7 Comments

Peterson’s appeal isn’t limited to filling a paternal void, as I’m sure you know: he can fill a certain intellectual void. He’s a way out of atheistic materialism. He was for me, an 18-year-old who deconstructed Christianity at age 15. Peterson made Christianity habitable for me via the Biblical Series, and has continued that work as I read Maps of Meaning. Christians ought to focus on that aspect of him as well.

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I am HERE for the fire in this post. Thank you for (what felt like) a rather stream of conscious, straight from the gut piece of writing.

I commit to slowing my sneer, and opening my heart.

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Maybe not all the content of these missionaries' message is "bad" either. People aren't only drawn to attaboys and attagirls, we are also drawn to Truth. What might be true and good and beautiful in their content? Could the great Truth of God's commitment that is far greater than that of the most wonderful earthly parents, who are limited, be lurking among the smaller truths purveyed? I do not really sneer at anyone, although I have a seminary education; I have been too many places where people's hearts were tender toward God no matter what their misperceptions might be. (And I have my own.) I also have encountered dramatic conversion testimonies from those who grasped the core truth of God's love, even in the midst of bad theology. Thank you for your post---so very thought-provoking.

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I saw God’s truth in Peterson for sure. As I said in my main comment, Christian missionaries best take seriously these missionaries’ content, lest they miss the aspects of God which they are truly pointing to.

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I really am bothered to point of sneering by those 3 missionaries. BUT you are so right.

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It's less that I think the three examples I discuss are missionaries themselves than that I think we ourselves would do well, as missionaries engaged in cultural analysis, to ponder their broad appeal and resonance to learn more about our cultural context. Simply, sneering at what is popular is a missed opportunity for missional reflection.

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Yes I understood that. More of a problem on my part with vocabulary, computer dexterity, and short term memory. By the time I got the comment set up I had forgotten the three names -well except Peterson- so stuck in the grouping-word "missionaries".

Greatly enjoy and learn from your posts. !

David Babcock

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