Scott Freeman

1. 21 Responses to “Osteen”

2. By R-Liz on Oct 15, 2007 | Reply

   Darren and I watched this last night, too. After it was done, Darren turned to me and said, “I think the interviewer was the only one to mention Jesus.”

   And did you notice when Osteen breaks down crying, the interviewer goes on with asking questions like nothing’s happening? Either the interviewer is not very sympathetic, or he thinks Osteen is a faker. Even though I’m not an Osteen fan, the coldness of the interviewer at that moment still surprised me.

3. By Darren on Oct 15, 2007 | Reply

   I’ve seen a couple interviews with him and his wife. Anyone else get the sense that his wife is the puppet master?

4. By Scott on Oct 15, 2007 | Reply

   I thought the interviewer did a tremendous job. It was tough but when you consider his book is dropping tomorrow it was timely and necessary.
   I wonder how he would do if he just came out and said that his teachings are self-help and not biblically based if that would dampen what he does at all financially?

5. By Greg on Oct 15, 2007 | Reply

   Packaging is everything. Every minute of that segment is packaged to cause me to conclude that Osteen is money hungry and just spooning out pablum to the masses.
   “Cash cow?” No mention was made in this section of what is done with that money. Was it elsewhere in the segment? If not, then the segment is a commercial–not news reporting.
   “Family business?” That phrase was used with no context whatsoever!

   I’m not commenting on Osteen here–60 Minutes went in to do a hatchet job and they pulled it off very professionally. They filmed a commercial, selling “Osteen is a money-grubbing psychobabbler.”

   And Horton–what the hell is he doing talking about a Brother that way on 60 Freakin Minutes? “Let us do what leads to peace and mutual edification”–forget that, and just insert “Let us do what leads to discord and a worse reputation for all Christians.” Pre-Christians won’t remember, “Christ-followers are more serious about discipleship than Osteen.” They’ll remember, “Christian ministers are charlatans–look, even that college professor says so.”

   We don’t even need “editorial bishops” anymore, churning out divisive brotherhood papers. They can just get on TV and be talking heads. Gad, this chaps my hide.

6. By Greg England on Oct 15, 2007 | Reply

   Your “Wow. Just wow.” Were you impressed or disgusted?

7. By Scott on Oct 15, 2007 | Reply

   Greg England, I’m disgusted. I’m not an Osteen fan. I’m not much of a fan of what he is peddling.

   Greg, and they say I’m the cantankerous one. Unfortunately, that is not the entire segment. I am no 60 minutes apologist and that segment is probably the longest I’ve ever watched the show in my life. Say what you want about Michael Horton I don’t know who he is and haven’t read any of his works. However, it’s safe to say that the 60 Minutes piece did not reach more people than are already being reached by the, dare I say, false gospel that Osteen churns out. The fact that he is raking in so much money by teaching a “God will make you rich” message is what chaps my hide.

8. By Greg on Oct 15, 2007 | Reply

   Scott, I don’t know what other people say but I don’t think you’re cantankerous. Maybe people who think you’re cantankerous now didn’t know you when you were a dittohead. These days you’re all full of love for humanity and crap. (that’s ‘love for humanity’ and crap, not love for ‘humanity and crap’)

   In fact, there’s a post topic for you: is it possible to be a hard-core Republican and not be a humorless, spiteful grump? (I call your attention to Bill O’Reilly)

   Also, (while I’m at it), Osteen’s got a funny looking face. It looks like he pulled his skin back and there’s a chip-clip holding like 3 inches of flesh off the back of his head.

9. By Scott on Oct 15, 2007 | Reply

   Note to all my new readers: ignore above comments. I don’t know this guy.

10. By Belinda on Oct 15, 2007 | Reply

    Osteen scares me a bit too. It really bothers me when I watch these “evangelists” on tv anyway. I feel the majority have been overtaken by the $$$.

11. By Gaily on Oct 15, 2007 | Reply

    Thanks, Scott, for the 60-minute clip about Osteen and commentary after the varying responses.

