Joel Osteen "God Wants Me to Be Rich"

[Crazy Dave]

http://www.portfolio.com/executives/features/2008/07/16/Megachurch-Preacher-Joel-Osteen

[anonymous171]

1. Wut?

"It is easier for a camel to squeeze through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to get into the kingdom of God."-Mark 10:25

God must be a sadist. :crazy:

[Crazy Dave]

2. I only read through it once quickly

He did have some bullshit spin about God rewarding him for all he's done

[truebrit71]

7. That part of the Bible shouldn't be taken literally....

...didn't you know that? :sarcasm:

Every good cafeteria xtian tells me so...

[dysfunctional press]

22. yes, it IS meant to be taken literally-

Eye of a Needle´ in the gate of a khan at Nazareth. The entrance to caravanserais in Palestine had a small door known as ´the eye´ for foot passengers. The huge doors are opened only for pack-animals or wheeled vehicles.

http://www.biblepicturegallery.com/pictures/GParables/Eye%20of%20a%20Needle%20in%20the%20gate%20of%20a%20khan%20at%20Nazareth%20pa.htm

[TahitiNut]

3. It's generally referred to as "prosperity theology"

It's not unusual ... LDS has incorporated some of this thinking for many decades.

[Kitty Herder]

11. Kind of ironic, really.

Considering that they started out as socialists, with the United Order and all. But Bring'em Young was a greedy capitalist as well as a pervert. It's hard to maintain communes while simultaneously encouraging mercantilism and trying to make a buck off the "gentiles" any way you can.

Now the LDS think that socialism is of the devil and most have forgotten the United Order or choose to pretend it didn't exist. They are dedicated to "free market principles", seem to equate wealth with virtue, and get all bent out of shape tying themselves in knots attempting to explain what Jesus really meant when he said it's harder for a camel to pass through the eye of the needle than for rich man to get into heaven.

[Dorian Gray]

26. Osteen isn't LDS

I despise "Prosperity Preaching," as it stands against what I interpret to be the central theme of Christianity. And I think that expecting riches for proclaiming belief is really horribly idiotic. But, it seems to be gathering steam as a popular prophetic Christian angle.

Sad.

[Kitty Herder]

30. No, he's not.

I was just expanding on TahitiNut's observation that the LDS have been doing the same thing for decades.

[Dorian Gray]

40. I was confused

when it was veering off on the Mormons.

[TahitiNut]

31. "JOEL OSTEEN BLESSES THE MORMON CHURCH"

http://www.apprising.org/archives/2008/01/joel_osteen_ble.html

[ColbertWatcher]

15. I heard it called "Prosperity Gospel".

The Truthiness Encyclopedia has a page about it, you can read about it, here it is.

[Crazy Dave]

25. Reminds me of the joke...

...and it's been said for many different denominations, the minister, priest, rabbi, etc. throws all the church's money into the air and want God wants he keeps and what falls to the ground he gets to keep.

[TahitiNut]

29. ...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prosperity_theology

[Warpy]

4. Calvinist determinism has always served the wealthy well.

It says god predetermined our station in life according to our righteousness, that the rich are righteous people who deserve reward and the poor are a criminal class who deserve all the ignominy that can be heaped upon them by the sainted rich. The only way to heaven for the poor is total belief with no doubts (try that one on for size). The rich already have their ticket punched. They can be total shits and still go to heaven because they are predestined there.

Dispensationalism is just a modern wrinkle on this that reared its ugly head in the last years of the nineteenth century.

They're both total heresies, diametrically opposed to everything in the bible, both testaments. Anyone who has ever counted the admonitions on how to treat the poor and one's own neighbors know that.

Wealthy men, however, don't feel compelled to read anything in the bible. Their ticket is punched. They can steal governments, invade countries, oppress their own people and kill millions. They are angels among us and can do no wrong.

The sad thing is how many of the poor they've managed to suck into this garbage via televangelism.

[Kitty Herder]

13. Well said. nt

[TrogL]

5. Welcome to "Word Faith"

There was always a strain of American Puritanism that pointed to Scripture as justification for asserting that wealth is somehow godly. But ever since evangelical Christianity separated from the mainline faiths in the early 20th ­century, some preachers have gone further and linked their focus on personal piety to financial success.

Calvinism gone insane.

[Dukkha]

6. he's proof how gullible the 20% bushie crowd is

the last couple decades have been ripe with scandals from televangelists yet people are still easily manipulated my these false prophets and let them steal money from the sick and the old.

[DFW]

8. God wants me to be rich, too

He's just been a little slow in getting around to it..........

