The "Meet the Press" Easter Non-Spectacular

Last night I caught the last 45 minutes of “Meet the Press” on MSNBC. The show, hosted by Tim Russert, had for it’s special “Easter Sunday” show, a panel of religious experts to discuss the topic “Faith in America.” The experts were (using their own religious titles) Sister Joan Chittister of the Order of Saint Benedict; Rabbi Michael Lerner of the Beyt Tikkun Synagogue of California; Jon Meachem, managing editor of Newsweek magazine and author of the book “American Gospel: God, the Founding Fathers, and the Making of a Nation”; Sayyed Hossein Nasr, a professor of Islamic studies at George Washington University (does that seem ironic to anyone else?); Reverend Richard John Neuhaus, who edits “First Things”; and Joel Osteen, the senior pastor of the largest church in North America–Lakewood of Houston.

The show was truly a disgrace. Here were people representing different denominations–and even different faiths–who, in the 45 minutes I watched, only referenced the Bible twice, and only once in context.

While there were many awful things said, one of the more interesting moments came when Tim Russert asked Joel Osteen, “Are there consequences for immoral behavior?” Notice the “pastor’s” answer:

I think there are. I mean, I think God–you’re not going to receive God’s full blessings if you don’t obey his commands. And, you know, we were talking earlier about being selfish and having pride and adultery and things like that, yeah, I don’t think you’re going to reach and become all God wants you to be, because God doesn’t bless a life of disobedience.

Is that not sad? While I agree that God does not bless an immoral life, the Bible also makes it abundantly clear that He will punish wrong-doers forever in hell. Why can’t we just tell people that?

To be fair, I agree with some of what Joel Osteen says. He says that churches have been much too negative for much too long. While that may be a blanket statement, it is very hard to argue with him on that. However, he has swpendulumpendulem to the other extreme. We need to remember both the goodness and the severity of God.

Mr. Osteen should not be the only one who gets “written up” for last evening’s show, though. It was, simply put, a disgrace. Please take several minutes and read the transcript from the show. Something tells me you will want to print it out and file it away. Friends, if we are teaching the whole council of God, this represents the religious ignorance and arrogance we are up against.

Speaking of ignorance, USAToday reported over the weekend that the number of baptisms is declining among various denominations (Catholics, Baptists, Seventh-Day Adventists, etc.). Is it any question why? If one does not have to be baptized to be saved, and if religion is all about me instead of being all about God, then why should I bother? Please take a moment and read the story by clicking here.