Joel Osteen - PhillyBlog

SouthPhillyLady · #1 (**permalink**) 05-21-2008, 10:58 PM

Just curious...but what are your opinions regarding his ministry?

Phillycatlady · #2 (**permalink**) 05-23-2008, 01:54 PM

Something about the guy just bothers me. He reminds me of a slick used car salesman or something. I get really turned off by a church that is a stadium and has a store in the lobby.

Mars · #3 (**permalink**) 05-23-2008, 02:20 PM

Some notable quotes...

“For such people do not serve our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly, and through smooth speech and flattering, they deceive the hearts of the innocent”. Romans 16:18

"Christianity began as a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. When it went to Athens, it became a philosophy. When it went to Rome, it became an organization. When it went to Europe, it became a culture. When it came to America, it became a business."

Hozeramma · #4 (**permalink**) 05-23-2008, 03:25 PM

IMO, he is a self-help motivational speaker wrapped around a master at direct response marketing.

Yeah he may hold a bible, and quote from it, but he preaches surounded by his branding, and not a cross.

If he has been anointed by anything, its first and foremost, his marketing ability. He is just as successful getting people to buy into his ministry, the same way Ron Popeil motivated people to buy his gadgets. I'm sure that those that follow his ministry are just as pleased as those who baught Ronco's Showtime Rotisserie. The key being, it looks good, it feel right, and you are better off.

geoffrobinson · #5 (**permalink**) 05-27-2008, 11:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SouthPhillyLady

Just curious...but what are your opinions regarding his ministry?

He's pretty much Oprah with more spiritual language thrown in. It is pretty much positive thinking self-help stuff. His father was big in the Word of Faith movement, so that makes sense.

He's kind of Word of Faith meets pop psychology and warm fuzzies.

LoverofPhilly · #6 (**permalink**) 05-31-2008, 10:31 AM

I enjoy Joel Olsteen. I do catch his broadcast from time to time. One night I was watching him and his wife on Larry King, and I felt that they were sincere.

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/bes...ef=videosearch

I don't see him as a phony or a "used car salesman", but a man who is preaching the Word of God.

Unfortunately, I think people view all pastors on tv with huge congregations as slicksters, greedy, and not humble. I really disagree. I believe that their are genuine Christian Pastors in this world who are not for profit.

It really calls for one to have their own relationship with God to know what is not biblical and what is sound, accurate doctrine.

So..if you haven't developed your own relationship with Jesus Christ, PLEASE DO SO (Romans 10:9,10). Having a close intimate, personal relationship with God will help you to discern what is accurate and what is a load of bologna.

1546 · #7 (**permalink**) 05-31-2008, 12:51 PM

He's a salesperson and instead of 1/2 off sales, buy one get one free, he uses religion to motivate.

LoverofPhilly · #8 (**permalink**) 05-31-2008, 12:58 PM

Funny Elvis

datgirl78 · #9 (**permalink**) 05-31-2008, 10:00 PM

I like Joel Osteen. IMO he is very genuine.

peacemover · #10 (**permalink**) 06-01-2008, 10:36 PM

Joel Osteen's whole shtick is what is known to many as "prosperity gospel." In other words, if you live a good life (and buy my books

)you will be prosperous (and eventually rich).

There was a very thoughtful, well-written article on this phenomena that was a cover story in Time magazine about 18 months ago:

Does God Want You to Be Rich?

Here are a few choice quotes from the article:

Quote:

"Prosperity" first blazed to public attention as the driveshaft in the moneymaking machine that was 1980s televangelism and faded from mainstream view with the Jim Bakker and Jimmy Swaggart scandals. But now, after some key modifications (which have inspired some to redub it Prosperity Lite), it has not only recovered but is booming. Of the four biggest megachurches in the country, three--Osteen's Lakewood in Houston; T.D. Jakes' Potter's House in south Dallas; and Creflo Dollar's World Changers near Atlanta--are Prosperity or Prosperity Lite pulpits (although Jakes' ministry has many more facets). While they don't exclusively teach that God's riches want to be in believers' wallets, it is a key part of their doctrine.

. . .

Quote:

But there are many more illustrations of how the Prosperity doctrine has produced personal gain, most memorably, perhaps, for the Osteen family: how Victoria's "speaking words of faith and victory" eventually brought the couple their dream house; how Joel discerned God's favor in being bumped from economy to business class.

. . .

Quote:

Most unnerving for Osteen's critics is the suspicion that they are fighting not just one idiosyncratic misreading of the gospel but something more daunting: the latest lurch in Protestantism's ongoing descent into full-blown American materialism.

. . .

Quote:

Non-prosperity parties from both conservative and more progressive evangelical camps recently have been trying to reverse the trend. Eastern University professor Ron Sider's book Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger, a fringe classic after its publication in 1977, is selling far more copies now, and some young people are even acting on its rather radical prescriptions: a sprinkling of Protestant groups known loosely as the New Monastics [including Shane Claiborne and others] is experimenting with the kind of communal living among the poor that had previously been the province of Catholic orders. Jim Wallis, longtime leader of one such community in Washington and the editor of Sojourners magazine, has achieved immense exposure lately with his pleas that Evangelicals engage in more political activism on behalf of the poor.