Dr. Everett Piper: A Champion of Learning

I am an admirer of Dr. Everett Piper. Here is an open letter he published to the folks on his campus:

This is Not a Day Care. It’s a University!
Dr. Everett Piper, PresidentOklahoma Wesleyan University

This 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 that 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.

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 warnings” before altar calls.

Oklahoma Wesleyan is not a “safe place”, but rather, a place to learn: to learn that life isn’t about you, but about others; that the bad feeling you have while listening to a sermon is called guilt; that the way to address it is to repent of everything that’s wrong with you rather than blame others for everything that’s wrong with them. This is a place where you will quickly learn that you need to grow up.

This is not a day care. This is a university!

     The reality, Dr. Piper, is that you are likely not dealing with a Christian who addressed you. He/she is likely a product of the modern gospel perpetrated by so many in the institutional church today. It is a man-centered gospel where sin is never confronted, the requirement of repentance is never emphasized, and 'asking Jesus into your heart' comes with a promise of heaven, a wonderful life filled with joy, peace, and love. It is man-centered, and presented as only a benefit to man-

"Jesus loves you, and has a wonderful plan for your life"  and unredeemed man says- COOL! I love me and have a wonderful plan for my life also!! (HT to Paul Washer)

    So, the reality is, this young person has likely been sold a bill of goods as he was coming up, that his/her faith is all about them, all about their personal comfort, an avoidance of hell, and a commitment to morals rather than to to Christ. This type of narcissism is very present in the secular university culture. When you have a church that wants to promote comfort over character, where there is no confrontation of sin, indeed, where the Word of God is not honored as the Word of God, this is what you get.

     Young person, Christ promised that following Him would cost you your life. He promised persecution to the point of death if you followed Him. You are no longer your own, you are bought with a price, and Christ did not come to die to make you happy, he died so that you could be holy. When the Word of God is preached, if you are a believer, the conviction of the Holy Spirit is meant to make you change to be more like Christ. If you are not a believer, the weight of the law rests upon you, and you feel condemned- because you are.

     So I will go one step further than Dr. Piper- If you are being unloving, or if your love does not come to the standard of 1 Corinthians 13- REPENT! turn to Christ, it is only through Him that we can love the way that is commanded in the scripture. It is the evidence (fruit) of the new character and nature that we are able to love in that manner.