“Christian Activities” Don’t Equal Intimacy With God | Jason Billester | Ep. 31

Jordan Peterson: The Word For 'Wife' Means Warrior, Not Subordinate | Teri Peck | Ep. 39

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Some links below are affiliate links.Teri and I are starting something new this week. We're picking up Jordan Peterson's newest book, We Who Wrestle with God, and walking through it one chapter at a time. This is chapter one, and it starts with the idea that everyone around you is made in the image of God, which sounds simple until you try to actually live like it's true.We get into what it means to subdue the earth, and why that word has nothing to do with domination and everything to do with putting things in their proper place. From there Teri pulls out something most people miss entirely. The Hebrew word used to describe Eve, ezer kenegdo, is the same word used elsewhere in scripture to describe God as our help and our shield. It doesn't mean subordinate. It means potent ally, the kind you'd want beside you in a fight. We talk about what that actually changes about how marriage works, and why iron sharpening iron sometimes looks less like harmony and more like two sparring partners who refuse to let each other get soft.Somewhere in the middle of all this we go on a full detour into artificial intelligence, because Teri asked a question I couldn't leave alone. Can an AI actually be manipulated by the people who build it? As a software developer, I walk through why large language models are just statistics under the hood, why the data you feed them is a choice, and what happened when Google's AI started changing the race of historical figures. I also tell her about a project I tried building years ago to make an AI that studied scripture on its own.This is also the shortest episode we've put out, and that's on purpose. We're trying something different: shorter, chapter by chapter conversations instead of one long sitting.Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@BrentonPeckPodcastClips Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@BrentonPeckPodcastClipsSpotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0agab3nx2RVMbALWG4Lvr4Substack: https://brentonpeckpodcast.substack.comFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/BrentonPeckPodcast/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brentonpeckpodcast/TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@brentonpeckpodcastWebsite: https://www.brentonpeckpodcast.comTeri Peck, co-host and creator of Peck's NestFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/pecksnestInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/pecksnestTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@pecksnestYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@PecksNestAs an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.We Who Wrestle with God: Perceptions of the Divine — Jordan B. Peterson: https://amzn.to/4vUvESd[00:00] Cold Open[01:58] Starting Chapter One: We Who Wrestle With God[02:36] What "Subdue" Actually Means[02:52] Why Nothing About Your Calling Is Deterministic[03:47] Does God Put Us In Our Place, Or Is It Our Choice[06:48] How Did Adam Know What To Name Every Animal[07:09] Did Humanity Lose Its Original, True Language[09:53] Will We All Speak One Language In Heaven[12:29] Who Teri Would Want To Have Dinner With From History[15:01] Nerding Out: Can AI Be Manipulated By Its Creators[19:40] Brenton's Own Attempt To Build A Biblically Grounded AI[23:13] Eve Was Called A Warrior Ally, Not A Subordinate[25:27] Marriage As Sparring Partners: Iron Sharpens Iron[27:23] Why Play Is Essential To A Strong Marriage[29:13] Why Adam Still Tried To Impress The Only Woman Alive[30:33] Wrap Up: Trying A Shorter Episode Format

Let Kids Be Kids (Jordan Peterson, Rules 11 & 12) | Teri Peck | Ep. 38

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Some links below are affiliate links.Jordan Peterson closes out 12 Rules for Life with two rules that hit different depending on who's reading them. Rule 11 says don't bother kids when they're skateboarding. Rule 12 says pet a cat when you encounter one on the street. Teri Peck joins me to finish the series, and what starts as a conversation about playground safety turns into something a lot bigger.We get into why a generation of kids has been raised behind padded edges and warning labels, and what that's actually cost them in confidence and self-reliance. From there we move straight into Peterson's chapter on privilege and the patriarchy, including a real story he tells about a boy who told his dad he was doing well in school, for a boy. That line says more about the state of education and masculinity than any statistic could, and it sets up a longer conversation about why boys check out when the rules of the game stop being theirs.Teri pushes back on me in a few places I wasn't ready for, including a TikTok-fueled debate about whether men actually sacrifice for their families, and a hard line about women who say they don't need a man. We also work through Peterson's idea that everything in life is either a tool or an obstacle, and what that means for how we treat other people without realizing it. By the end we're talking about resentment, presence, and the story behind Peterson's daughter's lifelong battle with juvenile arthritis, which reframes the whole pet a cat rule completely.This is the final episode in our 12 Rules for Life series.SUBSCRIBE / FOLLOWFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/BrentonPeckPodcast/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brentonpeckpodcast/TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@brentonpeckpodcastWebsite: https://www.brentonpeckpodcast.comTeri Peck, wife, mother of three, and co-host of the Brenton Peck Podcast.Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pecksnestInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/pecksnestTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@pecksnestYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@PecksNestBOOKS / RESOURCES MENTIONEDAs an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.12 Rules for Life - Jordan Peterson: https://amzn.to/48b1fFCTIMESTAMPS / CHAPTERS0:00 Introduction1:44 Rule 11: Don't Bother Kids When They're Skateboarding3:25 The Sacrifice Moms Don't Get Credit For5:46 Warning Labels and the War on Play8:49 Why New Rules Don't Stop Anyone10:51 Should We Childproof Every Playground?15:55 If Everyone's Privileged, Is Anyone Privileged?16:36 Why Men's Accomplishments Get Diminished17:37 Do Men Even Sacrifice for Their Families?21:09 "I'm Doing Well In School... For a Boy"23:49 School Choice and the Homeschool Debate31:28 When the Game Turns Into a Girls' Game33:06 "I Don't Need a Man"34:56 Why Women Marry Up and Men Marry Across39:21 The Pursuit of Goals Is What Gives Life Meaning40:28 Everything Is a Tool or an Obstacle48:56 The Two Reasons We Get Resentful50:43 Rule 12: Pet a Cat When You Encounter One on the Street51:49 What Superman Got Wrong About Story54:22 Noticing Comes Before Thinking58:55 Closing Thoughts

