Jorden Peterson is making waves again in the Evangelical community.  He recently published a message on You Tube entitled “Message to the Christian Churches.”  Peterson has gotten a lot of attention among evangelicals, especially in his appeal to young men.  He want us to be aware of the needs of men, warning us that they are facing an unparalleled demoralization due to the West’s weaponizing guilt regarding males. 

He is forceful in his challenge. “Put up a billboard saying “young men are welcome here”.…..Ask more, not less of those you are inviting.  Ask more of them than anyone ever has.  Remind them who they are in the deepest sense and help them become that.”  He is blunt when he says, “Attend to some souls.  That’s what you’re supposed to do.  That’s your holy duty.  Do it now, before it’s too late.  The hour is night.”

I for one have an appreciation for Peterson.  He has received his fair share of criticism because he has not as of yet become a believer.  Referring to Genesis, He tell the church how to speak to young men. “The Christian church is there to remind people, young men included, perhaps even first and foremost, that they have a woman to find, a garden to walk in, a family the nurture, an ark of build, and land to conquer, and a ladder to heaven to build.”  I only question the idea of a ladder to heaven.  Our message needs to be grace filled.  

When I watch his video and read some of the articles in response, I kept thinking of Isaiah prophecy regarding Jesus. “But he won’t yell, won’t raise his voice; there’ll be no commotion in the streets.  He won’t walk over anyone’s feelings, won’t push you into a corner.  Before you know it, his justice will triumph; the mere sound of his name will signal hope, even among far-off unbelievers” (Matt. 12:19-21 -MSG). 

In my view, Peterson is like a compassionate father figure, desperately trying to wake up the church, to welcome young men, who have lost their way in the midst of the cultural cross currents that have vilify the masculine.  Peterson has stood up to an over -bearing woke culture, and is now saying, “come home” to young men.  The church as a caring, open-minded and affirming community of folks who want to live out the reality of Genesis, can make a difference in the lives of lost young men.

But it will not be easy.  it will be messy, when young men, check out “The Good News” of the kingdom and its implications for our day.  What will it take?  Came we meet some of the challenges? Are we willing as followers of Jesus, to plant the Christian flag in the midst of almost demonic resistance, and say,  “At the beginning the Creator ‘make them male and female'” (Matt. 19:4).  God’s plan from the beginning is the reality we embrace. 

All other opinions are asking men to live in unreality. They are being asked to deny their identity as men, and settle for a patchwork of woke ideology, which imprisons men in a false reality.  It will not stand the tests that are about to come upon our whole nation.    

Men need to here it straight, with no apologies.  They will need strong, affirming communities to nurture their souls.  As Peterson said, “Attend to some souls….That’s your holy duty.  Do it now, before it’s too late.”  I for one, take Peterson’s message to heart.  We can learn a lot from the common grace, as expressed by the likes of Jordan Peterson.