S/O: I like Joel Osteen. Change my mind.

[Anonymous]

There’s a mark born every day!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There’s a mark born every day!

*born again

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is inoffensive really the best measure of someone's job performance.

It's great that he's a nice guy and has a positive approach. He's also a rank hypocrite traveling around in his private jet and not serving the needy during a hurricane in Houston. However, he's not the only hypocrite, so maybe inoffensive is the best measure?

OP here. This whole controversy surrounding the hurricane seemed SO manufactured. The church was flooded. How could they let people into a flooded building? This is what I am talking about- every controversy just seems like an excuse to hate on him.

Except it wasn't flooded, which is why they suddenly unlocked the doors after social media shaming.

Except it was. And anyone who has lived or spent time in Houston or gone to his church knows it. First of all, Houston floods CONSTANTLY. It's a major issue in Houston that, if you live in another city, you may not even realize how a city (or parts of a city) could flood as often as Houston does. Obviously it disproportionally affects certain areas rather than others, but with every single major storm there is an element of flooding. EVERY SINGLE storm.

This was a hurricane, and there was video footage of the completely flooded parking garage. That may not seem like a big deal, but anyone who has been to the church knows that that's the way to get into the building. The building is built on top of the parking garage (so far as I can make out, from my many visits), and you cannot park anywhere else to get in. It's located in the middle of downtown, on a major street/highway with no street parking whatsoever. You could imagine a church being built off the side of 495 to get an idea of the setup. Yes, there are city streets nearby, but the only way I have EVER been able to access the church is through that parking garage, and I go whenever I visit Houston, maybe a few times every year.

You really couldn't expect to provide widespread help to a community, and to the number of people who would flock to Lakewood, when there is no parking and it's located on a highway. And the only entrance people ever use is flooded several meters under water. Obviously it's a huge danger and risk, because a lot of people are going to try to enter that way.

I live in Houston, not far from Lakewood. There was NO flooding near the church. They absolutely could and should have opened their doors like many other churches did. And if hardly compare 59 to 495.

The Osteens fly on private jets, live in a ginormous mansion due to the “charitable” donations of people who car hardly afford their own bills. My all accounts, Victoria Osteen, by all reports, is not a kind person.

I live in Houston, and there was lots of flooding in that part of town at the time. Stop lying because you dont like them

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The Osteens fly on private jets, live in a ginormous mansion due to the “charitable” donations of people who car hardly afford their own bills. My all accounts, Victoria Osteen, by all reports, is not a kind person.

Says who? My church is supported largely by the wealthiest parishioners. I suspect his is probably similar.

[Anonymous]

Rich Christian pastors profiting on Christ's teachings is always a bad, hypocritical look. To me, Osteen always looks like he's coked out or hyped up on amphetamines. And those teeth, I can't even.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Rich Christian pastors profiting on Christ's teachings is always a bad, hypocritical look. To me, Osteen always looks like he's coked out or hyped up on amphetamines. And those teeth, I can't even.

Talk about a bad, hypocritical, judgey post. Yikes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Osteens fly on private jets, live in a ginormous mansion due to the “charitable” donations of people who car hardly afford their own bills. My all accounts, Victoria Osteen, by all reports, is not a kind person.

Says who? My church is supported largely by the wealthiest parishioners. I suspect his is probably similar.

Of course the wealthiest are the best parishioners, but all the pennies from the rest add up to a lot, too. Joel ain’t picky.

[Anonymous]

It's amazing how Joel seems to bring out the most evil, angry, foaming out the mouth energy. Shows he is truly doing God's work!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. This whole controversy surrounding the hurricane seemed SO manufactured...

Definitely manufactured outrage. Anyone with any experience with storm relief or similar activities knows that you can't just "open your doors." Creating, staffing, supplying and maintaining a shelter is a massive undertaking, and without the infrastructure and expertise for doing so, it could have been a disaster itself. Just what happened to the Superdome after Katrina. Aside from the storm damage itself, that place became a crime infested cesspool overnight. The church was right to direct people to existing shelters operated by FEMA, Red Cross, and other organizations that know what they are doing. The shelters in Houston were never full; there was no need for Lakewood to have turned itself into a shelter at the time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's amazing how Joel seems to bring out the most evil, angry, foaming out the mouth energy. Shows he is truly doing God's work!

Well if you can just label everyone who disagrees with you as evil, angry, and foaming at the mouth, then I guess we're all doing God's work here on DCUM. Praise be to Jeff!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Osteens fly on private jets, live in a ginormous mansion due to the “charitable” donations of people who car hardly afford their own bills. My all accounts, Victoria Osteen, by all reports, is not a kind person.

