"We are priests. In two different sections of scripture God calls every believer a priest." - Floyd McElveen (Author and Lifetime Evangelist)
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Pity Floyd didn't bother to tell us which sections!
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Claim: "Yes it has been said that the Mormon Church does believe that there is a special priesthood that is separate from other individuals in the Church and it’s interesting that Peter goes on to tell us, now Peter was the one who was given the keys to the kingdom of heaven; he wasn’t the first Pope or anything but, he was given the gospel, he could tell people how to get into heaven..." - Scott Gallatin, Pastor, Calvary Chapel
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While one could debate whether Peter was the first Pope (an issue that Rev. Gallatin should take up with the Catholic Church), it seems that he’s quick to denigrate Peter’s importance as one of the first Twelve Apostles. We need only look at Matthew 16:15-19 to see that Jesus Christ put him into a very important role indeed:
15 He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am?
16 And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.
17 And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.
18 And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
19 And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. (KJV)
It would seem that the Bible is very clear that Peter could much more than “tell people how to get into heaven.” Moreover, one sees in the above that Jesus Christ would “give unto (Peter) the keys to the kingdom of heaven.” To the membership of the LDS Church, not to mention the Catholic Church and Eastern Orthodox Churches, the “keys” in question are representative of the authority necessary to act in the name of God. Indeed, once Peter received the promised keys, he could, and did, do much, much more than “tell people how to get into heaven.”
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Claim: [Peter] "didn’t write it to one particular individual or an individual that is better than another person..." - Scott Gallatin, Pastor, Calvary Chapel
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The Latter-day Saints do not believe that holding the priesthood makes anyone "better than another person." Priesthood is a call to service from God; it is not an office to which one aspires because of perks or social prestige. More?
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Claim: "...[Peter] wrote it to all of us in the Church because we have been given the responsibility as priests—all of us in the body of Christ to represent Christ—and that’s really what a priest, or a pastor, should do. And so, Peter wrote to everybody in the body of Christ to be a good representative of Christ as a royal priest." - Scott Gallatin, Pastor, Calvary Chapel
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Peter opens his first Epistle General with the words:
1 PETER, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia,
2 Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied. (1 Peter 1:1-2, KJV)
Since both of Peter’s Epistles are Epistles General, it is quite accurate to say that he was not writing to one particular individual, as Peter was speaking to the body of the early Church in the aforementioned provinces of the Roman Empire. He is not, however, writing to non-Christians, so in fact his audience is a select one.
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