Joels commitment to Christianity parallels my commitment to UCF Basketball.
-Donnie Jones
-Donnie Jones
Joel Osteen
- Thread starter LA-Knights
- Start date
The guy might be a good motivational speaker; he's a fraudster Christian. He preaches what is known as the "Prosperity Gospel" which essentially says that God is like an ATM that will reward you with wealth and success if you just believe enough. I've heard him speak and honestly it would be fine, it his pretext to everything wasn't God personally interceding to give you that job promotion and subsequent BMW.
Then there's the fact that the guy has an $11M estate.
Meanwhile the priests at my parish live in dorm type apartments in the attached clergy house.
Then there's the fact that the guy has an $11M estate.
Meanwhile the priests at my parish live in dorm type apartments in the attached clergy house.
He's a total fraud. His church claimed they were flooded and couldn't be used as a shelter (pictures showed they weren't flooded), but then said they'd be open as a distribution center, then later caved in to public pressure and opened up as a shelter for flood victims.
For those that like a good chuckle, there's a twitter account that replaces the word "God" with "your dick" in each one of Joel Osteen's tweets.
https://twitter.com/JoelDongsteen
Some are better than others.
For those that like a good chuckle, there's a twitter account that replaces the word "God" with "your dick" in each one of Joel Osteen's tweets.
https://twitter.com/JoelDongsteen
Some are better than others.
.... but what are those priests doing with the alter boys behind closed doors???
How does the guy justify owning a $10 million mega mansion when the Bible literally days rich people won't go to heaven? Utter hypocrite. Plus his whole dealings with this hurricane show his true cors, you have mattress marts opening their doors for refugees to sleep and this guy keeps his mega church locked. POS
lol this place is insane. Every "service" is like a concert production. Lakewood:
My church. We're roughly 17,000 seats shy of Lakewood.
My church. We're roughly 17,000 seats shy of Lakewood.
Psychologist will say "you want what you think/say" and that dude talks a lot of dick...reminds me of Jonah Hill in Super bad:
It's my biggest criticisms of religions in general. "We're here to guide you and make you a better person which includes helping others" *Builds multi million dollar facility with donations*
How many foodbanks (or other facilities) could have been built and maintained with that money. There was a point in time where churches provided welfare for the country on donations, it's a shame those donations are now being used for avarice.
How many foodbanks (or other facilities) could have been built and maintained with that money. There was a point in time where churches provided welfare for the country on donations, it's a shame those donations are now being used for avarice.
You do realize that Lakewood is an extreme outlier yes? 95% of churches in this country are small, fairly meek looking buildings that cater to their community. My parish had to conduct a fundraiser last year to help a neighboring Episcopal church find money just to repair their roof that was leaking during every rain storm.
Your last sentence is also a misguided over generalization. Go look at any food pantry/outreach service registry in a given city and you'll probably find that the majority of them are religiously affiliated. The St Pete food pantry register says that 70% of the services provided are from religious organizations.
And unlike blood sucking government programs, this money and donations go straight to actual people. Not to 5-layers of government offices.
My post was certainly a sweeping generalization because there are religious groups that are very involved in their communities. I think it really comes down to the human element and who's running the respective church. Some seem to want nice things and spend their money in that manner, Catholic churches included (i.e. St. Isaacs where I grew up did a huge renovation that was much more than a facelift), which takes away from their ability to provide charity to the community. Christians, in general, are certainly the typical when it comes to massive churches. But others, such as the Mormons, own massive amounts of land which is then sold or developed generating another revenue stream for the church. There's land just outside of Lake Nona at the Northern border of Osceola County that's Mormon land about to be developed (called Sunbridge, about 2,700 acres).
My main point is there are religious organizations acting more as a business, worried about maximizing revenue, then as a religious organization worried about the welfare of everyone. Maybe it's a means to an end, but I just haven't seen it.
You seem to forget that a church is really the sum of its' people, not the actual building or the people who run it. Say what you will about Mormons, or Mormon property, but I've always found their members to be some of the most charitable and giving people in the community. Which is rare in an era when people think "doing something" is bitching on Facebook.
Maybe that's the problem. The constituency does not select the leader so there's a stark disconnect between the people you meet on the street and the "business" leaders. At a micro-economic they may be very giving, but that doesn't forgive the macro-economic greed at the institutional level.
