Peter and Paul: On How to Make Christianity More Appealing

Sometime after Paul's conversion on "The Road to Damascus" he meets Peter and the Apostles in Jerusalem(Acts 9:26-29). 

After his first missionary journey they meet up again in AD 50 for The Council at Jerusalem―this is a conversation they could have had.

St Peter and St Paul, Ukrainian Orthodox icon

Paul: So Peter how has this new "faith thing" been going for you?

Peter: Ah, okay I guess. How about you?

Paul: Pretty terrific, really!

Peter: Seriously, how about those scars I see showing above the collar line of your                             robe...dude...and what happened to your face?

Paul: Oh those (pointing to his face)? My face got more-than-a-little messed up when they                dropped stones on my head and chest trying to kill me over in Lystra.    

Peter: Well that didn’t go too well for you did it?

Paul: Yeah…I guess you could say that! Hey, Peter check these scares here (pointing to his              back as if a badge of honor) they were left by the angry Jews to whom, I had been                     sharing the gospel. It gets them pretty agitated wherever I go and preach the gospel and           mention the name of Jesus.

Peter: Right!?

Paul: What about you? What has your life been like after becoming a follower? 

Peter: Oh, I was put in jail and was going to be murdered like James, but with God’s help I               managed to escape. Now it seems like I’m pretty much a fugitive and everyone is                    against me for preaching the gospel as well.  I’ve been on the down-low―can’t really              show my face in Jerusalem and have been on the run!

Paul: I know, right!

Peter: Even now I had to sneak back here into the city to testify on your behalf.

Paul: How are the other guys doing?

Peter: Paul serious? You know better than anyone what happened to Stephen. As for James,

          he had his head was cut off by king Agrippa―John the Baptist was beheaded by                     Agrippa’s lunatic father, Herod Antipas. As for the other guys it’s been hard for all of             us. Paul you should know that – look at what you’ve gone through. 

     (Feast of Herod with the Beheading of St John the Baptist, in the Prado Museum in Madrid,  Bartholomeus Strobel's           masterpiece - 10 meters wide)

Paul: Don’t you ever wish it could a little bit easier―after all we are proclaiming the gospel.            What if we could change the message and say something like, “Accept Jesus and you              could be saved from having a hard life to a really good one.”?

Peter: Or something along these lines, “Accept Jesus and all of your difficulties will go away           and when you turn your life over to Him, all things will become easy.”

Paul: Yeah, or we could say, “If you raise your hand to be a follower of Christ―this new                gospel thingy will make all your problems go away.”

Peter: I’m sure that might get us more people. But Paul, I walked with Jesus and knew that               He turned more people away when He said that that following meant dying to self and             picking up a cross.  

Paul: RIGHT! He never said the He came to save us from all of our financial problems or                health problems. Peter as you know Jesus did His miracles, you did your miracles, I did          my miracles and those things are definite blessings but the gospel is not the promise of            financial reward or just a temporary thing like good health. Followers of Jesus can be             delivered from all kinds of destructive addictions and behaviors―but it is so much more         than that―it is the deliverance from the power and penalty of death. It is the saving of             the soul from eternal destruction. It does not necessarily save you from bad relationships         or bad situations nor does it promise protection from hate or persecution―it’s just the             opposite.

Peter: Right! My life wasn’t so bad before I encountered Jesus. I had a good thing going. I                 was middle class and liked my occupation as a fisherman...and doing what I loved to             do.

Paul: Look at how my life has changed. I had everything: title, respect, money, position,                   honor, family. I had a job I was passionate about and one that I also loved doing.

Peter: Do you think we can get more recruits and will suffer less persecution if we tone it                  down and tell them that if they want to know Jesus then everything becomes easy.                    Let’s tell that that it will make your life better. Let's tell them they could have more                  things.

Paul: Peter you're a comedian. I gave everything up and counted everything I had as                          loss―just in knowing Christ. Don’t tell them that we’re fugitives or that we had been in          prison or share with them how I had almost murdered and whipped and flogged for the           sake of the gospel. God forbid. That might frighten them and turn them away. 

Peter: You mean whitewash the gospel in a new version that doesn’t include the call to give              everything up.

Paul: Yeah. Let’s not mention how much it might cost.

Peter: We could do it this way; we could tell them it’s like joining some kind of club.

Paul: Offer exclusive membership with different levels of benefits – Rock concerts –                        climbing walls―choice of coffee and pastries. Tell them they can have it all.  Inoculate          them from suffering of any kind. Make them want more from the place where every                creature comfort is met.

Peter: Hum? That’s good Paul, but that will come later—much later. For now, let’s just keep              telling them that to follow will cost everything—but the glories of knowing Him, the                offer of grace and the promises of  everlasting life—is worth it all.

Paul: Amen and Amen bro. Worth every sacrifice. 

Peter: Worth dying for.

'Oldest' image of St Paul discovered.  Archaeologists have uncovered a 1,600 year old image of St Paul, the oldest one known of, in a Roman catacomb.  

The fresco, which dates back to the 4th Century AD, was discovered during restoration work at the Catacomb of Saint Thekla but was kept secret for ten days.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/vaticancityandholysee/5675461/Oldest-image-of-St-Paul-discovered.html    June 2009 

                            Caravaggio's depiction of the crucifixion of Apostle Peter.

Clement of Rome, in his Letter to the Corinthians (Chapter 5), written c. 80–98, speaks of Peter's martyrdom in the following terms: "Let us take the noble examples of our own generation. Through jealousy and envy the greatest and most just pillars of the Church were persecuted, and came even unto death… Peter, through unjust envy, endured not one or two but many labours, and at last, having delivered his testimony, departed unto the place of glory due to him."  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Peter