How to Read the Bible – A Three Step Plan (written for Catholics - valid for all)

taylormarshall.com ^ | September 30, 2013 | Dr. Taylor Marshall

[NYer]

How do you read the Bible? Today is the feast day of Saint Jerome, who once quipped, “Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ.”

“Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ.” – Saint Jerome

It’s a running joke that if you want to find a Bible verse, you ought to ask a Protestant and not a Catholic. Protestants read the Bible. Catholics not so much.

This raises the question:

Why Don’t More Catholics Read the Bible?

I think the answer lies in the fact that we Catholics go to Mass. The Holy Mass has at least two Bible readings every time. If you pray the Breviary or Liturgy of Hours, multiply that several times.

Joe Catholic says to himself, “Why should I study the Bible? I go to Mass. I hear it there. Check and check.”

There is something beautiful in this. For Catholics, Bible reading is liturgical. Hence, Bible reading remains chiefly a community experience.

Three Step Plan to Kick It Up a Notch

It’s good to listen to the readings from the Bible at Holy Mass. However, we also need a personal (even private) encounter with God in the pages of Sacred Scripture. All of the saints breathed Sacred Scripture. Scripture served as the grammar for their souls. They couldn’t communicate without it.

Here are some basic spiritual needs that you have every single day of your life:

1. Praise – Voicing your delight in God and His provision for your life. Gratitude destroys discouragement.
2. Wisdom – You need practical advice to navigate the complexities of life.
3. Challenge – You need to be lifted higher. You need to grow in your faith. You need to be inspired. You must be an intentional Christian.

So when you wake up tomorrow, do the following:

1. Read a Psalm. Start with Psalm 1. Make it your anthem of praise for that day.
2. Read at least one Proverb. Proverbs are the wisdom morsels of your day. There are 31 chapters. Why not read one chapter every day during the month. Oct 1 is Provers 1. October 31 is Proverbs 31. You get the idea.
3. Read a chapter of the one of the Gospels. This is your challenge. Your Savior challenges you in the four Gospels. He calls you to be not merely a nominal Catholic but a disciple. You cannot seriously read the Gospels and stay lukewarm. Christ speaks in a way that cannot be ignored.

“But I’m so busy. I don’t have the time!”

What? You’re too busy. Sorry, you just got served a yellow card:

That’s a yellow card. You’ve been warned…

Doing these three readings will take you only 3-5 minutes. That’s the time of a commercial break. It will change your life for good. I promise. It takes 21 days to make a habit, so give it 21 days and see if you aren’t hooked. Put the Bible on your night stand and read it in the mornings. Start fresh.

“Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ.” – Saint Jerome, Doctor of the Church

[metmom]

Good job.....

[WVKayaker]

[aMorePerfectUnion]

I believe daniel1212 posted information that calls your claim into question.

[terycarl]

we wrote it. So THAT's why it takes a group to INTERPRET it!

as you listen to me, you get smarter and smarter.....self interpretation of the Bible in Dangerous and highly inefficient.....brilliant people have studied, some devoting their entire lives, to the interpretations of the Bible....I pick a group (the ones who wrote it)try to understand what they say, and go with it....you, on the other hand, pick up a book (Bible), read through it a time or two, and come to the conclusion that you know exactly what the various authors, with various writing styles, writing in various languages, interpreted by various language interpreters know exactly what the authors meant....and condemn others who think (know) that you are in error....O.K. I guess.

[Jvette]

Not mind reading at all but able to read and grasp what is read. RCC is only used by non Catholics and generally not by those with a favorable view of the Church.

It is the Church.

[Revolting cat!]

Who will rid me of this meddlesome priest?

[terycarl]

the asinine picture of the bottle of blood is still stupid

[Jvette]

Protestant was not a word given to people by the Church but by themselves. It is also not used in a way that is insulting, but as a way to distinguish non Catholic from Catholic. I have noticed recently a number of people who seem to be offended by the word.

That is why I have begun using non Catholic, out of deference to what I perceive is offensive to some here.

[Jvette]

That is actually funny. Inman happens to be my maiden name. :)

[Jvette]

It is a fantasy created by much misinformation and deliberate lies. There is no such thing as the RCC. It exists only in the minds of anti Catholics.

[aMorePerfectUnion]

“Do you have one good thing to say about Catholics? “

Sure - lots of the people I love attend a Catholic Church. I pray for them.

Here, it is a full time job correcting the grandiose claims you and others are making.

[aMorePerfectUnion]

“self interpretation of the Bible in Dangerous”

Studying God’s Word carefully to understand it is commanded and commended by God.

[metmom]

as you listen to me, you get smarter and smarter.....