    Gailyn

12. By jasonk on Oct 15, 2007 | Reply

    Thanks for putting that on, Scott. I didn’t get to see it last night. I think that Osteen has a lot to offer us, and even though I would agree with Horton that his is a “cotton candy” gospel, I can say that for whatever reason, he is striking a chord with people. I think people are sick of being beaten up by preachers, and here is a preacher that tells them that it is okay to be joyful, to appreciate grace, etc. Now, I also believe that one needs to teach the whole counsel of God, not just the easy stuff, but there is a lesson for people to learn here. We need to focus more on the joy that we have (or, are supposed to have) as a result of the gift of grace.

13. By Tracy on Oct 15, 2007 | Reply

    Jason, I would agree that telling people to be joyful is a great thing. And if that was the core of Osteen’s message I wouldn’t have a problem. However, his message is that God wants to make this life a better one through promotions, more money, physical blessings. That runs counter to the whole counsel that you talk about.
    And, ultimately, people are sold a bill of goods that mischaracterizes a life of discipleship. If his message is correct then those faithful Christians in third world countries, and those in this country mired in poverty, aren’t really Christians.
    I think that the reason his message strikes a chord with so many people is because it is a religion that expects nothing.

14. By Scott on Oct 15, 2007 | Reply

    oops, above comment should be from me, not Tracy.

15. By jasonk on Oct 15, 2007 | Reply

    So true.

    There are people in my biz who abuse people by making promises that are impossible to keep. Then when reality hits, they are vacationing somewhere abroad, having already collected the commission, and the victims are left to wonder what in the world happened to them.

    When reality hits, and the people Osteen has been leading along realize that he has not been telling them the whole truth, where will he be then?

    I still believe that people need a huge dose of love and grace from the pulpit. We know we screwed up, and we don’t need to be reminded of it every Sunday :>)

16. By Jeff_R on Oct 17, 2007 | Reply

    Man, I’ve been amazed to see the fundamentalist reaction to Osteen! It was most amusing to follow Michael Spencer’s blog (Internet Monk) post about this - he got himself so confused about what he was saying (and ended up offending a lot of good people) that he just gave up and shut down comments to the post!

    Scott said, “The fact that he is raking in so much money by teaching a “God will make you rich” message is what chaps my hide”

    Come on, I mean, really? This guy is peddling the same pablum that Stephen Covey, Tony Robbins and Deepak Chopra and Oprah Winfrey are peddling - with the added bonus that he asks folks to try to follow essentially all the personal moral counsel of the New Testament, and you guys are acting like he’s Satan! For God’s sake, he doesn’t even plead for money on his TV shows.

    Everybody walks into those things with their eyes wide open. He’s not fleecing kids or even old ladies - look at his audience and who buys his books! These are adults, people.

    If Joel Osteen is the worst thing facing American evangelicalism, we’ve got a lot to be thankful for. I put him in the same category as Max Lucado or evolution: either a harmless distraction, or a powerful threat the enemies of belief.

    For the record, his teaching is shallow, diluted and nothing much like what I read Jesus saying in the New Testament. But let’s be honest here, how many congregations could say the same thing of their Sunday morning sermons?

    It seems to me we ought to be responding with “Yes, Joel is really nice guy - I’m glad you like him. Now about this Jesus fellow Joel has mentioned a few times…”

17. By Scott on Oct 17, 2007 | Reply

    Jeff, I don’t like the pablum that Covey, Robbins, Chopra or Winfrey peddle either. Sure, the same thing is going on in congregations all over the country, but that’s not the point.
    The point is, to me at least, that it continues to perpetuate this us/them approach to Christianity that I find loathsome. Spend any time working with those who are disadvantage and poor and you can see how hurtful Osteen’s message truly is.
    I never equated him to be Satan. I think this discussion has been a little bit more sedate than Internet Monk. Nor do I think he is the worst thing facing American Evangelicalism. However, his message is one that troubles me.

