BOSTON, Mass. (BP)–Joel Osteen is one of America’s most well-known preachers, but his less-than-direct comments recently on “gay marriage” turned a few evangelical heads.
Osteen, pastor of the nondenominational Lakewood Church in Houston and the author of “Your Best Life Now,” was at a Boston bookstore signing books when he was asked his opinion about “gay marriage,” which has been legal in Massachusetts since 2004. According to the Boston Herald, Osteen “suddenly got sheepish.”
“I don’t think it’s God’s best,” Osteen said, according to the Sept. 2 edition of the Herald. “I never feel like homosexuality is God’s best.”
Pressed further, Osteen added, “I don’t feel like that’s my thrust … you know, some of the issues that divide us, and I’m here to let people know that God is for them and He’s on their side.”
Writing in his weblog, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary President R. Albert Mohler Jr. said Osteen’s answer fell short.
“Put that alongside the fact that Stephen Green was recently arrested in Great Britain for passing out pamphlets that included Bible verses clearly declaring homosexuality to be a sin,” Mohler wrote. “Christians in many parts of the world now risk arrest for declaring openly what the Bible clearly teaches. Mr. Osteen can be assured that his weak and evasive non-answer to this reporter’s question will put him at very little risk for arrest. But then, pandering prophets are rarely at much of a risk from the public anyway.
“There was no conviction in his answer; no clear declaration of biblical truth; no Gospel, no judgment, and no promise. Just a non-answer with a smile. Pathetic … simply pathetic.”
It is not the first time Osteen has given a somewhat evasive answer to a moral question.
In June 2005, during an appearance on CNN’s “Larry King Live,” Osteen was asked about his positions on “gay marriage” and abortion.
“You know what, Larry? I don’t go there. I just …,” he said, according to a transcript. “… I just, you know, I don’t think that a same-sex marriage is the way God intended it to be. I don’t think abortion is the best. I think there are other, you know, a better way to live your life. But I’m not going to condemn those people. I tell them all the time our church is open for everybody.”
“You don’t call them sinners?” King asked.
“I don’t,” Osteen said.
“Is that a word you don’t use?” King asked.
“I don’t use it,” Osteen responded. “I never thought about it. But I probably don’t. But most people already know what they’re doing wrong. When I get them to church I want to tell them that you can change. There can be a difference in your life. So I don’t go down the road of condemning.”
MARCH IN SOUTH AFRICA — Thousands of Christians marched in South African cities Sept. 16, urging the government not to pass a bill that would legalize “gay marriage,” Reuters reported. The country’s highest court issued a decision last year ordering the government to change the marriage definition by Dec. 1.
Parliamentarian committees are set to hold hearings on the bill where Christians opposed to it can speak out. Some South Africans, including the African Christian Democratic Party, have called for a constitutional amendment banning “gay marriage.”
“Traditional marriages, in which one man and one woman create a lasting community, pass on time-honored family values to secure the future and, therefore, are worthy of protection,” Steve Swart, an ACDP member of Parliament, said, according to the SAPA news agency.
COLO. AMEND. FAVORED — A proposed constitutional marriage amendment in Colorado is supported by 52 percent of registered voters, according to a Rocky Mountain News/CBS 4 poll of 500 voters Sept. 10-12. Forty-two percent of voters oppose the amendment, which would protect the natural definition of marriage by preventing state courts from legalizing “gay marriage.” It is known as Referendum 43.
Meanwhile, Referendum I, which would grant same-sex couples many of the legal benefits of marriage, is supported by voters by a margin of 58-38 percent, according to the same poll.
Nearly one in five voters plan to vote for both initiatives, the Rocky Mountain News reported.
NO APPEAL IN ILL. — Conservatives in Illinois have chosen not to appeal a federal appeals court ruling against a proposed “gay marriage” advisory referendum, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported Sept. 14. The non-binding initiative would have appeared on the November ballot and asked the Illinois legislature to send a constitutional marriage amendment to voters.
Protect Marriage Illinois gathered 345,000 signatures for the referendum — well beyond the 283,000 required — but local and state officials said too many of the signatures were invalid. Conservatives sued, saying the state law governing advisory questions was “unconstitutionally burdensome” on Illinois citizens and led to the tossing of signatures that were valid. But a federal district court, as well as an appeals-court panel, disagreed and ruled against conservatives.
Peter LaBarbera, spokesman for Protect Marriage Illinois, told the Post-Dispatch that conservatives likely would try again in 2008.
“This is the end of the road for now,” LaBarbera told the paper. “We’re sad it’s not going to be on there, but we’ve decided not to challenge the court’s decision anymore.”
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For more information about the national debate over “gay marriage,” visit https://www.bpnews.net/samesexmarriage