FOTFLOL!

Spiritual truths are spiritually discerned.

.....self interpretation of the Bible in Dangerous and highly inefficient.....brilliant people have studied, some devoting their entire lives, to the interpretations of the Bible....I pick a group (the ones who wrote it)try to understand what they say, and go with it....you, on the other hand, pick up a book (Bible), read through it a time or two, and come to the conclusion that you know exactly what the various authors, with various writing styles, writing in various languages, interpreted by various language interpreters know exactly what the authors meant....and condemn others who think (know) that you are in error....O.K. I guess.

Fine. Pick a verse and we'll post some links to commentaries and we can compare and see how far off from each other they are.

[terycarl]

and through the Catholic Church Jews....you have God's word, the Bible Scripture

you can't be that naive...the Jews, of course provided the old testament, which the Catholics included in the modern Bible....and they included all of it....but it is through thr writings of thearly church (catholics alone, thaat you even know who Jesus Christ is...do you seriously think that the Jewish community would have kept you up to date on a person who they do not recognize as more than a well known troublemaker????Scripture did not end with the Jews, it began, for us, with Jesus. The Catholic church recorded His life, copied the writings of His Apostles and disciples, preserved them, edited them, copied them, by hand, for 1600 years until the printing press came along and assisted them. I say that the ONLY reason that you have a modern Bible and know of our Savior, is thanks to the Catholic Church

[metmom]

Protestant was not a word given to people by the Church but by themselves. It is also not used in a way that is insulting, but as a way to distinguish non Catholic from Catholic. I have noticed recently a number of people who seem to be offended by the word.

That is why I have begun using non Catholic, out of deference to what I perceive is offensive to some here.

The objection is not that it is offensive but rather inaccurate.

I do not consider my self Protestant because I do not affiliate with a RELIGION. I am a Christian, a follower of Christ, not a follower of Methodists, Baptists, Lutheranism, or whatever.

[metmom]

The writers of the NT, with the possible exception of Luke, were Jews.

Try again.

[daniel1212]

Just like your protestant friends, church going Catholics are vote conservative. The hypocrites, who never sat foot in a church, should not be included in statistics. That is a fact. When a Catholic supports abortion or homosexual “marriage”, they have excommunicated themselves and should quit calling themselves Catholic. The media knows that and ignores it and throws all Catholics into the same pool for their own left-wing purposes.

A standard attempt to deal with reality, which is that rather than not being included in statistics, the fact is that Rome treats such as members in life and in death. Remember Teddy K? This is the norm, and is what Rome effectually teaches overall. As RCs like to quote, "I will shew thee my faith by my works."

And while the media is liberal, they certainly do not favor evangelicals over Catholics.

As for voting, surely weekly attendees are more conservative, but overall not very, and far less than their evangelical evangelical counterparts. The below includes weekly Catholics where stated, with much more info here from many difference sources. .

40% Roman Catholics vs. 41% Non-R.C. see abortion as "morally acceptable"; Sex between unmarried couples: 67% vs. 57%; Baby out of wedlock: 61% vs. 52%; Homosexual relations: 54% vs. 45%; Gambling: 72% vs. 59% http://www.gallup.com/poll/117154/Catholics-Similar-Mainstream-Abortion-Stem-Cells.aspx

• Committed Roman Catholics (church attendance weekly or almost) versus Non-R.C. faithful church goers (see the below as as morally acceptable): Abortion: 24% R.C. vs. 19% Non-R.C.; Sex between unmarried couples: 53% vs. 30%; Baby out of wedlock: 48% vs. 29%; Homosexual relations: 44% vs. 21%; Gambling: 67% vs. 40%; Divorce: 63 vs. 46% ^

  26 percent of Catholics (2007) polled strongly agree with the Church's unequivocal position on abortion Catholic World Report; 2997 survey of 1,000 Catholic Americans by Roper Center for Public Opinion Research at the University of Connecticut

• 46 percent of Catholics who say they attend mass weekly accept Church teaching on abortion; 43 percent accept the all-male priesthood; and 30 percent see contraception as morally wrong. ^

• 31% of faithful Catholics (those who attend church weekly, 2004) say abortion should be legal either in "many" or in "all" cases. 2004, The Gallup Organization Gallup Survey for Catholics Speak Out: 802 Catholics, May 1992, MOE ± 4%

  Catholics testify [2010] to showing more support (in numbers) for legal recognitions of same-sex relationships than members of any other Christian tradition, and Americans overall. Almost three-quarters of Catholics favor either allowing gay and lesbian people to marry or allowing them to form civil unions (43% and 31% respectively). Only 22% of Catholics said there should be no legal recognition of a gay couple’s relationship. (PRRI, Pre-­-election American Values Survey, 9/2010; http://publicreligion.org/site/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/Catholics-and-LGBT-Issues-Survey-Report.pdf.)

