“Another thing I remind myself is that God knows what’s best for me.” (Joel Osteen) If Joel were reading this, I’d remind him that, while God knows what is best for us, we don’t always use our free will to follow that advice. I also believe that God allows certain things to happen in our life that (ultimately) are for the best. Perhaps you can look back and see the truth of this. ;-) Jack
FROM GOOD DEBT JON: I heard someone yesterday (in a business setting) trying to explain his relationship with someone he didn’t want to be associated with and he said, “We all have our Reverend Wright’s.”
MORE FROM JON: Isaac Singer wrote, “We have to believe in free will. We’ve got no choice.”
Paraphrasing my 2004 advice about debt, from Good Debt, Bad Debt: “If we follow our emotions we have given up freedom—then we are slaves to our emotions. Many refuse responsibility and are given over to their emotions until finally they collapse under the weight of their own desires. So it is not only freedom that is important; but freedom tempered with discipline, deferral, and discernment.” That’s enough preaching, I am way behind on yesterday’s discipline.
FROM P.O. IN MICHIGAN: Oh my, yes!!
FROM A.M. IN MICHIGAN: Great advice Pastor Jack! Truer words were never spoken.
FROM J.C. IN HONG KONG: Good one. (But God hardened Pharaoh's heart ....)
FROM D.S. IN MICHIGAN: I have to trust this is true since I am in overwhelm these days – too many jobs at once. Thanks for the encouraging words.
FROM PR J.S. IN MICHIGAN: Things happen here. Some are good. Some are neutral. Some are bad. God helps us use the good things to make the world better. He helps us gain perspective during the neutral times. He guides and leads us "through the valley of the shadow of death."
FROM EMT SINGS IN MICHIGAN: Just curious if you have an opinion about Joel Osteen, or more accurately his theology. Isn't his the Properity Church? RESPONSE FROM JACK: You're the first one who asked....which surprises me. Usually, I switch channels when I see him, but I listened the other night when he said that we need to do things differently to makes our lives more interesting. So, the next morning I had Cream of Wheat instead of oatmeal. It is true, that life becomes more interesting when we crawl out of the rut.
I look upon him as a motivational speaker....and he's good at that. I don't look upon him as a pastor, but who am I to judge? It takes all kinds...and if he's able to lead someone to a deeper faith, so be it.
I don't know enough about his theology to judge whether or not it coincides with mine. Mine isn't perfect, either. "There is so much good in the worst of us,And so much bad in the best of us,That it hardly behooves any of usTo talk about the rest of us. " Edward Wallis Hoch,
FROM MOLINER, C.F.: Joel does have a way of stating it that gets through to us. With good mix of common sense.
FROM L.K. IN OHIO: yes......key word, "ULTIMATELY".....
FROM MOLINER EFP: I certainly learn a lot from your blog. I had never heard of "prosperity church" before so I "googled" it. As you know, I am a fan of Joel Osteen because he makes me feel hopeful. Now I don't know what to think. I kind of feel as if I've been "had."
3 comments:
If God alterd the effects of our free will, it wouldn't be free will. Reaping what one sows would be meaningless and untrue. Identifying a tree by its fruit would be equally misleading. It seems to me that this amazing system of creation, which includes our own physical states, has its own set of laws. They are not void of their spiritual nature; but are inclusive of it. So, when God "allows" something it's an allowance of its natural law -- just as it was created. This is why it is so critical to understand the fundamental nature of our Freedom, our Responsibility, and our Will! We have been "creating" [generating] the world in which we live by virtue of these applications of our freedom, reponsibility, and will. I can imagine God asking us why we chose to be so miserable to one another and why we chose to live with that and all that sort of being generates for us. For those who chose to "love one another as I [Jesus] have loved you", the question would be comletely unnecessary.
Appreciated Joel Osteen's Winning Words but am also doubly appreciative of your Winning Words. I watch him sometimes. One thing that people in the Lutheran Church have been teaching me and others all along seems to me to be that you don't denounce as evil Pastors and faith communities who seem to be preaching part of The Story but you just try to stand within The Whole Story and let that carry the day. Today's Winning Words are pretty consistent with the Lutheran message I've been getting all along to help me deal with my past church experiences.
Thanks, Pastor Freed.
Peace,
Sharon
All I know is I wouldn't last a day, let alone 20 years in Joel Osteen's church. Not for my sake but having to get out for Joel's sake because our hovel of a house, our old beaten up car with a crack in the windshield, my crappy self-esteem and always tending to take responsibility for causing so much suffering in the world, people would look at me and wonder why Joel was failing so much. My Lutheran Pastors seem to bear it all pretty well and I feel like I haven't brought them down too much yet.
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