Why I Love (and Hate) Joel Osteen

In all fairness, I don’t actually hate Joel Osteen. I hate what he tells us about the church and the Gospel today. But I’ll get to that.

For now, let me tell you why I love Joel Osteen. For starters, I love his message, and I love his impact.

Joel Osteen brilliantly captures the heart of God for us: that we may have hope, have  joy, and live life well. He has some incredibly encouraging statements that have spoken to me personally in just the right time.

Here are a few examples (taken from his twitter page and goodreads):

“Quit beating yourself up. You’re not a finished product. You are still a work in progress.”

“Don’t be so focused on what you want that you take for granted what you have. Enjoy the season you’re in.”

“Quit worrying about how everything is going to turn out. Live one day at a time; better yet, make the most of this moment. It’s good to have a big – picture outlook, to set goals, to establish budgets and make plans, but if you’re always living in the future, you’re never really enjoying the present in the way God wants you to.”

Joel Osteen gets a lot of heat from Christians; I get that. He’s not what I would consider a truly “biblical” preacher, nor is he my favorite. To be honest, I rarely listen or read much from him. But that is not to say that he’s bad, or that there is no value in his ministry. If God is the God of all hope, shouldn’t we celebrate someone who promotes hope? I think so. Therefore, I celebrate Joel Osteen for who he is, not for who he isn’t.

I enjoy his ministry, and I do recommend him, just not as the only source. If he’s the only preacher you listen to, that’s a problem. I think Joel Osteen is a good, encouraging; “pick-me-up” sort of preacher. I can certainly say that I’ve gone to his twitter profile a few times just because I knew I was feeling down and I needed a little hope. In that context, he’s a great gift to the world. I love him for these reasons: He brings hope, he’s encouraging, and He is impacting lives (people do get saved regularly through his ministry).

In my mind, Joel Osteen is good for the church today. Sure, he’s also rich, but so what? He helps far more people that way. He supposedly gives away millions of dollars every year. That’s a pretty big deal, and certainly a good thing by anyone’s standard.

Why I Hate Joel Osteen

Like I said, I don’t hate Joel Osteen the person. But what I hate is the truth that Osteen tells us about Christianity and the gospel.

Simply put, Joel Osteen proves that the Christian church must go beyond the gospel in order to find hope and encouragement. In other words, that the Gospel has lost its fundamental characteristic as “good news”. We have weighed it down by throwing in so much hell-fire, fear-based preaching that the Gospel does not encourage us anymore.

But it should. If we must go to preachers like Joel Osteen, and many do, to find encouragement, then this shows something is seriously wrong with our Gospel. The Gospel is not encouraging our hearts and bringing us hope as it should be, and therefore, people cling to Osteen for encouragement. Sure, our evangelical Gospel is “theoretically” hopeful and encouraging, but in reality it is just more of the same boring, religious do-it-your-self BS that’s plagued history.

If the Gospel was presented in such a way as it should be presented, as the good news of God’s outrageous love and grace for the human race revealed in Jesus, then we won’t need men like Joel Osteen. If we truly preached the gospel the way it should be preached, we would give the world a message they were born to receive. We need “Good News”, not bad news. We don’t need another minute of moralism, fundamentalism, or deism. We need the Gospel. We need the God who is not angry with us, but Who if for us. 

This is why I am so passionate about redefining the Gospel as truly “good news”. The gospel is a glorious message, and when we turn it into a mixed bag of good and bad, it fails to be the Gospel at all.

We have taken the good news of Christ and turned it into the bad news of Christianity! 

That is why I love (and hate) Joel Osteen.

Now I’d love to hear what you think. Do you like Joel Osteen? Have you read any books by him? Do you agree with my assessment? Comment below!

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