An Open Letter for Jordan Peterson on Belief in God
Dear Mr. Peterson,
I would like to begin by saying I am a big fan and love what you have done to bring a realistic and hopeful message to the world. It is obvious to me that your work has brought you to a deep understanding of human psychology, and that knowledge is a blessing to us all. But I am compelled to write you concerning your speech on how anyone can say they believe in God. You make some critical errors in your views of who God is, and as a practicing Christian I cannot let them stand for reasons that will become obvious through my explanation.
Let me also add that I do not mind at all your discomfort and reluctance to claim your belief in any type of public square. This is fine with me. It is clear your neutrality and willingness to speak from a professional and scientific ground has been an incredible help in allowing your message to resonate with people who are not willing to have a faith-based version of psychology. I like you being in your lane and only straying from it when you can use provable information to extend onto issues outside of your specialty. So do not change a thing, and keep being neutral.
My only criticism is for the specific arguments I think you used to describe the argument for not making the claim of this belief. To me, they came off as amounting to the following, more or less:
1. The assumption that God is a least somewhat distant.
2. God requires competence to prove belief.
3. Falling short of perfection is proof of lack of belief.
I know that these are probably overstated in the form I wrote them, but I hope you will forgive my stretching as it makes my protest more clear. I think you understand the human nature we all share very well, but you do not have a good vision of who God is. I don’t fault you for that directly, but you tried to make a logical argument without a base. In short, God is not a psychologist, judging us on how quickly we can overcome our issues.
First, I was very surprised that you would wonder if we could know much about God at all. Here, you make a fundamental mistake that many unbelievers also make; that God created a universe He doesn’t really care for. Understandable, but completely wrong.
In your own book and lectures on the Maps of Meaning, you cover story after story where God has contact with earthly men. He walks with Adam & Eve in the cool of the evening in the garden. He speaks to Cain about his anger. He speaks with Noah, He speaks with Abraham, He wrestles with Jacob. Later he speaks to Moses, to Aaron, to David, through the Prophets. Why? Because God did not build us to reject us, we are his favorite project in all the universe and the apple of his eye.
Continuing with what you understand as a psychiatrist, you assume that because humans can become competent, being competent is important to God. That is true, but God does not use competence as proof of belief. He uses competence to prove we all need His help, then to prove there is wisdom in His instruction, since much of the hell that exists on earth is of our own design, and ultimately He is the antidote to it at the most complete level.
Further, falling short of doing right does not cause God’s rejection. There are two reasons for this that you do not speak of concerning Christian belief. First, Jesus was not carrying HIS cross, he was carrying OURS. He took on himself the punishment we deserve for our sins, making them of little effect, except in there horrible gravitation and evil events upon us here on earth.
Instead, God measures us by our willingness to believe Him in his intent, that His will is not for us to suffer, but to learn to overcome and grow just as your practice has helped people to do. God is not a critical judge as much as He is a father watching over his children as they learn to ride a bike. He is there to support and love and encourage us, to pick us up when we scrape our knees and to rejoice in us when we succeed. But the secret is all in the trying.
This is where the Star Wars religion gets it backwards. Yoda was totally and completely wrong; THERE IS NOTHING BUT TRY. This is the place where our faith makes us connected. We trust God, that He loves us and wants the best for us. That the effort to learn to ride the bike shows our trust in Him whether we fall off the bike or not. The rules are not there to make you right with God, but as instructions; this is how you ride your bike for me and live a valuable and meaningful life.
Your answer was incorrect in that I must prove myself before I can say I believe in God, at least the God of the Bible. I do not prove myself before. My life should show the changes after our connection, just as has happened to your own clients. I would even suggest your clients’ ability to improve their lives is an innate feature of our nature placed there purposefully by God to help us along and encourage us that we can improve our lives. The worst in us have areas of healthiness and the best of us have darkened and sick ares. This proves nothing other than we are all human alike.
Your antidote to chaos and your philosophy is great medicine for the sick; this world needs your message more than you could ever realize. But it’s not for everyone. There is a plurality of us in the world who do not necessarily fall under the need for a doctor, and you are here as our ally not our physician. Those of us who are healthy have already discovered that the tools of simple faith in a good God, taking responsibility for ourselves, and caring for others are all we need to make a valiant attempt at living the life you are leading the sick to emulate. We are examples and living letters, that if one man can live a great life, every man can do so in some form or another. That sacrifice has temporal and intrinsic value, and suffering is an obstacle not a story line.
Here is my advice to you: Instead of philosophical arguments, be straightforward and simple in your answer about your faith. Tell us this is not something I understand well enough to comment on. Further, as I am trying to help as many people as possible, I do not want to alienate people I may be able to help because they would reject me over any faith claims I make. This would be a great answer, and far more useful than examining our inadequacies as proof of our unworthiness, which is temporary anyway.
