Secular psychologist Jordan Peterson has just written his most recent book Beyond Order: 12 More Rules for Life. This book is a follow-up to his best seller 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos.
It has been said that the next generation, particularly young men, flock to Peterson’s simple advice on life. To many young men, Peterson represents the dad they never had. When Peterson writes about cleaning up your room and straightening up your life, many young people perk up and listen because they have never had anyone speak so directly to them about the importance of personal responsibility.
There is some value to secular psychology, however, man’s wisdom should never have the final say for the Christian’s directive in life. It is a lament that many children and youth grow up without caring parents and for some, no parents at all. The sad fact is that this phenomenon has led many in the next generation to view Peterson as a cultish god-like figure. In their adoration and adulation, this sect or fan-club has fallen prey to the temptation of idol worship. They have chosen to worship the creation over the Creator.
There was a preacher who used to tell his congregation, “I am about to confound you” every time before he preached. What did this preacher mean when he made this statement? Simply put, nothing less than “the foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength” (1 Cor 1:25).
The preacher was talking about none other than the message of the cross. The gospel message is confounding because the wisest man in the world would never have guessed that God himself would have stepped out of heaven to come to this earth to die for the sins of mankind.
The gospel is the message we preach and it is through the “foolishness” of this message that God is pleased to “save those who believe” (1 Cor 1:21).
Even Peterson is pounced on by his pundits when he speaks of maintaining personal responsibility in the face of suffering. After all, who likes to suffer? But this reasoning is where Peterson’s message has some resemblance to the gospel. In the face of the worst suffering you could ever imagine, Jesus resolved himself to go through with the punishment. The difference within these philosophies, however, lies in the fact that Jesus died the death we should have died because Jesus lived the life we never could have lived. Being the sinless Son of God, Jesus chose to die in our place to appease the wrath of God for those who would believe.
The question really is, “Will you follow Peterson’s and or other men’s life advice and principles?” or “Will you follow the Word of God?” Some of Peterson’s principles have merit, only because they are rooted in God’s creation-order or God’s law itself. No matter how you slice or dice it, 2+2 always = 4. All truth is God’s truth. But when it comes to the sinfulness of mankind, God’s math works differently: One sinless man, and his name is Jesus, died for the sins of all.
There is no self-help book or program that you can go through that will save you from your sin. You might “improve” upon some behavior or become a “better” person according to your own standard, but when it comes to being forgiven by a Holy God, you are in no better shape until you lay down the wisdom of man and accept the wisdom of God. Until you do so, you will continue to be confounded. You will persist to have a form of godliness, only to deny the power thereof (2 Tim 3:5). There is a way that seems right to man, but in the end, it leads to eternal destruction (Proverbs 14:12). I implore you to deny yourself, pick up your cross, and follow Jesus (Matt 16:24).