Jordan Peterson Changed How We Fight | Teri Peck | Ep. 37

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Some links below are affiliate links.Teri is back for Rules 9 and 10 of Jordan Peterson's 12 Rules for Life, and these two chapters land harder than anything in the series so far. Rule 9 asks you to assume the person you're listening to might know something you don't. Rule 10 tells you to be precise in your speech. Together, they trace what actually breaks communication down and what it costs when you let it go too long.Rule 9 opens with a simple observation: most of us listen to confirm what we already believe. Brenton and Teri follow that thread from disagreements about how to clean a kitchen in early marriage to the tribal fracture in politics, and land on something Brenton's grandfather used to say about offense and personal responsibility. The conversation goes further from there, into therapy, false memories, and a question worth sitting with: when you walk into a therapist's office believing something is wrong with you and that they can fix it, what have you already agreed to accept?Rule 10 is where it gets pointed. Peterson walks through a man who says "I hate my wife" out loud for the first time, and how those words create a reality that wasn't there before. Brenton and Teri dig into why words spoken in anger don't disappear, why venting to friends about your spouse costs more than it relieves, and the children's book Peterson references about a dragon that fills an entire house because nobody would acknowledge it. They also get personal: a bag of jalapeno chips, two and a half months of bed rest, 19 credits of upper division math, and what a family actually does to the direction a man chooses to go.Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@BrentonPeckPodcastClips Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@BrentonPeckPodcastClipsSpotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0agab3nx2RVMbALWG4Lvr4Substack: https://brentonpeckpodcast.substack.comFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/BrentonPeckPodcast/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brentonpeckpodcast/TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@brentonpeckpodcastWebsite: https://www.brentonpeckpodcast.comTeri Peck, co-host and creator of Peck's NestFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/pecksnestInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/pecksnestTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@pecksnestYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@PecksNestBooks MentionedAs an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.12 Rules for Life — Jordan Peterson: https://amzn.to/48b1fFCThe Righteous Mind — Jonathan Haidt: https://amzn.to/41KJ2LrThere's No Such Thing as a Dragon — Jack Kent: https://amzn.to/43U7Ql6Mikey and the Dragons — Jocko Willlink: https://amzn.to/43lWIgF[00:00] Introduction[01:40] Rule 9 — Assume the person you're listening to might know something you don't[02:23] Two people, two ways to clean a kitchen — what early marriage reveals[05:54] Tribalism and why we stop listening across groups[10:47] The salvation issue — why Brenton doesn't argue about everything[16:45] "Only I can choose to be offended" — grandpa's saying[23:01] Can therapists plant things in your mind?[31:04] Memory isn't objective — tools and obstacles[38:33] The communication skill that changed their marriage[43:02] When a man said "I hate my wife" — why spoken words become real[46:02] Who you vent to matters more than you think[50:54] Rule 10 — Be precise in your speech[56:32] The dragon that fills the house — what ignoring problems actually does[58:29] Don't let small things become massive dragons[1:03:28] Do men actually sacrifice for their families?[1:06:37] What having a family did to Brenton's trajectory[1:09:10] 19 credits of upper division math and teaching himself to code[1:15:05] Men need respect like women need love[1:20:12] Parenting as a team — the unified front[1:22:41] Roughhousing and what fathers actually build in their kids[1:25:57] When marriages fall apart slowly — and what to do before they do

