Christians berate Victoria Osteen's "cheap Christianity"

Lakewood Church Pastor Joel Osteen, left, stands next to his wife Victoria Osteen, who's the Church's Co-Pastor, as singers and the band perform on stage during his 11 a.m. service, Sunday, Aug. 28, 2011, in Houston.



Learn more about the Lakewood Church pastor with our "Joel Osteen: By the numbers ..." less Lakewood Church Pastor Joel Osteen, left, stands next to his wife Victoria Osteen, who's the Church's Co-Pastor, as singers and the band perform on stage during his 11 a.m. service, Sunday, Aug. 28, 2011, in ... more Photo: Nick De La Torre, . Photo: Nick De La Torre, . Image 1 of / 33 Caption Close Christians berate Victoria Osteen's "cheap Christianity" 1 / 33 Back to Gallery

Lakewood church's Victoria Osteen is at the center of a social media storm after daring to suggest that people should "obey" God because it will make them happy.

Osteen's sermon from last month is making the rounds online. It now has an additional clip from "The Cosby Show" tagged to the end where Bill Cosby simply states,"That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard in my life."

The controversy centers around Osteen's statement that people should, "Just do good for your own self. Do good because God wants you to be happy."

With her husband Joel Osteen standing beside her, Mrs. Osteen continues that, "When you come to church, when you worship Him, you're not doing it for God really. You're doing it for yourself, because that's what makes God happy."

The comments were slammed by some Christian writers, with Christian Post columnist Matt Moore titling his piece, "Victoria Osteen and her joy-robbing brand of cheap Christianity."

At Christian News Network the sermon was labelled indicative of a "me-centered" church.

"She honestly believes that God exists to make us happy rather than holy," Pastor Steve Camp told the network, "She honestly believes that worship is about our fulfillment rather than His glory. That's the bottom issue here."

Mrs. Osteen issued a statement Friday saying she stood by what she said and accused critics of being ridiculous.

"While I admit that I could have been more articulate in my remarks, I stand by my point that when we worship God and are obedient to Him we will be better for it," Osteen said via email. The megachurch couple are in Louisville, Kentucky this weekend with their,"Night of Hope" series.

"I did not mean to imply that we don't worship God; that's ridiculous, and only the critics and cynics are interpreting my remarks that way," the email continued.

Victoria Osteen has received support from some Christian quarters with other pastors agreeing her critics are merely seeking to feel superior.

"The benefit that we gain from pretending that we don't benefit (from faith) is the sense of moral superiority to other people," college chaplain, Morgan Guyton told the Huffington Post.

"I would revise Victoria Osteen's words to point out that the way we gain true happiness is to forget ourselves because of our delight in God." Guyton said.