Joel Osteen: part 3

Ed Note: I decided to dispense with the francais and just go with good ol' numerals. :)

Before I do another expose on the Smiling Preacher from Houston, let me say that I mean none of this in ugliness or hatred toward Osteen, his family or his ministry. I cannot peer into Osteen's heart, but I do believe that what he preaches is dangerous to anyone who reads, whether they are believers or not.

T.J. at Soli Deo Gloria makes a particularly salient point about Osteen's views on God's justice. (Hat tip: Boar's Head Tavern) (And no, that's not the only blog I read these days. :)

TheoreticalPolitics's Xanga Site - 2/4/2005 6:59:58 PM:

"[Interviewer] Your book mentions a man who financially wronged you and your wife Victoria. You say later he lost everything -- he lost his money, his family -- while God 'prospered [you] through several real estate deals.'

[Osteen] Exactly. That's very clear in my mind. We could have sued him, we could have gotten very ugly. But we said we're going to let God fight this battle. He was another Christian man; he just wasn't living by Christian principles. I believe we kept a good attitude in the tough times when we weren't getting our way.

I believe those are times of testing and I can tell you, God did prosper us more than we could ask or think. On some of these real estate deals, it's just again, God's favor and God's blessing. I believe you're sowing seeds for that when you're doing the right thing when the wrong thing's happening.

I don?t think it's just snap your fingers. We've got to have an attitude of faith when things aren't going our way.

I'm HORRIFIED by his attitude towards this attitude. Osteen never once mentions that (a) he's forgiven the man and/or (b) that he prayed that the man would be blessed by God. What he's basically saying is that he chose not to sue the man in question because he knew that God would do far worse to the man and his family than Osteen could do. He does not seem sorrowful in the least of what happened to this man. All people are sinners, and we should not gloat about others? misfortunes.

Osteen's attitude is completely in contradiction to Christ's commands in Luke 6:27-36. For the purposes of this post, however, I will quote specifically from verses 27, 28, and 35.

27But I say to you who hear, love your enemies"

If I may add, I also can't help wondering if Osteen and his wife attempted reconciliation with this fellow Christian. Sad, sad, sad.