re: Joel Osteen about to open his church up

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its not his responsibility to open up his building to let people stay. Thats why we have all of these government agencies and buildings that we designate as shelters that way pay huge amounts of taxes to fund. And it could be argued that this situation with people trapped is because of governments failure to try and get people to evacuate. That is not a Joel Osteen problem.

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I don't seem to remember that part of the bible where Jesus told his people it's not their problem the government is bad.

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its not his responsibility to open up his building to let people stay. Thats why we have all of these government agencies and buildings that we designate as shelters that way pay huge amounts of taxes to fund. And it could be argued that this situation with people trapped is because of governments failure to try and get people to evacuate. That is not a Joel Osteen problem.

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Actually, the fact that some churches DON'T fill this role is why it's so easy for us to give away authority and autonomy to the government.

And if he refers to a church as "his building," well, that tells you exactly what you need to know about Joel Osteen.

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He "does" but it's only the portions about prosperity. He basically says what the people want to hear

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Those members with the large bank accounts. It's not just his church however. This is happening all over the place in this country, the truth being compromised or not preached because that doesn't fill the pews or the coffers. Preaching to the broken, the poor, and the downtrodden doesnt give you big luxurious lifestyle like Christ lived... oh wait, no, that's not how Christ lived. OH WELL... Nevermind the whole "Christ Like" thingy. Time to get rich off God.

False preachers the lot of them. Starving people who are really hungry for God to feed the rich so that they themselves can be rich as well.

Truth be known, the smaller churches with poorer people is where you will usually find the word preached without compromise in my experience, and they're never going to be a mega-church.

Runs the risk of his church getting Superdomed

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Healing Place or Swaggart didn't have people sheltered during the floods last year.

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I think he has an account with the Aloha Motel on Airline. I heard he put some folks up there.

First let me say, I don't really care for Joel or his stance on the Gospel, I do however have some friends that attend his church that spend many hours of their week working in feeding centers that help low income/homeless people that are looking for a meal, this is everyday, not just during emergencies.

Many don't understand how difficult it is to set up a shelter on the spot! You can't just let 300 people into a building without 1st finding something for them to sleep on, being prepared to serve hundreds of meals a day (can't run down to Sams and stock up on food), stocking and keeping restroom facilities operating for them to get cleaned up. And then you have to have people ready to cook, clean, help facilitate everything that needs to be done. Many of those people are likely in the same boat as those looking for shelters.

What would be the smart thing for everyone is for the Joel and his Church to help where there are already shelters in place by providing what is needed to run those shelters. They'd be filling a much greater need than trying to half arse open a shelter that isn't prepared to deal with refugees.

Joel should have stood firm on his decision and started pointing people to the work that his Church was already doing (if they are doing anything) to help the city and others.

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Wrong. Healing place also had 2 of their campuses flooded so...

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So Healing Place opened their sanctuary for sheltering people?

And I know how much they do and who is to say Osteen isn't doing that as well?

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But does he even really preach from the Bible?


I thought a major criticism of him from other Christians was that he doesn't actually preach the Gospel.

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that's a pretty valid point, I dont make it a point to listen to him, but everything I've ever heard was more motivational speech than anything. no sacrifice, no substance.
It's kind of like someone hired Tony Robbins to run Six Flags over Jesus over there.

I'll admit I have not. I'm only repeating criticism that I've seen others mention about him. I've seen those say his sermons are more about making people feel good than preaching. I've heard the term "prosperity gospel" thrown around.

A good pastor doesn't preach to just make people "feel good". He leads his flock to follow Christ. He preaches the Gospel, all of it....even the parts that don't make people feel good. He provides comfort, wisdom, and guidance. But knows he himself is still a fallen human that is far from perfect.

If someone would like to post a sermon of his that clearly talks about the hard truths of being a Christian and following Christ to prove his critics wrong....I would love to read it.

As for the whole church as a shelter thing.....maybe he could have focused instead on what his church can do for Harvey victims("we aren't opening the church up now but are doing x,y,z to aid those in need). I don't get the uproar against him for that tbh.

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I don't seem to remember that part of the bible where Jesus told his people it's not their problem the government is bad.

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I have not heard about insufficient space in evacuation centers... have you?