I don’t know what the deal is with Jordan Peterson. Seeing him over the past few years grow increasingly interested in Christ has been wonderful to watch. We saw a similar journey from actor Russell Brand. His journey played out for all the world to see.
But Peterson’s journey hit a stumbling block. And for a while, social media spoke at length about whether Peterson was a Christian. But when asked if he’s a Christian he seems to evade the answer. What does “believe” mean, he might ask.
C’mon. One time an interviewer, Alex O’Connor, asked him specifically if he believed if you set up a video recorder outside the tomb would Jesus come out? Peterson paused but eventually said “I would suspect yes.”
But despite that he seems to continue waffling. Why? I have no idea. Well, that’s not true. I have some ideas but that’s all they are…ideas. I suspect pride may play a role. Feared loss of intellectual stature? Maybe.
So he’s been walking this wire for a long time publicly.
But something happened recently. Peterson was brought on to debate 20 atheists. Jubilee, the YouTube organization that put it together, promised 20 atheists against 1 Christian.
Uh-oh. Is Peterson a Christian? I guess he thought he would display his tortured thinker verbiage and he’d skate through. But he didn’t. He ran into a buzzsaw of a punk who called him out in the nastiest way. I cringed when I saw it. And Peterson’s tightrope walking act fell apart.
Just watch the first part when the kid demands to know whether he’s a Christian. Peterson evades and then says, “you’re really something.”
And the kid replies, “You’re really nothing.”
Ouch.
That hurts.
I don’t show this to you as a “hey watch this guy get destroyed.” I bring this to you as a cautionary tale. When you try to live in both worlds, it is dangerous. You can’t do it.
I pray that God will make some good come out of this. I pray that Peterson will take this moment and learn from it. I pray that in a few years he will look back and thank God for this moment because it woke him up and allowed him to become the person he was intended to be.
May 28, 2025 at 11:32 am
“So, because you are lukewarm, neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth.”
– Rev 3:16
“A moderated religion is as good for us as no religion at all – and more amusing.”
– Your affectionate uncle, Screwtape.
May 28, 2025 at 2:34 pm
I feel like we are expecting too much from Mr. Peterson. Maybe it’s time for us to stop expecting him to prove the truth of Christianity to the rest of the world and simply pray for the salvation of his soul in love.
May 28, 2025 at 6:58 pm
I know why this is. Some years ago, I believe on a YouTube video, he said that he could never become ‘religious’ as this would alienate his fan base. Specifically, he works religion from the secular angle (impressively so, I might add) and his fan base accepts his words and interpretations on the basis of what they would consider as ‘objective’. Conversely, were he to claim some level of religious devotion/discipleship, then his words, thoughts and interpretations would be biased by his religious leanings, ergo suspect or baseless. His whole world would collapse, or so he believes.
This is not unlike the Protestant pastors on the Coming Home Network who realize their livelihood is over if they follow the Truth to the Catholic Church.
Will Jordan Peterson risk it all to follow Truth? He’s apparently not ready. Yet.
May 29, 2025 at 3:05 pm
I think that is excellent analysis and probably very close to the truth. I’ve been thinking that for some time myself. And oddly, why does he have to profess his beliefs in order to debate? I thought the whole premise of debate was to know your subject so well, you could argue it from either viewpoint?
And honestly, I get the feeling he was led into a slaughter house thinking he was going to an Oxford level type arrangement but instead he was surrounded by a bunch of “Destiny” types, who are actually more vicious than “Destiny”.
It was painful to watch because there was zero integrity in the antagonists presentation and my belief is that once he figured that out, all bets were off. I could be wrong. Just my opinion.
May 29, 2025 at 5:02 am
The charms of Jordan Peterson and Russell Brand have always been lost on me.
Peterson has done the “beg me, beg me to believe” act for a few years.
Apparently, it pays the bills.
Russel Brand is plainly nuts.
May 29, 2025 at 1:11 pm
Cameron Bertuzzi the new Catholic shock jock of youtube put out a video with clickbait title and thumbnail claiming everyone is wrong and Jordan Peterson did amazingly well in that 20 vs 1 thing. I didn’t bother watching either.