Joel Osteen’s Cotton Candy Theology
Monday, August 01, 2005
They call him the “smiling pastor” for good reason. He smiles a lot. And he’s always saying something positive and uplifting.
Joel Osteen, the 42-year-old who inherited his father’s pulpit six years ago, has led Lakewood Church in Houston to triple in attendance to an unprecedented 30,000 people. Just last month, America’s largest congregation moved into the former Compaq Center where they can now seat 16,000 people at a time!
For the average American churchgoer who worships weekly with just a hundred other believers by comparison, this super-mega church has attracted understandable attention and curiosity.
The church signed their lease with the Compaq Center for 30 years, with an option to renew for another 30 years in 2033. Lakewood was required to make a one-time, lump-sum payment of $12 million in cash up front.
They raised and spent an additional $95 million for renovations alone, including $20 million for the AC/heating system and $2 million for their jumbo screens. And, on top of all that, their annual budget for the church and television time is $55 million.
The Washington Post reports that “Osteen's television broadcast is shown in every U.S. market, reaching 95 percent of the nation's households, and in 150 countries.”
If you’re like me, you’re scratching your head, wondering “What makes Lakewood Church so unique? And why are 30,000 people showing up every weekend?”
Well, I’ve seen a number of the Houston TV news stories about their pricey new facility which I thought were rather telling.
While the renovated building features two waterfalls and a large globe that rotates slowly behind Osteen as he preaches, there’s no cross or image of Jesus Christ to be found anywhere.
When he appeared on CNN’s Larry King Live on June 20th to promote his best-selling book “Your Best Life Now”, which has now racked up a remarkable
3 million sales, Larry asked Joel a pointed question about the unique claims of Christianity.
King: “We've had ministers on who said, your record don't count. You either believe in Christ or you don't. If you believe in Christ, you are, you are going to heaven. And if you don't, no matter what you've done in your life, you ain't. …What if you're Jewish or Muslim, you don't accept Christ at all?”
Osteen: “You know, I'm very careful about saying who would and wouldn't go to heaven. I don't know.”
King: “If you believe you have to believe in Christ? They're wrong, aren't they?”
Osteen: “Well, I don't know if I believe they're wrong. I believe here's what the Bible teaches and from the Christian faith this is what I believe.
But I just think that only God will judge a person's heart. I spent a lot of time in India with my father. I don't know all about their religion. But I know they love God. And I don't know. I've seen their sincerity. So I don't know. I know for me, and what the Bible teaches, I want to have a relationship with Jesus.”
Needless to say, during this internationally broadcast conversation, Larry, the Jew, seemed to have a better grasp of the parameters of the Gospel than Joel, the Christian!
Let’s not pull any punches. While no one can truly know the heart of another man, we can be sure of this: If anyone dies before he repents of his sins and accepts Jesus Christ’s atoning work on the cross, he will go to hell. End of story. That’s what the Bible teaches. And that’s the heart of the gospel.
I John 1:9 reveals this relationship between confession of sin and Christ’s gift of forgiveness for those who ask: “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”
Romans 10:9 points to the need not only to confess sin, but to receive Christ as Savior: “If you confess with your mouth ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”
But, by his own admission, Joel doesn’t ever talk about sin from the Lakewood Church pulpit.
King: “How about issues that the church has feelings about? Abortion?
Same-sex marriages?”
Osteen: “Yeah. You know what, Larry? I don't go there. I just”
King: “You don't call them sinners?”
Osteen: “I don't.”
King: “Is that a word you don't use?”
Osteen: “I don't use it. I never thought about it. But I probably don't. But most people already know what they're doing wrong. When I get them to church I want to tell them that you can change. There can be a difference in your life. So I don't go down the road of condemning.”
Condemnation. It’s an interesting word, a good word. Condemnation simply means the act of pointing out that someone is wrong, morally culpable and in need of serious reproof. Well, if you ask me, that pretty much sums up our sinful state before a holy God.
Now, perhaps you’re thinking of the passage from Romans 8:1 which says, “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”
The key there is that, in God’s eyes, once we receive Christ’s gift of atonement, He sees Christ’s righteousness, not our sin and does not condemn us. But not until we make that decision!
Frankly, I’m pained by Joel’s admission here that he never uses the word “sinner.”
First of all, without a genuine understanding that we’ve each violated God’s laws – from the homosexuals and abortionists to the gossips and the liars, there’s no need for redemption, no need for a Savior at all. Without a grasp of how bad the bad news is – or that there even is bad news – then one cannot possibly appreciate the depth and breadth of the Good News – that Jesus Christ paid the penalty for our sins and we can receive His forgiveness.
Ephesians 2:8-10 says it best: “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”
Secondly, Joel is flat wrong in saying that “most people already know what they're doing wrong.”
If you ask the average guy on the street whether they think they’re going to heaven, they’ll inevitably say, “Yes” or “I think so.” When asked why, they admit that they’ve been pretty good comparatively and haven’t killed anybody.
Yeah right. Just because you’re not Charles Manson’s cellmate, doesn’t mean that you’re going to be acceptable by God’s standards.
Here’s a novel thought. The people in the world, whose spiritual eyes have yet to open, judge themselves by the sliding scale of the world’s standards, not by God’s standards.
That’s why preachers, ranging from Joel O’Steen to your pastor, and laypeople like you and I need to preach the full counsel of Scripture in the first place. We need to hold up the mirror of God’s law, revealing their need for a Savior. We need the non-believer to see themselves, not through their own sin-stained eyes, but through God’s eyes.
