Over the last year, televangelist Joel Osteen has taken a lot of criticism about his ministry and the message he preaches. In particular, when hurricane Harvey hit Houston, Osteen was criticized for not opening his congregation’s doors to people who were suffering as a result of temporary displacement. Eventually he gave in; but, the damage had been done. Osteen’s biblical teachings have also come under fire.
For those unfamiliar with his ministry, Osteen preaches a Christianity “prosperity” message. Think of Tony Robbins within a Christian fraework. In many ways, I like the message he espouses about staying positive when confronted with obstacles. The Bible is full of stories which exemplify success through faith and perseverance. However, at the same time Osteen and others like him preach positivity, they simultaneously fail to address two critical facts of life: injustice and suffering. For the poor, disabled or those struck by tragedy there is no meaning in Osteen’s feel-good message. It rings hollow . While Osteen’s business has done well, his message lacks practicality for people whose suffering runs deep and, for whom, consolation is at best a distant possibility.
I have volunteered for Wounded Warrior events where money is raised for disabled veterans. The scars and disfigurement that many of these veterans live with is truly heart-wrenching and their stories heartbreaking. For many of them, an inner peace is never regained or found. Having worked with and talked to many others who similarly help or work with Veterans, I’ve come to realize that too many of them are never able to adapt to the transition from being a healthy and viral male to having become a bedridden, paralyzed one. These brave and dedicated men are forever tormented.
War veterans have a special place in my heart. Their combat experiences and injuries linger on well beyond their service. Lewis Puller, son of the famous Marine General Chesty Puller, wrote in his autobiography, Fortunate Son, about the devastation he felt living as a disabled man after the Vietnam war. Once he returned home, he detailed the daily humiliations that he endured. His wife and the mother of his children had to wipe him each time after relieving himself in the toilet until he learned how he could do so himself… in what was the reality of his “new” body. He was elated to have sex with his wife; but, then thought of the pain it must have caused her to sleep with a man who had no legs and was mostly “just a stump.” He became addicted to pain killers. Ultimately, the embarrassment and pain of his condition, endured for years, was so soul crushing that he committed suicide
No positive, prosperity, self-help message was ever going to help Puller.
Other writers and philosophers have taken on this issue of suffering. Christian author Scott Peck thought it so important that he began his number one best seller, “The Road Less Traveled,” with the famed line “Life is Hard.” While some suffering is so great it would overwhelm most of us, how suffering is handled and responded to helps define us. In the Catholic faith, my faith, we are defined by the cross and Jesus’s struggle. We each have our own figurative cross to bear and are directed to take up this “massive wooden board” and carry it. It is a daily challenge from which there is no escape.
Even those who seemingly live a charmed life experience suffering. Famed basketball player Jerry West, in his autobiography West on West, freely discusses his bouts with depression and suicide. West chose to use his suffering as a way to try and transform his life. His childhood was rough, made worse by the loss of his oldest brother in the Korean War. So West played basketball to cope with his pain. Yet, all his accomplishments in the material world were never able to subdue or eliminate his internal suffering. Ironically, when fans think of Jerry West they see a famed basketball player, accomplished sports executive and wealth…not the tortured soul that he is.
We all long for something better. We all want happiness not despair. In our limitations as human beings, we stumble, fall and feel such despair over and over. Catholics are taught that the feeling and experience exist for a reason. We are not to be afraid of it; but, come to Christ to be fulfilled. Despair is, seemingly, a necessary part of the human existence and an opportunity to elevate our existence.
To reject that emptiness, pain and injustice and, in turn, try to fill oneself up with positive thoughts of prosperity leads nowhere. I have lived long enough to learn that it is through suffering that we bring deep, and sometimes new, meaning to our lives. Trading such depth of understanding for a superficial and transient fix of positivity does not seem a worthwhile or profitable investment of my time or my resources. So, I concluded that it is hazardous to my well being to subscribe to Joel Osteen’s version of Christianity when a valuable and lasting alternative exists, even if it is the road less traveled.
Steve