So which one is it then? Righteous Televangelist Joel Osteen had an interview on CNN recently and kind of confused us. While Osteen said that he didn’t choose to be “straight”, being gay is a sin that “God gives us the grace to change.” According to Think Progress: Host Soledad O’Brien and panelist Richard Socarides pushed Osteen on his beliefs on homosexuality, and whether his message of lifting people up can coexist with his church’s view of homosexuality as a sin: O’BRIEN: You make it clear that you think that homosexuality is a sin… OSTEEN: When I read the scripture, that’s what I believe; that the scripture condemns it or says it’s a sin. But it also says that you know, lying is, and that being prideful is… O’BRIEN: Right, so then you shouldn’t lie. But for people who are gay, you’re saying so then you shouldn’t be gay? OSTEEN: Well, I think that’s the big debate. The scripture says you’ve got to work out your own salvation… SOCARIDES: Do you think you can choose to be gay or not gay? You think you choose to be straight? OSTEEN: I know I have not chosen to be straight, I feel like that’s who I am… HOST: Well so how can I choose to be gay? Osteen’s admission that his own sexual orientation is not a choice while still deriding homosexuality as a sin that his 43,000 weekly congregants can choose to rectify is hardly surprising. He has repeated the claim — that gays can change their orientation — before several times. Televangelist icons have a long history of offensive and homophobic remarks that undermine their message of inclusion and acceptance within the christian faith. During a Piers Morgan interview in January 2011, Osteen compared the ability to break an addiction to the ability to stop being gay. “I believe that it’s a process. But I believe that God can give us grace to change. We’ve seen people break addictions, and do other other things as well,” Osteen said. Similarly, in a 2011 interview with the Washington Post’s Sally Quinn, Osteen implied that being gay was a (sinful) choice, but that with enough love and support homosexuals might be able to convert to a better, presumably straighter path. “Somebody that maybe had this certain difficulty now, maybe in five years they’re not if we will love them,” Osteen said. “You know, I think one of the messages I speak on sometimes is, you know, we can love people back into wholeness.” We’ll keep Joel in prayer Images via facebook
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Televangelist Baller Joel Osteen Says Being Straight Isn’t “A Choice” But Being Gay Is A Sin??
