# Why St. Peter at the gates? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [March 26, 2005, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-st-peter-at-the-gates/296322 "2005-03-26T05:33:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2005, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-st-peter-at-the-gates/296322/21 "2005-03-29T15:25:54Z")
> [@](#): > > Yes, yes, you don’t believe in Jesus or God or Heaven. We get it. Y’know, they are really starting to annoy me with those drive-by postings. Why they think I would care, I don’t know. It’s like they’re begging me to convert them or something. I can’t think of any other good reason why people would run around saying, “I don’t believe in God!” all the time. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2005, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-st-peter-at-the-gates/296322/22 "2005-03-29T16:09:06Z")
> [@tomndebb](#): > > Peter frequently appears as the most impulsive apostle, constantly blurting out stupid remarks and missing the point or even doing stupid things, (putting his clothes _on_ to leap out of a boat into a lake to greet Jesus), but he is also portrayed as the apostle who placed the most faith in Jesus. For this reason, in the preceding verse, Jesus punned about making him the "rock"upon which He would found His church. (Leaving aside later disputes about the papacy, Jesus was clearly investing a great faith in Peter, as well.) The name “Peter” is a version of the Latin “Petros”, meaning “rock”. This is a translation of the Aramaic “Kefas”, which was Simon’s nickname. So, basically, Simon was known as “Rocky”, which really puts a different complexion on things. “Yo, Hadrian!” 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2005, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-st-peter-at-the-gates/296322/23 "2005-03-29T20:24:02Z")
> [@smiling bandit](#): > > It doesn’t hav a gate as far as we know. Don’t confuse popular imagination with doctrine. We also probably won’t see St. Peter actually sitting there dressed in white with the Book of Life, either. Sorry, real life and/or death just isn’t going to be a Hallmark Moment ™. Around here, we take real life and/or death as something that is cited and proven. This is not doctrine. It is a leap of faith. Never confuse the two. 🙂 You are proclaiming as real something that is entirely unproven/unprovable and unciteable. Even in G.D., that is something of a stretch. For all that **you** know, the Hallmark Moment version replete with white robes, wrought iron gates and a huge book is in point of fact exactly how it will be. Cartooniverse ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2005, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-st-peter-at-the-gates/296322/24 "2005-03-29T20:29:09Z")
I’m not saying what I think or believe or not. I’m only saying that even in G.D., you cannot go espousing as factual doctrine what is in fact entirely unprovable. Whatever may be, may be. Whatever is, is. No way of knowing until it’s too late to cite and post here on the Straight Dope. If there is a Great Beyond, and it includes Internet Cafe’s and The Straight Dope then by all means- when a Doper who has died posts in here citing and proving definitively, you better believe I am gonna be wayyyyyy up front in line to apologize for not taking everybody’s word for it. Till then, cite please? ---
**Author:** ![Euthanasiast](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Euthanasiast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euthanasiast)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2005, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-st-peter-at-the-gates/296322/25 "2005-03-29T21:46:42Z")
> [@smiling bandit](#): > > Y’know, they are really starting to annoy me with those drive-by postings. Why they think I would care, I don’t know. It’s like they’re begging me to convert them or something. I can’t think of any other good reason why people would run around saying, “I don’t believe in God!” all the time. It comes from a lifetime of having people knock on my door, or interrupt my conversations, or just butt in wherever and shove pamphlets at me like a coked-up baccarat dealer. “Is Jesus in your heart?” “Are you prepared for the after life?” “Have you found God?” Yeah, I found him. Now, is it my turn to hide yet? The OP was a valid one, though, and I shouldn’t have hijacked it. It’s just that, too me at least, I had the chance to do to them, what they’ve always done to me. It sucks when someone comes from nowhere and craps all over your day with asinine remarks about your preparation for the afterlife or asks you about your relationship with a pink unicorn. Your frustration at my post indicates that you don’t like to be interrupted either, correct? Now you know how I feel. ---
**Author:** ![beagledave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6de8d8/32.png) [@beagledave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beagledave)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2005, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-st-peter-at-the-gates/296322/26 "2005-03-29T21:50:27Z")
> [@Euthanasiast](#): > > The OP was a valid one, though, and I shouldn’t have hijacked it. It’s just that, too me at least, I had the chance to do to them, what they’ve always done to me. It sucks when someone comes from nowhere and craps all over your day with asinine remarks about your preparation for the afterlife or asks you about your relationship with a pink unicorn. Your frustration at my post indicates that you don’t like to be interrupted either, correct? Now you know how I feel. Wow. I suppose if the posters in this thread had been the people knocking at your door…you might actually have a valid point. More’s the pity. ---
**Author:** ![Euthanasiast](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Euthanasiast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euthanasiast)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2005, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-st-peter-at-the-gates/296322/27 "2005-03-29T22:05:05Z")
> [@beagledave](#): > > Wow. I suppose if the posters in this thread had been the people knocking at your door…you might actually have a valid point. > > More’s the pity. I think my point is valid enough, thank you. ---
**Author:** ![beagledave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6de8d8/32.png) [@beagledave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beagledave)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2005, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-st-peter-at-the-gates/296322/28 "2005-03-29T22:08:31Z")
> [@Euthanasiast](#): > > I think my point is valid enough, thank you. Oh. So the “them” that bother you at your door are the same “them” participating in this thread? Interesting outlook on life, that kind of generalization. ---
