Thursday, April 19, 2007

Joel Osteen

What do you think of him, and preachers like him?
I have mixed feelings.
Every Sunday morning, as the wife and I get ready to go to church, I turn the TV on to watch Joel Osteen. I don't know why I started doing this, but it's been about 3 months that I have been doing this.

I just don't know what to make of him and others like him. For me, his messages rarely go deeper than the surface of the scripture that he is using. It's very seeker oriented, but it never seems to have an outlet to go deeper.

But here's the most disturbing thing that I've noticed about his telecast last Sunday.
He doesn't seem to have a cross in the church. Maybe he does and it just doesn't show on the screen, but what I do notice is a big globe rotating in the background.
You may not think it's a big deal, but it struck me a little odd.

And I think that's one problem I have with Seeker Friendly churches. Most of the seeker churches do a good job of providing ways to go deeper in their faith, because one can't always be a seeker.
But a few churches don't provide ways to get deeper, and I feel, at times, they replace the cross with something easier to handle and carry. A church here doesn't have a cross at all, instead they replaced it with a dove.
Sure I may be reading way too much into this, but it just felt odd.

If anyone stops by and reads this, let me know what you think.

3 comments:

TN Rambler said...

I too have found the lack of a (visible) cross to be unusual. I haven't really paid that much attention to him though so can't really comment on his theology.

I agree that there are too many opportunities available for a seeker to become and remain a shallow Christian. But shallowness is not limited to churches like Osteen.

gavin richardson said...

i think the globe has to do with their global mission. whatever that is.

i get worried as some of my ss members watch him when the child is sick and one parent stays home, then they ask me about what he said.

what i find funny. they only show two camera angles of the congregation, 1 is the rooftop/nose-bleed view & 2 is the pew that everyone has their bibles open... in all the days i have been going to church i have never seen a full pew with their bibles open for the duration of a talk that rarely asks you to actually read the scriptures..

but maybe that is just funny to me. &:~)

Andrew Conard said...

I agree with you and tn rambler I think that a cross is an important part of a worship space.