Truth Really Matters

Jordan Peterson writes that he has “been searching for decades for certainty.”  He is quite analytical in his approach, weighing, considering, discarding, and conserving what he discovers, “searching for stones to stand on below the murky surface” of the swampy passage of living.

In short, Peterson is a rationalist, believing he can stand on the ground of his own mind to discern reality, as if his thoughts are more than mere brain chemistry, yet confessing neither a spiritual realm nor the Author of his free will and rationality, the Lord Jesus Christ, who made our beings – our souls – in His own image.

Be Grateful in Spite of Your Suffering is Rule #12 in his 2021 book, Beyond Order:  12 More Rules for Life.  Peterson regards suffering and its amplification by malevolence as inevitable, indeed as “existential truths,” but also that we are able to transcend our suffering – “psychologically and practically” – and that we have the capacity to constrain our malevolence.

Apparently, these truths are inexplicable to Jordan, since he gives no credence to the biblical Fall, to sin, judgment, repentance, forgiveness, and redemption.  In his worldview there is no coming Kingdom, no ultimate triumph of righteousness, no ultimate judgment for the wicked . . . in short, no hope.  So what’s the point of all this advice in an evolutionary, doomed universe?

In a previous essay I favorably reviewed Peterson’s previous best-seller, 12 Rules for Life:  An Antidote to Chaos, which suffered the same foundational issues, but did contain much useful advice in day-to-day living.  Beyond Order is wordier with  plenty of ‘psycho-babbling’, unfortunately.  I do pray that Peterson will soon transcend the nonsense of his evolutionary indoctrination and become a Bible-believing Christian.  The stakes for him personally are eternal, of course, but he would then be able to ground what he gets right on a solid foundation, and discard what he gets wrong by simply following biblical truth.

For example, in the Rule #12 chapter, he encourages the reader that he has the ability and courage to take on the difficulties of existence and the responsibilities of life.  Responsibility to whom?  Does not responsibility necessitate a personal connection?  Does he mean we have a responsibility to God to live right?  No, rather he credits our capabilities and competence “to those deep, ancient, and somewhat biological and psychological alarm systems that register the danger of the world.”  Yuk.  This is just materialism.  If there is no God, we have no vertical responsibilities.  If we are merely products of evolution, then there is no “I”, no personhood . . . just brain chemistry.  No point, no hope.

The chapter title itself, Be Grateful in Spite of Your Suffering, begs the question, Be grateful to whom?  Gratitude is intrinsically personal!

Peterson goes on to assert that when you are about to lie, your “conscience” usually informs you that your words are not true, which gives you the chance to constrain such a verbal act of malevolence.  But conscience?  What is that, Jordan?  You’re stealing biblical concepts and crediting the nonsense of evolution which has no explanatory power; in fact, it’s not true.

Peterson extols the virtues of caring for self and for family.  It is laudable to extend your care to your community.  He applauds those who work in palliative care, laboring tirelessly despite daily facing pain and death.  Such examples make him optimistic about our future, using a biblical metaphor that it is “necessary to encounter darkness before you can see the light.”  Peterson borrows (steals) regularly from Scripture without believing its core message and without crediting its Author.  He is in serious trouble if he never humbles himself and repents.

Peterson mentions Goethe’s famous play, Faust, in which a man sells his soul to the devil in exchange for knowledge.  Jordan sees the devil as a mythical figure who works against our positive intentions . . . “You can understand that psychologically, as well as metaphysically or religiously.”  Might it matter if Satan is a real, malevolently brilliant person?  With an army of fallen angels running amok?  Might that be a greater concern than some psychological possibility?  Once again, Jordan steals from Scripture when he writes, “. . . we note distressingly often that we leave undone what we know we  should do, and do instead what we know we should not.”  Paul, in Romans 7:18-20 . . . “For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh), dwelleth no good thing:  for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.  For the good that I would I do not:  but the evil which I would not, that I do.  Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.”

Paul goes on to ask (v. 24-25), who shall deliver him from his wretched state?  And he answers that only God can, “through Jesus Christ our Lord.”  That’s where hope is, Jordan.  Nowhere else.  Psychology, determination, and metaphors fail when the pressure is severe enough.  Don’t just look within for strength.  The apostle Paul tried that and failed until he met the risen Lord on the road to Damascus.

