What is Prayer? w/ Jordan Peterson 

Ooof that’s good!

That is correct and I am sure that JP would agree that we must have ultimate humility to properly orient our psyche. However, I believe his point is more that we should not be praying to God like he is a genie trying to get our wishes granted. We should be praying to hierarchically categorize our desires starting from the ultimate good and cascading down. The ultimate good would be that God's will be manifested in the way in which our lives unfold and we carry out our daily existence and that we grow to have our will conformed to His will. That is not to say that praying for a truly good thing like the conversion of our family members or that our wife will become pregnant is necessarily the wrong thing to do. We just must always acknowledge that the hierarchical nature of prayer should involve our will being subordinate to God's will (our destiny) with the knowledge that God's will will necessarily lead to a greater good in our lives than anything our will can conjure up.

Yeah, EVERYTHING I pray for is undeserved including sanctifying grace, etc. I'm so overwhelmed by His blessings to me and my family.

@@mattboylan7318beautiful

But always check the spirits :)

Beautiful. Thank you.

He is not always listening it is very clear in scripture. And not all are children of GOD. Your theology is very twisted in that understanding. I will say that when prayer is initiated it is THE HOLY SPIRIT, that is 1000000 percent true.

@@magicalmiller Where does it say that in scripture, that God is not always listening?

@@magicalmiller ''I assure you that there were many widows in Israel in Elijah’s time, when the sky was shut for three and a half years and there was a severe famine throughout the land. Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow in Zarephath in the region of Sidon. And there were many in Israel with leprosy in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed-only Naaman the Syrian.” Lk 4:25-28

​@@magicalmiller So you're saying that the Holy Spirit is not God, since the Holy Spirit is always listening, yet you claim God is not?

Well said

@@TypeLouderPlease Amen! 🕊️

Peace Brother, you wrote a whole paragraph what you couldve said in one sentence. Could you simplify please?

Jordan recognizes that God expects us to give our best. THEN God does the rest. The whole idea that we are poor victims begging God to rescue us has impregnated Christianity and has no basis in scripture. It is insipid victimhood. David had to face Goliath, Jacob had to face Esau, the promised land had to be taken by fighting, Christ had to face the Christ. Good is NOT a butler nite a vending machine, what a great summary.

You've nailed it brother. Makes me wonder too

And that's a trait INHERIT to Christianity itself, because we are citizens of Christendom. Without Christianity, we would not have this value! Non-Christians don't have it. We forget this fact way too much.

As soon as you start reading others motives you have lost and are now judging. Judge not lest you also be judged.

@@generalinformation4386 how is that judgement.I am making a statement.A fact.Jordan tone of voice was raised despite Mat not being confrontational.Maybe Jordan will read it and work on it

@@historian9484 none so blind as those who will not see. Tone of voice? Really? It doesn't take much to trigger judgement

@@generalinformation4386whatever

Fulton Sheen is incorrect in that (if that’s a genuine quote). Mary never sinned yet Christ is her Saviour also. Mary refers to God as “my Saviour” in Luke 1:47. Whilst Mary is unique in the manner in which her sanctification and redemption occurred, it is untrue to say that one must sin in order to call Christ “Saviour.”

I think it's helpful to remember in prayer is that God is one in three Divine Persons. When you pray to the God the Father or God the Son you are praying to all of the Persons of the Holy Trinity. God bless!

@@pauldudley1200 and when they answer the payer wich one do it i wanna adress him directly

That is an excellent observation. I believe that is why Peterson is drawn to discussing "faith" or the "idea" of God with leaders and scholars from works-based religions like Easter Orthodox, Roman Catholicism, Judaism, and even Islam, because from what I see, Peterson can only accept the tools and benefits from faith that are tangible and pragmatic to equip one to strive to moral betterment in this life now which can be summed up as self-justification which opposes the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We are saved by grace thru faith in Christ alone. Peterson's focus seems primarily to be in having confidence in the flesh as justification for salvation, not grace alone (Rom 5:1). Interestingly enough, Peterson is very similar to Paul in the Bible before his conversion who was also an intellectual elite but counted everything as loss for knowing Christ after he was supernaturally regenerated (Philippians 3:3-12); it's a striking parallel actually. Let's pray that God gives Peterson a heart of flesh so that he will profess Jesus as Lord and Savior, not Jesus as just a good person and moral teacher.

@@rinihogewoning6528 Thank you! Let's pray!

That is a good observation.

No, if you listen he prays for wisdom, to know God. It is scriptural, totally scriptural.

@@generalinformation4386 I did not know that. However does he pray in Jesus name? Does he believe Rom 10:9, Col 3:1, 1 Tim 2:5, and John 14:6? One is only saved (justified) by believing that Jesus Christ is Savior and Lord (Rom 5:1). Let's pray that Peterson would come to repentance and saving faith in Christ, because so far I haven't seen Peterson publicly confess that Jesus is Lord, instead he reduces Jesus to the most moral man who ever lived.

I would say "The origin of the" rather than secularized maybe would be more accurate and maybe he was thinking that way

When you think someone else is so obviously dumb it is best to check and wonder whether you are rating yourself more highly than you ought.

@@generalinformation4386 oh, I'm nowhere in the same universe in terms of general intelligence to Peterson. That doesn't mean I can't recognise when he says something stupid.

