Joel Osteen and the Happiness Gospel

[DC Al Fine]

Joel Olsteen's wife recently said (here's a response to it from Albert Mohler of the SBC):

You must be logged in to read this quote.

What say you Atlas Forum about this strain of Christianity? Does God want us to have earthly success? Does our self-esteem matter?

I really doubt a God who calls some of us to martyrdom is all about our personal happiness. Indeed, large swathes of the gospel is about giving up stuff to follow Christ. What alarms me about Osteen and his ilk is that they are far more pernicious than some of the traditional prosperity preachers like Benny Hinn. The old school prosperity preacher was more crass and easily shrugged off by the educated. Osteen seems better able to appeal to the well off.