[ProfessorGAC]

9. Where In The "Literal Word Of God" Does It Say That?

Wouldn't that be Osteen's interpretation then? Why does anyone need to interpret the LITERAL word of god?

Hmmmm! Pretty convenient, huh?
The Professor

[norepubsin08]

10. This guy is nothing but a

Fucking piece of shit...which God crap out of his ass on a boring day-and said "let's have some fun with the earth and give them a turd to play with"

[LostInAnomie]

12. I've heard Rod Parsley preach the same thing.

Only his version was a little more militaristic. He said that not only does God "want you to be rich", he wants you to be rich be taking wealth from those that don't believe.

It's amazing what you can justify when you throw a little religion around like a shit slinging monkey.

[Disturbed]

14. Mormons are worried about going to heaven.

The get their own planet with all their wives, children & relatives when they die.

[exothermic]

27. Robert Tilton (the farting preacher) was one of the first to use this schtick

hell, maybe 25 years ago!

[Canuckistanian]

37. Pastor Gas?

http://www.funrestarea.com/pages/farting_preacher_1.shtml

[Crazy Dave]

32. But I'll bet he still took collections from his "believers" n/t

[Canuckistanian]

35. Hagee preaches that Jesus was a rich man

That he had fine clothes and lived in a mansion.

But those dastardly Jews were jealous, so Jesus had to die.

And he went on and on and on trying to justify the "eye of a needle" verse.

[timtom]

16. Joel Osteen shows an inordinate lack of understanding

No wonder Bush was allowed to steal the presidency twice. People listen to schmucks like Osteen.
(And I'm a Christian.)

God wants us to love one another. It says so in the Bible. It's quite clear. God does NOT want Joel Osteen to be concerned with personal wealth.

Period.

End of story.

[Vickers]

17. So ask *God* to send you money, and not old people on Social Security.

Lemme know how that works out.

:eyes:

[rucky]

18. I didn't expect something like that from Osteen

I thought he was alright.

Just another huckster.

[SalmonChantedEvening]

19. And once you learn how to milk saps like...

Well like You, you can be rich too and say God wants it that way.

Our weekend seminars cost...

[Crazy Dave]

20. Sap like me, naw...your thinking of the Bush/Cheney '04 crowd

Me, I'd like to go to church someday in a gorilla suit with a name tag that says "Adam"

But I am an opportunist and would make a ministry based on the pyramid scheme. You sign up seven new church members, then they sign up seven members, who then sign up seven members, etc.

Also I'd have infomercial sermons like, "for $19.95 you can have all your sins forgiven and if you call with your credit card before midnight tonight, we'll throw in a free one time adultery forgiveness pass"

[SalmonChantedEvening]

33. My Dear Sir My Apologies

The post was pointed at Osteen's believers and in no way at you.

It could have been made clearer, and wasn't.

I was doing an impression of the cash seminars that rule the TV on weekends, and in those hours of Why The Hell Aren't You Asleep By The By.

:hi: :minigrovel:

[devilgrrl]

21. Why? You can't it with you into the afterlife....

:crazy:

[MrCoffee]

23. Matthew 6:19-21

“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."


Don't tell Joel.

[UNCLE_Rico]

24. I'm gonna buck the trend here a little bit...

I say this as someone who generally despises televangelist-types, as a liberal Democrat, and a die-hard agnostic bordering on atheist: I like Joel Osteen. I find him pretty inspirational, and I believe he is a genuinely good person. IOW, if he is a huckster, then he's damn sure *the* most convincing huckster that I've ever come across. My bet is that this quote is being taken out of context, if it's even accurate to begin with.

[exothermic]

28. Convincing is what separates the rich hucksters from the wannabes!

:shrug:
There are old con men and there are poor con men but there aren't any old poor con men.
:D

[JFN1]

34. You can justify anything with religion

which would seem to indicate that religion is, in reality, nothing more than a convenient tool used to justify behavior - and of course to soothe mortality fears.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

36. Joel Osteen shows the potential danger of non-denominational churches

The preacher can preach whatever he pleases, with no reference to what's actually in the Bible or Christian tradition. He can skip the parts that argue against his particular hobby horses.

[lpbk2713]

38. He got an email from God/ess?

Yo, Dude. Go ahead and be rich. .... G

[Manifestor_of_Light]

39. Osteen dropped out of Oral Roberts University.

He's not even a proper Biblical scholar.

What a putz.

Prosperity gospel is old.

Look up Reverend Ike.

And don't forget Marjoe Gortner, star of "Marjoe", best documentary of 1973.
He really separated people from their money well, and admitted it on camera.