Wednesday, January 23, 2008

An Unanswered Letter To Joel Osteen

The below is an email I sent to Joel Osteen's Church after having a lengthy discussion with a friend of mine concerning Joel's stance on numerous issues including this one (my friend holds Joel Osteen in high regard). We had a very good dialogue and talked through the issue in a very respectable manner. That led me to write this letter to Joel Osteen himself.

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Hi, I know this is not going directly to Joel, but I would ask that you forward it along to him as I care about what he teaches and think this is a matter of importance upon which he should consider his statements.

In his interview with Chris Wallace back in December he made some comments concerning Mormonism (he validated it as a part of Christendom) that are simply not true. After his validation he went on to state that he hasn't really thought about them or studied them. My contention is this: if he is ignorant (I do not mean this in any harsh or mean sense of the word) of what Mormonism is, why validate it as part of Christianity?

The problem with such a statement is that it has the potential to lead many astray from the truth because he just told all of the watching audience that a Mormon is a true Christian. That is a pretty wide blanket statement that does not stand up to the test of scripture. Unless he recants of this view and repents for misleading those who are under his influence, he will be judged more harshly by God Himself (James 3.1; Mt. 18.6-7)

If I may, I would encourage Joel to read a paper I wrote while back at University on Mormonism. All sources are primary sources (Pro Mormon Material) save for one. It is titled: The Mormon Document: (Mormonism: Questions & Conflicts). Here is the link The main point of the paper is to examine Mormonism by its own prophets and teachings and see how it fares and then compare and contrast it with Protestantism. I think this would do him much good in the way of educating him on Mormonism and it would further provide him with a better answer the next time he chooses to do an interview and the question of Mormonism comes up again.

Please do not just write this email off but please do forward it along to Joel. Thank you for your time. Feel free to email me any questions or concerns you may have.

Here is where I first learned of this dialogue.

Here is the article from which the above link gets the quote.

Here is the transcript itself.
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I never recieved a response to this email and it was sent to info [at] joel osteen [dot]com back on the fourth of January. I had hoped for a response by now.

Some questions:
-What do you think of Joel's statements concerning Mormonism?
-Do you think the above letter was harsh and truthful? In love and truthful? Or just plain wrong in its assessment?
-Do you agree with my assessment of Joel's actions?
-How should Christians go about correcting fellow believers in Christ?
-Do you think Joel Osteen is a Christian?

4 comments:

pastorbrianculver said...

We'll find out if he answers or not. I just sent a smushy letter to him, I figure he will answer it because it does not involve Scripture. I asked him what size church he felt was best. I agree with your post. It needed to be said to him. Someone needs to set him straight on how dangerous it is to play with fire!

Timm said...

I susspect your email will go unanswered J. In Joel Osteens continued attempt at not judging anyone, he has succeeded in leaded his countless followers to buy into a ver "post modern" stance on all other religions.

I would love to see someone with his clout stand up against this type of belief, but I suspect if he was doing that, he wouldn't have the clout that I want to see him throw around in the first place.

Thanks for yet another link.

Brian,
Have you ever read the paper that J links to in the middle of his letter. I strongly reccommend it. I bet you two could talk about this stuff for hours. I'd like to be the fly on the wall for that conversation.

Timm said...

I need to proof read before I hit submit. :)

j razz said...

Hint: If you use Firefox as your browser, it will proof read for you and underline in red any mispelled words.

j razz