We assume you mean 'Simon the Zealot' and not 'Simon Peter'.
In any case as our recent threads on Peter continue,....one of our threads is about Peter never going to Rome or never being buried in Rome,...however the UB seems to agree that Peter was at least crucified in Rome. - this could be because the revelators had access to the accepted tradition of this? Or can we trust their 'approval' of this as 'actual fact'? There is controversy if some bones found in Rome are actually Peters or not. (the papers mention nothing of where Peter was buried however).
The Catholic claim of the keys of the kingdom being given exclusively to Peter has been contested elsewhere. In your readings, do you find Jesus giving any particular apostle a special 'anointing of leadership' or 'keys of power' in regards to the kingdom or that would give Peter any special status?
pj
Hi Freelight,
As it turns out I answered this same issue on a Peter thread eirlier today:
.....It's because the Rock wasn’t Peter, the rock was the faith based fact and statement by Jesus that the identity of the Jesus as the Son of God was revealed by God the Father. That was the faith based foundation which Jesus referred to as "The Rock", the faith upon which the spiritual kingdom was built. When the account of this scene was written about years later it became confused, besides, Paul ended up being far more influential.
On another occasion Jesus said "the kingdom of heaven is within you". He didn’t say the RCC is within you.
We have an issue of context as to what Jesus was referring to. Read the Biblical account then the UB account and decide for yourself.
NIV
13When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, "Who do people say the Son of Man is?"
14 They replied, "Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets."
15"But what about you?" he asked. "Who do you (all the apostles) say I am?"
16 Simon Peter answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."
17Jesus replied, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven. 18And I tell you that you are Peter,[c] and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades[d] will not overcome it.[e] 19I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be[f] bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be[g] loosed in heaven." 20Then he warned his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Christ.
"This rock" does not so much refer to Peter as the faith based fact that God the Father revealed the identity.
*..."give you the keys to the kingdom" is in context to the body of belivers who by faith enter the kingdom, not just Peter.
* Peter was indeed crucified in Rome and his wife thrown to the wild beast in the Roman arena (that is according to the Urantia revelation of which I am a student).
* It is my fervent belief and a matter of rather obvious historical account that Jesus has fostered the Christian church as the best exponent of his life work. But this does not mean that the physical, social institution is perfect or always open to the leading of Christ.
* The fellowship of believers in God is really an invisible brotherhood, not necessarily bricks and mortar or human authority, rather God ruleing in the hearts of faithful men and women.
UB account:
4.4 After they had partaken of their meal and were engaged in discussing plans for the forthcoming tour of the Decapolis, Jesus suddenly looked up into their faces and said: "Now that a full day has passed since you assented to Simon Peter's declaration regarding the identity of the Son of Man, I would ask if you still hold to your decision?" On hearing this, the twelve stood upon their feet, and Simon Peter, stepping a few paces forward toward Jesus, said: "Yes, Master, we do. We believe that you are the Son of the living God." And Peter sat down with his brethren.
157:4.5 Jesus, still standing, then said to the twelve: "You are my chosen ambassadors, but I know that, in the circumstances, you could not entertain this belief as a result of mere human knowledge. This is a revelation of the spirit of my Father to your inmost souls. And when, therefore, you make this confession by the insight of the spirit of my Father which dwells within you, I am led to declare that upon this foundation will I build the brotherhood of the kingdom of heaven. Upon this rock of spiritual reality will I build the living temple of spiritual fellowship in the eternal realities of my Father's kingdom. All the forces of evil and the hosts of sin shall not prevail against this human fraternity of the divine spirit. And while my Father's spirit shall ever be the divine guide and mentor of all who enter the bonds of this spirit fellowship, to you and your successors I now deliver the keys of the outward kingdom—the authority over things temporal—the social and economic features of this association of men and women as fellows of the kingdom." And again he charged them, for the time being, that they should tell no man that he was the Son of God.
157:4.6 Jesus was beginning to have faith in the loyalty and integrity of his apostles. The Master conceived that a faith which could stand what his chosen representatives had recently passed through would undoubtedly endure the fiery trials which were just ahead and emerge from the apparent wreckage of all their hopes into the new light of a new dispensation and thereby be able to go forth to enlighten a world sitting in darkness. On this day the Master began to believe in the faith of his apostles, save one.
157:4.7 And ever since that day this same Jesus has been building that living temple upon that same eternal foundation of his divine sonship, and those who thereby become self-conscious sons of God are the human stones which constitute this living temple of sonship erecting to the glory and honor of the wisdom and love of the eternal Father of spirits.
Caino