I think the only reason Lakewood turned down the invitation is because they don't trust the motives of this group. As we have seen before the major thing you hear religious people talking down about when it comes to Lakewood is that Joel is too accepting and to kind and now you hear others say the opposite. You truly can't make everyone happy! :)

Lakewood truly is a place of love but they can't be manipulated by other people's agendas. I think they did the right thing. They must listen to what God is asking them to do and what God is giving them peace about. I say "two thumbs up" Lakewood!!! :)

anyways great site!!

Lakewood made the right decision.

The problem I have with this decision is that it is in no way evident - let alone clear - how meeting with the folks from Soulforce that would allow Lakewood to be manipulated. The group has held events at Texas A&M ... were they manipulated? There are four other churches that took Soulforce up on their offer ... are they being manipulated? If so, how?

Of course, the bigger problem is that Duncan Dodd's statement flies contrary to Jesus' teaching . That's a huge problem.

Jay Bakker has made it clear that he supports those who live openly homosexual lifestyles and that those who live that way are not living in a way contradictory to God's Word. That would be akin to supporting those who live openly adulterous lifestyles or groups representing people who live openly adulterous lifestyle. When an adulterer comes to Christ, based on the teaching of the Bible, that adulterer is supposed to give up his/her sinful lifestyle. That is not what Soulforce believes about homosexuality. They believe one can live an openly homosexual life as a believer. That, once again, is akin to someone saying they can live an openly adulterous life as a believer (or a murderous life, or a life of fornication etc. etc. etc.). That doesn't square with Scripture, any part of it. Jesus told the woman caught in adultery to go and sin no more. Some ministries today are akin to "Come to Christ and sin all you want." That doesn't square with Scripture. So, I think Iloff had the right answer, "If we met to talk, would this group be satisfied if we agreed to disagree?"

Dietrich Bonhoeffer called cheap grace the justification of the sin without the justification of the sinner and that is a lot of what is going on in the church today. The church should be welcoming, but when we come to Christ, we are to become new creations in Him, giving up our former way of life, no longer walking by the flesh but instead by the Spirit.

I would encourage you to see what Soulforce's motive is: to convert people to accepting homosexuality as natural and normal.

You ask where did they manipulate? When they went to ALL colleges, they told the Christian students -- after being invited by the school to dialogue -- to RISE UP FROM WITHIN and make a difference! Then, the school had to SHUT SOULFORCE DOWN. When doing so, they were accused of hate.

Would Lakewood Church welcome a group of drunkards or adulterers who wanted to have Osteen "accept" their sinful lifestyles? ABSOLUTELY NOT. Why is it any different for homosexuality? Isn't homosexuality as sin as well?

i completely agree with austin. i commend the way the chief of communications answered bc this is exactly the point that needs to be made.
i love dr. paul so i absolutely loved that video you posted. but what you didn't understand from that is that paul (along w/ all of lakewood) loves and welcomes everyone (no matter orientation) into the church community. but in welcoming and in loving the gay members of our church, we still stand by what God says in His word about this lifestyle. when one comes to God, they must live by what God says. i know you titled this 'we must live up to our ideals' -- but we are. we're living up to God's standards for his people. we show love, but we do not tolerate or justify or accept sin. we work towards helping the fight against it. it's so easy to remember how loving God is...but we forget that God loves us so much He requires us to live in holiness so that we can be with Him.

anyway. sorry for rambling. your site is awesome. i've always loved watching your videos. i just wanted to comment b/c this time i think lakewood deserves some defense for their actions.

Anon,

I'll take issue with the example you offer of how Soulforce manipulated the colleges they visited. If they have, in fact, "manipulated" the colleges, then there should exist some lasting impact of that manipulation - presumably negative. Bethel College allowed their students to interact with Soulforce by most accounts I've seen. Is there any account that suggests they are somehow fully on-board with Soulforce's beliefs? The example that was reported at Texas A&M (as part of another program) indicate that Soulforce was more than capable of meeting with people who disagree with them without any evidence of manipulation. Last I checked, the Aggies are doing just fine. Especially the basketball team.

Secondly, there's a sense of judgment in your close that I don't think is warranted. Would a church welcome a group of drunkards or adulterers who wanted to have any pastor "accept" their sinful lifestyles? You're combining two things that don't necessarily follow each other. I would certainly, absolutely PRAY that ANY church would WELCOME a sinner of any stripe. Would that require any "acceptance" of sin on the part of the church? Not in the sense that I think you intend. But let's review how divorce is viewed in the American church. Is that accepted? I believe it generally is. Is gluttony? Is greed? These are sins that led to some classic Old Testament village eradication. Yet you have examples everywhere where these are at least tolerated.

I offer that not to change your mind on how you view homosexuality - a view I'm probably not in much disagreement with. But I do offer it to point out how skewed the view of other people's sins have become when society lets us look down on them with no recourse.

In sum, I don't think the church - Lakewood or otherwise - should be viewed as a closed country club ... where people who's sins that society lets me deride aren't viewed as worthy of God's embrace. We all sin. We all will sin today. We all sinned yesterday. We will all sin tomorrow. I would hope that my church realizes this and deals with this world as it is ... not as it wishes it may be. Ya know ... kinda like Jesus did. That's the example I'll follow, at least.

Sarah,

Duncan Dodds, unfortunately, in no way shape or form, indicated that he was standing on any word of God in his comment. He made a judgmental statement. There's nothing in God's word that justified that. Nothing at all. The suggestion that Joel was too busy writing a sermon that is often delivered on Fridays when the group travels, is also highly disingenuous (*).

Similar to the point I made in response to the anonymous comment here, I think there's some confusion over "meeting with" and "accepting." One does not necessarily indicate the other. Jesus met the woman at the well. Does that mean He "accepted" her sinful lifestyle? Apparently not. It's remarkably difficult to give testimony to someone you refuse to talk to. It's even more difficult when your actions speak loud and clear. Jesus got this and this is the lesson He offered.

You're right in that we are called to live by what God says. That includes grace. And I can't say that this is what we've shown as a church in this instance. We all fall short. You. Me. The folks from Soulforce. But we're also called to "restore gently" and see the beam in our eyes before dealing with the speck of dust in others'. I know it's convenient to pick on gays since many of us run in circles where that's acceptable behavior (a sin, which some churches even go so far as to "accept"). But it's not how God called us to live.

* - I say that while trying to stay clear of judgment of Mr. Dodds, myself.

The selection of the six largest megachurches was done for impact. The end result of the largest of these, Lakewood, to not embrace their agenda is probably what they were hoping for. The "see, we told you so" play with the media will now be in full swing.

Sarah is exactly right. Come to Lakewood, be filled with the Holy Spirit, be loved and comforted by by your brothers and sisters in Christ. I will join them in prayer in asking for forgivness of their sins and God's assistance in changing their lifestyle, just as I hope they would do the same for me in my time of need.

Robert,

Soulforce first tried to arrange the meeting for this weekend back in December. They've made multiple attempts with different people to arrange this outside of any media attention. Their actions don't mesh with your characterization. It's easy to judge - again, it's especially easy to judge a group that society lets us get away with judging. That doesn't mean we're acting according to God's plan for us. It means we're acting according to the world's plan for us.