If Disneyland is the “happiest place on Earth“, then Lakewood Church is the “second happiest place on Earth”.
Joel Osteen is a tough theological nut to crack. Christians love to love this guy and they love to hate him. They love his platitudes, but they don’t like his “cookie-cutter Gospel”. Personally, I see both sides of the argument, but I stop short of running the guy through the mud. I’ve never watched his show or read any of his books, but I did watch his interview with Oprah and he held his own even when it got uncomfortable. He earned some “Molebash Respect” that day.
Even though I’m not a regular follower of this guy, here’s what I know about Joel Osteen:
He’s a super happy guy. He’s happy all the time.
He’s emotional. He’s not afraid to cry. In fact, he’s known for breaking down into tears for no known reason.
He still has a mullet even though AC Slater cut his off years ago.
Regardless of his happiness, his emotions, and his mullet, there’s nothing about Joel Osteen that makes me think he’s not on the up-and-up. The worst thing you can say about the guy is that he preaches candy-coated messages. I can deal with that. At least he’s not selling prayer cloths dipped in holy water like a certain preacher who shall not be named*.
My brain is having trouble expressing the sheer awesomeness of this strip. Joel Osteen’s great, but I prefer Joseph Prince for theology and that amazing accent. (I’m a sucker for accents. Ravi Zacharias, anyone?)
Ravi Zacharias has an open invitation to come over to my house and read the phone book to my wife and I. That would be a great evening.
I definitely listen to Alistair Begg SOLELY for his sermons and not maybe also his Scottish accent.
I’ve had limited exposure to him; I hope I’m wrong here, but his message seemed to be that God is all about deliverance so if you are currently “only” experiencing God’s perseverence you aren’t living your best life now.
Not sure what his beliefs are regarding deliverance in this sense. All I know is he seems to be a super happy guy. :)
I can’t stop laughing. I think my nose is starting to bleed. Or at least run. I may need a handkerchief either way.
Squeeze the bridge of your nose and tilt your head back.
Wes, for the first time since Ive started following you and reading your strip. I have to really disagree with you on this subject matter and take you task. I can believe you included such a theological disaster in your strip.
Since when in the world does Disneyland, one park in California, ever trump Disney World?!? 4 Parks of spectacular happiness that make Disney-land look like a kids playset.
Dont make me get my wife on this blog and straighten you out. ;)
I think DisneyWorld is better, too. But Disneyland is advertised as “The Happiest Place On Earth”, so I went with that.
I hope your wife can forgive me. :)
of course man! LOL great strip!
Best quote about Osteen I’ve ever heard is from MacArthur (paraphrased)… “If you’re living your best life now… you must be going to hell.” Can’t argue with that logic… my problem is that 98% of his theology is based on self-importance and Oprah-style “positive talk” rather than the saving grace and love of Jesus.
That being said. This strip is 100 different kinds of awesome. I would need charts and graphs to explain the awesomeness..
Have you seen his interview with Oprah? He earned some respect from me during that interview. He was asked some tough questions and he answered pretty conservatively.
I’ve seen his sermons, which I find a more compelling example of his theology than a television interview, lol. A great majority is pop-psychology self-help disguised as church and lacking significantly in expository scriptural depth. That’s just my opinion. It’s syrup… and everyone loves syrup… but it’s just not always good for you. ;)
Agreed with Chase. Disney World is better.
I know plenty of people who love Joel, but I think he is too happy of a person for me. I have friends who are that happy, and to me, it almost comes off as being fake until you get to know them. I almost want to be sad around him to bring the level of happiness down from an 11 to a 7 (1-10 scale).
You can never truly make him “sad”. He goes down from “ecstatic” to simply “chipper”.
All of you Disney World proponents are heathens. Heathens I say.
While I prefer DisneyWorld, I ain’t sneezing at Disneyland. I’ve only been to DL once and I have very fond memories of that trip.
Joel Osteen gives me the creeps. I can think of no worse scenario than running through DisneyWorldLand with him. He looks like he is always about to sneeze…while smiling.
My wife likes him, so there is balance in our home.
You’re such a party pooper.
Blood makes me nauseous. Even in a comic strip. Maybe especially in a comic strip. Seriously. I want to hurl. Let me know when it’s safe to come back.
It’ll be safe to come back next week.
Also, thank you for using the word “hurl”.
Know what made me happy? The fact that I discovered I have more Twitter followers than Robert Tilton.
https://twitter.com/BryanMarkLogan/
vs.
https://twitter.com/RobertTilton/
So I must be doing something right.
He’s not doing a good job of leveraging social media.
Maybe you could tag him in a post, see if it gets him followers :)
That could be a worthy experiment.
For the rest of the day I’m going to picturing Joel in episodes of Saved by the Bell.
“But if I don’t finish this sermon in time, I won’t be able to go to the dance. If I can’t go to the dance Kelly will go with Slater! But mom just said I’m grounded with no Bible!” *cue guitar riff into commercials*
You’re welcome for helping you paint that mental picture.
Not even Benny Hinn can blow down Joel Osteen’s smile (there’s a comic for you, Wes) ;-)
Dude. You wanna know what’s funny? When I originally read your comment, I thought it said “Benny HILL”. Hence my reply with Yakety Sax.
The Benny Hinn reference makes much more sense and is very funny. :)
Let’s break out the board game, our heads might explode!
http://www.amazon.com/Endless-Games-180-Your-Best/dp/B00006699X
Oh, wow. I had no idea that existed.