So I was sitting around yesterday morning, sipping my coffee and thinking about stuff I never really knew much about. Like, the twelve disciples – who were they anyway? I always heard the names, but didn’t put much thought into their stories. Figured it’d be fun to look it up and share what I found, ’cause that’s my jam as a blogger. I don’t know why, but it just popped into my head outta nowhere. Maybe ’cause my neighbor was chatting about some church thing over the fence, and I felt like I should bone up on it a bit.
First off, I grabbed my laptop and opened up the search engine, typing in “who were the twelve disciples” right there. Didn’t go to any fancy sites or books – just the usual free stuff online. Started scrolling through the first few links, reading bits and pieces. Saw that there were twelve guys total, all followers of Jesus from back in the day. Honestly, it was kinda messy at first ’cause so many sites had slightly different details. Like, some lists swapped names around. But I jotted down notes in a doc as I went, just the basic facts I could pull together without getting lost.
Then, to make sense of it, I broke it down by each disciple. Here’s a quick rundown of what I picked up after piecing it together:
- Peter: He was like the main dude, a fisherman. Ended up denying Jesus three times but stayed big in the early church. Died crucified upside down, which sounds rough.
- Andrew: Peter’s brother, also a fisherman. Went around preaching, got killed by being tied to a cross too. Pretty intense.
- James: Not the one from the Bible band! This guy was killed with a sword early on, kinda shocking how it all went down fast.
- John: James’s bro, outlived the rest and wrote a lot. Died of old age, lucky him.
- Philip: Helped spread the word, died by being stoned and crucified. Talk about dedication.
- Bartholomew: Also called Nathanael, got skinned alive or flayed. Ouch, that musta hurt.
- Thomas: Doubting Thomas, yeah? He traveled far and got killed with a spear, which proves he went all in.
- Matthew: The tax collector guy, turned things around and was martyred somewhere. Died by sword or something similar, can’t recall exactly.
- James: Another James! Son of Alphaeus, not much is known. Think he faded out quietly.
- Thaddaeus: Or Jude? That’s confusing. He got executed with arrows or clubs, from what I read.
- Simon the Zealot: Involved in that zealot group, died crucified. Sounds painful.
- Judas Iscariot: The famous betrayer, hung himself after it all. Ends up with a hole in the ground story.
After writing that down, I tried connecting the dots on what happened overall. Like, most of ’em got killed for their beliefs, which made it real grisly. Only a few, like John, had it easy. That got me wondering why there wasn’t a simple list with the deaths clear-cut. The details were all over the place, and I spent like an hour double-checking sources just to feel sure. Ended up feeling a bit drained, ’cause it’s heavy stuff – all that sacrifice.
By the end of my research, I put my notes into a blog draft, summarizing the key facts. But I’ll be honest, remembering all those names and gruesome ends wasn’t a walk in the park. Still, it was fascinating to dig into, and now I feel like I’ve got a better grip on it. Sharing this helps me process it, even if it left me scratching my head a few times.