About the Mormon land ownership: The Mormon Church is THE single largest single owner of property in FL by acreage. That is insane.
And whenever any slight is brought against the Mormon Business Church, the first response is always "but the people are so nice/giving/amazing etc". Every single time. No one is arguing they aren't, my closest work friend is Mormon he is a great person, would give you the shirt off his back without hesitation. However the organization is shady as hell.
How do you know they're "greedy"? Do you have an inside track on the Mormon finances? They self fund a worldwide network of missionaries which i'm sure is expensive; I would estimate a lot of these holdings help finance that.
You're allowing your personal biases against religion to cloud your judgement.
My boss lives in Idaho. He knows what they do fairly well; they want Florida to become their east coast Utah. There is a huge Mormon population in Florida.
Land ownership = influence. Whether that's good or not is subjective, but I think it's more of planting their flag in FL than reaping huge financial rewards.
Personally I don't care. What I do care about are the Scientologists buying up all of downtown Clearwater and running their Disconnection Camps from within this city.
Perhaps they're not and of course I don't see their finances. It's not a bias against religion, it's a bias against centralization. I feel religion is a personal choice that should be practiced locally and shouldn't be burdened with the large overhead and bureaucracy that comes with these institutions. It takes away from the mission.
Just wait until they actually start developing that land instead of just using it as a cattle ranch. They're already in major discussions with various state agencies and getting some pretty sweet deals. It's coming.
It's not the development. It's the political manipulation and back room deals. Or are you saying grift is ok?
Maybe the Texas Secretary of State believes in Osteen too. He recently refused actual aid from Quebec (blankets, beds, and power crews), preferring instead that they just send prayers.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/quebec-offers-aid-texas-hurricane-harvey-1.4267387
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/quebec-offers-aid-texas-hurricane-harvey-1.4267387
Yawn. Another story drummed up by the leftie sites to be more than it is. This is the only legit news article on the subject; the others are from leftie blogs like Salon making a huge deal of it.
He probably said "thanks but for now we're good" because all of those bases were already covered and having to accommodate a visiting delegation, no matter who well intentioned, wasn't convenient right now.
He did not say "no, we're going to let people go cold and starve. Send prayers instead!!". Of course, this is what the pathetic sites like Salon are pushing.
I can tell which leftie blogs you follow by which non-stories you try to push.
Interesting. I quote the news article form a legit source and you go claiming I read leftie blogs. I wonder where you got the idea that leftie blogs were pushing it? Maybe it is you who read them, especially since you claim you can name the ones I read (BTW I don't read any).
This post confuses me, are you trying to say he only reads leftie-blogs, but he actually linked the CBC. Why are you trying to bash Salon when it wasn't even brought up? We get it, you don't like Salon...however it was not even a part of this conversation until you made it.
Um it's simple. When you read the CBC article it's a total and utter nonstory; a sane person would read that and say "well, it's nice people are thinking of Houston". It's not until you start clicking on the sites like Salon that you get the faux hysteria about evil religious people choosing prayers over blankets or something.
When I googled this I only found the CBC article and the leftie sites. Therefore it leads me to believe you are pushing this nonstory because you read the angle coming from Salon.
And if not, then why did you post it, and why did you post it with the clear intention to have people believe that the Sec State was turning away NEEDED material and saying "fck it God will save us!"
LOL. Nope. Just something that popped up on twitter. And that Sec of State did turn away material and did ask for prayers instead - something that caught my eye. It's not a major story by any stretch of the imagination, but it's not a non-story either. As noted in the story, Quebec helped out after Katrina and had several companies help them out after a big storm in 2013. I just think turning away aid at this point is foolish.
I don't believe in organized religion, and cannot stand tele-evangelicals.
But the war on him during Houston is just a hate machine. They closed because the city wanted them to close, and then he got misquoted on that. Having dealt with disaster areas many times, I don't think people realize what he was saying about 'no one asked us to stay open.'
The Superdome in New Orleans comes to mind. People got trapped there!
They had water up to their walls and in their basement. Once it started to recede, they opened up. As much as I cannot stand tele-evangelicals, this was just the hate machine in action. But that's what happens when people just want to hate other people. They will change the narrative to fit an agenda.
I hope his Maker rakes him over the coals for taking money from believers ... but I honestly don't think he did anything wrong here at all, and was responsible.
