Joel Osteen says he's not cheating people by avoiding hell & repentance in his preaching

Joel Osteen, the pastor of a megachurch in Houston, Texas, does not feel that he's cheating people by not talking about hell and repentance in church.

"No, I really don't [feel that], because it's a different approach," he said during an interview in the "Sunday Morning" show on CBN News.

He explained the people feel guilty enough already, and he finds that uplifting people rather than bringing them down is the better thing to do.

"You know, it's not hellfire and brimstone," he said. "But I say most people are beaten down enough by life. They already feel guilty enough. They're not doing what they should, raising their kids — we can all find reasons."

Osteen has a more positive approach to preaching the Gospel, and he wants people to go to his church in Lakewood -- the largest in the U.S. with about 40,000 members -- where they can be encouraged to move forward while accepting that they are not perfect.

"So I want them to come to Lakewood or our meetings and be lifted up, to say, 'You know what? I may not be perfect, but I'm moving forward. I'm doing better.' And I think that motivates you to do better," he explained.

He cited his father, the late pastor John Osteen, as an example, saying that from having been very poor and having had absolutely nothing, he stepped up and rose higher.

He said, "And so my whole thing is, you don't have to stay there. You gotta believe that you can rise higher."

Because of his positive approach, CBN News said that he has been branded by some as more of motivational speaker rather than a preacher. Previously, he has been criticized for sharing a "cotton candy" message," a "watered down" version of the Gospel. However, Hawaii News Now reported in February that Osteen's message is that God is a good God, and even if one makes mistakes, He forgives and they can move forward to where they want to be.

He told the crowd at an event in Hawaii that rather than pushing people down as what religion has done -- as "they've been shown a God that you can't measure up to" -- he wants to present God as someone who smiles upon and has great plans for them.

And being one of America's richest pastors, he addressed criticisms that he had been focusing on prosperity during his services by saying, "Some people want you to, think that you're supposed to be poor and broke and suffer to show that you're a Christian, and that's just not the way I read the Scripture. I think that God wants us to excel and be the best at what we can do and have happy families. You know, prosperity, to me, is more than money. It's health and good relationships ... peace of mind."

Osteen is a best-selling author and he said his personal finances come from the sales of those. The money that goes into the ministry goes into the ministry.