Thank you for your patience and attention,
Tom Spriggs
I would like to begin by saying I am a big fan and love what you have done to bring a realistic and hopeful message to the world. It is obvious to me that your work has brought you to a deep understanding of human psychology, and that knowledge is a blessing to us all. But I am compelled to write you concerning your speech on how anyone can say they believe in God. You make some critical errors in your views of who God is, and as a practicing Christian I cannot let them stand for reasons that will become obvious through my explanation.
Let me also add that I do not mind at all your discomfort and reluctance to claim your belief in any type of public square. This is fine with me. It is clear your neutrality and willingness to speak from a professional and scientific ground has been an incredible help in allowing your message to resonate with people who are not willing to have a faith-based version of psychology. I like you being in your lane and only straying from it when you can use provable information to extend onto issues outside of your specialty. So do not change a thing, and keep being neutral.
My only criticism is for the specific arguments I think you used to describe the argument for not making the claim of this belief. To me, they came off as amounting to the following, more or less:
1. The assumption that God is a least somewhat distant.
2. God requires competence to prove belief.
3. Falling short of perfection is proof of lack of belief.
I know that these are probably overstated in the form I wrote them, but I hope you will forgive my stretching as it makes my protest more clear. I think you understand the human nature we all share very well, but you do not have a good vision of who God is. I don’t fault you for that directly, but you tried to make a logical argument without a base. In short, God is not a psychologist, judging us on how quickly we can overcome our issues.
First, I was very surprised that you would wonder if we could know much about God at all. Here, you make a fundamental mistake that many unbelievers also make; that God created a universe He doesn’t really care for. Understandable, but completely wrong.
In your own book and lectures on the Maps of Meaning, you cover story after story where God has contact with earthly men. He walks with Adam & Eve in the cool of the evening in the garden. He speaks to Cain about his anger. He speaks with Noah, He speaks with Abraham, He wrestles with Jacob. Later he speaks to Moses, to Aaron, to David, through the Prophets. Why? Because God did not build us to reject us, we are his favorite project in all the universe and the apple of his eye.
Continuing with what you understand as a psychiatrist, you assume that because humans can become competent, being competent is important to God. That is true, but God does not use competence as proof of belief. He uses competence to prove we all need His help, then to prove there is wisdom in His instruction, since much of the hell that exists on earth is of our own design, and ultimately He is the antidote to it at the most complete level.
Further, falling short of doing right does not cause God’s rejection. There are two reasons for this that you do not speak of concerning Christian belief. First, Jesus was not carrying HIS cross, he was carrying OURS. He took on himself the punishment we deserve for our sins, making them of little effect, except in there horrible gravitation and evil events upon us here on earth.
Instead, God measures us by our willingness to believe Him in his intent, that His will is not for us to suffer, but to learn to overcome and grow just as your practice has helped people to do. God is not a critical judge as much as He is a father watching over his children as they learn to ride a bike. He is there to support and love and encourage us, to pick us up when we scrape our knees and to rejoice in us when we succeed. But the secret is all in the trying.
This is where the Star Wars religion gets it backwards. Yoda was totally and completely wrong; THERE IS NOTHING BUT TRY. This is the place where our faith makes us connected. We trust God, that He loves us and wants the best for us. That the effort to learn to ride the bike shows our trust in Him whether we fall off the bike or not. The rules are not there to make you right with God, but as instructions; this is how you ride your bike for me and live a valuable and meaningful life.
Your answer was incorrect in that I must prove myself before I can say I believe in God, at least the God of the Bible. I do not prove myself before. My life should show the changes after our connection, just as has happened to your own clients. I would even suggest your clients’ ability to improve their lives is an innate feature of our nature placed there purposefully by God to help us along and encourage us that we can improve our lives. The worst in us have areas of healthiness and the best of us have darkened and sick ares. This proves nothing other than we are all human alike.
Your antidote to chaos and your philosophy is great medicine for the sick; this world needs your message more than you could ever realize. But it’s not for everyone. There is a plurality of us in the world who do not necessarily fall under the need for a doctor, and you are here as our ally not our physician. Those of us who are healthy have already discovered that the tools of simple faith in a good God, taking responsibility for ourselves, and caring for others are all we need to make a valiant attempt at living the life you are leading the sick to emulate. We are examples and living letters, that if one man can live a great life, every man can do so in some form or another. That sacrifice has temporal and intrinsic value, and suffering is an obstacle not a story line.
Here is my advice to you: Instead of philosophical arguments, be straightforward and simple in your answer about your faith. Tell us this is not something I understand well enough to comment on. Further, as I am trying to help as many people as possible, I do not want to alienate people I may be able to help because they would reject me over any faith claims I make. This would be a great answer, and far more useful than examining our inadequacies as proof of our unworthiness, which is temporary anyway.
Thank you for your patience and attention,
Tom Spriggs
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