Goorchl i like to welcome all of you joined us here at fc and today lecture topic is not a day care. Devastating consequences of abandoning truth. My name is ian stevens an intern here at frc also a student of oklahoma west Lane University and i have the privilege of welcominged todays speaker. The president of Oklahoma Wesley University dr. Everett piper. What im at home i have honor of watching massive dogs when hes giving lectures so which is always fun. [laughter] in his 14 year of president of the university, doctor piper become known for passionate defense of intellectual freedom, the advocate tirelessly for time tested truth and religion, education, and politics challenges the intolerance are of todays academic community. At oklahoma west lane he teaches to follow four basic, the jesus christ and pursuit of truth, and racket of wisdom. Doctor piper on edss our routinely featured local and National News outlets and he serves as a regular guest on talk radio across the nation and most well known oped this is not a day care but a university. Has since gone viral and is now basis for his new book. A native of michigan doctor piper and wife marci along with their two sonsset and kobe by served as oklahoma first families since august of 2002. Dr. Piper actively participates in the community and the west lane church and serves on variety of counsel and boards relating to christian leadership, Public Policy and Community Leadership so help me welcome up dr. Everett piper. [applause] delighted to join you today thank. Ill tell your mother and father you did a good job. [laughter] lets start you should know your audience. I would suggest the audience should know their speak sore let me clarify a couple of things trigger i do in the issue trigger warnings. I dont believe in safe spaces and cs plews said of the great line that hes not safe but hes good i thought argue that the great lion of the academy of the ivory tower of the university of american an western universities and colleges should not be safe but indeed they are good. I dont believe that my feelings or yours are are final measuring of whats right or young. I actually believe education should be more about facts than feelings. Feelings lead to fashionism and facts lead to trm. Remember the basic fact that jesus told us of you shall note truth ie. The fact and it shall set you free. I believe in ideas and i believe in words. I believe that when we lose control of our words we lose control of our ideas and we lose control of the debate and when we lose control of the debate we ultimately lose control of our freedom. For example, with when we dumb u down the deaf nation of words like hate to nothing more than disagreement we make hate meaningless and disagreement dangerous. Words matter. Ideas have consequences, and one last word before i get into my lecture, life isnt about you. Education isnt about you. It isnt about me George Mcdonald a writer from the turn of the 1800s to 1900s a writer that led to version of c. S. Lewis if you will had this to say core principle of hell is i am my own. I am my own king. I am the center. Im the october and im the end. My judgment is the faultless rule of all things. The claim that we can define and reare define everything from marriage to morality from male to female everything from what it means to be goods and what it means to be bad this claim of godlike deity can only lead to the ugly hell of our own making. I believe it is only repentance and confession that will rescue us from this fate. So im the guy who wrote this oped titled this is a university its not a day care. Let me give you a little bit of a context and then were going to launch into a little bit of a script and ill ad lib as we go along too. It was just before thanksgiving 2015, Oklahoma Wesley University still has required chapels every wednesday and fridays. And i received a phone call from a Vice President who was chapel speaker on this particular day. I didnt go to chapel that day i had Something Else to do. And he wanted to call me and let me know that there could be a problem. I want you to know one of our students after chapel l came to me and basically played the victimization card he told me that i had singled him out and that i had singled his peers out and he didnt like it he didnt like my chapel speech. My sermon. And toys him well what did you speak on . He said you wont believe this im a monster is quote unquote. First kringt i corinthians 13 youve heard it love it patient, love it kind. Well i asked this particular vp i said give me a copy of your sermon because i know he always speaks from a text. He rarely ad libs, i knew if i read is it i would get exactly what he said. So i read through the sermon and it was a very simple and brief love. No lil humor no sarcasm, nothing whatsoever that could be deemed offensive other than first corinthians 13. So i was incredulous i thought an institute so bold in market and promotion about who we are and why you should come there you can not enroll without knowing who we are. You know that we stand for the priority of scripture, pursuit of truth and practice of wisdom we have a center on capitalism. Free enterprise because we think theyre good not bad. You know, that we stand for prolife that we actually promote through our thursing program and our premed program that god defines life you dont. And when you choose to pay to go there youre buying a product that is well defined but yet inspite of in my chapel we have a student saying he didnt like first corinthians 13 this is the oped, i actually published it on the website oklahoma website and i also published it in a local u newspaper which i have the routine of doing and ive been doing that for a decade or so. I said to this young man, you know that feeling of discomfort you have after listening to a sermon it is called your conscience alter call is supposed to make you feel bad. It is supposed to make you feel some degree of guilt. The goal of many a goods sermon to get you to confess sins not to coddle you in your selfishness. Primary objective is your confession not your selfactualization. So let me offer you some advice. If you want the chaplain to tell you that youre a victim rather