Hallelujah! I would gladly pay this Piper….I am so glad to see a university president be content to finally watch a snowflake melt!

-Sheila Tolley-

 

Everett Piper: President of Oklahoma Wesleyan University

 

The President of Oklahoma Wesleyan University gave a lecture to students they’ll never forget.

Recently, a student complained about a sermon that made him feel guilty and blamed the school for making students feel uncomfortable.

This is not uncommon.

Many universities now are so afraid of offending even one student, that political correctness has run amuck.

However, this University is based on religion and so one would expect that discipline, good character and personal accountability would be a big part of the curriculum.

Everett Piper, who is the President of the school, wrote a letter to the students admonishing them that playing the victim, blaming others and not admitting mistakes is not a way to live a productive and meaningful life. Here is the letter:

 

This is Not a Day Care. It’s a 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 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.

 

 

WGN 10-58-01 Poole’s Mill or Ducktown or Settendown Creek Covered Bridge Built in 1906 by Bud Gentry, in  Forsythe Co. spanning Settendown Creek, one span, 94 ft. long, Town Lattice trusses

Ducktown or Poole’s Mill Bridge over Settendown Creek was built in 1906. The bridge was named for Dr. Marcus L. Pool. It was built to replace a bridge lost during flooding in the spring of 1900. “The original construction of this bridge began with a contractor who drilled all the holes in the lattice members in the wrong place. After fitting up the pieces he realized they were wrong and abandoned the project. Work was finished by Bud Gentry but required drilling new holes in the old members. You can still see the misplaced holes today. Even the treads of the bridge are members that could not be used because of the misplaced holes. Treads with holes side-by-side were to have been used in the chords, while those with diagonally offset holes would have been lattice members.” (French) The bridge was rehabilitated in 1998 and a pier was added for support and to remove a sag. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on April 1, 1975.

 

PHOTOS BY: BILL BOWSER….FROM CINCINNATI, OHIO

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