This is NOT a Daycare.
It’s a University!
By Dr. Everett Piper
Dr. Piper recently made national headlines as the author of this viral op-ed
on intellectual freedom and political correctness.
T
HIS PAST WEEK, I actually had a student come
forward after a university chapel service and
complain because he felt “victimized” by a sermon on
the topic of 1 Corinthians 13. It appears this young
scholar felt offended because a homily on love made
him feel bad for not showing love. In his mind, the
speaker was wrong for making him, and his peers, feel
uncomfortable.
I’m not making this up. Our culture has actually
taught our kids to be this self-absorbed and narcissistic.
Any time their feelings are hurt, they are the victims.
Anyone who dares challenge them and, thus, makes
them “feel bad” about themselves, is a “hater,” a “bigot,”
an “oppressor,” and a “victimizer.”
I have a message for this young man and all others
who care to listen. That feeling of discomfort you have
after listening to a sermon is called a conscience. An
altar call is supposed to make you feel bad. It is supposed
to make you feel guilty. The goal of many a good sermon
is to get you to confess your sins—not coddle you in
your selfishness. The primary objective of the Church
and the Christian faith is your confession, not your self-
actualization.
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So here’s my advice: If you want the chaplain to tell
you you’re a victim rather than tell you that you need
virtue, this may not be the university you’re looking for.
If you want to complain about a sermon that makes you
feel less than loving for not showing love, this might be
the wrong place.
If you’re more interested in playing the “hater” card
than you are in confessing your own hate; if you want
to arrogantly lecture, rather than humbly learn; if you
don’t want to feel guilt in your soul when you are guilty
of sin; if you want to be enabled rather than confronted,
there are many universities across the land (in Missouri
and elsewhere) that will give you exactly what you want,
but Oklahoma Wesleyan isn’t one of them.
At OKWU, we teach you to be selfless rather than
self-centered. We are more interested in you practicing
personal forgiveness than political revenge. We want
you to model interpersonal reconciliation rather than
foment personal conflict. We believe the content of your
character is more important than the color of your skin.
We don’t believe that you have been victimized every
time you feel guilty, and we don’t issue “trigger warn-
ings” before altar calls.