**Author:** ![Euthanasiast](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Euthanasiast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euthanasiast)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2005, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-st-peter-at-the-gates/296322/29 "2005-03-29T22:46:41Z")
> [@beagledave](#): > > Oh. > > So the “them” that bother you at your door are the same “them” participating in this thread? No, I was illustrating that the complaints aimed at me for coming in and pissing all over this thread like a drunken yard cat are comparable to having someone interrupt my day by jamming a Jesus newsletter in my face while I stand in my bathrobe attempting to enjoy the sanctity of my Saturday. If I was in any way unclear about that, I apologize. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2005, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-st-peter-at-the-gates/296322/30 "2005-03-30T20:16:52Z")
> [@Euthanasiast](#): > > I think my point is valid enough, thank you. Yeah, but if you brush your hair right, no one will notice it. ---
**Author:** ![Scott\_Plaid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Scott\_Plaid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scott_Plaid)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2005, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-st-peter-at-the-gates/296322/31 "2005-03-30T20:45:41Z")
> [@Euthanasiast](#): > > \ or asks you about your relationship with a pink unicorn. Your frustration at my post indicates that you don’t like to be interrupted either, correct? Now you know how I feel. Ahem… Well, How are you doin’? As regards your relationship with the I.P.U., blessed be her hoves, that is. (Trying to turn this thread into a flirting thread? Not in the least. :] ) ---
**Author:** ![CandidGamera](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/candidgamera/32/2878_2.png) [@CandidGamera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CandidGamera)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2005, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-st-peter-at-the-gates/296322/32 "2005-03-30T20:59:53Z")
> [@Euthanasiast](#): > > No, I was illustrating that the complaints aimed at me for coming in and pissing all over this thread like a drunken yard cat are comparable to having someone interrupt my day by jamming a Jesus newsletter in my face while I stand in my bathrobe attempting to enjoy the sanctity of my Saturday. > > If I was in any way unclear about that, I apologize. Okay, foul. _blows the whistle_ “I was annoyed once by a person who happened to be Irish, therefore I go out of my way to annoy anyone with an Irish name.” Logical? No. Rude? Yes. Your actions in this thread are unjustified, no matter how justified you seem to think they are. Unless you’re trying to say how impressed you were with the Christians that annoyed you - since imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Did you just decide you wanted to be like them? ---
**Author:** ![Scott\_Plaid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Scott\_Plaid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scott_Plaid)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2005, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-st-peter-at-the-gates/296322/33 "2005-03-30T21:19:09Z")
CandidGamera, what are you doing with a whistle? You are clearly a skyscraper sized turtle, no a referee. Nevermind that. Anyway. While christians who annoy people from going door to door may not be the same people who post here, they are both people who support a book that instructs them to be annoying. (remember the part about “you shall be fisher of men?”) They both hold the same philosophy, unlike how some irish people do not derive their philosophy from the bible, so it is not a fair comparison after all. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2005, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-st-peter-at-the-gates/296322/34 "2005-03-30T21:38:09Z")
> [@tomndebb](#): > > Actually, this has nothing to do with [begging the question](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Begging_the_question) although it may prompt a follow-up question. Yeah, and “gay” means “happy and carefree” but that doesn’t mean I won’t get punched if I told a happy and carefree Mike Tyson he was acting gay. I propose the rest of the English-speaking world take “beg the question” away from the ten or fifteen people who use it correctly and make THEM come up with a replacement. It’s not that it isn’t a nonsensical construction of random words, anyway. :mad: ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2005, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-st-peter-at-the-gates/296322/35 "2005-03-30T21:59:45Z")
> [@BrotherCadfael](#): > > > [@Euthanasiast](#): > > > > I think my point is valid enough, thank you. > > Yeah, but if you brush your hair right, no one will notice it. **Moderator’s Note:** No personal insults in Great Debates, please. That said, there’s really no reason to turn this thread into a shouting match about proselytizing, or “Who’s worse, door-to-door missionaries or drive-by atheists?” There are other threads (and even [other forums](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/forumdisplay.php?forumid=5)) for that sort of thing. ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2005, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-st-peter-at-the-gates/296322/36 "2005-03-31T12:36:00Z")
**Rilchiam** , Jesus had a heart-to-heart later with Peter over the deny-me-thrice business, although without the book to hand I can’t tell you which of the four Gospels this is in. Regarding Judas: He didn’t do what he did in order to further God’s work, that’s why. He betrayed Jesus for entirely selfish reasons. God brought good out of the evil that Judas did, but who’s to say that Christ’s sacrifice couldn’t have happened some other way without Judas getting himself all messy? If I strangled a child to death tomorrow and a real old-fashioned-type saint or prophet brought that child back to life in an incontrovertible miracle that brought millions to God, so much the better for everyone concerned - except me. I set out to murder, and I deserve the punishment. ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2005, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-st-peter-at-the-gates/296322/37 "2005-03-31T12:55:44Z")
I see. Thank you! ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2005, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-st-peter-at-the-gates/296322/38 "2005-03-31T13:59:05Z")
No worries. Any friend of Lewis Carroll’s… 😃 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-st-peter-at-the-gates/296322.md?page=1)