confusion, evasion, and equivocation coming from one presented as a Christian pastor, charged Mohler. What they were really seeing is the total theological bankruptcy of the word of faith movement and the gospel of positive thinking.
Osteen cannot, or at least will not, speak even the simplest word of biblical conviction. He states his intention to stay in his lane of glib affirmation.
Thanks, AM. Good description. I've listened to this huckster before, and I get deeper theology from a gum wrapper. I cringe at the thought of some people thinking Osteen's preaching is biblical.
Agreed. I really don't see the attraction. He isn't that charismatic of a speaker either.
What happened to his plastered on smile?
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