Neglecting to mention the countless human beings suffering around the globe, an obtuse Victoria Osteen tried to justify the notion of praying for a parking spot, arguing that by doing so she was not “dumbing down” prayer. Osteen, co-pastor of the Lakewood megachurch with her husband, Joel Osteen, spoke to HuffPost Live about the kind of prayer she practices in her daily life: “Even if I’m going to drop my kids off, or I need to park somewhere, I’m like, ‘OK God, you know I’m in this parking lot, you know any place you can open up for me would be great!’ I just have this relationship- I’m not dumbing down prayer. What I’m doing- it’s just part of my life.”
For the first five years I lived in Houston, I worked in the then-Bank United Tower next door to the Summit Arena on the Southwest Freeway. The Summit was home to the NBA’s Houston Rockets and the American Hockey League’s Houston Aeros. Then the Rockets built Toyota Center in downtown Houston, and Joel Osteen’s Lakewood Church bought the Summit and spent $95 million turning into a 16,800 seat megachurch.
Think about that for a moment. A church spent $95 million to convert a former basketball and hockey arena into a palace of worship. It’s the largest congregation in the U.S., averaging more than 43,500 people each and every week via four English-language services and one Spanish-language service.
That’s not a church, at least not in the biblical sense I remember from my Sunday School days. A church pastor need not live in poverty, but to inhabit a basketball arena- and to be living in a multi-million-dollar mansion- seems as if it borders on sinfully opulent. So it would stand to reason that Osteen’s wife and co-pastor, Victoria, would sound just a wee bit…oh, I don’t know…out of touch? I don’t know how else a reasonable person could describe her extolling the virtues of praying for a parking spot. I’m not certain it’s possible for a preacher to be any more shallow and self-absorbed.
Welcome the the wonderful world of “Prosperity Theology.”
I don’t know about what work Lakewood Church may do in the Houston community, so I’m not going to travel that path. That said, I have to wonder about the good that could have been done with the $95 million Osteen paid to build his new monument to his ego church. Is the state-of-the art opulence of Lakewood’s megachurch REALLY something that reflects living a Christ-like life? Does living in a multi-million-dollar mansion? Does wearing designer clothes with perfect hair and perfect teeth? I don’t begrudge anyone their success, but I find myself returning to the belief that a pastor, a man of God, shouldn’t be someone who values material wealth. Not when that wealth could be used to serve God’s children. To my way of thinking, using a twisted version of Christianity to justify greed and acquisitiveness is almost as reprehensible as advocating for the execution of homosexuals in order to purify the world and make it safe for those who hate.
I may not believe in God, but I do remember the story of Jesus chasing the money changers out of the Temple…and I can’t help but wonder if He wouldn’t do the same thing to Joel and Victoria Osteen today if He were to appear among us.