than tell you you needs virtue, this may not be the university youre 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 youre more interested in playing hater card than you are in confessing your own o hate and air gangtly lecture rather than humbly learn and not feel gilt when youre guilty of sin and you have to be pin abled rather than confronted there are universities across the land in missouri and elsewhere that will give you exactly what you want. But Oklahoma University is not one of them. We teach you to be selfless rather than selfcentered were more interested in you practicing person forgiveness than political revenge. We want you to model in a personal reconciliation rather than personal conflict. We believe in the con tengt of your krk and more important than the color of your skin we dont belief youve been victimized every time you feel guilty and we dont issue trigger warnings before alter calls. Oklahoma is not a safe place. But rather a place to learn, to learn that life isnt about you. But about others. But that bad feeling you have while listening to a sermon yeah it is called guilt. And that way to address it to reare pengt of everything thats wrong with you rather than blame other for everything thats wrog with them. This is a place where you will quickly learn that you need to grow up. This is not a day care but a university and glenn beck and nb todays and dr. Drew and varney and cbs and cbn and National Review and Washington Post and a new york time and chronicle of higher education, and newspapers and great britain, and the far east were all of a sudden interested apparently many wanted to hear what i had to say. Apparently i said something many were waiting for apparently simple and brief response struck a cord. Many who even openly disagreed with what they called my religion and my politics wrote me to say thank you. This was long overdue please carry on. Side bar we have 3. 5 million views in about two week period. 97 of the chents were positive. 97 . There were dozens upon dozens if not hundreds of people that yo wrote in, texted email snail mailed, called and said i dont like your religion ive checked you out. I dont like your politics i read your website. But its about time somebody said it. Thank you. So why . Why . I believe its because we intuitively recognize as rational human beings who were made in the image of goad thats theres great power in what ideas. Ideas, and that at the end of the day civilizations are built and cooltures concurred by armies and navies, but by speeches. And lectures and blogs and books by the power of ideas much more so than that of bullets u you know this, youve been taught this 1948 Richard Weaver told us ideas have consequences. Read the title ideas have consequences, ideas matter. Few years after that, few years earlier than 1948 hitler said let me control textbook and i will control the state huxley then said we warn of where education can be used as a means of total power and total control. Ideas clearly do have consequences. Good and evil people have recognized this. Good ideas lead to good control and Good Community pane church and Good Corporation and good kids, bad ideas lead to the opposite like your grandmother told you garbage in garbage out. She was right. Ideas matter. And i would argue today that education is in a total mess colleges and universities are in crisis contemporary university is no longer then for pursuing truth for rather celebrating toll rangs and in the name of tolerance im told that my symbol intolerance is intolerable and i cant tolerate your intolerance im sure nothing sure. Im absolutely confident there are no absolutes and i know nothing can be known. This is humorous this is fun thy. If it werent so sad it is like watching dog chase its tail. At every turn the result of this nonsense that tradition of good teaching actually become the dark flag of tyranny almost overnight. What was Academic Freedom just yesterday is fashionism today rather than celebrating liberty liberals demand conformity and universities and campus and colleges have speech codes rather than free speech. Faculties and stiewpghts alike are more interested in trigger warnings than pursuing truth run by the statements thought police collegeses across the land have become camps much more so than campuses of open inquiry. Propaganda and power now rule for their used to be a pursuit of truth. Our track record is terrible decade after decade taught the next generation it doesnt matter what you believe as long as it works for you. If you ever say that shame on you. It doesnt matter what you believe as long as it works for you. Weve taught you that all morality is relative that good and evil are merely subjective social contracts year after year we preach pastor and priests are stupid that liberation theology is only good religion. Day in and day out we had class resentment and racial and diminish excellence, why are rewe surprised that leaders have lost courage and congress has lost soul. Our kids have lost their conscience and their character. Our culture is without a conscience. Yes ideas do have consequences. And the lousy ideas that weve been teaching in our colleges and in our universities for the past several decades are baring themselves out daily before our eyes. But okay bemoaning the problem, i actually think theres a solution. And i think its found i think its found in the historical, liberal arts. Side bar my first book which you can find at not a day care. Com. If you care as well as any subsequent writings. My first was titled why im a liberal and other conservative ideas what was my point . As unapologetic bold conservative who believes in conserving things im a conservist i believe being a good stewart of the world, air, and whale and owl im a conservist but i believe conserving other things tried and test and more enduring truth those ideas that have been tested by time and confirmed by reason and validated by experience. And given to us by revelation evident truths endowed to us by who somebody bigger and better than you or me. The permanency, of those things that should be conserved as a conservative ironically today im more classically liberal than my left of center