I find myself in the unenviable position of defending someone whose theology I simply cannot stand.
Just down the road from the congregation that I serve stands the United State's largest church: Lakewood Church pastored by Joel Osteen.
Joel is a preacher of the prosperity gospel. It is not the Gospel--it is a very warped version of what you will find in the Bible and in the New Testament. In my estimation, this "gospel" does much more harm than good.
But that is a topic for another discussion. What I would like to speak to at this moment is the response first given by Lakewood Church in regards to the severe flooding experienced in Houston during Hurricane Harvey.
During the heaviest flooding, Lakewood released the following statement, "Dear Houstonians! Lakewood Church is inaccessible due to severe flooding. We want to help make sure you are safe. Please see the list below for safe shelters around our city, and please share this with those in need!"
The post went on to list numerous for people to gather.
Of course, in the internet, multi-media, instant communication world we live in, someone went to "fact-check" Lakewood's statement. Pictures were posted showing that the facility itself was accessible.
Lakewood then took severe heat for failing to open its doors as a shelter. Intense heat. In the eyes of many, their reputation is now damaged irreparably.
However, not all the facts were known. Here is why Lakewood Church's statement is accurate, although not as clear as it could have been.
In his sermon this past Sunday, Joel Osteen laid out several more facts:
1. The facility had been flooded back in 2001 and had five feet of water in it. Therefore, the church installed flood gates to prevent such a thing from happening again.
2. During the severe flooding, the water had risen to within a foot of the top of those flood gates. At the time, no one knew whether or not the water would rise any higher. (...due to severe flooding.)
3. Rather than take a chance and have people start moving in only to be flooded out by the water breaching the flood gates, the church decided to play it safe rather than sorry. (Lakewood Church is inaccessible...)
4. As soon as the water began receding, the church opened its doors.
Now, interestingly enough, one must ask--which interpretation is correct? Those who "fact-checked" by posting photos from outdoors? The interpretation that I just set forward?
Well, honestly, they both are--depending what you mean by inaccessible. If you mean getting to the facility, then those photos from the outdoors showing that you could get to the parking lot are correct. If you mean by inaccessible that the church can't be used as a shelter until safety is ensured, then the church's statement is correct.
There is no doubt that the church's statement regarding inaccessibility could have been more clearly worded. There is no doubt that more explanation could have been included in that statement that might have prevented the social media backlash that ensued.
However, I also think that there are those who used this as a "gotcha" moment for Lakewood and Joel Osteen. I think there was some intentional desire to paint Joel and the church in a bad light, and given whatever particular bias you have, you were going to have that bias influence how you viewed the situation.
As more of the facts have been presented, I think how the church handled itself is exactly how I would have handled it. Given how high the water was rising and the inability to know how high it would rise, I wouldn't have wanted to bring people in unless I knew whether or no the flood gates would be breached.
But would I have chosen the same words to inform? Would I have worded things differently?
I don't know. Sometimes what looks like an innocuous statement turns friends into enemies, and when we don't agree on the definitions of words, the likelihood of such things happening rises. When we refuse to give people the benefit of the doubt, firestorms arise. When our biases creep up, it's easy to fan the flames (do you know how hard it is for me to actually defend Lakewood Church???).
What I do know is this--sometimes we benefit by waiting. Sometimes we benefit by listening. Sometimes we need to see how facts emerge before offering our own critiques or criticisms. We are limited in that we will never know all the facts, but that is no excuse for jumping in and offering our own interpretations before more information is on the table.
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