• This 2010 survey of more than 3,000 adults found that 41% of White American Catholics, 45% of Latino Catholics (versus 16 percent of White evangelical Christians, and 23% of Black Protestants) supported the rights of same-sex couples to marry, and 36% (22% of Latino Catholics) supported civil unions (versus 24% of White evangelicals, and 25% of Black Protestants). Among the general public the rates were 37 and 27 percent.

• 69% of Catholics disagree that homosexual orientation can be changed, versus 23% who believe that they can change. ^

• 19% of White Catholics, 30% of Latino Catholics, 58% of White evangelicals, 52% of Black Protestants and 29% of White Mainline Protestants oppose any legal recognition of homosexual marriage. ^

• 60% of Catholics overall, and 53% of the general public favor allowing homosexual couples to adopt children. ^

• 73% of Catholics favor laws that would protect gay and lesbian people against discrimination in the workplace, and 63% favor allowing homosexuals to serve openly in the military. For the general public the figures are 68% and 58% respectively. ^

• 49% of Catholics and 45% of the general public agree that homosexuals should be eligible for ordination with no special requirements. ^

• Among Catholics who attend services regularly (weekly or more), 31% say there should be no legal recognition for homosexual relationships (marriage or civil unions), with 26% favoring allowing gay and lesbian people to marry, versus 43% of Catholics who attend once or twice a month, and 59% of Catholics who attend a few times a year or less favoring allowance of homosexual marriage. ^

  34% of weekly Mass attending Catholics are Democrats, and an additional 19% are not affiliated with a party but lean toward the Democrats (53% identifying or leaning as Democrats). 28% of weekly attenders are Republicans and an additional 17% lean toward being a Republican (43 percent identifying or leaning as Republicans). Thus Democrats have a 10% point edge among weekly attendees, Catholics who attend Mass less than weekly are even more likely to be a Democrat rather than a Republican. http://cara.georgetown.edu/NewsandPress/PressReleases/pr061808.pdf

  Based upon exit polling, 74 percent of Evangelicals voted for McCain in 2008, with 25 percent for Obama. (Another measure which put the percentage of US evangelicals at 23 percent, with 73 percent voting for McCain, 26 percent for Obama.) http://pewforum.org/docs/?DocID=367

• Catholics overall supported Obama over McCain by a nine-point margin (54% vs. 45%) ^

• Exit polls in 2008 reported that weekly churchgoing Catholics voted for John McCain over Barack Obama, by just 50 percent to 49 percent. Weekly Protestant church attendees voted for McCain over Barack Obama 66 to 32 percent. http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/churchgoing_catholics_chose_mccain_over_obama/

  For those in [mainly] black Catholic churches, political affiliation or leaning in 2007 was 17%/74% Republican/Democrat, and 11%/76% for black evangelical churches. Opposition to homosexuality 37% by black Catholics and 58% by black evangelicals. Opposition to abortion was 35% by black Catholics and 53% by black evangelicals. 66% of black evangelicals and 36% of black Catholics say they attend services at least weekly. http://www.pewforum.org/A-Religious-Portrait-of-African-Americans.aspx

  A Catholic survey reports that 4 percent of US Catholics described themselves as “very” involved in parish or religious activities other than attending Mass, and 11% as “somewhat involved, and 64% as “not involved at all.” Among weekly (or more) attendees (approx 22% of adult Catholics), 13% were very” involved, 29% “somewhat involved and 25% not involved at all.” http://cara.georgetown.edu/CARAServices/FRStats/devotionpractice.pdf

  A Catholic survey reports that 4 percent of US Catholics described themselves as “very” involved in parish or religious activities other than attending Mass, and 11% as “somewhat involved, and 64% as “not involved at all.” Among weekly (or more) attendees (approx 22% of adult Catholics), 13% were very” involved, 29% “somewhat involved and 25% not involved at all.” http://cara.georgetown.edu/CARAServices/FRStats/devotionpractice.pdf

  Church attendance [2002-2005]: Evangelicals at approx. 60 percent showed the highest percentage of those who reported they attended services weekly or almost weekly, with 30% going more than once a week. Catholics were at 45 percent (9% more than once a week), and Jews 15 percent. Gallup poll. between 2002 and 2005. http://www.christianpost.com/article/20060418/weekly-attendance-highest-among-Evangelical-churches.htm

