A Personal Account

  . . . but we had been eyewitnesses of his majesty. 

 - 2 Peter

If the Gospel is all a big hoax, then these words by Simon Peter count as among the most foolish in world history.

He invests a little time into affirming, quite confidently, that it all is true, because he saw it with his own eyes, and heard it with his own ears. He was a witness, if you will, of the very coming of Christ (the Second Coming), by being a bystander at Christ's Transfiguration, and one that walked with the resurrected, eternal Christ.

These words were written almost contemporaneously with the life time of Christ. Peter penned them during the first generation after Christ's ascension. Even the skeptic must wonder, "What did Peter hear and see, after all?" And what made this different from the thousands of similar legends and myths told throughout history, of various and sundry holy men (some of whom even claimed to come back from the dead?)

I think that the difference is that this account sticks. And it is attended by countless testimonials throughout history, of the work of the Holy Spirit: healings, lives changed, the witness of Christ ultimately filling the entire earth.

It is a movement that is distinctly not racial, or cultural. It is for all nations. That was the point even before Christ came. It is a connecting point of all those other cultures; it even connects religious traditions across the board (another topic).

Peter boldly asserted that everything that was written about Christ, is true. And if you have never believed your friends, or anything else ever written or said about Jesus, maybe you will believe the words of this ordinary Galilean fisherman.