American pastor Greg Laurie has urged Jordan Peterson to reflect on the afterlife and the role of Jesus in it.

In an emotional conversation on Peterson’s podcast, the pair discussed the Gospel and Laurie’s "worst day of his life" — the day his son died in a car accident in 2008.

“As a Christian, I believe I’ll see my son again because he believed in Jesus,” Laurie told Peterson. “He won’t be in Heaven because I’m his dad. He’ll be in Heaven because he put his faith in Christ and had that relationship. He’s a part of my future as well. So that gives me hope. But also, I realise that God can allow these things in our lives. I don’t know why. I can’t explain it. I don’t even try to explain it.”

The conversation then turned to Laurie’s belief in the afterlife.

“I believe in Heaven, and I believe in it more than I’ve ever believed,” Laurie shared.

“I’ve always been a student of Heaven as a Christian, and the Bible speaks so much of it, but when my son went to be there, I wanted to know more about it.”

Laurie added that he believes he’ll spend eternity in heaven, “not because I’ve lived a good life — because I’ve failed in many ways — but because Christ laid His life down for me on the cross.”

Peterson, who often reflects on Christian theology and the cultural significance of Christianity, said he struggles to reconcile the desire to perfect the earthly world with the Christian view that life should be heavily focused on eternity.

Though Peterson frequently engages with Christian topics, he has not explicitly identified as a believer.

After the interview, Laurie described Peterson as “one of the great minds of our generation” with a “deep interest and love for the Bible”.

“I really appreciated how he let me tell my story. In the process of telling it, I was able to share how Jesus Christ has changed my life and what it means to come into a relationship with Him,” Laurie concluded.