A Cheat Sheet for Osteen

I saw it too. The snippet of the Piers Morgan interview of Joel Osteen and his wife that was posted on Al Mohler's blog.

Here is a cheat sheet that Osteen is welcome to borrow for the next interview. I've simplified the questions to get to the point.

Question: Is capital punishment OK?

Answer: God permits the governing authority to restrain evil by ending the life of certain criminals. I support capital punishment as long as it is coupled with strict rules of proof and evidence including multiple eyewitnesses, as specified in the Bible.

Question: How can you support capital punishment and be against abortion since both, in your view, end a human life?

Answer: The answer again goes back to the Ultimate Authority--God. God makes it clear that capital punishment is permissible and necessary as a consequence of some serious sins. The criminal is killed as a consequence of his sin; the unborn baby is killed for convenience or some other reason. So yes, capital punishment does kill someone, but it is not murder because it is the lawful taking of a human life, where the law we are talking about is God's moral law. Abortion is murder because it is the unlawful taking of a human life. God in the 10 commandments prohibits murder and thus prohibits abortion.

Question: Is same-sex marriage sin?

Answer: Yes. The Bible makes that very clear.

Question: Would you ever marry two gay people?

Answer: No. I couldn't participate in that sin. Besides, such a "ceremony" is not a marriage in the first place.

Question: Would you ever attend a gay marriage?

Answer: No. I could not support sin that way.

Question: What if Texas brings in a law legalizes same-sex marriage?

Answer: That doesn't change a thing in my view. The state would be wrong in that case. Same-sex marriage would be legal under Texas law, but it would still be immoral and a sin. Similarly, abortion is legal in the United States, but it is still a sin.

Question: Shouldn't Scripture be dragged kicking and screaming in the modern age?

Answer: No. Rather, we should submit ourselves to the authority of God rather than expecting Him and His word to bow to us.