An Unfair Comparison?

If I were to compare Joel Osteen and Mark Driscoll, would it be fair? Some would say no - because their ministries are so much different. But I would say yes - because as different as their particular ministries are, they are both still Pastors! So let me compare them for a second....

I'm watching a Vodcast from Mark Driscoll (www.marshillchurch.org) right now and he talked about confession, and the necessity of change after encountering Jesus, and the reality of being a sinner going to hell until meeting Jesus right at the start of the message. (Did he also make a joke that many traditional churches would not laugh at but rather get upset about? Yes...but that's okay :) ) (I'm referring to the joke about coveting his three week old baby in the message "Christians Gone Wild: Servants of Jesus" hahaha...what a guy...)


Meanwhile, I read Al Mohler post on his blog (http://albertmohler.com/blog_read.php?id=583) some questions that he says need to be asked about Joel Osteen (who is featured in New York Times today and you have probably seen smiling on his best-selling book in your local Christian bookstore) Mohler writes,

"The first question is this -- Would anyone watching his television program, or sitting in his vast church facility, hear in Mr. Osteen's message a clear and undiluted message of Gospel proclamation? Would this person have any reason, based on hearing Mr. Osteen's message, to know himself as a sinner and to understand how the cross of Christ is the only ground of his salvation? Would he come to know that Jesus the Christ is fully human and fully divine, and that He came in order that we might have everlasting life -- not just a good parking space?"