I've watched Joel Osteen on TV, off and on, for about three years. His preaching style is unique -- a positive, constructive message for his congregation. He's been criticized for preaching a health and wealth gospel and a Norman Vincent Peale-style feel-good message devoid of any emphasis on sin and repentance. A few samples:
The Narrow wrote:
More than 30,000 parishioners attend the Lakewood Church in Houston, the largest in the country, where Osteen Pastors. Not too hard to do when you appeal to people's pocketbooks. Preaching from the pulpit all the reasons you could and should be rich and healthy because you are a follower of Christ. Sure, this is a popular and inviting message to people. Only problem is, this isn't rooted in scripture. Guys like Osteen and Jakes are masters of taking scripture out of context.
Dulcis Ex Asperis wrote:
The problem with Mr. Osteen's teaching is not so much that he doesn't preach the Gospel as he instrumentalizes God. And he isn't the first one. There is a significant stream of Christian tradition that runs up through much of modern-day evangelicalism that does exactly this. Jesus is offered as a cure for all the ills of mankind. Is your marriage in shambles? Well, just give your life to Jesus' and He'll fix everything. Are you wasting away from cancer? Pray harder to Jesus and He'll heal you.
Internet Monk wrote:
What happened? Joel makes a remarkable shift away from his father's style of more traditional Pentecostal/Charismatic preaching. He becomes a positive thinker- Peale and Schuller style. A preacher of "think positive and be blessed" principles. Prosperity preaching, but not with some tangled version of the Gospel at the center like so many on TBN (take Kenneth Copeland as an example.) It's "have a better attitude and be blessed" motivational talks that have no relation to the essentials of the Christian Gospel. You rarely hear any theology or Gospel preaching. God is good and wants to bless you. Period. That's it. Instead, Osteen's messages are about "God's Favor" on marriage, finances and career. Sin is never mentioned. In well over 25 hours of preaching that I listened to this year, Jesus was almost never mentioned, and when he was mentioned, it was in a perfunctory prayer in the last minute. Sin, the Cross, the atonement? Not there.
Now I've been critical of the emasculating, feel-good Christianity so vigorously refuted by John Eldredge, but I think that it is a misdiagnosis of Joel Osteen's preaching. I would argue that Osteen's preaching is incomplete, not incorrect. He doesn't often speak on the moral depravity of man and God's grace of salvation through the atoning work of His son, and these are basic tenets of Christian theology that need to be espoused. It could be credibly argued that he does not root his sermons firmly in the Bible. Points taken.
But despite my visceral loathing of pop psychology, mixed with Christianity or left in its pure state, when I watch Osteen, I see so much good being done. He preaches about a loving God, about personal responsibility, and about the hope for each individual in every situation can find in God. It's a stretch to call him a Health and Wealth preacher. I haven't seen him go that far, and I think that his critics on this front are just projecting their fears of successful, popular Christian leaders. If I'm wrong, show me quotes from Osteen's preaching or writing to support the claim that he is a Health and Wealth Gospel preacher. Anyway, sometimes criticism of Health and Wealth seems to go to the extreme of denying that God works miracles in peoples' lives. That is what Osteen preaches, and before his critics take him on on this issue, they might want to skim through the Gospels again and make sure that their views are Biblically supported.
If some Christians get all of their Biblical instruction from Osteen, then they are deprived of important information that they need to know. It would certainly be a shame if his congregants lack a Bible study group or never hear a preacher of the fire-and-brimstone variety. But for Christians who are active in a church that makes man's depravity and God's grace clear, what harm can be found in hearing, on a weekly basis from Osteen's pulpit, that God loves us?
On a side note, I've noticed that at my church, it is the elderly who are the biggest fans of Joel Osteen -- which is not what one would expect of a pop Christian author and speaker.
Monday, February 28, 2005
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6 comments:
Thank you for this post; my mother's been into Osteen recently and I'd more or less had nothing to work with in terms of opinion regarding him.
I appreciate your coverage of this.
I've never heard Joel Osteen preach for any length of time. On the other hand, my impression of his ministry (which is admittedly an entirely surface impression) is that it is all about Joel Osteen. Big smiling pictures of him on his books, etc. When I look at his stuff, I don't see Jesus, I see Joel. I don't think that is necessarily healthy in the long run.
You have a very good point. If a church is all about a pastor -- I think that it's sometimes called a 'personality-driven' church -- then it's not staying Christ-centered. If Osteen really wants to elevate Christ and not himself, then he would avoid a fandom-type popuarlity.
The greatest preacher that I have ever heard is at a Baptist church about a two hundred yards from my home. Yet he is the most humble and self-effacing man you could meet.
Interesting analysis. I haven't dug into the whole Osteen controversy too deeply, but in principle I wonder aloud, "Is preaching half the Gospel really preaching the Gospel at all?"
Thanks for the comment, Byron. For the purpose of debate, would you define "Health and Wealth gospel", as you see it?
I am in seminary, and someone who was both "saved" and helped greatly by the practical spiritual teachings of Osteen. Jesus says "you can judge a tree by the fruit that it bears", and it is difficult to argue that he has not affected MASSIVE amounts of positive change for many people.
The devil wouldn't go about casting out his own demons, lest his own house fall. Even after 2 yrs. at a prestigous (and difficult) seminary, being eductaed in theology and homiletics, I fail to see any real problem with his messages.
Furthermore, it should be said that the lack of *actual* understanding and knowledge of what Osteen says/preaches by people posting here/speaking elsewhere betrays they fact that these opinion are not informed by anything other than..frankly..their opinion.
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