The Sad State of the "Church"

Have you ever had those times in Sunday School where you were told, "If you do (insert good action here, such as pray), (insert noun) will happen"? I still remember being told that if I was nice to people and if I prayed, I would be blessed with worldly things. I still remember. Of course, to this day, it seems like a pile of nonsense. At the time, though, I remember eagerly praying and waiting, hoping to get what I wanted. Eventually, however, I grew up from that. If you really need ulterior motives to do good things, then there's a real problem.

Unfortunately, it seems that some people haven't grown up. I don't want to drone on... so, I'll just say this. Prosperity Teaching is essentially... give money, do some things, and you will be blessed on Earth. Forget the fact that Jesus suffered, that Paul, John the Baptist, and Peter suffered. Or that tons of Christians, such as Martin Luther King Jr., have paid heavy prices for their work, even today. I guess they don't count.

I am currently reading through a script of Joel Osteen, the ordained preacher at Lakewood Church, on Larry King Live. Some of the gems...

"OSTEEN: Well, I think in a sense when you see certain things in society you would think that. But in another sense I see faith in America. Faith in the world. At an all-time high today. When I was growing up it was a big deal to have a church of 1,000. Now there's churches of 10,000. So many of them. So I think in one sense I can agree with that point. But in another sense I see a real spiritual awakening taking place."

It's sad for Osteen to be so naive. People often like to think that going to church regularly on Easter and Christmas shows commitment or devotion. Others like to think listening to the sermon every week (being a Sunday Christian) is the way into Heaven.

The fact that so many people attend Lakewood just shows how immense the group of people is that do not actually know what is written in the Bible at all. To be fair, I'm not perfect either. But to miss the integral message in there, the points of scripture... yeah.

The other great part? Osteen never went to seminary. Who knows how much scripture he actually knows. Somehow, based on his father's legacy at Lakewood Church, he was able to get ordained as a pastor without any background. Oh, and if anyone is curious... his best-selling book, "Your Best Life Now," doesn't even quote scripture until the end. How great is that? His reasoning for this is that he wants to reach a mainstream audience. Ugh.

And a couple more...

"KING: How about issues that the church has feelings about? Abortion? Same-sex marriages?

OSTEEN: Yeah. You know what, Larry? I don't go there. I just ..."

"OSTEEN: You wonder why Victoria and I have a great relationship? It's called Victoria's Secret."

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0506/20/lkl.01.html

Of course, this may just highlight a bigger problem. We only believe what we want to hear. Prosperity teaching is the most noticeable, because of how far it deviates from what the Word actually says. But it's quite believable that we all like to hear what we want to hear. In a world where Absolute Truth is getting lost in the shuffle, we struggle. It's probably unfair that I keep bringing up Joel Osteen, but it's just that he is such a visible character in today's society.

Anyway, this is already ridiculously long, and I have more to say, but I'll just leave it for tonight.