I might have opened a can here. Hopefully no one is really offended.
My intention was just that if you don't like going to church and like to feel good Sunday morning then Joel Osteen is a good option. Still highly recommended.
He's enjoyable to listen to and I like his upbeat positive style. I find him inspiring - probably the last vestige of my extreme roman catholic upbringing:) Go figure.
I agree with the OP he makes me feel good too:)
He's charismatic and reminds me of the young priest who was supposed to teach us religion in school and danced the twist on the table for fun.
I don't take the bible literally and I had the nerve to visit the local townhall to officially declare myself a non-believer - in order to be freed from paying 10% of my salary to the roman catholic church. In case you are wondering, I lived in Germany, which has no separation of church and state - so if you say you are Christian you will find 10% deducted from your paycheck. For all my bravery that day, I thought God might strike me dead as I left the building:)
I was 22 and had just decided that misogyny has its roots in religion established by men. (As good a theory as any:) So why should I support a bunch of women haters who don't even want to acknowledge my right over my own body or "allow" a woman to use birth control. Screw you Mr. Pope the times they are a changing.
Living in a small, extremely religious (yup, we even had a real live witches tower where they once interrogated witches) I had heard one too many times that it was all Eve's fault - the original eternal sin. People seriously believed that shit - all women are evil. It may have been the day I embraced the glory of being a woman.
Took me years to shed most of that extreme roman catholic mindset.
As far as the witches tower, the last witch trial was about 100 years ago, my grandma told me all about it. Very interesting:) A few years ago I followed up on that history. It so happened that 300 years ago a regional catholic bishop burnt so many women as witches that women became scarce. Unbelievable, yet true.
It was a man from my hometown who led the rebellion together with other men who feared for their wives and finally brought a halt to this insanity.
Back on topic: Why the hell would Joel have to be poor to be a good Christian or a good preacher? That's utter nonsense. To me he is just another example of "if you're good at something you make a lot of money". No, I wouldn't give money to his church and I don't remember him ever asking for any. I choose my own charities.
He's built an empire - I think of him as a successful entrepreneur who just happens to deal in positive religion versus guilt or fire and brimstone.
There is none of that bigoted, hateful crap you find elsewhere. There is no glorification of being poor or holier than thou thinking.
His message is hopeful and joyful and helpful to many. I don't know what constitutes a fraud here - he delivers a message, does it well and collects good money in the process. To me he is a breath of fresh air and I couldn't care less how often he mentions Jesus. There is no law that says he has to live or act like an old time man of the cloth. There were some that were wonderful human beings who did a lot of good, but most of them that I came across were sanctimonious, righteous a holes that made me want to pummel them senseless.
So all you Joel haters out there, back off my boy:) I enjoy him every so often on late night TV, but as far as religion goes, that is another matter entirely.