18. By Jeff_R on Oct 17, 2007 | Reply

    I was really responding more to the general furor in the blogosphere among fundies/evangelicals than to your response, though you are pretty critical.

    You wrote, “The point is, to me at least, that it continues to perpetuate this us/them approach to Christianity that I find loathsome. Spend any time working with those who are disadvantage and poor and you can see how hurtful Osteen’s message truly is.”

    I don’t know how I should read that. Our small group serves in a homeless shelter several times a month, so I do “spend some time with the poor”. However, I have not seen any negative aspects whatsoever caused by Osteen. In fact, I’m willing to bet that a fair percentage of the folks who buy his books and attend his church are among the lower middle class (probably a fair amount of overlap with the lottery-ticket-buying folks, I would imagine).

    If you’re trying to say that the prosperity gospel itself is insulting when you take anything like a broad view of the world with it’s immense disparity between rich and poor and the immeasurable suffering of much of the world’s population due to things like lack of basic necessities and access to rudimentary health care or stable, non-violent government, I completely agree. But then, so is owning a nice new cellphone, I suppose.

    I guess that while I find the whole consumerist mentality deeply troubling and unbiblical, I have to say that Osteen is the very least troubling proponent of such misinformation. At least he’s not adding gay-bashing, gender-biased stuff to it like Kenneth Copeland or Jesse Duplantis - coupled with intense legalism and outright televangelistic money-mongering.

    I think the real reason so many fundies are up in arms is because Osteen is getting so much attention and the media actually seems to like the guy (talk a look at Larry King’s interview - talk about softball questions!) and find him really engaging. Yeah, that’s a real problem when a guy who’s a relatively nice and positive is out telling folks he’s a Christian and that God and Jesus should be an important part of everyone’s life and that we ought to all be kinder to one another and less judgmental and more tolerant.

    I mean, come on, sure, he’s preaching fluff, but I’d rather have that than Pat Robertson predicting terrorist attacks and his presidential ascendancy. It seems folks, perhaps in their jealousy or intellectual condescension, have forgotten about being glad Jesus’ name is being proclaimed (however partially or for whatever motives).

    Next thing you know, we’ll be decrying Christmas and Easter because they’re really pagan holidays. And don’t even mention Halloween!

    Conservative Christianity has the biggest “baby with the bathwater” mentality I’ve seen - and we wonder why most folks think we’re dimwitted and narrow-minded.

    Again, I’ve never sat through a sermon or purchased one of his books and I don’t have any time for the stuff. But if it helps some poor redneck learn to be a little more patient with with his kids - or maybe try to keep his intake of adult beverage to a single six-pack, why are we upset about that?

19. By Scott on Oct 17, 2007 | Reply

    I wasn’t meaning to insinuate that you don’t spend time with the poor. I guess my biggest problem is the idea that God blesses materially in proportion to faith. That doesn’t wash in third world countries.
    I was, honestly, surprised by the fundamentalist reaction. But at it’s core, you have this guy releasing this new book that omits Jesus almost entirely. And that’s just it: his preaching and teaching does not utilize Christ much. He doesn’t mention him all that often from what I have seen.
    In essence, I agree with you. We do have bigger fish to fry but I still don’t like his message

20. By Robin on Oct 18, 2007 | Reply

    Osteen is one of those men that makes my creepazoid radar go “Danger - danger Will Robinson.” Don’t know why, but it does.

21. By len on Oct 19, 2007 | Reply

    Maybe we should all go to http://www.iwjo.com for our “I Watch Joel Osteen” fish pin. I can’t think of a better way to spread the Gospel.

    Scott, when can I expect to be able to buy my “I Read Scott Freeman” pin? What symbol would it have?

22. By Scott on Oct 19, 2007 | Reply

    The fish pin is as about as close as he gets to the 1st Century Church :O

    How about a Razorback symbol for the IWSF pin?

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