We know that Pastor Osteen has been duped once before by cyber hackers who have created fake websites looking exactly like Osteen's ministry site, so when we saw the many “ Joel Osteen: God 'Absolutely' Accepts Homosexuals ,” headlines, we wanted to be sure that this was not the case before sharing this report and video of Osteen, in his own words, explaining why he thinks God approves of homosexuality:
In a recent interview with theHuffington Post , megachurch speaker and author Joel Osteen advised that he believes God accepts homosexuals, and that he doesn't want to “tell everybody what they're doing wrong.”
Osteen sat down this week with host Josh Zepps to promote his new book Break Out: 5 Keys to Go Beyond Your Barriers and Live an Extraordinary Life. The two discussed a variety of issues, from Pope Francis to fighting poverty to whether unbelievers can go to Heaven.
“You say here… 'It doesn't matter who likes you or doesn't like you; all that matters is that God likes you. He accepts you; He approves of you,” Zepps stated, reading from Osteen's book. “Is that true for gay men or true for homosexuals?”
“Absolutely,” Osteen replied. “ I believe that God's breathed His life into every person. We're all on a journey. Nobody's perfect.”
“The Bible says that sin is pride, sin is selfish ambition,” he continued. “We tend to pick on certain things, but I believe every person is made in the image of God, and you've got to accept them as they are as they're on their journey.”
Osteen then explained his belief that Christians should exemplify kindness to the world, rather than “pushing people down.”
“Again, the Scripture teaches they way people are going to know His disciples is for our love for one another, and so, I'm not preaching hate [or] pushing people down,” he stated. “I'm not here to tell everybody what they're doing wrong.”