You know it still amazes me because there are ministers that have more experience and, you know, they may be more educated or more talented. i don t know. i m reaping the seeds my parents sowed pastoring the church. my parents stayed faithful there for so many years. what s the state of america spiritually, do you think? i m an optimist and when we travel from city to city we see stadiums filled with people hungry for faith, hungry for hope. today there are churches all over that have thousands and thousands. i think feint america is at an all time high. i read contradictory reports. a lot of these figures are misleading. that actually when people count coming out of american churches
can you forgive the young man that shot the people in arizona. do you feel genuine forgiveness towards him? i may not right now but we have to get to the point. one thing that helped me and i try to help others. you have to walk in their shoes. i don t know where he came from. i don t know what his environment was. i can pretty much doubt that he had a good upbringing. most of these people we see in prison they didn t have upbringing like us. they lived out on streets. it s easier to have mercy when you think they didn t have a good shot. right now you find it hard to forgive him? just feel so bad for everything, and when i see him smiling i feel there s no remorse. there would be religious families involved in that horror and i can imagine they are going through a difficult thing. my grandmother said to me she renounced her faith because of the holocaust. she couldn t understand how a just god would allow that to happen. some of those families will be thinking where was my god when i needed him.
Aren t you? i never think of it that way, piers. 12 years ago i never spoke in public before. so this is all relatively new to me. so, you know, it s amazed me. the blessings and the favor. i never dreamed people would watch me. first thing we d-my dad had a television program, we cancelled that. i said nobody will watch me on television. that s the truth. she talked me into it. the ministry took off. this is your emporium. it s not a service. what do you call. we call at it service. it meets where the houston rockets used to play basketball. when i was young i went to church it was no one, two, three inning like this. it was very quiet, very serious. there were about 100 people and the priest was normally pretty old. couldn t hear us. and it was very, very uncharismatic.
And if so, when? i don t know. i struggle with that. you know if osama bin laden was captured tomorrow, should he be executed? i think it would probably be a good idea. did michael vick deserve his second chance? absolutely. i think everybody does. my goodness, if we didn t, if we didn t, none of us would make it. so i m happy for him. he served his time. i think he s remorseful. let s give him a chance. how many chances do you give people? in america, it s three strikes and you re out. is that enough? do you have to say to people, you ve had your chances. i think at some point you re going to spend time in prison or reap the awards, but you never give up on them, even to the last dying breath. you say there s hope, you can have forgiveness and redemption. what would you like your epitaph to be?
That night, almost any time i walk into that building, i think god s dream for our life is bigger than our own. i m sure he s looking down from heaven now. he saw me preach that one sermon, but i don t know that you know, where god is taking us, my dad s favorite show to watch was larry king. why? my dad, one time larry king was in town and i took my dad up there to meet him and i never dreamed i was on larry king for years and years. god has so blessed me. i don t know what my father would be thinking. will you feel the same way about meeting me, joel? i do, even better. millions of americans follow joel osteen s spiritual guide. but i want to get his take on some issues divide thing country today.