Petra

So a few weeks ago, I was doing cameras at church. Or maybe it was during the 6:33, our Tuesday men's group. In either case, the subject was brought up in the sermon that after Jesus' crucifiction, Peter had denied Jesus three times, and all that, he basically got really depressed, dropped his calling and went back to fishing.


The verse that really got me in this sermon though, was Mark 16:7 - "But go, tell his disciples and Peter, 'He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.'"


Many think this means he was saying, "Go tell my followers, oh and Peter if you want to because Peter doesn't want to be part of the inner circle anymore." However, a point was made that really struck a chord with me.


Only three times does Jesus specifically refer to Peter as "Peter." All the other times we hear "Peter" mentioned, it's by the author. However, MOST of the time, Jesus refers to him by his birth-name, Simon. "Peter" was Jesus' new name for him, and basically was a way of calling out his true destiny. You THINK you're Simon, but I see your true calling in that you're a rock!


So the thing that really struck me wasn't the fact that Jesus singled Peter out as "not part of the group" when he said, "Go tell my disciples and Peter," but more that he called Peter out by his true name. Peter had gone back to being Simon after Jesus was killed. He went back to fishing for a living. Then Jesus came back and said, "Hey, Peter. You might THINK you're not gonna do what I told you you were gonna do, and you might be going back to what you knew before, but I still believe in you."

Why do we believe what we believe?

So I just had a thought brought up by someone. I won't get into details why, but pretty much it's a questioning of my beliefs about stuff. Stuff like, "why is playing with 'supposed' demonic things dangerous?" and "why do I believe that following Jesus the best way for the non-eternal portion of our lives as well as for the ONLY way for the eternal?"

Truly, I have no intention of recanting ANY of my beliefs on these things EVER, but my answer to those questions is really only a very weak "because it's what I've always believed." There is no valid why, really. And I really want there to be.

Thoughts? Not that I won't stop believing this way, but in all sincerity, why should I keep on believing this way?

Until Jesus returns exactly how he said he would and proves himself to every agnostic, atheist, Christian and other, we'll just have to take him and his word by faith. Is that all we have to go on then? Faith?

I just had a thought..and a prayer. Only one person truly knows what I'm thinking. Probably even more-so than I do. I don't even know what I'm thinking, but he sure does. And the prayer is that he would show me exactly how to approach people who make me question my beliefs with his own power enough to convince them that he truly is the way. And that would be HIS power, because if it were my own..well then we couldn't give him credit for any of it.

More to think on I guess.

Here's a quick idea to get perspective: I'm thinking of these questions while looking in from the viewpoint of a non-Christian. Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying that I am not a Christian. I'm saying that I'm looking at the issue AS IF I was not. Basically, how does the other guy think? Why doesn't he believe me?