A gay rights group is, more or less, staking out Joel Osteen to try to force his response to their invitation to a picnic this Saturday with “nontraditional” families.
And the group is led by the son of former PTL hucksters Jim and Tammy Bakker.
Jay Bakker and his group Soulforce have invited mega-church pastors from around the nation to join the happy movement, calling it The American Family Outing (an intentional double entendre, to be sure).
Lakewood Church’s Osteen is one of two pastors who has not responded, and the group is asking him to attend their picnic on Satruday and then invite them to Lakewood for Sunday services. Bakker said:
“We need to stop thinking of ourselves as ‘us’ and ‘them.’ We hope the families of Lakewood Church will open their hearts and minds to us and sit down and have a conversation and share a meal. … Let’s put our differences aside and share the love and hope of Christ.”
Bakker and a “lesbian mother” drove to Lakewood yesterday to give a letter to Osteen - they left after being told the letter would be delivered.
Osteen was busy writing his sermon, a process that a Lakewood spokesman said takes four days.
Of course, this is little more than a publicity stunt by Bakker’s group, designed to either embarrass Osteen and Lakewood or, if Osteen were to join in, to publicize his involvement and spin it as approval of the gay lifestyle.
Lakewood’s spokesman recognized the group’s motivation as well.
“If we met to talk, would this group be satisfied if we agreed to disagree? … Soulforce wants to use Lakewood to further their agenda.”
Indeed. What do you suppose the reaction would be if Osteen were to say, “I love you in Christ, but the Bible says a homosexual act is a sin. But God can forgive you”? I’m not sure how “open” Soulforce’s hearts and minds would be to that message.
I have never professed to be a big fan of Joel Osteen. But I do applaud him for not participating in this charade.
Of course, he still has almost two days to respond.
(By the way, the Chronicle article, which reads like a fawning press release, reminds everyone of the time and place of Saturday’s picnic, and that Lakewood members are invited.)
ADDENDUM
The omniscient Benzion (man, that guy knows stuff) points out that Soulforce is a smooth advocacy group and has engaged in civil dialogue at places such as Texas A&M and conservative Christian colleges.
ADDENDUM 2
Meanwhile, BigJolly points out that the approach of Bakker’s “church” might be just a tad rougher.
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That’s one of the weirder stories I have seen lately.
RickG, it is Osteen, not Olsteen, just sayin….
Osteen the businessman should utilize this opportunity to sell more books and collect more “donations” for his church.
Bakker has/had a “reality” show on the Sundance Channel. Pretty weird too.
2.
Headline fixed. Thanks.
No. No. No. It’s Holstein.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dairy_cattle
That’s pretty standard stuff for the GLBTQ (gay/lesbian/bi-sexual/transgender/questioning) alphabet soup marketing crew. I hope Joel doesn’t take the bait.
We need more pastors to respond as you suggested that Joel do. We’ve already given them too credibility with all the “dialogue” to date. Their attempt to twist the Bible to their views is easy to disprove, but they are skilled at appealing to political correctness and Biblical illiteracy.
Treat ‘em with kindness? Of course. Tell them that the behavior isn’t sinful? No way. That would be unloving.
#7 WELL SAID!
Why are they picking on Joel Osteen? Why aren’t they camping out in front of the new Co-Cathedral, or in front of Wheeler Baptist Church??
I hope Osteen keeps mum on this and does not give them the time of day.
Hate the sin, love the sinner.
I don’t like Osteen though, he’s impersonal and too … I don’t know … almost generic with his preaching. He wants mass appeal.
I doubt he’ll go or “take the bait” as you’ve said.
Just for the record, I am not a fan of Joel Osteen. He needs to preach the whole Gospel. You could get some good self help tips there, but the biggest problem is that you could go there every Sunday and never realize that you need Jesus.
In trying to say something nice about him, I do acknowledge the diversity of his congregation and that at best someone might benefit from a brief stint at his place if they came from a severely hellfire/brimstone church that didn’t teach of God’s grace and love. It is all about the balance.
J.O’s preaching reminds me of this verse in the Bible:
–”For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires; and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.”
For a real treat, click on Bakker’s church site.
http://www.revolutionnyc.com/
Deep thinker. At least they are sorry for being hateful bastards.
Had to comment once more on this bit:
“Let’s put our differences aside and share the love and hope of Christ.”
But here’s the thing: The love and hope of Christ are that He died for your sins and that if you repent and believe you’ll be saved. But if you come to him shaking your fist at his word and teachings that isn’t a good place to be.
#11 - yep - lots of itching ears out there in America’s churches.
#12 - ironically, they rightfully confess to being judgmental. They judge Bible believers for . . . well . . . believing the Bible. They can’t have it both ways. Either we are interpreting the Bible properly to say that homosexual behavior is a sin and that it is proper to teach that truth, or they are right and the Bible teaches that homosexual behavior is not a sin and that we are sinning by teaching that it is.
Of course, they ignore these truths:
100% of the verses addressing homosexual behavior denounce it as sin in the strongest possible terms.
100% of the verses referencing God’s ideal for marriage involve one man and one woman.
100% of the verses referencing parenting involve moms and dads with unique roles (or at least a set of male and female parents guiding the children).
0% of 31,173 Bible verses refer to homosexual behavior in a positive or even benign way or even hint at the acceptability of homosexual unions.
I repeat: Treat ‘em with kindness? Of course. Tell them that the behavior isn’t sinful? No way. That would be unloving. I add: Pretend that the issue is so grey as to be a coin flip? No way.
The omniscient Benzion (man, that guy knows stuff) points out that Soulforce is a smooth advocacy group and has engaged in civil dialogue…
That one almost slipped by me.
Heh.
My advice is don’t enter the leap-frog competition.
What if Olsteen/Osteen went to watch TV and eat fried pickles?
Sorry, I had to ask.
Has anyone worked with origamis before? I’m trying to make a cat with my daughter and it’s proving to be not easy. I’ve never been much of a paper guy anyway.
One answer: “Thanks, but no thanks. But we will say a special prayer asking God to delivery you from this affliction.”