![]() ![]() Carl Trueman, professor of church history at the Westminster Theological Seminary in Pennsylvania and a pastor himself, doesn't hide his opinion that Osteen's pockets seem to be a little on the deep side for a preacher. In his first service after the disaster, he also advised the victims of the hurricane to forget their "'poor old me' mentality."Īs the Houston Chronicle reports, Osteen's wealth has drawn criticism from scholars and watchdogs groups. In an interview with Today, he explained that apart from safety concerns, the city hadn't asked the church to become a shelter, so they didn't immediately have the resources to start helping scores of people. Joel Osteen himself quite naturally took the brunt of the bad PR storm, but soon addressed the situation. A columnist on CNN blasted the televangelist's "Harvey excuses" as "bogus," and sites like the Inquisitr and TMZ openly questioned the veracity of the church's flooding claims. They'd said that the building was "inaccessible due to severe flooding." They'd also stated that they were not so much closed as they were "prepared to shelter people once the cities and county shelters reach capacity." While the comments were backed up by photos that showed flood water in parts of the facility, the situation didn't exactly make Osteen look good. Unfortunately, the Lakewood Church had already given a torrent of reasons for keeping its doors closed. ![]() ![]() "We have different personalities, different temperaments." He then went on to explain that just because someone's doing something wrong "doesn't mean you have to engage." He initially remained quiet, but once this approach started drawing criticism, he explained his views in a Facebook post that, to many, was no better than his initial silence: "One of the biggest challenges we all face is getting along with people because everyone is different," he stated. Joel Osteen, on the other hand, chose a different route. Several more were injured in the various clashes during the event. According to the Christian Post, many religious leaders were quick to condemn the white supremacists' actions. The situation ended in tragedy when a car drove in a crowd of people opposing the neo-Nazis, killing one person and injuring 19 others. As the BBC reminds us, the August 2017 white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia was a terrifying, hostile event where brawls erupted between the far-right marchers and the counter-protesters. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |