GAY TRUTH

Texas Megachurch Pastor Joel Osteen squirmed under a barrage of question about his beliefs on homosexuality during a discussion on CNN ’s “Talking points with Soledad O’Brien ” last Thursday.  The conversation began as a discussion between Osteen and New Age self-help guru Deepak Chopra about the importance of positive thinking, but then abruptly turned to homosexuality. Osteen struggles to answer questions about his beliefs on homosexuality during a recent CNN appearance. “Almost every time we have a pastor on, it’s a conversation we have,” CNN host O’Brien explained to Osteen. “I always wonder when you say homosexuality is a sin and there’s a bunch of people who clearly are gay who are in your church,” she continued. “You’re calling them sinners. I mean, that is the opposite of uplifting, I would think.” “Well, Soledad, I don’t necessarily focus on that. I only talk about that in the interviews,” Osteen replied. When asked if he thought he had an important voic...

For those who regard homosexual behavior to be sinful, it’d be hard to imagine someone less offensive, definitive, and informed than Joel Osteen . He doesn’t preach about the holiness of God and he doesn’t preach about sin, much less the sin of homosexuality. To my knowledge, he never talks about it unless asked on a talk show. But that’s not good enough, as can be seen in his most recent interview on CNN : This reminded me of a  recent comment  from Carl Trueman, in typical Trueman style: You really do kid only yourselves if you think you can be an orthodox Christian and be at the same time cool enough and hip enough to cut it in the wider world. Frankly, in a couple of years it will not matter how much urban ink you sport, how much fair trade coffee you drink, how many craft brews you can name, how much urban gibberish you spout, how many art house movies you can find that redeemer figure in, and how much money you divert from gospel preaching to social justice:...

An interview that begins with a statement like, “Well, Piers, to me, faith is all about learning to be happy where you are,” is probably not going to end well. Piers Morgan ’s interview with Joel and Victoria Osteen Tuesday night was very revealing about the Osteens — but little Christian truth was revealed. At the same time, the interview deserves closer attention than you might expect. After introducing the Osteens, Morgan let Joel talk about his latest book,  Every Day A Friday, How To Be Happier 7 Days a Week . Like the book itself, Joel’s presentation could be reduced to his own brand of highly therapeutic prosperity theology . For Joel Osteen , it’s not a theology that is reducible to money alone. Instead, his focus is more on individual happiness and self-fulfillment. In his rendering, God might not want everyone to be rich, but he does want his creatures to experience every day as . . . a Friday? Then, the conversation shifted to issues in the news, such as aborti...