counterpart. Because i believe in a good Robust Exchange of ideas. I believe in the power of the debate. I believe that theres a right answer and wrong answer at the end of the hour. At the end of the lecture and end of the argument and i think that truth is the judge not you not me, not power, not politics not the pundit not the professor, not the priest and not the pastor i believe truth is the judge of the debate that liberates me. To engage rather than confines me im more liberal. Than those that often disagree with me. Because i believe in liberty and liberation and freedom and justice. I believe that if you go back a thousand years to the birthplace the cradle of the liberal Arts Movement oxford lets just say some 1,000 years ago, that the university was established to liberate to educate a free man and woman and culture a free society to give us a sense is of liberty and liberation thus the word liberal. So why . Why do you believe people requester so interested in what i had to say. Why were 3. 5 million and still being posted throughout here today to hear about it two years later. It was far pack as moses later from jefferson we were told only by trusting in the paradox of liberty and law, can we ever hope to protect our unalien rights of life, liberty and pursuit of happiness and thereby be a beam purpose not hapless but happy. Note purposeless but with purpose. And objective goal a measuring rod outside of those things being measured. Selfevident truth ares that are endowed from outside not qucted from inside. It was those fences around freedom that chesterton told us that you can have no liberty without law. And you can have no freedom without fences that how we become a free people and a free country. You see freedom trust and principle rather than people power, politics freedom knows theres a true north or measure rods outside of those things being measured. Again chesterton told us when you get rid of the big laws now this is good stuff this was worth the price of admission when you get rid of the big u laws you dont get liberty. You get thousands of lawing that rush many to fill the vacuum but cant live by ten simple law thats all we needed all we needed ten simple laws we have refused to live by big laws and by the way, jesus narrowed it down to two. We kangt live by ten or two any longer so what happened . Reames upon reames upon reames of little laws rushing in to fill the vacuum you see it theyre being produced in this this city. Telling us how to do everything down to which bathroom to use. When you get rid of big laws you dont get liberty but rather thousands upon thousands of of little laws that fill in the value you mean the power of professors or temper tantrum of students but rather in few and simple laws of nature and natures god. Theres a reason that dozens of universities were once with the model motto what you shall know the truth. And the truth shall set you free. There is no liberty without law and theres no freedom if you stop teaching truth. The solution to this nonsense can be found in common sense. Sense that is common in selfevident truths that are endowed to us by our create are tore rather than selfcenteredness entrenched in callused human heart in the laws of nature and natures god the truth of goode is written on every human heart. For example, if you wanted to dispute that, do we know that rape is wrongsome . Do we . Is do we know that holocaust was evil and that slavery is a bad thingsome we hold truths to be what, selfevident not socially constructed why because theres a creator and its not you. And its not me, the solution to the nonsense is return to teffing laws that make sense. We need laws that teach liberty and not lie natural law leads to freedom. Manmade laws bring nothing but more restrictions more government, more division, more control, more fascism and less liberty. It may seem a bit redundant but i would like to leave you as i get ready to wrap this up with a very simple and clear message. Culture is about ideas. And ideas are defined by what . Words. In other words, words mean something. Side bar always remember that he who defines the words wins the debate. Education is about words. Politics is about words. Culture is about words. Words mean something. Guess what, they have definition words like marriage, green and gay and left and right, change and choice and right and wrong and up and down and goods and evil. Male and female. Moral and immoral all words have meaning. And as thinking human beings and thoughtful moral agents, we do know what the deaf of is is and we also intuitively know Something Else very important, changing and manipulating meaning of words is called something. It is called lying. We also know that deceit does bring consequences. As were told by prophet well on to him isaiah calls bittersweet light and dark darkness lying about words and with words turning them upside down is always wrong. Selfevident as it is it should be clear to all of us. But what im trying to challenge with you right now words mean something. Take this couple of examples here many who stand against i want to say us those of white house care for religious freedom many of who stand against us and fight for religious freedom today do so in the name of tolerance, a word. But there are objection seems to be anything but tolerant right . Again they say i cant tolerate your intolerance and i hate you hateful people im sure nothing is sure i know nothing can be known and im absolutely confident theres no absolutes. I dont seem to recognize that everything they just said is selfrefuting that every turn it makes no sense. They saw off the branch upon which they sit. Waving the branch waving banner of toll rangs while being intolerant does not make you the champion of your ideal. It makes you excuser and it doesnt take an eighth grade education to see this for what its worth. Terrible politics at its worth and anything but a principled argument any schoolboy can see that the premise prosed is not about tolerance it never has been. So the contrary it is more about tyranny. And power that every turn we see it on our campus and in courts and angry red faces shouting you must agree with us. You must be one of us. You m