Seeking Spirituality

Many have criticized Joel Osteen, the well-known pastor of Lakewood Church in Houston, Texas. They are upset because Joel preaches a ‘good news’ gospel, because he helps people to feel good about God, because he gives them hope.

They would rather that people live under the spell of preachers who talk of a harsh, demanding, angry, vengeful, and judgmental God – who insist that individuals live under a continual state of fear, guilt, and anxiety, constantly wondering if they are living a life that is ‘pleasing’ to God.

Joel says, ”We’ve heard a lot about the judgment of God and what we can’t do and what’s going to keep us out of heaven. But it’s time for people to start hearing about the goodness of God, about a God that loves them.”

Amen, brother!

One theologian commented that Joel’s core message (“God is nice”) is not the message of the Bible. He felt more emphasis should be put on sin, suffering, and redemption, rather than focusing on the good news.

Joel has said that he believes people know when they are doing wrong. He feels it’s not his job to remind them of this. His job is to uplift, to encourage, to help them recognize that God loves them … where they are.

People are tired of seeing their relationships fall apart, their careers crumble, their dreams disappear. They are tired of struggling through life. They are tired of hearing about the adversity and difficulty throughout the world.

Joel Osteen gives them hope that God has better things in store for them … that God wants only the best for them … and that God loves them.

And I ask … is that such a bad thing?

Tags: General by Nan
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Sometime back I purchased a book called Spirituality Simplified by Jeff Maziarek. It’s a wonderful book that addresses several issues that may be puzzling to a new spiritual seeker, but it also includes numerous good thoughts for those who have been on the spiritual pathway for several years.

One of the parts of the book that I especially liked was Jeff’s discussion at the beginning about the importance of being open-minded as you strive towards a deeper spiritual experience. 

To me, this is where many of us get tripped up. We are so attached to our core beliefs that we reject anything that doesn’t agree with those beliefs.

We refuse to ‘open our mind’ to new ideas, new principles, new information. We continue to cling to the old ideas, philosophies, and viewpoints about ‘religion’ that we learned and absorbed throughout our lifetime and reject anything that doesn’t fall in line with our personal outlook on spiritual matters.

As a result, by choosing to remain in our ‘cocoon of comfort,’ we don’t allow ourselves to learn about and explore deeper levels of spirituality which, in turn, hinders our spiritual growth.

On the About page of this blog, I have a quote by Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) that includes these words: “As for the right way, the correct way, and the only way, it does not exist.”

In other words, we cannot unequivocally know that our way of thinking about things is the correct way … the only way.

I believe once we accept this and open our mind to spiritual concepts and principles that may lie outside our comfort zone, the Universe will lovingly guide us towards levels of spirituality that we’ve never experienced before.

Tags: Spiritual Growth by Nan
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