The board of the Second Church of Grace has voted 9-2 to remove “self-control” from the list of the fruit of the Spirit. A spokesperson for the denomination explained that, “it was just too discouraging for our parishioners to hear that they were supposed to actually be growing and fighting against sin instead of relying of God’s Grace.”
In a related note, apparently there were one or two books published in the past year on the topic of “Self-Control,” but the copies were buried in the Christian Living section under a mound of Joel Osteen books and no one has seen them. Osteen’s new series, “How to Smile…” practically takes up all the shelf space.
The first in the series, “How to Smile While Driving in Bad Traffic” was a NY Times bestseller. The follows-up was equally successful, “How to Smile While Mowing the Grass.” The third in the series, “How to Smile When you are Sick” set all kinds of records. The much anticipated fourth volume will be out soon. Rumors are that it will be entitled, “How to Smile While You are Having a Bad Day.”
(If you would like to read a more serious and straightforward criticism of Joel Osteen, check out InternetMonk’s review of the 60 Minutes Interview)
