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

[daniel1212]

Too often seen

[daniel1212]

I am due to go in Boston Jan 14. If you say you are on FR then that should get you out!

[daniel1212]

so was Christ....think carefully, Old Testament...New testament, When Christ established His church....His Jewish followers became followers of Christ...CHRISTIANS....who then became known as CATHOLICS...see how it worked????

That the NT church is that of Rome today, despite its differences , is the issue.

[daniel1212]

“Now THAT’s funny, coming from a Catholic, considering the RCC’s history of dealing with those who dare to disagree with it”.

Catholics have the truth on their side. Protestants do not, hence the neverending guilt trip of protestants. Attacking anything and everything Catholic. Catholics are called to protect the Church from heresay and that is exactly why they attempt to lead protestants and everyone else to the truth.

Actually it is RCs who have much engaged in posting pro-Catholic and anti-protestant articles here, far more than articles promoting Protestantism and against Catholicism.

Catholics are called to protect the Church from heresay and that is exactly why they attempt to lead protestants and everyone else to the truth.

So in context, this is your response to use of the Inquisition to lead protestants and others to the truth? Why not? Popes did. Why change now? Except Scripture opposes you.

[daniel1212]

The Catholic Church start started when Christ commissioned Peter to build His Church.

Another argument by assertion. Even Catholic authors supply evidence that warrants our rejection of this premise.

[daniel1212]

'Just as many sheep wander without, so many wolves lurk treacherously within' - Augustine on Baptism Against the Donatists, Book 6

[aMorePerfectUnion]

placemarker

[NKP_Vet]

“He has no followers today”

Your illiterate rantings are not worthy of a reply and the above sentence proves it.

[NKP_Vet]

“No one can depart from the teaching of Catholic truth without loss of faith and salvation.”

~ Pope Pius XII

[NKP_Vet]

Read it again.

“He who is separated from the body of the Catholic Church, however laudable his conduct may otherwise seem, will never enjoy eternal life, and the anger of God remains on him by reason of the crime of which he is guilty in living separated from Christ.” ~ St. Augustine & the Council of Cirta (412 AD).

[NKP_Vet]

“Actually it is RCs who have much engaged in posting pro-Catholic and anti-protestant articles here, far more than articles promoting Protestantism and against Catholicism”.

Absolutely false and you know it. Catholics never rant and rave and put down protestants. But they do stand up for their faith. All they have to do is post anything about the Catholic Church and the usual suspects on FR attack them like a pack of rabid wolves. Nothing to do with Catholicism can be posted without the belittling and putting down and making fun of anything and everything Catholic.

Protestant-guilt is a hell of a thing and Catholics have been putting up with these adolescent temper tandrums for 500 years.

[aMorePerfectUnion]

“He has no followers today”

“Your illiterate rantings are not worthy of a reply and the above sentence proves it.

.....................

Luther Derangement Syndrome

Even Lutheran’s don’t talk about Luther. Apparently, in your fevered imagination, they do. As such, they don’t “follow” him.

Heck, YOU’ve talked about Luther on this one thread MORE than all the members of a “Lutheran” church I’ve ever spoken with at any time.

Of course, that is a fact and you haven’t even begun to post facts yet - about any claim you’ve made on this one thread.

[aMorePerfectUnion]

“No one can depart from the teaching of Catholic truth without loss of faith and salvation.”

Fortunately, Christ said no such thing. In fact, He didn’t ever say salvation was in a Church. It is in Him. You will find both faith and salvation outside the catholic church.

[aMorePerfectUnion]

“Protestant-guilt “

Projection

[Jvette]

The key here seems to be belief.

We are already condemned.

My point, and the point of the Church is that we don’t know what is in the heart of those who never hear of Jesus.

Here’s my thing. God first revealed Himself to the Jewish people and even though they were His Chosen People, they still did not have salvation.

In Jesus, we know that the covenant is no longer reserved just to the Jewish people but for all the world.

Why then would God allow eternal condemnation to people who have never even heard of Jesus, and therefore had no chance to believe or not believe?

Trusting in His limitless mercy, we also trust that He will make Himself known to all, even if we aren’t aware of it.

If they sincerely seek God, then I believe God will not turn away, because of two things, His love for His Son and His love for man.

If they sincerely seek God, we already know that God must be working in them as none of us would seek Him without His grace first.

[Jvette]

Sorry, but protestant is not inaccurate. It does not pertain to a specific group or denomination, but pertains to the fact that the person protests the Church and so does not belong to it.

It’s that simple. Whether one is a mainline or a fringe group, if one does not belong to the Catholic Church, then one is a protestant.

It is what it is.

[NKP_Vet]

“The words and habits of religion are easy. We can sometimes use them to fool ourselves. We need to drill down below the counterfeit Christianity so many of us prefer into the substance of who we are and what we really treasure. We need to let God transform us from the inside out, and conversion requires humility, patience and love. It requires letting go of the desire to vindicate ourselves at the expense of others. So much of modern life, even in the Church, is laced with a spirit of anger. And anger is an addiction as intense and as toxic as crack.”

~ Archbishop Chaput

[Jvette]

The Church holds that there is one church and all who are baptized in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit belong to it.

Protestant/non Catholic Christians are our brothers and sisters in Christ.

It is not that the Church rejects Protestants, it is that she rejects the notion that there is more than one church.

[NKP_Vet]

“Saint Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle, be our protection against the malice and snares of the devil. May God rebuke him we humbly pray; and do thou, O Prince of the Heavenly host, by the power of God, thrust into hell Satan and all evil spirits who wander through the world for the ruin of souls”. Amen.

[Jvette]

The label is necessary unfortunately.

I don’t think non Traditional Christian is a good choice.

To me that would mean those who reject the central tenets of Christianity such as the deity of Christ, the bodily resurrection and the Holy Trinity.