Joel Osteen / Week 7

Last Sunday 60 Minutes did a feature on pastor and ubiquitous media presence, Joel Osteen. It was the same run-of-the-mill take on the man that seems to cause so much dissension within the church. 60 Minutes showed him as a likable, charming speaker with a positive, uplifting message of hope and optimism amidst a world where such an attitude is less than prevalent. Then they showed a Christian scholar who claimed Osteen's message is "cotton candy religion" and that it really didn't help people as much as they might think it does.

As I watched his interview, it was hard for me to see him in the negative light that the scholar does and I once did. He does bring in thousands of lost, seeking people into his church every week, and millions of others through his television broadcasts and books. He seemed genuine and humbled by the fact that God is using him to help people, especially when he broke down reflecting on that very thought. And the answers to the interviewer's harder-hitting questions seemed to make sense. When asked why he doesn't use scripture as much as other pastors, and why he doesn't focus on sin, which are two big reasons why a lot of other Christians and scholars tend to find fault with him, he calmly answered that he didn't feel like that was his gift. He feels that his gift is giving positive words to those who need encouragement and ways to improve their life by improving relationships with other people, excepting the "place where they are," and having an optimistic way of looking at situations, not beating them down with what they do wrong, like much of the rest of the world does every day. He called them "simple" themes and concepts meant to improve life.

It makes sense to me, I thought. He is doing good things. He is helping people.

Then on Monday something happened I wasn't expecting. I was listening to ESPN Radio while at work when host Colin Cowherd brought up the very same 60 Minutes story. He was on the topic of the world being very cynical and referred to Joel Osteen's feature from the night before. He described Osteen as a guy who is trying to be positive in a world where children are watching death and smut on television everyday from a young age. Then he brought up the religious scholar who made the "cotton candy" statement. Cowherd then explained that he was not a religious person, that he did not go to church, but that Osteen was the only preacher he would watch on TV. He said that all other TV preachers seemed "fake" and greedy, but Osteen seemed like a real person who actually cared. And then he exclaimed that he didn't know why why so many scholars and pastors had anything bad to say about Osteen. He stated "So what," if Osteen doesn't use scripture. "Whatever gets them in the tent," he said. And then he explained that at the end of every message Osteen says for all his viewers and listeners to attend a Bible-believing church, which Cowherd interpreted as, "He doesn't say Christian, he doesn't say Jewish, he just says Bible."

After hearing Cowherd's view of Osteen, it forced me to revisit three big questions I thought I had had answered the night before:

1) What is his overall message and what is his audience hearing?

According to Cowherd it's that the Bible isn't that important. Not important enough to use it as the foundation for life. Osteen states that his new book, Become A Better You, uses scripture to "back up" his advice, not as a basis for it.

2) Are they also hearing that we can do it on our own?

Isn't the whole point of turning your life over to God that we realize that we cannot do anything on our own? Every attempt of becoming a better person, a righteous person who loves everyone as we love ourselves, using our own resources is in vain. We need Him, in the worst way imaginable.

3) Where does Jesus come into play?

As far as I know, from what I heard in the interview, He doesn't. Osteen never mentioned Jesus, his church doesn't have any crosses or banners proclaiming "Jesus Is Lord" or anything like that. I'm not saying that iconic representations of Jesus are absolutely necessary, but if his viewers never see the name Jesus or anything associated with His act of atonement, or better yet, hear the name Jesus, where are they going to get it? And how do you miss Jesus if you claim to be a preacher of the Good News?

Although Joel Osteen may be helping people have a more positive outlook on life and giving advice for improving relationships with others, I really don't see how that differs from your basic self-help guru, except for the fact that he sprinkles in "God" every once and awhile.

I think he tries to do good, I think he is genuine, and maybe his sermons and books improve peoples' lives to some degree, but only to the limit that we can go on our own, which is not very far at all.

He reminds me of Oprah. Both are media megastars with a big following who preaches an empty spirituality about doing good deeds and positive attitudes. This is all well and good, but I believe God would say, not good enough. Sure, he gets them in the tent, but the biggest question is what are they really leaving with?

Week 7 NFL Picks:

Last Week: 7-6

Overall: 42-31

Baltimore over BUFFALO

NY GIANTS over Niners

New England over MIAMI

Tennessee over HOUSTON

Tampa Bay over DETROIT

NEW ORLEANS over Atlanta

WASHINGTON over Arizona

OAKLAND over Kansas City

CINCINNATI over NY Jets

DALLAS over Minnesota

Chicago over PHILLY

SEATTLE over St. Louis

Pittsburgh over DENVER

Game of the Week:

INDY over Jacksonville