Is your church a cult?

iVillage Member
Registered: 02-06-2009
Is your church a cult?
1
Fri, 02-27-2009 - 7:11pm

I was reading

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iVillage Member
Registered: 02-07-2009
Sat, 03-14-2009 - 9:52pm
Hey. don't put all Texans in the same pot. I do not know anyone in Texas who finds him admirable.
iVillage Member
Registered: 02-04-2009
Sat, 03-14-2009 - 10:07pm
Oh, no, it wasn't a comment on Texans. But rather that particular poster who is SOOOO outraged by the same brand of idolatry preached in a church in Washington State, is all about how wonderful it is when Joel Osteen (in Texas) preaches it.

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Kitty

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Kitty

"If you can't annoy somebody with what you write, I think there's little point in writing."-- Kingsley Amis, British novelist, 1971 t .

iVillage Member
Registered: 11-04-2008
Sun, 03-15-2009 - 12:04am

Well it seems to be working for him--he's bringing in the big bucks!!!

"YOU CAN'T HANDLE THE TRUTH!"--Jack Nicholsen, as Colonol Nathan Jessup in "A Few Good Men"
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iVillage Member
Registered: 02-24-2009
Sun, 03-15-2009 - 3:17am
It would make sense that he had a road show. Tickets probably cost a pretty penny too.
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iVillage Member
Registered: 02-24-2009
Sun, 03-15-2009 - 5:00am
You can watch the trailer for the movie version online. It is pretty funny, more or less the self-help version of the Da Vinci Code (secret tablets, knights templar, yadda-yadda).
Avatar for rollmops2009
iVillage Member
Registered: 02-24-2009
Sun, 03-15-2009 - 5:54am

This sounds like heretical, magical thinking (and also extremely childish):

"Word-Faith teachers claim that God operates by spiritual law and is obliged to obey the faith-filled commands and desires of believers. He not only reveals prosperity teaching supernaturally to the Word-Faith teachers, but personally and verbally confirms their unique interpretations of Scripture (Copeland, Laws of Prosperity, pp. 60-62). (http://www.watchman.org/profile/wordpro.htm)."

Then there is this on Word-Faith (Osteen's branch of hocus-pocus) quoted in Wiki:

"An origin of Word of Faith was proposed in the Kenyon Connection, a thesis proposed by D.R. McConnell of Oral Roberts University, proposes that Kenyon adopted the teachings of New Thought and relabeled them. Thus, the Word of Faith movement in McConnell’s view constitutes a Trojan horse. This argument was the primary conclusion reached by McConnell’s Master’s thesis published as a book, “A Different Gospel”."

Guess what else is based on the New Thought movement? From the Wiki entry on The Secret:

"The authors of The Secret cite the New Thought movement that began in the late 19th century as the historical basis for their ideas."

Wiki on New Thought:

"The earliest identifiable proponent of what came to be known as New Thought was Phineas Parkhurst Quimby (1802–66), an American philosopher, mesmerist, healer, and inventor. Quimby developed a belief system that included the tenet that illness originated in the mind as a consequence of erroneous beliefs and that a mind open to God's wisdom could overcome any illness. During the late 19th century the metaphysical healing practices of Quimby mingled with the "Mental Science" of Warren Felt Evans, a Swedenborgian minister."




Edited 3/15/2009 6:23 am ET by rollmops2009
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-11-2009
Sun, 03-15-2009 - 8:39am
That pretty much answers my question and ends the debate between you and me on this subject, thanks anyway :)
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-11-2009
Sun, 03-15-2009 - 8:39am
He'll be at the new Yankee Stadium next month :)
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-11-2009
Sun, 03-15-2009 - 8:41am
How familiar are you with Joel Osteen and the Secret besides googling information on them?
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-11-2009
Sun, 03-15-2009 - 8:43am
Nah, $15. Not too bad IMO :)

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