Mega-Church Pastors, Joel & Victoria Osteen - "I Don't Understand"

What a bunch of hooey,

  I happened to see part of this on LK.  What a useless piece of garbage.  He was trying to stay out of the Fray.  And made themselves look complete stupid.

 These two have a Mega Church in  Houston and are rolling in the cash.  You know they got hit up for cash during the 2008 election.  

 The Assteens do know and would have been better off saying, oh I don't know,  God is the only one who should be doing the Judging and walked away with more credibility, what little they had.

If I make sense? it was quite by accident.

---

by: HappyCat @ Wed Apr 08, 2009 at 17:54:47 PM CDT

But if they take a stand

they're bound to alienate somebody somewhere.  Good businesspeople know better than to turn off their customers, any of them.  Taking a stand, or merely telling the truth is bad for the bottom line.  Gotta keep increasing the old market share.  I'd like to suggest a revision of Coolidge's famous dictum that "the business of America is business":  THE BUSINESS OF AMERICA IS RELIGION!

I am not interested in picking up crumbs of compassion thrown from the table of someone who considers himself my master. I want the full menu of rights.  -Archbishop Desmond Tutu

---

by: QScribe @ Thu Apr 09, 2009 at 11:40:45 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Love it.

That is totally what this country has turned into the last 20 years.  The Business of America is Religion.  Oops, you let the cat out of the bag on them now.  Better watch your back.

---

by: Narra @ Thu Apr 09, 2009 at 14:40:15 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

The only difference between TV Churches and Ponzi Schemes...

is the fact that at least SOME Ponzi victims get paid back.

Question:  What does an atheist do when they fall to the floor and start "speaking in tongues"?

Answer: Get a CAT scan.

---

by: Snooky Ookums @ Thu Apr 09, 2009 at 05:22:02 AM CDT

brother in law

His sister's husband has a mega church in dallasss and was ask to have a funeral service for a member of the congregation but as soon as they found he had died being hiv positive the deal was off. the Osteens need the stfu. Did Queen Victoria beat up any flight attends on the way to larry king's?

---

by: dards4444 @ Thu Apr 09, 2009 at 05:22:12 AM CDT

Of course he "doesn't understand"

It's clearly written on Page One of the Televangeist Handbook (TM) that the sheeple are white Christian families (2.3 kids, natch) with pockets full of gold.

The pastor's only primary goal is to convince those sheeple to swap their gold for eventual "Salvation Through Jeebus".

(translate: underpants-???-PROFITS!!)

Then sit back and enjoy the money.

What else IS there to understand? The Handbook has just that one page!!!

"It goes on one at a time, it starts when you care to act, it starts when you do it again after they said no, it starts when you say We and know who you mean, and each day you mean one more."

---

by: Louise @ Thu Apr 09, 2009 at 05:49:10 AM CDT

Oh, Well Said...Louise!!

It's the Hammer of JUSTICE,
It's the Bell of FREEDOM,
It's the Song about LOVE between,
my Brothers and my Sisters
...All over this Land.

---

by: Orion45 @ Thu Apr 09, 2009 at 13:20:51 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Look at his

spindly little fingers. If that doesn't say "dickless", I don't what does. Never trust a man with tiny hands.

---

by: hank @ Thu Apr 09, 2009 at 09:01:39 AM CDT

Look at his

spindly little fingers. If that doesn't say "dickless", I don't what does. Never trust a man with tiny hands.

---

by: hank @ Thu Apr 09, 2009 at 09:01:42 AM CDT

Oh, Joel...

King asked them, ". . . why not make marriage a religious institution, and have the state bonding that the non-marriage state issue. So we can have two kinds of getting together."

That question couldn't be more clear, and Joel knows it. These ignorant doofuses have zero credibility with anyone outside their church. He also knows that too.

It's sad that these idiots live in my city. If anyone needs proof that God doesn't exist, look no further than these two vile creatures. They're filthy rich, probably have a fleet of expensive cars, live in a multi-million dollar mansion, and run a powerful religious empire. Yup, no God.