Sadly, pitifully, and erroneously, Peterson attributes our baser instincts to a metaphorical “chorus of demons, so to speak,” but he asserts that the reality behind the metaphor is “partial personalities.”  This, he writes, is the “great contribution of the psychoanalysts,” although “the exact nature of that force is grounds for endless speculation.”  No clue as to what is going on.  The simple biblical truth is that we image-bearers have a free will, a conscience, and a heart/mind to choose, we have temptations of the flesh, and if we are not careful we actually may run into genuine demonic influence.  The Christian also has the living presence of the Holy Spirit, who will cheerfully guide us if we are willing.  And the Bible is rich with practical guidance regarding anything important in life.

Let’s go back to Rule 1 and pull some useful nuggets from Peterson’s book.  Rule #1:  Do not carelessly denigrate social institutions or creative achievement.  From his clinical experience he has discovered that people organize their minds through continual communication with others – “we mostly think by talking.”  We learn both by listening to ourselves and by submitting our ideas to the judgment of others.

I’d observe that churches despise this principle and this practice.  The central part of church life is scripted and presented as a ‘show’ of sorts.  There is very little opportunity for substantive communication.  Even Sunday School classes and small group meetings are structured around a pre-packaged ‘lesson’ or some non-challenging topic of discussion; but serious discussions are discouraged and, therefore, rare.  And so . . . little learning occurs.

(Yes, I may seem to be violating the point of Rule #1, but I am by no means being careless in my criticism of modern churches.)

Peterson relates an encouraging example.  At a restaurant a waiter approached Jordan, expressing much appreciation for what he had learned from his book, podcasts, and videos.  Taking the teaching to heart, he had stopped criticizing his job and himself, and decided to be grateful and alert to opportunities.  Learning diligence and reliability, he had been promoted three times in six months!  He embraced the idea that every situation he found himself in had more potential than he initially saw.  Resentment and cynicism tend to block insight.  He stopped denigrating his environment and found success.

Rule #2:  Imagine who you could be, and then aim single-mindedly at that.  Peterson finds some merit in Socrates’ idea that one’s immortal soul knows everything before birth, but then forgets it all, using the subsequent experiences of life to ‘remember’ forgotten knowledge.  Peterson interprets this as dormant capability, “right down to the genetic level.”  We supposedly have latent abilities bequeathed by our evolutionary history.

The famous atheist / astronomer Carl Sagan once addressed the puzzle of ancient art depicting dinosaurs.  If dinosaurs have been extinct for millions of years, how could historic cultures have sketched them?  If humans lived with dinosaurs, after all, evolution is refuted.  Sagan’s answer was ‘genetic memory,’ that somehow in our DNA we had memories of our reptilian ancestors.  There is clearly no limit to the fantasies that evolutionists will create to prop up their naturalistic religion!

Sadly, Socrates is somewhat closer to truth here than Dr. Peterson.  There is no soul in evolution.  Molecules don’t have dormant potential for transcendental abilities.  But souls made in the image of God, with rationality and conscience, certainly have the ability to learn and grow.  Jordan asserts that our learning ability differentiates humans from animals.  Yet this does not follow from an evolutionary perspective.   Rule #2 is quite biblical, though, making Peterson’s conclusions right, while his premises are wrong.  Eccl 9:10, Phil 4:8, and 1 Cor 10:31-33 come to mind.

Rule #3:  Do not hide unwanted things in the fog.  Jordan tells the story of a husband whose wife had served him lunch for twenty years, often soup and a sandwich on a small plate.  One day, he erupted:

“Why in the world do we always eat off these tiny plates?  I hate eating off these tiny plates!”  His shocked wife had no idea.

Perhaps that day there had been some unknown trigger, but it became clear that the small plates had long been an annoyance, albeit small.  The lesson:  Collect a thousand of small annoyances and you can wreck your marriage.  The way I phrase it is, “Put the issue on the table.”  Solve it early.  Don’t hide problems and suffer.  The pressure builds.  Jordan:  “Life is what repeats, and it is worth getting what repeats right.”

Rule #4:  Notice that opportunity lurks where responsibility has been abdicated.  Peterson has done a lot of career counseling.  He advises that to become invaluable in the workplace, “just do the useful things no one else is doing.”  Work hard while you’re supposed to be working and learn more and more about the business.