Says who? My church is supported largely by the wealthiest parishioners. I suspect his is probably similar.

Of course the wealthiest are the best parishioners, but all the pennies from the rest add up to a lot, too. Joel ain’t picky.

People aren't allowed free will with their money? Which is it - "pennies" or "people who can hardly afford their own bills?"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's amazing how Joel seems to bring out the most evil, angry, foaming out the mouth energy. Shows he is truly doing God's work!

Well if you can just label everyone who disagrees with you as evil, angry, and foaming at the mouth, then I guess we're all doing God's work here on DCUM. Praise be to Jeff!

Definitely not everyone is. But the posters on this thread are! Thanks Joel!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. This whole controversy surrounding the hurricane seemed SO manufactured...

Definitely manufactured outrage. Anyone with any experience with storm relief or similar activities knows that you can't just "open your doors." Creating, staffing, supplying and maintaining a shelter is a massive undertaking, and without the infrastructure and expertise for doing so, it could have been a disaster itself. Just what happened to the Superdome after Katrina. Aside from the storm damage itself, that place became a crime infested cesspool overnight. The church was right to direct people to existing shelters operated by FEMA, Red Cross, and other organizations that know what they are doing. The shelters in Houston were never full; there was no need for Lakewood to have turned itself into a shelter at the time.

Here's what's interesting: after reading the back and forth in this thread I tried to figure out what the truth was, and Snopes shows that the Church's official position is that they never closed their doors. Yes, he did tweet that the Church was "inaccessible due to floods" and told people to go to shelters, and then people posted a bunch of pictures showing no flooding at the church, and then other people posted pictures of flooding (near the area, but not at the church itself).

Apparently since in the back of their head they were going to serve as (unannounced) overflow once the shelters hit capacity, their doors were always open metaphorically, even though they were locked in reality. So it's fun to watch people defending him by contradicting the church's official position - saying "you can't open the doors" and "they were totally flooded, it's not safe" when the Church says "we were never closed" and "we were going to take in anyone from the overflow."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Osteens fly on private jets, live in a ginormous mansion due to the “charitable” donations of people who car hardly afford their own bills. My all accounts, Victoria Osteen, by all reports, is not a kind person.

Says who? My church is supported largely by the wealthiest parishioners. I suspect his is probably similar.

Of course the wealthiest are the best parishioners, but all the pennies from the rest add up to a lot, too. Joel ain’t picky.

People aren't allowed free will with their money? Which is it - "pennies" or "people who can hardly afford their own bills?"

Do you even understand what you’re asking? Because it makes no sense.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. This whole controversy surrounding the hurricane seemed SO manufactured...

Definitely manufactured outrage. Anyone with any experience with storm relief or similar activities knows that you can't just "open your doors." Creating, staffing, supplying and maintaining a shelter is a massive undertaking, and without the infrastructure and expertise for doing so, it could have been a disaster itself. Just what happened to the Superdome after Katrina. Aside from the storm damage itself, that place became a crime infested cesspool overnight. The church was right to direct people to existing shelters operated by FEMA, Red Cross, and other organizations that know what they are doing. The shelters in Houston were never full; there was no need for Lakewood to have turned itself into a shelter at the time.

Here's what's interesting: after reading the back and forth in this thread I tried to figure out what the truth was, and Snopes shows that the Church's official position is that they never closed their doors. Yes, he did tweet that the Church was "inaccessible due to floods" and told people to go to shelters, and then people posted a bunch of pictures showing no flooding at the church, and then other people posted pictures of flooding (near the area, but not at the church itself).

Apparently since in the back of their head they were going to serve as (unannounced) overflow once the shelters hit capacity, their doors were always open metaphorically, even though they were locked in reality. So it's fun to watch people defending him by contradicting the church's official position - saying "you can't open the doors" and "they were totally flooded, it's not safe" when the Church says "we were never closed" and "we were going to take in anyone from the overflow."

I'm not defending anything. I'm just saying it is logistically unreasonable to expect them to have opened a shelter. They were never claiming to be a shelter and never denying that they weren't, until people started leveling accusations towards them. Whether there was or wasn't water around the church is irrelevant. If there weren't beds, food, water, adequate sanitation, staff, etc., it was never going to be a shelter. No one was in any imminent danger anyway, and there were plenty of shelters available. Therefore, manufactured outrage.