---

by: obtusegoose @ Thu Apr 09, 2009 at 09:14:26 AM CDT

there are probably divorced people and single parents...

Giving this guy cash. Maybe folks from the LGBT community, also. And this guy sits on his mounds of cash and spits on all of 'em.

---

by: the.sue @ Thu Apr 09, 2009 at 09:25:46 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

It kind of makes sense now

He literally doesn't even understand what the debate is about. Doesn't even understand that marriage is a state contract bestowing certain rights. He's still living in the middle ages or something. Maybe we just need to better educate these people on what the issues are. Have we not made that clear? It's probably that they just don't want to listen. How do you confront that kind of willful ignorance?

---

by: baochan @ Thu Apr 09, 2009 at 09:31:31 AM CDT

Not the middle ages --

maybe the Renaissance or later.  During the middle ages the Church wasn't especially concerned with marriages, considering them mostly a civil affair.

---

by: M @ Thu Apr 09, 2009 at 14:37:48 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Blessing vs Right to

I have been an ordained minister in a mainline church for 34 years. I have wanted the Church to get out of the 'legalization' of relationship since I was in seminary. The "State" needs to legalize the relationship between two human beings so that the legal benefits and responsibilities are clear for all members of the State, all citizens. Equal rights under the Law is what the State is bound to uphold under the constitution. That is what we are fighting for. What I have always wanted to be able to do is invoke God's blessing on those couples who wish to have it. To give the support that all couples need from the structures of their society that enables them to survive and prosper in that relationship. That is what the Church does best, Pastoral Care, encourage the community to care about those who seek to live their lives in the context of a relationship. I want out of the 'marriage business' as far as being an agent of the State. I want to be in the business of asking God's blessing on those couples whose relationship demonstrates God's love for all humanity [see 1 Corinthians 13]. The Biblical definition of marriage has little to do with the romanticized popular religious concept of marriage bantered about by American society ie the Osteens. That is an invention of something other than what we find in Scripture.  

---

by: crhgates @ Thu Apr 09, 2009 at 10:14:54 AM CDT

Very well said.

But what kind of minister are you?  Don't you know that the first two gay couples on earth were married by a Christian minister? ;)

Seriously, yours is a refreshing viewpoint.  While I disagree with your religious beliefs, you speak with clarity and a sense of reasonable perspective.  Yours is a very welcome voice here.

I am not interested in picking up crumbs of compassion thrown from the table of someone who considers himself my master. I want the full menu of rights.  -Archbishop Desmond Tutu

---

by: QScribe @ Thu Apr 09, 2009 at 11:48:50 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

hear, hear

I think that the separation of the legal proceedings and the church proceedings are better for the church in many ways, and helps the couple focus on why they want a church matrimony rite. (hint - conspicuous consumption isn't the best reason)

---

by: NancyP @ Thu Apr 09, 2009 at 20:15:45 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Check out

this edition of Newsweek... slowly but surely, folks are figuring out religion is a load of bunk.

"It goes on one at a time, it starts when you care to act, it starts when you do it again after they said no, it starts when you say We and know who you mean, and each day you mean one more."

---

by: Louise @ Thu Apr 09, 2009 at 10:23:11 AM CDT

Don't want to seem to be picking nits

His name is Joel Osteen. That doesn't change the fact that he's a bigoted, intolerant asshole...

---

by: Margaret @ Thu Apr 09, 2009 at 10:29:38 AM CDT

Thanks!

Fixed.  

---

by: UnitetheFight.org @ Thu Apr 09, 2009 at 11:07:52 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Nice

I love their vacant smiles. Some people it seems missed out on their portion of the Tree of Knowledge...

"I would just like to see marriage be between a man and a woman."

Yeah, and I would just like to see myself when the lottery, but don't think it's going to happen

watashi no yomeiri wa doko desu ka

---

by: belfrieboi @ Thu Apr 09, 2009 at 15:53:14 PM CDT