There is such a wealth of information on Jesus Christ and Christianity out there - I read the Bible slowly and I will be the first to admit that I am not nearly as well read in that respect as my non-C brethren. But I grew up reading the lives of the Saints, information about other religions, christian history books, any history books, catholic history books, ancient christian writers, etc. Of course one can go on and on.
My point is that although the Bible is paramount, IMVHO, Catholics are also encouraged to read broadly (kind of like Havoc does, only not so slanted ;-)), and be well rounded. Rereading the above, it kind of sounds snotty and I do not mean it that way - but sometimes it seems to me that some people read the Bible to the exclusion of other wonderful ways to find God. I think knowledge is Truth and Truth is God - he gave us such a wonderful sense of curiousity, why limit it to only the Bible.
Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and all these things will be added to you as well. First read the Scriptures, pray and then start over. Once it is understood, it allows you to see the other things (other than the Bible) in their true and proper light. That's my 2 cents FWIW.
"There came to St. Antony in the desert one of the wise men of that time and said: 'Father, how can you endure to live here, deprived as you are of all consolation from books?' Antony answered: 'My book, philosopher, is the nature of created things, and whenever I wish I can read in it the works of God.'" - Evagrius of Pontus
But sometimes it seems to me some people don't read the bible because they spend to much time reading theology books and books about saints and etc. There is no more wonderful way to find God (the only way IMO) then from HIS WORD.
If you wanted people to get to know you, wouldn't they accomplish that best by reading a book that YOU wrote about yourself rather then a book written by another person about themselves but that you were a part of.
BEcky
There are so many distractions today from the study of the Word of God. And the greatest distraction we have is the church. The church is made up of committees and organizations and banquets and entertainments and promotional schemes to the extent that the Word of God is not even dealt with in many churches today. There are churches that have disbanded the preaching service altogether. Instead they have a time in which the people will be able to express themselves and say what they are thinking. I can’t imagine anything more puerile or more of a waste of time than that (although it is a fine excuse to get out of preaching for a lazy preacher who will not read or study the Bible.) I find that the people who are more ignorant of the Bible than anyone else are church members. They simply do not know the Word of God. And it has been years since it has been taught in the average church. We need to read the Bible. We need to get into the Word of God—not just reading a few favorite verses, but reading the entire Word of God from front to back in that order because God has revieled Himself over a long period of time to us, and if we don't understand it from the beginning we will miss what is in the rest. That is the only way we are going to know it, friend. That is God’s method.
I supposed I knew my Bible,
Reading piecemeal, hit or miss,
Now a bit of John or Matthew,
Now a snatch of Genesis,
Certain chapters of Isaiah,
Certain Psalms (the twenty-third),
Twelfth of Romans, First of Proverbs—
Yes, I thought I knew the Word!
But I found that thorough reading
Was a different thing to do,
And the way was unfamiliar
When I read the Bible through.
You who like to play at Bible,
Dip and dabble, here and there,
Just before you kneel, aweary,
And yawn through a hurried prayer;
You who treat the Crown of Writings
As you treat no other book—
Just a paragraph disjointed,
Just a crude impatient look—
Try a worthier procedure,
Try a broad and steady view;
You will kneel in very rapture
When you read the Bible through!
—Amos R. Wells
It is a God-Book. In the Bible God says twenty-five hundred times, “God said … the Lord has said … thus saith the Lord,” and so on. God has made it very clear that He is speaking through this Book. It is a Book that can communicate life to you.
BigMack