Meaning Demands Sacrifice. Truth Demands Courage. | Teri Peck | Ep. 36

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Some links below are affiliate links.Jordan Peterson's 12 Rules for Life has a way of turning simple-sounding rules into two-hour conversations. Teri and I worked through Rules 7 and 8, and both of them went further than expected.Rule 7 is pursue what is meaningful, not what is expedient. That sounds simple until you try to define meaningful. We got into whether meaning can ever be purely personal or whether it has to account for the individual, the family, the community, and humanity as a whole. Teri pushed back on constraints, we disagreed about whether too many choices paralyze people, and worked through a real debate about whether Christians are still under the Old Testament law. We also talked about a season early in our marriage when I was hauling boxes off a truck at Shopco on Christmas break while Teri was pregnant, and why that wasn't expedient, it was meaningful.Rule 8 is tell the truth, or at least don't lie. A lie doesn't just mislead. It rewires the person telling it. We worked through narcissism and self-loathing as two versions of the same deception, how small lies get encoded into habit, and what that does to a marriage over time. Then into the heaviest ground in the book: Peterson's argument that every human being is capable of great evil. The Auschwitz guards were ordinary people shaped by incremental corruption. The Holocaust started with a lie. And the closing argument: it is not good to be a weak man. You cannot protect against monsters if you are not capable of being a monster yourself.Part of an ongoing read-through of 12 Rules for Life with my wife Teri. Rules 9 and 10 are next.Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@BrentonPeckPodcastClips Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@BrentonPeckPodcastClipsSpotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0agab3nx2RVMbALWG4Lvr4Substack: https://brentonpeckpodcast.substack.comFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/BrentonPeckPodcast/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brentonpeckpodcast/TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@brentonpeckpodcastWebsite: https://www.brentonpeckpodcast.comTeri Peck, co-host and creator of Peck's NestFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/pecksnestInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/pecksnestTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@pecksnestYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@PecksNestBooks MentionedAs an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos — Jordan B. Peterson: https://amzn.to/48b1fFC[00:00] Introduction[0:01:58] Rule 7: Pursue What Is Meaningful, Not What Is Expedient[0:05:44] Does Vacuuming the Carpet Count as Meaningful?[0:09:21] Why Meaning Can't Stop at the Individual[0:13:25] The Paralysis of Too Many Choices[0:22:00] Meaning Over Comfort: Working Temp Jobs While Teri Was Pregnant[0:26:14] Cain and Abel: What Makes One Sacrifice Better Than Another?[0:28:58] Are Christians Still Under the Old Testament Law?[0:43:09] The Future Is a Judgmental Father[0:45:11] Rule 8: Tell the Truth, or at Least Don't Lie[0:51:19] Narcissism and Self-Loathing Are the Same Lie[1:06:28] Getting Out of the Basement: Starting With the Smallest Possible Win[1:10:37] How Lying Gets Encoded in a Marriage[1:12:02] When Truth Becomes a Weapon[1:19:00] Peterson's Foundation: Suffering Is the One Thing You Can't Argue Away[1:20:22] The Holocaust Started With a Lie[1:39:36] Normal People Doing Terrible Things: The Auschwitz Guards[1:42:18] Andrew Tate, Capability, and the Danger of Being a Weak Man[1:45:06] You Can't Protect Against Monsters If You're Not Capable of Being One[1:46:10] Coming Up: Rules 9 and 10

Raising Kids Who Are Easy to Love | Teri Peck | Ep. 35

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Some links below are affiliate links. Brenton and Teri are back for their third conversation on Jordan Peterson's 12 Rules for Life — this time covering Rules 5 and 6. Rule 5 is the one that makes parents uncomfortable: "Do not let your children do anything that makes you dislike them." Rule 6 is the one most people skip: "Set your house in perfect order before you criticize the world." The conversation goes places you don't expect. Peterson's argument isn't really about what annoys you as a parent — it's about the fact that your kids will face a world that has no patience for what you let slide at home. Society doesn't give warnings. It just punishes. Brenton and Teri work through what that actually means in practice: what discipline is for, why gentle parenting falls short, how punishment should end the moment it ends, and why consistency matters more than intensity. Midway through, Teri shares something personal. She's three weeks out from a hysterectomy — miserable, exhausted, not herself — and she talks about what she's been reaching for to get through it: gratitude. Not as a feeling, but as a discipline. Making lists. Finding the dogs. The warm house. The people who brought meals. It's one of the most grounded and honest things she's said on the show. They close with Rule 6 and Peterson's core point: don't tear down a fence before you understand why it's there. That applies to traditions, to institutions, to the structure of your own life. Clean up what you can control before you blame the world for what you can't. Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BrentonPeckPodcast/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brentonpeckpodcast/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@brentonpeckpodcast Website: https://www.brentonpeckpodcast.com Teri Peck, co-host and creator of Peck's Nest Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pecksnest Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pecksnest TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@pecksnest YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@PecksNest Books & Resources Mentioned As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos — Jordan Peterson: https://amzn.to/48b1fFC Happiness Is a Serious Problem — Dennis Prager: https://amzn.to/4dN2c95