The portrayal of the Apostles as stupid men who never understood anything is in sharp contrast...

[Aletheia4u]

...to the portrayal of historical figures in every secular context.

The Communist leaders were portrayed by their propaganda as heroic men who never made a mistake.

The Nazis portrayed their leaders as something like Norse gods.

Even the American founding fathers are portrayed in a positive light by our historians, who gloss over the unpleasant bits.

But the Apostles are portrayed as simple and stupid men, never understanding Jesus' words, often angering him off with their cowardice and lack of faith, and ultimately all but one of them abandoned him on the day he was crucified, and their leader Peter denied Jesus three times.

After Christ rose from the dead, the Apostles still hid like cowards, afraid to face the Jews. Thomas declared he didn't believe in the Resurrection, until he came and proved it.

Now some may argue that the whole point of the exercise is to boost up Jesus by making the men around him look bad.

But the Apostles knew that this portrayal of them would be what was remembered about them, and they allowed it when they could have done otherwise. They told the truth about their stupidity and cowardice, and because of that we see them as the imperfect humans they were.

What am I trying to say?

I'm saying, the Gospels are unvarnished truth. Nobody made the effort to make the Apostles look like heroes, when they weren't. They were chosen to found Christ's new Church, but they were, at first, woefully inadequate for the task. Only after the Pentecost, when they were filled with the Holy Spirit, did they start acting like men and go out into the world to preach the good news.

And -- this is important, every Apostle but John died rather than renounce his faith. Each of them could have saved himself -- saying -- it was all a lie. But they did not save themselves. The believed that Jesus Christ was the Son of God, and they died rather than renounce that truth.

What it means is even the most craven coward can be turned into a hero, if filled with faith and hope for salvation.

All of us Christians face tests in our own lives. Our choice is less stark, we will not die if we hold to our faith. But the test of this world is to hold to faith when all the distractions and luxuries of our world make us believe that faith is not all that important. We have things too good -- and that is a test more challenging than the threat of death.

Romans 5:3 Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance;

Hebrews 12:6 because the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and he chastens everyone he accepts as his son.”