Comments on: God, Without the Fuss

By: lmarcia

lmarcia — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 17:46:14 +0000

I believe Blessings encompasses all aspects of life. You should never give thinking that because you do God is going to give you a BMW. You would be giving for the wrong reason. I believe when you give in full faith that God will keep his promise of blessing you, then you allow yourself to be open to the many blessings life has to offer. If I give to a needy child in Africa because I expect God to give me $10MIL in return, isn’t the point of giving. When you give someone a Christmas present and they love it, don’t you feel happy that you were able to gift them with something they loved and wanted. The same applies for tithing and giving. You can give without loving, but you can’t love without giving.

By: chrissalina

chrissalina — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 13:47:08 +0000

Preaching the gospel is not supposed to give people hope that the mustang will appear on their drive way the next morning, or that all their problems will be solved with a positive attitude and simple prayer (prayer is affective but it’s all in God’s will). Preaching the gospel is supposed to show people from all stages of life that their is hope. By hope I mean knowing that God will be your shoulder to cry on, that all your sins will be forgiven, that, in the end of all time, God will prevail and all will worship Him. Becoming a Christian does not mean that life will be easier. In fact, because someone is a follower of Christ it means Satan will try to attck more. So if anybody expects life to improve materialistically or to be happy all the time (they may have joy which is different than societies happiness), they have got it all wrong. I’m not saying life will be all bad, I’m just saying don’t expect everything to turn out in that one’s own favor. Besides all you need is love, God’s love, to have a complete life. Not all that garnishes America loves so dearly.

By: ilovebinary

ilovebinary — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

I think Joel Osteen is interesting. Being a Christian myself, I do agree that his message is watered-down. But it's amazing that he reaches so many people.

I just wonder if those people actually engage in an eternal love relationship with God. To me, that's what it's all about.

By: Sinibaldi

Sinibaldi — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

The inner light

and the beautiful

and tender narrator

invent a mutable

moment, when

Christmas arrives;

I see a blackbird

singing the birth

of an ancient era,

the time of my

life, the care and

the reason.

Francesco Sinibaldi

By: sinibaldisblackbird

sinibaldisblackbird — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

your poetry is refreshingly beautiful. it inspires. provokes thought. who is sinibaldi?

By: finmccool

finmccool — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

The gospel in Matthew 19:23-24 was not referring to a needle like a sewing needle but rather to a gate in the city of Jerusalem. This was a gate through which camels loaded with goods had to pass but the gate was so narrow that the camels had to be unloaded to pass through. In this way their loads could be more accurately taxed. It was not “eye of a needle” but “eye of the needle”. .

By: katrination

katrination — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

is this an op-ed? the author clearly possessed a set of (very critical) pre-conceived ideas about joel before writing this article and merely set out to collect evidence for his case.

the truth is osteen is controversial and we need more people like him in churches, society, etc. he polarizes people, and as this article shows, people paint him with whatever preconceived notions they have.

By: MoreCowbell

MoreCowbell — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

I like Osteen and think he's a great source of encouragement for just about anyone. I do think it is a little deceiving that he never really reveals the gospel in its entirety.

As long as the audience realizes what they're consuming, I'm alright with it. My fear is that there are many who may not have the knowledge/discernment to realize that Osteen has seriously abbreviated the gospel.

By: kap

kap — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Jesus offered a way to a life of abundance but he did not mean material wealth. Jesus taught humantity to consider others more important than yourself. He called us to take up the cause of the oppressed, the widow and the orphan. The self-serving content of Osteen’s prosperity gospel just doesn’t fit the teachings of Christ. I tend to think that “prosperity gospel” is somewhat of an oxymoron. What happened to joining in Christ’s sufferings for the sake of the gospel… or have we disregarded Paul altogether? I have to admit that I think that Osteen’s message is terribly shallow. This is not Christianity. The real religion here is capitalism.

By: manocan

manocan — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

My friend below is wrong. Jesus really meant a real needle.