This is a screen grab from Caleb Wilde’s Faecbook page. I have followed him for some time, I respect him, and I appreciate his blog (although he normally gets a ton of pushback for speaking about death from the perspective of a mortician from Philly) .. Nonetheless, his point on Joel Osteen is taken. The article linked is written by Lynda Fell. It was published inTHE BLAZE a few days ago. Fell’s point and criticism of Osteen revolves his belief that you need to ‘get go of grief’ within only a few months of the reason for grieving occurs. She writes,
Shame on you, Pastor Osteen, for lecturing us to shake off the self-pity, change the channel, and dwell on the good things God has done in our life. To ignore the suffering victim who suddenly had his right arm severed would be cruel. To instruct him to look past the agony and instead focus on his remaining left arm is devastatingly ignorant.
I do have empathy for your shortcoming on this issue, for you haven’t lost a child. But let me help you understand why your depiction of Phil and Judy to make a point about self-pity is not only incredibly insensitive but, truth be told, a bit tragic coming from an esteemed person like yourself.
Wilde believes that we should stay away from Osteen.
I have long believed that.. When I see his smarmy mug on my Sunday morning TV, I became slightly enraged for no real reason. I don’t leave the giant sports stadium-filled church service on long enough to get a point. I don’t want his point..
He may be a perfectly fine man.
But I have decided to remain Osteen-free in my life.