A Roman Catholic commenter at IM has this to say.

i’m not a theologist … just a regular joe doing the best he can in the world to keep it straight and narrow.

i’m a catholic…lot’s of people i feel don’t even know joel, haven’t watched his show .. yet post here from reading info from the web.

i just want to say this … if your church is lakewood, and his (Osteen’s) speaking is your only exposure to Christianity … your only weekly dose, then yes … i can understand the negative feelings as there could be a lot more Biblical teaching in his sermons.

that said, if you add his positive message on top of a strong biblical based foundation, i think joel’s words are excellant. we get a lot of fire and brimstone, and this world needs the education for certain, but make no mistake … his words really do help create a positive mental attitude, there is nothing wrong in that … it’s far better then to go through life with a weak spirit, in fear. sometimes the sheep need to be fed the verses that backup the fact that God did not create garbage.

we could all use a little more faith – Matthew 17:20

and regarding the getting of young people to church … i think they need to be reminded that God Loves them First … before their Sin

The commenter raises an interesting point that probably reveals how any number of people approach Osteen. They have some understanding of the Gospel, and they see Osteen as dessert.

Using this logic, it is possible to take any amount of error, distortion or absence of the Gospel, and say that, when combined with the truth, everything is okey dokey. For example, one might say that the teachings of Islam, if studied after a good Biblical foundation, teach many things of value that we need to hear. The same might be said of the New Age or Buddhism or even atheism. Served up as “dessert,” it is not going to hurt you, because the main meal is what matters.

In the same way, the commenter suggests that people need to hear less “fire and brimstone,” and more “love.” With all due respect, the love of God in the Bible is the love that sent Jesus to the cross and poured out our judgement upon him. What the writer is suggesting is that we need to hear about the love of God in some kind of “huggy” manner that has nothing to do with the Gospel. In fact, talking about the love of God as some intangible quality that is opposed to the cross and the Holiness of God is part of the disaster that has erased the Gospel among many evangelicals. The idea that a “Hallmark Card” experience of God is better than bothering people with all that guilt and carping in the Bible is the attitude that Osteen is appealing to with many in his audience.

The commenter isn’t an evangelical, and I could answer him as a Catholic, but I think his sentiments are where millions of evangelicals are living. Can’t we find some way to get the holy God of those bothersome Ten Commandments and the grotesque God of the cross out of the picture, and just talk about God as a general good feeling of self-esteem and self-confidence.

Just a closer….Read the interviews. Ask yourself if this harmonizes with scripture. One example: What is faith?

God works where there’s faith. And faith to me is having a positive outlook, believing that things are going to get better, and expecting good things in life.

That is not only not right, it is the polar opposite of Biblical faith in the New Testament. It’s saying Abraham was a positive thinker. What does the New Testament say about faith? Not just in Hebrews…but in all of John: Believe on Jesus. Over and over and over.

This isn’t dessert. It’s garbage.