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wonderful smile, great personality and gifted speaker - but he lacks a backbone of faith and is not firmly grounded in scripture. he has such a large following simply because he knows what they want to hear and promises them all prosperity - who wouldn't want to hear that ?
Q.) What religious leader are you most inspired by?
A.) Jesus Christ
Q.) and for what reasons?
A.) read your (entire) bible to find out more on this
subject

Buz, are you saying that more religious people want to hear about prosperity than about how to get to spend eternity with Jesus?

namtac,
i am not saying that at all. i have a problem with what you mean by 'religious people'. i believe the world is full of people searching for something to fill a void in their lives and then along comes joel osteen with a seemingly spiritual (and seemingly biblical) approach to solving that void - and those people are completely satisfied with buying into what osteen tells the the bible says and quotes select passages to bolster his theology. they hear nothing about the cross (his church has no cross in it) they don't hear about the sacrifices that scriptures call for or the need for them to be separated from the world and its form of prosperity. he will not tell you that Jesus is the ONLY way to gain eternal salvation, he will tell you he cannot judge which is the right path to salvation (has he ever read the new testament?). he provides the masses with exactly what they want to hear all the while making millions upon millions from them. it should be called what it really is "churchianity" and not Christianity because he doesn't put much stock in what Jesus spoke about. who believe osteen would continue 'his ministry' if he weren't raking in millions ?

It amazes me that we are so concerned about the undue adulation of the Pope. And I do think it's excessive. But I can't help thinking that these super heroes of televangelism are little different, with their millions of loyal, adoring fans. And none of them has the intellectual powers of Benedict. Their theology MAY be more biblical and evangelical in certain respects, but it usually has some VERY weak points as well. If Catholics have their raffles and bazaars, the super televangelists have their highly questionable, often deplorable, fund-raisers as well. Just some analogizing food for thought.

Anyway, Joel’s fiefdom is indeed just Christianity lite, lite, lite. If you make religion easy access, easy believe-ism, and easy living – it is bound to sell. In this case, big time! He MAY be sincere; but he’s the inevitable result of the extravagant show-time religion that TV is so very adept at producing. Fortunately there are much better examples of televised preaching and teaching – but it’s darn hard to find.

But, --- maybe he’s just good at breaking biblical truth down into bite-sized chunks that needy folks can wrap their minds around. Nahhh!! ----- It really is doctrinal mush in a smiley-face package. What a forum, and what a missed opportunity to convey the life-giving truths of God’s infallible Word. It pains me to even think about it.

Perhaps he’ll arrive at Walmart in the newly designed Joelmobile.

I don't agree with a lot of what Joel preaches. However, because of Joel's preaching and love, many people turn their lives around and many start attending a local church or return to a church. That indeed is a legacy to be admired.