That's true, but the Bible does tell us that God does respond to prayer. He definitely has his plan, but he weighs how much we pray and how devoutly we do it into that equation.

No, I don't know it and neither do you. Only the self righteousness believe they know the content of another's heart.

@@generalinformation4386 you obviously haven’t listened to him talk about this MANY times before he joined up with the Daily Wire. He likes the stories and the concept in an abstract way. Not the actual sky fairy literally. He has too much intelligence for that.

My theology comes from knowing God and God is love. If you don't have that... well the scriptures are clear on that point.

The disciples were not theologians either and you don't need to be a theologian to know God. In fact the greatest theologian in the new testament, Paul, said "I count it all loss" in comparison to the joy of knowing God. The pharisees were theologians and they didn't rate highly on Christ's list.

You clearly don’t listen to his old stuff then.

@@benjamin5726 the suits made of literal icons is a NEW thing, give me a break

Why can't free will and prayer work? They don't contradict each other, one is our action and the other is God's. They co-exist perfectly fine, there is no contradiction.

@@Dre2Dee2 guess it depends how you define God. Does God already know the future ? Isn’t he supposedly omniscient? People talk about him having plans for every one , don’t they ? If someone dies when you’re praying for their recovery , people are apt to say “god had other plans for him “ no ? But if the person survives, then it’s a miracle , right ? If God is omniscient how is there free will ?

You can't live consciously and choose wisely unless you have faith in God. Apart from God all thoughts are the product of a mind formed by billions of random processes over billions of years. To claim that such a mind can produce 'wisdom' is nonsensical.

@@bitofwizdomb7266 If God is omniscient how is there free will ? We make the choices first, THEN he draws up his plan. In that way we are given the freedom to decide everything before he enacts his response

@@Dre2Dee2 doesn’t Omniscience means all-knowing? Yaweh is all all-knowing in the sense that he is aware of the past, present, and future. Nothing takes him by surprise. His knowledge is total. Did yaweh know “Adam and Eve” would sin before he “created” them according to the biblical story ? take for example the pharaoh in the biblical story in exodus . Did yaweh intentionally harden his heart ? Was his free will striped from him ? And on the last plague , did the innocent first borns have any free will whatsoever? Did their parents have free will protecting their firstborns that they waited for and wanted to love? Does Yaweh/Elohim already have foreknowledge of what you will do, how you will act, what you will think in every moment of the life you will live , etc before you are even born? If so , where’s the free will ? Moreover , how do omniscience and omnipotent work together without yaweh looking evil and uncaring ? Think innocent Christian children being trafficked for example

your comment is part of a pride game

@@noyes8836 how so? I feel as tho Jordan's pride won't just let God love him

​@@pickenchews i think you want to say "let him love god"? yeah but why do you assume that your feeling is correct? you think jordan doesn´t love god? he talks about almost nothing else than god. okay

@@noyes8836 no that's not what I'm saying at all

JP is stating that God’s love and blessings are self evident. Therefore our prayers should be to use those gifts appropriately and not to buttress our own vanity and pride.

The “work” it is talking about is the INITIAL WORK, which of course is by Grace from God. He is the “starter”. And how do we know this? Well, keep reading! “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus *unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.”* What if one says they have faith but don’t do the good works ordained by God one should “walk in them”? Well, Rev. 20:12-13 “And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were JUDGED out of those things which were written in the books, ACCORDING TO THEIR WORKS. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man ACCORDING TO THEIR WORKS.” I wish I could be judged by my faith alone, but I will not be. As Jesus teaches in Mt. 25, what we DO to/for others, we DO to/for Him. Sin is also a work (thought, word, work and omission), a BAD WORK, and we will also be judged by them. Works are only a mean to put our love for Christ to action. God bless!!! Vocation is belonging to Christ.

PREACH

@@atgred I see what you mean and I think we almost agree. I am not saying that our own works are irrelevant. But what JP said and implicitly Matt seemed to agree by not pushing back, but I put that down to pressure of responding in the moment of interview rather than what he believes, is that we should not ask for something that we have not earned. But our salvation cannot be earned, so it couldn't be anywhere near a satanic temptation. It is the opposite. To be saved we must ask for a favour we cannot earn. Salvation is impossible for man alone but with God it is possible (Matthew 19:25-26). Jesus is 'the way, the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father except through Him.' It is not that we can 'come to the Father' if we do enough selfless acts, feed the hungry and house the homeless, all good godly actions but they still will not take away the stain of our sins. However, how we act after we have been saved is important. Like It says in James 2:17 'in the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.' So, yes we are to do good works, treat others like image bearers of God, like the sheep and the goats we should feed the hungry, give a drink to to thirsty, clothe the naked, take care of the sick and visit the prisoner, but not to earn our salvation. The way I read James' statement with the teachings of Paul and Jesus (above) is that you are saved by Jesus' sacrifice and the proof of your salvation is in how you act once you have been saved. God bless, I appreciate a respectful RU-vid comment, even if we disagree.

I think he was speaking directly about asking God a favor to save us from our own stupidity. We have to avoid stupidity, and that is “doing” something. Not that we are earning it, I think he just misspoke. I’m just guessing though.