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

[NKP_Vet]

You can’t be baptised twice if your baptism was a trinitarian baptism. So if you were baptised into the Catholic faith and you have fallen out of the Catholic faith, all you have to do to get back into the Catholic faith is go to Confession. In a nutshell that’s what I meant.

[Iscool]

Bramps and metmom please see this thread. iscool admits that he was one of the ones that said it was in space. Perhaps he would like to remind metmom of who the other one was.

I don't know what game you are playing, or perhaps a desperate attempt to prove you were right once...

However, I don't keep track of old threads so I don't know who said what...Nor do I care...

Apparently you are getting some sick pleasure out of ridiculing Christians who believe Heaven is in what is called outer space...

Without searching for another thread to confirm, I will admit that I know that Heaven is in outer space...Why wouldn't I??? That's where God says it's at...

There are 3 heavens, in fact...Above the 3rd heaven is a vast body of water...And above that is heaven...You don't believe it??? Who cares??? I certainly don't...

I have scripture to back me up...You have nothing, zero, zilch...

[Iscool]

Since most were baptized as babies and had NO input whatsoever in the initiation into the Roman Catholic Church, they by default have lost their freedom to chose?

Rom_8:15 For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.

They are doomed...Not a single one of them knows whether they'll make it to heaven but they are doomed never to leave that religion...

But isn't that the height of foolishness??? One standing on the inside screaming, 'you can't leave', to the one standing on the outside...

[Jvette]

In the beginning Luther was not entirely wrong and there were problems in the Church that needed addressing, but then he became arrogant and went too far.

I do not demonize Luther but he got it wrong in a lot of ways that have harmed Christianity. He could have been one of God’s greatest instruments to build up His Church. Instead Luther allowed his ego and personal failings to undermine the good he might have done. In the end, his tortured soul was his undoing.

The same thing happened with Judas who thought he knew better than Jesus. His own ego led him to betray Jesus and he ended up a tortured soul that could not trust in God’s mercy.

Peter, on the other hand, turned back to Jesus after his fall from grace and fulfilled what God had planned for him.
That is what the Church and her members have to constantly do, turn back after we fall and let God work in us and through us and with us to further His kingdom on earth.

[Jvette]

The first part reminds of those emails that come with the letters in the words all mixed up. It is to show how wonderful the mind’s eye is that it can see past the goofy order of the words and know what the correct one is.

I could read it without the translation but am only so so at Scrabble;)

[verga]

Without searching for another thread to confirm, I will admit that I know that Heaven is in outer space...Why wouldn't I??? That's where God says it's at...

Metmom this is where yo9u admit you were wrong..... twice.

[Elsie]

To ask; "Where is heaven?" resorts to the same faulty logic as asking; "When did God come into existence?"

To ask; "Where is heaven?" resorts to the same faulty logic as stating, "Mary is alive in Heaven and helping Jesus with His work."

[Elsie]

...anyone with an IQ over 6 sees it.

Irish need not apply.

[Elsie]

In the beginning Luther was not entirely wrong and there were problems in the Church that needed addressing, but then he became arrogant and went too far.

I do not demonize Luther ... O... K...

[Elsie]

In the beginning Luther was not entirely wrong and there were problems in the Church that needed addressing, but then he became arrogant and went too far.

I do not demonize Luther ... O... K...

[Elsie]

In the beginning Luther was not entirely wrong and there were problems in the Church that needed addressing, but then he became arrogant and went too far.

Oh?

In what way?

[Elsie]

You've made a LOT of claims here.

Upon what evidence do you base them?

[Elsie]

Metmom this is where yo9u admit you were wrong..... twice.

THIS is where Pete admits he was RIGHT!

Luke 5:8

But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.”

[Elsie]

Metmom this is where yo9u admit you were wrong..... twice.

THIS is where Pete admits he was RIGHT!

Luke 5:8

But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.”

[verga]

Posting the same error twice only makes you twice a wrong.

[metmom]

I do not demonize Luther but he got it wrong in a lot of ways that have harmed Christianity. He could have been one of God’s greatest instruments to build up His Church. Instead Luther allowed his ego and personal failings to undermine the good he might have done. In the end, his tortured soul was his undoing.

Excuse me. The Catholic church EX-COMMUNICATED him.

[metmom]

I didn’t say what you put in italics.

I didn’t admit I was wrong.

[verga]

I didn’t say what you put in italics.

I didn’t admit I was wrong. <

No kidding really, I am shocked That was Iscool I was quoting, he admitted in the post I quoted that he was one of the two people who said heaven was in outer space.

[metmom]

It would behoove you to accurately portray what others have said. It would be a great boost to your credibility in the future, as at the moment it is still sinking faster than the Titanic.

[verga]

Please have someone that actually reads English explain it to you.