{"id":19782,"date":"2014-09-04T06:00:16","date_gmt":"2014-09-04T10:00:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/?p=19782"},"modified":"2014-09-03T17:43:56","modified_gmt":"2014-09-03T21:43:56","slug":"hans-fiene-takes-down-the-osteens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2014\/09\/hans-fiene-takes-down-the-osteens\/","title":{"rendered":"Hans Fiene takes down the Osteens"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

You may know of Pastor Hans Fiene from his uproariously funny and theologically profound Lutheran Satire <\/a>videos.\u00a0 He now has another forum, The Federalist,<\/a> in which he has published the definitive critique of mega-pastor Joel Osteen.\u00a0 His wife has created an uproar for saying that worship should be about our happiness rather than God\u2019s glory.\u00a0 But, says Pastor Fiene, the Osteens have said so much worse.<\/p>\n

From Hans Fiene, The Osteens\u2019 Donald Sterling Moment<\/a>:<\/p>\n

In their sermons and books, both Joel and Victoria Osteen give full-throated endorsement to the prosperity gospel, a theology which states that those enduring hardships, poverty, and sickness have only their lack of faith and confidence to blame for their suffering. There are, of course, some enormous theological problems with this Christianized version of \u201cThe Secret,\u201d where you obtain God\u2019s blessings by speaking them into existence. The first is that it has no basis in the Scriptures and conveniently ignores all of the words that Jesus speaks about the question of suffering, the cost of discipleship, and the blessedness of persecution. The second is that it offers nothing but despair to those who are faithfully enduring the crosses Christ has given them to bear. And the third is that such a doctrine simply doesn\u2019t square with the lives of those who were the first to tell us about God\u2019s blessings in Christ (self-promotion alert).<\/p>\n

\n

So is it bad for Victoria Osteen to encourage us to think of God as the \u201cTreat Yo Self\u201d Tom Haverford to our name-it-and-claim-it Donna Meagle? Most definitely. But surely it\u2019s a few notches lower on the pole of theological indefensibility than speaking words that, one, say the exact opposite of what the Bible says; two, belittle suffering Christians with the insensitivity a man horking down a hot fudge sundae three inches from the face of a starving child; and, three, imply that St. Peter, St. Paul, and even Jesus Himself must have been really lousy Christians who couldn\u2019t unlock God\u2019s potential blessings.<\/p>\n

But what really makes the Osteens\u2019 books and sermons worse than the things they say are the things they don\u2019t say. The Osteens talk about living your best life now and unlocking God\u2019s earthly blessings. But the Osteens don\u2019t talk about the best life won for us in the blood of the Lamb and God\u2019s eternal blessings for those who cling to Christ in faith. The Osteens doesn\u2019t talk about sin. They don\u2019t talk about forgiveness or redemption or atonement. They don\u2019t talk about heaven and hell or the crucifixion and the resurrection. Do you know why a teetotaler\u2019s favorite drinking game is \u201cTake a Shot Every Time Joel Osteen Talks About Jesus?\u201d Because Joel Osteen doesn\u2019t talk about Jesus.<\/p>\n

[READ IT ALL]<\/a><\/p>\n

Apart from this particular topic, notice how Rev. Fiene, an LCMS pastor, writes\u2013combining humor with seriousness, originality and orthodoxy\u2013and how well he communicates.\u00a0 Here is a Christian author (and video cartoonist) worth our continued attention.<\/p><\/div>\n<\/blockquote><\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

You may know of Pastor Hans Fiene from his uproariously funny and theologically profound Lutheran Satire videos.\u00a0 He now has another forum, The Federalist, in which he has published the definitive critique of mega-pastor Joel Osteen.\u00a0 His wife has created an uproar for saying that worship should be about our happiness rather than God\u2019s glory.\u00a0 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1281,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,47],"tags":[3336,1174,2460,1816],"class_list":["post-19782","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-church","category-theology","tag-hans-fiene","tag-joel-osteen","tag-lutheran-satire","tag-prosperity-gospel"],"yoast_head":"\nHans Fiene takes down the Osteens<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"You may know of Pastor Hans Fiene from his uproariously funny and theologically profound 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