http://christiannews.net/2013/10/04/joel-osteen-god-absolutely-accepts-homosexuals/
In a recent interview
with the Huffington Post, megachurch speaker and author Joel Osteen
advised that he believes God accepts homosexuals, and that he doesn’t want to
“tell everybody what they’re doing wrong.”
Osteen sat down this
week with host Josh Zepps to promote his new book Break Out: 5 Keys to
Go Beyond Your Barriers and Live an Extraordinary Life. The
two discussed a variety of issues, from Pope Francis to fighting poverty
to whether unbelievers can go to Heaven.
“You say here… ‘It
doesn’t matter who likes you or doesn’t like you; all that matters is that God
likes you. He accepts you; He approves of you,” Zepps stated, reading from
Osteen’s book. “Is that true for gay men or true for homosexuals?”
“Absolutely,” Osteen
replied. “I believe that God’s breathed His life into every person. We’re all
on a journey. Nobody’s perfect.”
“The Bible says that
sin is pride, sin is selfish ambition,” he continued. “We tend to pick on
certain things, but I believe every person is made in the image of God, and
you’ve got to accept them as they are as they’re on their journey.”
Osteen then explained
his belief that Christians should exemplify kindness to the world, rather than
“pushing people down.”
“Again, the Scripture
teaches the way people are going to know His disciples is for our love for one
another, and so, I’m not preaching hate [or] pushing people down,” he stated.
“I’m not here to tell everybody what they’re doing wrong.”
Osteen was later
asked if he believes unbelievers can go to Heaven. He replied that he believes
Scripture states that Christ is the way, but that he is not the judge of who is
allowed to enter.
“As a Christian
pastor, the only thing in Scripture that I see is that a relationship with
Jesus will get you to Heaven,” he replied. “Now, do you have to be a certain
denomination or something like that? I don’t know that, but I do know that I’m
not the judge of who gets to go Heaven. What I see in the Scripture is that you
have to have a relationship with Jesus. That’s why He came.”
“Someone who believes
in the monkey god is not going to Heaven then,” Zepps commented, referencing
the 1.2 Indians in the world, many of whom practice polytheism.
“I don’t claim to
understand who’s all going to Heaven,” Osteen replied. “I just believe and I
teach in all my messages that when you have a relationship with Christ–that’s
the reason why He came, to have a relationship with him that is the guarantee
from Heaven.”
“People don’t all
believe like me; they see it bigger,” he added. “I believe God’s mercy is very
big. I thank God I’m not the judge of who gets to come. Only He can, but that’s
the way I see it.”
While some have
applauded Osteen for the way in which he responded to Zepps’ questions, others
have expressed deep concern. Dr. Michael Brown, host of the Line of Fire
radio broadcast, and author of the forthcoming book Hyper-Grace, told
Christian News Network that Osteen “offers affirmation for sinners–of all
kinds–rather than a call for transformation.”
“If he meant that God
accepts us the way we are and that’s it–no repentance or changed life in Jesus
required, then I categorically disagree,” he stated. “Paul says plainly in 2
Timothy 2:19, ‘Let everyone who names the name of the Lord depart from
iniquity.’”
Brown said that
Osteen missed an opportunity to encourage those who struggle with homosexual
temptations that Christ came to free men from the power of sin.
“If Joel Osteen had
made himself clear and given a full, biblical message, which, sadly, he often
fails to do, this could have given hope to those struggling with homosexuality,
as well as brought the fear of the Lord to those who believe homosexual
practice and Christianity are compatible,” he stated. “[I]t’s so important that
we open the door wide to all those identify as LGBT, telling them Jesus died
for them just as He died for the rest of the world and there is new life and
new hope in Him.”
Brown said that he is
concerned that there are those like Osteen who preach a humanistic Gospel,
which “starts with me and tells me what God can do to please me,” instead of a
biblical Gospel, which “starts with God and tells me what I can do to please
Him.”
“While I appreciate
Joel Osteen bringing a personable, smiling face to the TV screen in the name of
Jesus, I’m deeply grieved by the man-centered, cross-avoiding message
that he preaches, and because of his great influence, he is greatly
accountable,” he stated. “We should pray for God to get hold of him in a
radical way and raise him up to be a preacher of righteousness.”
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