9: Be Who You Are – Discussion starters
- A precious faith. What is precious about the faith that Christ gives us? How long could we survive without that faith? For how much of that time would we be happy? How do we learn to love God? What are the elements of faith that make it possible to love Him? Can you and I, sinful beings that we are, ever change to the extent that we can partake with Jesus in His divine nature? Or is that just too much to hope for?
- Love, the goal of Christian virtue. Have you ever noticed how rich the Bible is
with lists? Imagine adding building a ladder one virtue at a time from I Peter 1:5-7. How does each virtue relate to the one before it in this list? After climbing the spiritual ladder starting with faith, what is the final virtue that caps the list? Could your spiritual life be richer if you spent time each day focusing on one of these virtues and the rewards you can obtain by working to achieve it? - Be who you are. Have you ever listened to a person who knows about forgiveness but can’t seem to accept it for his or her own life? What can you or I say to a person who says and believes, “God can’t forgive me. I’m not good enough.” How does such a person learn to come to Jesus and be like Christ? When Jesus accepts us as His own, what does He do with our past sins? Does that make me perfect in Him?
- Shedding the tent. What does Peter mean by the tent that he says encloses him? Compare the doctrine of the immortality of the soul with the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead. Why do you think people in general want so badly to believe in the immortality of the soul? Does that feeling have anything to do with a dread and fear of death? How does the resurrection of Christ relate to our own death and resurrection? Do you ever imagine “shedding the tent” in death and then being awakened in the resurrection?
- Faith in the face of death. Peter didn’t have a lab workup or symptoms that he shared with us, but he knew his death was imminent. Did Peter believe that even though he would die, his soul would live on? What was the basis for his beliefs about death? Have you ever thought about your own death? Do those thoughts discourage you? or strengthen your faith?
- Peter’s death. How do you think Peter felt when Jesus described for him the details of his death? By being crucified head down, Peter probably didn’t suffer as long as if he had died in an upright position because the blood would rush to his head. Is that why he asked for crucifixion to take place as he did? Are you sure that Peter couldn’t forgive himself? If you can, why couldn’t he?
Faith in the face of death, A question in mind how Comes the downward crucifixion of Peter downwards was arrived at?. I fear death. Why? My time is not yet!
You don’t when your time is, you could while you are talking
Tradition mostly. Ellen White seems to agree. It sounds like Peter’s personality to me. It is not biblical however. The only biblical evidence is of Christ’s words to peter about stretching his hands out. No words of either up or down.
Enock, That is a question that has been asked more than once. One would wonder also why this crucifixion of Peter would undoubtedly not be a scriptural account. Unquestioningly, Peter has ask for forgiveness of all his transgressions. Even with the list of characteristics I wonder if Peter had some of the inclinations that he was noted for. Peter was not timid of bashful in any way that is evident. That would almost be just like Peter, to make a statement that all may be aware of. It is only conjecture on our part in absence of biblical fact.