Posted on 09/03/2014 11:48:13 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
The wife of famed televangelist Joel Osteen said something stupid the other day — so stupid there's now a YouTube meme about it, featuring Bill Cosby saying, "That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard in my life."
In the original clip, Victoria Osteen says: "I just want to encourage every one of us to realize when we obey God, we're not doing it for God — I mean, that's one way to look at it. We're doing it for ourselves, because God takes pleasure when we're happy." Osteen continues: "So I want you to know this morning: Just do good for your own self. Do good because God wants you to be happy. When you come to church, when you worship Him, you're not doing it for God really. You're doing it for yourself, because that's what makes God happy. Amen?"
CLICK ABOVE LINK FOR THE VIDEO...
For Christian believers, this borders on idolatry. The notion here is that we are putting ourselves — our happiness — at the center of everything, and creating a sort of self-help God to serve our needs. What could be more un-Christian than that?
But look, let's be honest — it's not just this one statement that has turned so many Christians against the Osteens. This is merely the latest excuse to attack their brand of theology, which is often derided as the "prosperity gospel," and which is seen by the Christian cognoscenti as garish, a racket, and/or outright blasphemous.
But it's more complicated than all that. It would be a mistake to say the gospel is solely about sacrifice and persecution — just as it would be be a mistake to say it's all about blessings and being shown favor. It's both.
(Excerpt) Read more at theweek.com ...
“So I want you to know this morning: Just do good for your own self. Do good because God wants you to be happy. When you come to church, when you worship Him, you’re not doing it for God really. You’re doing it for yourself, because that’s what makes God happy. Amen?”
God is our heavenly father. And if you look at the things he tells us to do, it IS because we will live better lives because of it. That is why your earthly parents tell you what to do (when they are being their best, anyway). Heck, that is what Proverbs is all about. It is the first “Self help” book. Don’t sleep around. Don’t hang out with thieves. Don’t spend your life in a drunken stupor. It’s all in there.
But I might have said something like, Obey God because you love and fear Him. But know this: God’s will is that you obey Him, and your life will be blessed for it. The man who obeys God is far more joyous than the man who does not obey God.
Well said.
Ditto that.
Pretty much says it all.
the article sort of gets at some of that. your post is good; the article is also good. VO’s over-emphasis is too overdone...but the fact that they succeed in this regard shows that they are “on to something”. Not the fullness of truth, but a partial truth which needs flushing out....in any event, I thought this was a good article.
Well said indeed. One of life’s supreme ironies is that living a self-centered life where your goal is to satisfy your base desires for money or fame or sex leads to misery, but a life of “doing the right thing”, selflessness, service to others and humility leads to immense happiness. And that isn’t just a belief or something a preacher tells you, it comes from experience.
In one sense, its OK to talk about the joy and happiness that God wants for us. But when that moves into “pray and God will give you money,” it turns me off. I remember Osteen talking once about praying to find a parking space close to the mall entrance and saying it worked. That’s just plain silly.
The reward for civil righteousness is temporal. The reward for perfect righteousness is eternal and comes only through faith in the crucified and risen Christ. It is the latter with which the Church is predominantly concerned, for if one has the latter, he is well on the way to doing the former without gladly, without reserve, yet subject to persecution because the evil one and his followers are intent on neither temporal nor eternal righteousness.
“Whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.” - Matt. 16:25
During Lent a few years ago a well meaning Catholic friend of mine gave me Osteen’s Daily Readings. AT the time I was reading Billy Grahams Daily Readings along with some especially for Lent. I think you all get the picture.
I started Osteen’s book. What was blatantly clear that the word Jesus was carefully omitted from the book. I returned it with a kind note, so maybe there may have been a reference or two to Jesus, but I didn’t readily find any. Only this “feel good” be positive, “Golden sun beams are streaming down on all of us who believe in God etc.”
Compare this with Billy Graham. Every page. Every page has a message that clearly states being a Christian is a challenge. It’s not something easy.
I then saw the two of them on some TV interview. They easily skirted the tough questions.
In short, another example of your feel good TV ministry, that cops out.
I was taught that God’s will is that we find a saving faith in His Son so that we may be drawn to Him and not perish. Obedience follows.
To obey, we must first utilize the free will we have been given to make a conscious choice.
As for Mrs. Osteen, if it’s all about us, why bother to worship?
It’s the fearing God part that the Osteens obviously fail at. Miserably. They fear man and man’s approval more than they fear God and God’s approval. All you have to do is watch them squirm whenever the left’s unholy love for abortion and homosexuality is brought up.
I would never dare criticize learned theologians such as Victoria Osteen. Her education speaks for itself, and her erudite biblical exegeses have obviously won many converts to the gospel. Reverend Osteen courageously teaches the difficult mysteries of faith, even when such truths are bitter or unpopular.
The author is seeking to use the Old Testament as the basis for much of his argument. However, that upon which he relies does not pertain to today. Much of the Old Testament and all of the New Testament are the guides for Christian life. Yet the author chose to pick and choose from the Old Testament to support a false premise.
Wasn’t this philosophy kinda put out there by Ayn Rand? She was not a believer in any sort of God, but didn’t hate religion because of, well, what Mrs. Osteen said here? Didn’t Ayn say we did ‘good’ things because it made us feel better, and when we feel better, we are better people in general?
Or am I way off?
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