Larry King has aired some interesting interviews the last few weeks. In one interview, he spoke with Joel Osteen, the pastor of the largest church in America. Here are a few excerpts from the show (you can get the entire transcript here):
KING: Because we've had ministers on who said, your record don't count. You either believe in Christ or you don't. If you believe in Christ, you are, you are going to heaven. And if you don't no matter what you've done in your life, you ain't.Now, keep in mind that this is a man who is the pastor of the largest church in America. It is simply inexcusable that he was given such a wide platform into peoples lives and stumbled so badly on the most essential truth of all the Bible--the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is not something you need a seminary degree to discuss. A child in Sunday School could have quoted John 14:6 or Acts 4:12. Osteen's answer: "I DON'T KNOW."
OSTEEN: Yeah, I don't know. There's probably a balance between. I believe you have to know Christ. But I think that if you know Christ, if you're a believer in God, you're going to have some good works. I think it's a cop-out to say I'm a Christian but I don't ever do anything ...
KING: What if you're Jewish or Muslim, you don't accept Christ at all?
OSTEEN: You know, I'm very careful about saying who would and wouldn't go to heaven. I don't know ...
KING: If you believe you have to believe in Christ? They're wrong, aren't they?
OSTEEN: Well, I don't know if I believe they're wrong. I believe here's what the Bible teaches and from the Christian faith this is what I believe. But I just think that only God will judge a person's heart. I spent a lot of time in India with my father. I don't know all about their religion. But I know they love God. And I don't know. I've seen their sincerity. So I don't know. I know for me, and what the Bible teaches, I want to have a relationship with Jesus.
A caller tried to help Osteen out but Osteen refused to "go on the record."
CALLER: Hello, Larry. You're the best, and thank you, Joe -- Joel -- for your positive messages and your book. I'm wondering, though, why you side-stepped Larry's earlier question about how we get to heaven? The bible clearly tells us that Jesus is the way, the truth and the light and the only way to the father is through him. That's not really a message of condemnation but of truth.Pitiful. simply pitiful. And did I mention that he pastors the largest church in America?
OSTEEN: Yes, I would agree with her. I believe that...
KING: So then a Jew is not going to heaven?
OSTEEN: No. Here's my thing, Larry, is I can't judge somebody's heart. You know? Only god can look at somebody's heart, and so -- I don't know. To me, it's not my business to say, you know, this one is or this one isn't. I just say, here's what the bible teaches and I'm going to put my faith in Christ. And I just I think it's wrong when you go around saying, you're saying you're not going, you're not going, you're not going, because it's not exactly my way. I'm just...
KING: But you believe your way.
OSTEEN: I believe my way. I believe my way with all my heart.
KING: But for someone who doesn't share it is wrong, isn't he?
OSTEEN: Well, yes. Well, I don't know if I look at it like that. I would present my way, but I'm just going to let god be the judge of that. I don't know. I don't know.
KING: So you make no judgment on anyone?
OSTEEN: No. But I...
KING: What about atheists?
OSTEEN: You know what, I'm going to let someone -- I'm going to let god be the judge of who goes to heaven and hell. I just -- again, I present the truth, and I say it every week. You know, I believe it's a relationship with Jesus. But you know what? I'm not going to go around telling everybody else if they don't want to believe that that's going to be their choice. God's got to look at your own heart. God's got to look at your heart, and only god knows that.
KING: You believe there's a place called heaven?
OSTEEN: I believe there is. Yes. You know, you've had a lot of the near-death experiences and things like that. Some of that is very, to me, not that you need that as proof, but it shows you these little kids seeing the angels and things like that.
2 comments:
Most people don't notice things like this, but I've noticed that a lot of people have certain "favorite" phrases or sayings. If you listen to someone talk for a while, you'll hear certain things over and over again. For example, I was in Texas a few months ago and the pastor I was visiting used the phrase "that type of deal" very frequently. It seems that Osteen's favorite phrase is "I don't know." I don't think that we need to pretend to have all the answers when it comes to God because if we can completely figure him out, he's not God, but if you pastor even a small church, you should know something about him and what is required for someone to enter his kingdom. I may be branded a heretic for this, but I wasn't much more impressed with Billy Graham's resonses to some of King's questions either.
It so frustrating when Larry King invites top Christian Leaders on his show and they give pathetic responses to critical questions. He was and apparently is not prepared in season and out of season. John MacArthur is brilliant on Larry King. MacArthur does not not say subjectively "I believe" he says "the Bible says ..." and emphasizes that something outside of himself is the authority. If I was asked to appear on Larry King I would spend hours preparing to potential questions- Joel Osteen answered as if he was awakened at 3am with questions he had not researched. Part of the problem was Larry asked about Osteen about hell which I am pretty sure he has never mentioned in his church because that would be negative- talk of hell doesn't sell books.
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