FWIS3

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.

...

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 post, however, wasn't meant to be directed at the student who raised the issue, Piper told NBC News. "This is not a message to my students per se ... This is a message to the broader community."

Piper said he doesn't support "the shouting down of a contrary idea rather than a civil and polite exchange disagreement" because he believes respectful discourse is a foundation of academia.

"A liberal arts academy is about learning. It's not supposed to be a place to suppress controversial ideas," Piper said. My point was to challenge my own industry — to look my academic peers in the eye and say: 'We've caused this.'"

vendic wrote:It's time to sue Jesus!

Swift wrote:

vendic wrote:It's time to sue Jesus!

Forget suing him... nail him to a cross!

But a final word: There is a solution, and it’s found in the ideas of the historical liberal arts academy and in the Church that founded it; in liberty and liberation; in freedom and justice; in ideas that are self-evident, inalienable and endowed to us by Nature and Nature’s God. They’re the ideas that lead to freedom – freedom that is found not in the hubris of man but rather in the words of Christ: “You shall know the Truth and the Truth shall set you free.”

"This has nothing to do about race. This is about the arrogance and the narcissism of our culture," Piper said on "The Pat Campbell Show."

Gullible Jones wrote:I agree with the words of Piper's sentiment per Swift's link above, but do we really want to go all the way and agree with the subtext? Really? Because it's pretty clear to me that this is a case of a broken clock being right twice a day.