"According to Joel Osteen – Pastor of Lakewood Church in Houston, Texas, these first century apostles are wrong and outdated and he has come out boldly to infer indirectly that Apostles Paul, Peter, and John whom wrote much of the New Testament were wrong and need to be corrected and rebuked.
When asked directly if people whom are openly practicing homosexuals are accepted into the Kingdom, Joel Osteen responded with “Absolutely, anybody is.”
Joel does acknowledge that some things are “sin” but says, “I don’t address these things from the pulpit. They only come up in interviews.” When asked if openly practicing gay/homosexual people will be accepted into heaven, Joel Osteen resonded, “I believe they will.”
The link to the entire article is here: http://unitedforawakening.com/joel-osteen-rebukes-apostles-paul-peter-and-john/
Reading this makes me so angry because people are too afraid to speak the straight out truth from the bible, afraid it may "hurt someone's feelings" or better yet.. in the words of my little sister..
"..that will make it seem as there is no hope for those people to come to Christ instead of a loving god, they will think of him as a tyrant who hates all the wicked people.."
If people really want to come to Christ and follow and obey his word, they will turn from their sin and pursue it no more. This statement leads me to another topic, which I had originally intended to white about. My husband, John and I recently watched a video clip on youtube about two street preachers yelling about how God hates the wicked and despises their sin. We decided to look it up on our own. Sure enough... here are a few verses we found.
Psalm 5:4-6
4 For you are not a God who is pleased with wickedness;
with you, evil people are not welcome.
5 The arrogant cannot stand
in your presence.
You hate all who do wrong;
6 you destroy those who tell lies.
Psalm 11:5
5 The Lord examines the righteous,
but the wicked, those who love violence,
he hates with a passion.
Lev. 20:23
23 You must not live according to the customs of the nations I am going to drive out before you. Because they did all these things, I abhorred them.
Prov. 6:16-19
16 There are six things the Lordhates,
seven that are detestable to him:
17 haughty eyes,
a lying tongue,
hands that shed innocent blood,
18 a heart that devises wicked schemes,
feet that are quick to rush into evil,
19 a false witness who pours out lies
and a person who stirs up conflict in the community.
Hosea 9:15
15 Because of all their wickedness in Gilgal,
I hated them there.
Because of their sinful deeds,
I will drive them out of my house.
I will no longer love them;
all their leaders are rebellious.
It says plain and clear he hates the wicked man. When I presented these verses to my little sister (because she and the rest of my family believe differently than I), she had this to say..
SHE: It means he hates their actions and the spirits in them, and how could god hate the very people he created to be with him forever, that will make it seem as there is no hope for those people to come to Christ instead of a loving life giving lord, they will think of him as a tyrant who hates all the wicked people and God loves them so much after all Jesus did eat with the prostitutes tax collectors and sinners and back then eating with someone meant that you were very close to that person but Jesus is pursuing those people just as much as he is pursuing us he loves them no different he just hates their actions
I: You cannot twist the words of the bible.
Yes, he DESIRES for them to love him and spend eternity in heaven but he despises sin and those who do it. It says it clear as day. The only way we can come to him is to repent of our sins and follow wholeheartedly after Christ.
People cannot make the bible say what they want to. You know the verse about adding and taking away from the bible??
SHE: Exactly yes and I wasn't
I: That is what you are doing when you say "oh it actually means this..."
SHE: I'm saying it means he hates their actions
I: Show me a verse that says that.
SHE: Proverbs 6:17-19, a proud look, a lying tongue, murderous hands, a wicked heart, mischievous feet, a false witness, and a divisive spirit. In other words, God hates evil actions and behaviors. He does not hate people.
I: "There are six things which the LORD hates, Yes, seven which are an abomination to Him" THINGS - hands, tongue, feet ... oh, and you forgot the last part of that verse.. "a false witness who pours out lies
and A PERSON who stirs up conflict in the community." Your taking things out of context.
give me another verse! That one doesn't work.
After that she had nothing further to say. Okay, maybe I got a little fired up towards the end.. but who can blame me. I suppose it's my own fault. I ask these questions to encourage my sisters to search the bible for them selves and not just listen to what all mainstream preachers are throwing in everyone's faces.
Am I wrong to take literally the words which the bible says?? If I am misled in my thought process, I wish for someone to explain the true meanings of these verses.
I personally would rather take the harsher translation and have more convictions that try to water it down into something I'm comfortable with.
I know this is a touchy subject because most people (including myself,) are raised with the thought process that "God loves everyone no matter what they do". Which, I do believe he desperately desires to have us dwell with him in paradise. As it says in 2 Peter 3:9, I think it is.."The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance."
With that I leave you all.
-Nikki
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