But the war on him during Houston is just a hate machine. They closed because the city wanted them to close, and then he got misquoted on that. Having dealt with disaster areas many times, I don't think people realize what he was saying about 'no one asked us to stay open.'
The Superdome in New Orleans comes to mind. People got trapped there!
They had water up to their walls and in their basement. Once it started to recede, they opened up. As much as I cannot stand tele-evangelicals, this was just the hate machine in action. But that's what happens when people just want to hate other people. They will change the narrative to fit an agenda.
I hope his Maker rakes him over the coals for taking money from believers ... but I honestly don't think he did anything wrong here at all, and was responsible.
Osteen is a dick and I can't stand him. I never liked him before this debacle and now I can safely say I almost hate him.
As someone who calls themselves a Christian this guy is the epitome of what is wrong with "prosperity preachers". He values getting money over leading people to the kingdom of God. My church meets in a high school and barely has enough funds to keep things going yet we are doing all sorts of things to reach out to our community and further. A church isn't a building, it's the people. Our job as Christians is to help those who need help and leave the world a better place than we found it. Osteen only helps himself and those in his circle.
Remember when Ted Haggard got what was coming to him? Karma is a bitch...
As someone who calls themselves a Christian this guy is the epitome of what is wrong with "prosperity preachers". He values getting money over leading people to the kingdom of God. My church meets in a high school and barely has enough funds to keep things going yet we are doing all sorts of things to reach out to our community and further. A church isn't a building, it's the people. Our job as Christians is to help those who need help and leave the world a better place than we found it. Osteen only helps himself and those in his circle.
Remember when Ted Haggard got what was coming to him? Karma is a bitch...
Neither did I, I find tele-evangelicals cruel, however ...
Because you believe a satirical left-wing site (yes, that was the original source), like the Huffington Post mistakenly did too?
Ergo, from even the left-leaning Snopes fact-check site (I say 'left leaning' because, while their info is usually sound, their "ratings" are often slighted in favor of left-political) ...
- http://www.snopes.com/is-osteens-megachurch-affected/
Which is exactly the intent of 'fake news,' exposing how the radical left-wing can take things and fit them to a narrative that doesn't exist, as bad as the worst of the radical right-wing. They are going full-bore, anti-organized religion right now, insulting the many good people who are out there, helping.
I.e., Snopes exposed this as well, from the exact same source as the Osteen fake news ...
- http://www.snopes.com/only-60-of-1566-churches-in-houston-opened-to-help-hurricane-harvey-victims/
I get it, many Progressives hate religion. But we're talking about good people doing community service. Look past the religious aspect and recognize the simple truth ...
If you didn't know these people were religious, you'd be lauding their charity and community efforts to help those in need. Just because many religious leaders and 'I go to church on Sunday' thumpers are judgemental, doesn't mean anyone who is a Christian should be demonized ... least when they are out there, helping people.
Church properties are the first resource the US government seeks when it comes to shelter overflow and, more importantly yet, alternative, distributed sources of care and services.
After all ... for anyone who has read the Gospel, Jesus helped others first, before praying, before preaching. That's what true Christians believe, even if I refuse to partake in organized religion, it is spiritually and socially sound. So don't be so quick to jump on people ... not even Osteen. He's actually doing good.
Even Satan can do good things to decieve.
But is greed Joel's motive? If it is, and the prize is to honestly preach the gospel to legitimately reach people in order to achieve salvation and Heaven, he's ultimately doing more harm than good.
WTF? Commuter just linked the article. Since you are not "a sane person", you clicked on the other links and went sideways
Personally I do not care if the guy has a huge house. A persons wealth and faith are a persons own business. Period.
My problem is him telling people that God will start showing he cares once they start getting promoted and/or buying that big house.
He's basically a religious Tony Robbins.
My problem is him telling people that God will start showing he cares once they start getting promoted and/or buying that big house.
He's basically a religious Tony Robbins.
I only meant in regards to the current situation, not in general. I loathe tele-evangelists, but tire of the fake news on this one matter.
Having served on two different deaconate boards, that is partially true. Special donations towards a specific cause, Usually do go straight out to the cause for which it was raised. Most funds however go into general, and more often than not 75% to 90% are used by the church to meet its own needs. That is not a bad thing, as you have a Pastor and possibly staff to pay, building maintenance, utilities, materials ect to pay for.
