So the critics assail him for being too light on Jesus and Scripture; for promising his followers worldly rewards; etc. Almost like an infomercial that's too good to be true, right?
Well I for one love infomercials. I watch them quite often on my low-def, round-screen color TV - even if I NEVER buy anything (only The Bean
). Even though I'm not a big fan of brainwashing, the marketing is usually ingenious. The packaging of these too-good-to-be-true products really does highlight latent consumer demand.So the commercial success of Oprah, American Idol, iMorons,..., and the *lite* ministry of Joel Osteen is definitely preaching some truth worth noting - even if it's not the TRUTH outsiders are holding them too.
You know the Jesuits were (and might still be!) VERY UN-ORTHODOX in their methods, in how they courageously spread the Word to frontier heathens. It's all too easy for armchair do-nothings to sit back and criticize. Here's my boy Will Durant:
"Wherever men do things, other men will arise who will explain to them how things should be done."
Indeed!
So I say *so what* if Joel Osteen isn't running the perfect ministry for whatever YOU think YOUR NEEDS are. YOUR fear of him becoming a Big Media caricature is just that, YOUR SELF-INDUCED problem. Live and let live (and tune out Big Media). Like I said, I'd never even heard of this guy before today. And I'm not afraid at all to investigate him further.
1 comment:
cnut, i see u r point. I also like marketing/creativity, and people making something of themselves. But there are some morals/decency, even animals have some standards.
anybody who takes advantage of "human helplessness" is the worse kind, and if they make 100s of millions of it, in the name of christ - but dont preach christ's word, is the worst of all.
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