I noticed many of the reviews about the church and...

I noticed many of the reviews about the church and Joel Osteen were "motivational preacher", "lifts my spirits up", "makes me feel good", "great experience", etc. I also noticed many reviews were very ambiguous about Joel's preaching, such as "God came into my life, and I changed" or "Once I knew Jesus, my life was different". Those are not bad things, but please keep in mind the Christian faith is not, has not, never will be solely about "your feelings and your experiences". It is about the salvation plan that God has set forth for His creation through Jesus Christ, and how that truth affects and influences us. I will let every person for himself/herself to ponder this "WHY do you believe WHAT you believe?" I hope the answer is not "Because it makes me feel good, and Joel Osteen says things that makes me feel that way". The true emotion we should feel is humility and subservience, knowing that we as sinners, who were meant for hell, were looked upon by the Lord that He should send His Son to die for us, and for all who believe to come to the cross knowing we were blessed with undeserved grace. May the Holy Spirit fill our lives with this humility, and may we spread the truth to unbelievers. Joel Osteen has carefully crafted his words and his ministry as "it is not up to me to judge whether you sin or not sin, my ministry is just show love. I don't preach about hell or sin because that's not my ministry." That is not the whole gospel, and what is not the whole gospel is not the gospel at all. I'm glad people experienced Jesus and Jesus changed their lives...but HOW? UNDERSTAND what you are believing, RESEARCH what Jesus is, WHO God is...the Trinity is not a FEELING, it is a Person, like a friend, who you need to understand, and only by understanding will you be able to develop a relationship...just like any relationships you have with other people (except this one is probably of insurmountable importance). Anyway, this is all to say that if you listen to Joel Osteen, please listen carefully and read between the lines; there is only ONE correct gospel, merely "quoting from Scripture and relating to message" does not qualify as Bible-based preaching. It is very easy to quote out of context, and Joel Osteen is notorious for this. For instance, "Jesus wept" can easily be interpreted as "it's okay to cry, so when you're feeling down cry it out, let your emotions flow." That is using Scripture out of context but still "relating to my message". Correct Bible-based preaching uses the entire context of the Bible, so when "Jesus wept" why did he cry? In the context of the whole Bible, his ministry, his life, and his origin why is "Jesus crying" important? And if you've noticed, Joel doesn't talk about hell, or the wages of sin. Is it important? YES, IT IS! For only when we know the depravity of our human natures can we begin to fully appreciate the undeserving grace God has given us. Christian faith is not a feel-good route, it is a route of absolute truth based on a book compiled with reliable sources from different authors with different languages within different time periods. It is a disservice and a grave sin to not preach the entire Bible.