  A Catholic study reported that the percentage of U.S. adult Catholics who say they attended Mass once a week or more (i.e., those attending every week) was 24% in 2012. http://cara.georgetown.edu/caraservices/requestedchurchstats.html

• 54 percent of Catholics who came of age before Vatican Two (10 percent of Catholics today) attend Mass weekly, compared to 23 percent of millennial Catholics, those born from 1979 to 1987. http://blogs.thearda.com/trend/featured/counting-catholics-church-of-immigrants-poised-for-growth/

• 39 percent of Catholics affirmed not attending church is a sin, versus 23 percent of Protestants. Ellison Research, March 11, 2008 http://ellisonresearch.com/releases/20080311.htm http://www.christianpost.com/article/20080312/study-behaviors-americans-consider-sinful.htm

• Christian church attendance is between 1 ½ and 2 times higher in the South and the Midwest than it is in the West and the Northeast [the latter two have the highest percentage of Catholics]. http://www.theamericanchurch.org/facts/8.htm; http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/justintaylor/2007/03/01/how-many-americans-attend-church-each

• The states with the most frequent churchgoers were Mississippi, Alabama, S. Carolina, Louisiana, Utah Tennessee, Arkansas, N. Carolina, Georgia, then Texas. The states with the most infrequent churchgoers were Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, Massachusetts, Nevada, Hawaii, Oregon, Alaska, then Washington. http://www.gallup.com/poll/125999/mississippians-go-church-most-vermonters-least.aspx http://www.gallup.com/poll/22579/church-attendance-lowest-new-england-highest-south.aspx

  A 2008 Catholic commissioned survey of adult Catholics reported 68% of Catholics affirmed you could be a good Catholic without going to Mass every Sunday, and 55% thought of themselves as good Catholics. 77% of Catholics agreed they were proud to be Catholic, (85% of weekly attendees) and 61% agreed that sacraments were essential to their faith (83% of weekly attendees). 2008 poll of 1,007 self-identified adult Catholics by the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA) at Georgetown University; http://cara.georgetown.edu/beliefattitude.pdf

• 43% of Catholics overall (and 36% of weekly attendees) affirmed they look to Catholic teachings and statements made the pope and bishops to form their conscience on what is morally acceptable . ^

• 36% of weekly attendees affirmed their Catholic faith was the most important part of their life, 39% said it was “among the most important.” ^

• 83% of Catholics affirmed that helping those in need was important to their sense of what it means to be a Catholic; 79% affirmed the Eucharist was, 73% said living according to Church teachings, 68% said devotion to Mary, and 66% said attending Mass. Catholics in the South are the most likely to say such things are “very important.” ^

[metmom]

(catholics alone, thaat you even know who Jesus Christ is...do you seriously think that the Jewish community would have kept you up to date on a person who they do not recognize as more than a well known troublemaker????

Have you ever read the book of Acts about the establishment of the early church?

the early church was virtually all Jews, thousands of them, until God sent Paul to the Gentiles.

[terycarl]

Prove it. Prove the Immaculate Conception is true. Chapter and verse or historical evidence.

why would God, the creator of everything that ever was, allow His Son to come to Earth in a stained vessel????

common sense has a lot to do with reality

would the body of a sinner be the appropriate house for the Holy Redemmer to abide in???

would He arrive in less than a PERFECT environment???

[narses]

“Your ancestors ate the manna in the desert, but they died;
this is the bread that comes down from heaven so that one may eat it and not die.
I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.”
The Jews quarreled among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us (his) flesh to eat?”
Jesus said to them, “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you.
Whoever eats 19 my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day.
For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink
Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him.
Just as the living Father sent me and I have life because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me.
This is the bread that came down from heaven. Unlike your ancestors who ate and still died, whoever eats this bread will live forever.”
These things he said while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum
Then many of his disciples who were listening said, “This saying is hard; who can accept it?”
Since Jesus knew that his disciples were murmuring about this, he said to them, “Does this shock you?
What if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before?
It is the spirit that gives life, while the flesh is of no avail. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and life.
But there are some of you who do not believe.” Jesus knew from the beginning the ones who would not believe and the one who would betray him.
And he said, “For this reason I have told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by my Father.”
As a result of this, many (of) his disciples returned to their former way of life and no longer accompanied him
Jesus then said to the Twelve, “Do you also want to leave?”
Simon Peter answered him, “Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.
We have come to believe and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God.”
Jesus answered them, “Did I not choose you twelve? Yet is not one of you a devil?”
He was referring to Judas, son of Simon the Iscariot; it was he who would betray him, one of the Twelve.” [John 6: 49-71]