Country singer John Rich recently appeared on Jordan Pe  terson’s podcast, where he pressed the popular political and religious commentator on his view about Jesus Christ. Rich quoted Peterson’s own words to him. “But I still don’t know what to make of it, partly because it’s too terrifying of a reality to fully believe. I don’t know what would even happen to you if you fully believed,” read Rich. “What struck me about that is the ‘terrified’ part. Because to me I would think it would be the greatest thing in the world if Jesus is who the Bible says he is … Then you should go running straight to him because he controls Heaven and Hell,” said Rich. Rich, the son of a pastor, has been an outspoken Christian through his career, telling Tucker Carlson in a recent interview that he has felt a need to counter satanic messaging. “They are practicing witchcraft on the stage right in front of you. You’re watching a football game or an award show with your kids, and now evil is coming straight at you. We’ve all seen this. Somebody has to counter that,” he said.

Rich confronted Peterson about his own fear in submitting to God. “He loves you more than [any]body will ever love you. He created you. The last thing he wants to see happen to you is for you to go and follow the other way and wind up in eternity separated from him. So, I know it’s your interview, but I wanted to ask you, what terrifies you about the notion that Jesus might be who the Bible actually says he is?” he asked. “There’s a terror in letting that go, let’s say, and only doing … what you’re commanded to do or what you’re invited to do by the spirit of the truth,” Peterson admitted. He added, “There’s a terror in being subjugated to that even though it’s a necessary subjugation.” Rich pushed Peterson about giving his life to Christ, which Peterson said he had, although Rich stated he believed Peterson is still trying to be worthy of salvation. He encouraged Peterson to reject his aversion to speaking about his personal beliefs in public. “You could be one of the most powerful weapons in the hand of God that he ever slung,” he said.

Rich’s approach was praised by other Christians. “Lord knows, I love Jordan Peterson. I think he’s close to the Kingdom in many ways, but he never provides a simple and clear answer about his faith. He’s always wishy-washy and evasive,” Not the Bee’s Harris Rigby wrote. “John Rich makes the Gospel, makes the Bible, makes Christ so black and white and so real. He doesn’t allow Jordan to abstract it. He doesn’t hold back on the truth of the Bible at all.”

Author Larry Taunton praised the interaction on X. “Wonder how to share the Gospel with a skeptic?” asked Taunton. “You can do no better than @johnrich with a confused & evasive Jordan Peterson. Peterson tries to end the convo, but Rich respectfully & relentlessly keeps pounding home the Truth.”

Peterson has had a complicated relationship with Christianity for years, with his videos on books of the Bible having millions of views while his own views on Christ being puzzling at best. Christian site “Got Questions” addressed Peterson views, writing, “Much of what Jordan Peterson says supports Romans 1:19–20, indicating that certain truths about God are evident in common human experience. However, he does not subscribe to Christian faith.” The site adds, “Some of Jordan Peterson’s views echo biblical concepts. His work features themes such as the inevitable struggles of real life (John 16:33), personal worth and responsibility (Galatians 3:28; Ezekiel 18:20), and legitimate differences between genders (Genesis 1:27). Peterson also stresses the importance of precision in discussing hard topics (see Acts 17:11; 1 Corinthians 4:6). Peterson has produced content regarding the Bible’s influence on modern ethics and politics. Yet his views are not presented from the position of a born-again believer.”

Peterson’s struggles with faith mirror that of another great intellectual and philosopher, CS Lewis. An atheist for many years, Lewis described himself as not wanting to by “drawn in” by faith. When he finally gave his life to Christ, as described in his memoir, Surprised by Joy, he described himself as “reluctant.” “You must picture me alone in that room at Magdalen, night after night, feeling, whenever my mind lifted even for a second from my work, the steady, unrelenting approach of Him whom I so earnestly desired not to meet,” he wrote. “That which I greatly feared had at last come upon me. In the Trinity Term of 1929 I gave in, and admitted that God was God, and knelt and prayed: perhaps, that night, the most dejected and reluctant convert in all England.”