We have sinned. We’re separated from God. Jesus, the God-man, died on the cross in our place, taking the punishment which we deserved. And we will never be acceptable in God’s sight without an admission of our sin and our need for Jesus to save us from hell. That’s the whole point!
To be honest, I think the danger in being too seeker-friendly as a church is that we lower the bar to the point that the Gospel is not even being preached.
It’s one thing to include contemporary praise songs, dramas, multi-media presentations and relevant, practical sermons filled with humor in our desire to reach the unchurched who might otherwise be turned off by a more traditional service. I prefer that myself.
But we are not to abandon the very Gospel in the process. Otherwise, what’s the point?
I’d like to refer Joel O’Steen to Lakewood’s own published statement of faith which says, in part, “We believe Jesus died on the cross and shed His blood for our sins. We believe that salvation is found by placing our faith in what Jesus did for us on the cross. We believe Jesus rose from the dead and is coming again.”
That’s good theology. And that’s what I’m arguing. Joel needs to embrace that Biblically based theology in his sermons, his writing and his media appearances.
We don’t need another spiritually nebulous self-help guru like Tony Robbins.
His 1992 book was called “Awaken the Giant Within.” Sounds a little like the emblazoned slogan on www.JoelOsteen.com: “Discover the Champion in You.”
Let me quote from a recent Max Lucado title, “It’s Not About Me.”
The champion here is not you or me. The Bible says even “our righteousness
are as filthy rags.” (Isaiah 64:6) The champion here is Jesus and what He
did for us on the cross of Calvary.
When I indicated to the KSLR audience that I planned to spend a full hour fielding phone calls about Joel’s controversial appearance on Larry King Live, I received the most thoughtful e-mail from Nate Thomson, an on-line listener to www.kslr.com in Parker, Colorado.
He wrote, “My concern with Joel Osteen’s teaching is how can the true Gospel be taught without ever mentioning sin? It’s like trying to be a mechanic without ever knowing about an engine. You can know the body of the car, the suspension, the steering, the brakes, but you don’t get down to the heart of the matter without the engine.
“Jesus is just another ‘nice’ guy without addressing the sin issue. He saved us from a sin debt that we could never pay back. I’m not worried about offending people with the best news there is. Neither should Joel.”
Amen Nate!
Now, to his credit, Joel did issue a written apology a month after his appearance with Larry.
He wrote, “It was never my desire or intention to leave any doubt as to what I believe and Whom I serve. I believe with all my heart that it is only through Christ that we have hope in eternal life. I regret and sincerely apologize that I was unclear on the very thing in which I have dedicated my life.
“Jesus declared in John 14: ‘I am the way, the truth and the life. No one
comes to the Father but by me.’ I believe that Jesus Christ alone is the
only way to salvation.
“However, it wasn’t until I had the opportunity to review the transcript of the interview that I realize I had not clearly stated that having a personal relationship with Jesus is the only way to heaven. It’s about the individual’s choice to follow Him.
“God has given me a platform to present the Gospel to a very diverse audience. In my desire not to alienate the people that Jesus came to save, I did not clearly communicate the convictions that I hold so precious.”
But nowhere in Joel’s apology does he indicate that he was mistaken in never mentioning sin.
Without the bookends of sin and the cross – the first of which is absent in all of Joel’s sermons by his admission and the second which is absent anywhere in the church itself visually, we seem to end up with something other than Christianity.
Presumably the reason why Lakewood Church decided to feature that gigantic globe spinning behind Joel’s pulpit is to remind us that Christ came to die for the whole world. Yet without any reference to sin, why did Jesus have to die at all?
Christian Century calls Osteen an ''easy theological target'' who turns the language of the Scriptures ''into a vague religiosity, or into more digestible categories of self-help and self-improvement.''
Even Larry King noted that some Christian detractors “call you cotton candy theology” concerned that “there's no spiritual nourishment.”
Is Joel preaching the unchanging Gospel or is he preaching Norman Vincent Peale and Robert Schuller’s “Power of Positive Thinking”?
As Nate, my Colorado listener, pointed out in his profound e-mail to me, there are really three issues.
First, should we forgive Joel? Absolutely. The Bible commands us to do no less. Ephesians 4:32 says, “Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other just as Christ forgave you.”
Second, can a true Christian say or do the wrong thing? Yes. Nate points to Paul’s rebuke of Peter in Galatians 2:11-16 when he knowingly conformed to the pressure of the Jews who wanted him to separate himself from the Gentile believers.
And finally is Joel Osteen’s message Biblically sound? In my view, that’s the real rub. If he continues to avoid any reference to our sin, which is the basis for our desperate need for a Savior, then, in short, he’s preaching something other than the Gospel.
As Larry King suggested – it’s “cotton candy theology.” Colorful and tasty, filled with hot air, and melting in your mouth with no true spiritual nutrition.
God has entrusted Joel with an international platform in order to preach the whole counsel of Scripture, not just part of it. Let’s pray that Joel would faithfully rise to the opportunity.
© 2005 Adam McManus. -------------------------------------------------------
Adam McManus hosts a weekday afternoon radio show called "Take A Stand" on AM 630, KSLR in San Antonio, Texas from 3-6 p.m. If you’d like him to speak to your group or you’d like to react to this column, call Adam at (210) 344-8481 ext 132 or e-mail adam@takeastand.net. Join 5,300 San Antonions and sign up for his weekday e-mail alert about upcoming guests, critical articles and action steps to make a difference Go to: www.TakeAStand.net and listen live at www.kslr.com
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