I learned this principle early in my Air Force career and then carried it beyond.  There are always important things to be done that nobody likes or bothers to get around to.  And management (if they’re any good) will notice and appreciate it.  (If they don’t, find a job where you can respect the leadership.)

Peterson suggests (and I agree emphatically) that satisfaction and meaning accrue to life when you have taken responsibility and accomplished something valuable, especially if it wasn’t easy.  The most valuable accomplishments tend to be difficult.  Hey, we all want ‘easy,’ but there is no glory in ‘easy.’

Rule #5:  Do not do what you hate.  Easy advice.  Do the right thing, refuse to do the wrong thing, even if you suffer painful consequences.  “Be part of the force of truth that brings corruption and tyranny to a halt.”

As the world goes woke, crazy, and tyrannical, Jordan pleads that we need more people of courage.  But with an evolutionary foundation, why should the materialist stick his neck out?  Hey, just survive and prosper, however you can.  The Christian has a rock to stand on, though.  God is the ultimate Judge.  He is also the ultimate Rewarder.  The Christian knows that the wicked will not escape judgment, and he knows that the faithful will be rewarded; everything is seen, everything counts.

Let’s skip ahead to Rule #8:  Try to make one room in your home as beautiful as possible.  This idea goes well beyond the rule in his previous book on ‘cleaning your room.’  He believes in the power of art to enrich and refresh.  But whatever a ‘beautiful room’ would mean to you, the benefits are likely to greatly exceed the cost.

Rule #10 is about working on romance in marriage.  He makes the point that getting along for a lifetime is tough.  He asks what is going to make you deal with your differences and find agreement, consensus.  He has no answer other than the desire to avoid the terrible consequences of divorce or a lifetime of misery within a failed marriage.  What he misses, of course, is that the foundational motivation for charitable love in marriage (see 1 Cor chapter 13), is a shared faith in the Lordship of Jesus Christ.  Getting along matters to Jesus and He promises us strength and wisdom to do it.  A Christian marriage has ultimate and effective resources.  But we have to do it.  No easy shortcuts.

He speaks some practical truths about temptations to break a marriage.  For example:

“You do not have a life with someone when you have an affair with them.”  It’s all dessert and if the relationship becomes permanent, the things that bother you about marriage will just come up again.

“You are fifty.  You have this twenty-four-year-old, and she is willing to break up your marriage.  What is she thinking?  What does she know? . . . Why is she willing to break up this marriage?”  Peterson goes on to describe the costs of lawyers, the destruction of the wife’s life, the children’s pain, etc.  Jordan also notes that the data is clear that the breakup and divorce rates are much higher for couples who live together without a marriage commitment.

Rule #11 is about arrogance and deceit (they’re bad).  “The liar acts out the belief that the false world he brings into being, however temporarily, will serve at least his own interests better than the alternative.”  I love that he relates this (as I have in my writings) to reality.  The liar believes he can alter reality, or at least others’ perceptions, and get away with it.  Now, that’s arrogance!

The idea is intensely biblical.  God’s laws reflect the reality of His created universe and the nature of us, His image-bearers.  The 10 Commandments make sense.  They work!  As do the hundreds of specific admonitions God gives us throughout the Bible.  Trying to break reality simply does not work in the long term; usually, not even in this life, but certainly in the long term that includes the Great White Throne Judgment.  Ultimately, the liar pretends that God is not there.  Note the liar’s fate in Rev 21:8.

Yes, this all applies to politicians, Marxists, lawyers, and unscrupulous business folks (both small and corporate).  But it also applies to every one of us, every time we are tempted to lie, spin, or hide the truth.

Finally, I do think the book is worth reading, after you’ve read his previous work.  He has lots of examples and considerable insight.  If he were a Christian and enjoyed a biblical worldview, his books would be truly powerful and much more coherent.  He tries to build ethical skyscrapers on muddy ground – he should choose different ground.  Yet he does appreciate the fruits of a biblical worldview, because he is a diligent student of human nature.  He sees what works and what hurts for real people.  He could have gotten there a lot more quickly and more effectively if he had started in the right place.

• drdave@truthreallymatters.com