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

[Elsie]

Say the magic words and these wafers are CONSECRATED!

[Iscool]

“1Cor 10:16....the bible is replete with references to the true presence in the Eucharist, but Prottys continue to bury their heads in the sand because they just don’t have enough faith to accept it....

Again, there is no evidence...Your religion has to add words or delete words to make your Eucharist palatable...And that don't fly with me or God...

[Iscool]

The Catholic Church teaches that once consecrated in the Eucharist, the elements cease to be bread and wine and actually become the body and blood of Christ, each of which is accompanied by the other and by Christ’s soul and divinity. The empirical appearance and physical properties are not changed, but for Catholics, the reality is

We all can believe in the Tooth Fairy as well, but our faith doesn't make it real...

[aMorePerfectUnion]

“God’s new covenant is with Israel and us, Jew and Gentile. It is based on Jesus’ blood on the mercy seat.”

We can agree on this statement.

[aMorePerfectUnion]

... I think you mis-posted that to me

[Iscool]

I think you mis-posted that to me

Yes I did...I apologize for that...

[Jvette]

There was no physical church in the beginning like those that we have now and those built over the centuries since the time of Jesus.

There is organization and hierarchy all over the NT that points to a Church and not just a loosely connected group of individualists. There is a concerted effort to insure unity of the community and consistency in doctrine and theology.

The Church has grown from those small groups gathered in one another’s homes or in some hidden area safe from discovery and prosecution.

It is silly to try to point to a physical church in the Bible. The NT is the beginning not the entire history.

[Jvette]

The very ironic and tragic thing about Luther is that he did indeed bring about some reforms in the Church. It was his choice to break away, the excommunication came because of his actions.

I don’t believe that Luther ever found peace.

[terycarl]

it is faith alone in Christ

lets see now, where have I heard that nonsense before....oh yeah, now I remember......still nonsense....and I have NEVER had faith enough in a false idiology to deny the presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist....I have nerves of steel but I hate to dodge lightning bolts...

[NKP_Vet]

And you my friend, and the rest of this heretics that deny God’s Pilgrim Church on Earth will bust hell wide open one day.

Now send some more money to Jimmy Swaggart. He needs another Cadillac.

[terycarl]

Shockingly, Only 2% of Catholic Clergy Sexual Abusers Were Ever Jailed: A Demonstration that the Self-Policing of Criminal Behavior Will Never Work

now just take a break....the VAST MAJORITY of theclaimegainst Catholic clergy were YEARS old...in the 1980's, Fr Jones touched me....in the 1970's Fr.mith made me touch him...the Catholic church could have had the VAST majority of these cases tossed but decided, instead, to try to compensate the "victims" for their trauma....keep in mind More than most of the "victims"wereyoung men, not children....a Homosexual encounter, not pedophilia

[terycarl]

“the priest has been given the power, by God, to consecrate bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ... but ONLY if the correct mumbo-jumbo is uttered and believed.

there is certainly a ritual which he must go through, it is the same ritual that priests have used for 2,013 years...who are you to challenge it???

I can't, for the life of me, figure out how someone, 1,600 years after an incedent, based on information supplied solely by those he opposes, can come to the conclusion that they are in error....boggles my mind....

have you seen the cute commercial where someone declares that the pyramids were built in error....and they show an Egyptian architect looking at plans which have huge squares on them....sounds a lot like the revolution...if you don't know what the results of your revolution will be, maybe you should reconsider your actions...

[terycarl]

but ONLY if the correct mumbo-jumbo is uttered and believed.

is that anything like Baptizing in the name of the Father, and of the son, and of the Holy Spirit...??????or it doesn't count?????

[terycarl]

ERGO: So when we receive Communion, we actually participate in the body and blood of Christ, not just eat symbols of them.

BINGO...you have awakened to the 2,013 year old truth of Christianity...welcome home!!!

[terycarl]

And finding certain disciples, he said unto them, `Have ye RECEIVED the holy Ghost since ye believed?' And they said unto him, `We have not so much as heard whether there be any holy Ghost.' And he said unto them, `Unto what then were ye baptized?' And they said, `Unto John's baptism.' Then said Paul, `John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people that they should believe on him which should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus.' When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the holy Ghost came on them, and they spake with tongues, and prophesied. And all the men were about twelve." (Acts 19:1-7)

WOW...sounds EXACTLY like a ritual that we currently have in the Catholic church...when adults choose to enter the church, they, after going through proper instruction in the Christian religion and Catholic teachings, are allowed to recieve the Eucharist (The Body and Blood of our Savior) and are allowed, at the same time, to declare their allegiance, by Confirmation, as adults, to the Catholic church....a beautiful and very meaningful ceremony....come, join in.....and you probably wouldn't need to be rebaptized a Catholic.......you once were, you know.

[aMorePerfectUnion]

“And you my friend, and the rest of this heretics that deny God’s Pilgrim Church on Earth will bust hell wide open one day.”

That post is the opposite if Christ’s command that Christians should be known by their love for one another.

[terycarl]

....for 2,013 years the true Christian church has taught just that....what Christianity has done to this meal is to continue it as Christ ordered....DO THIS...in memory of Me Don't you want to subtract about 33 years?

no, I'm trying to adjust for the calender....we now go by the gregorian calender authorized by Pope Gregory in whatever year...not important.

[terycarl]

Sorry; but we have CONTINUED nothing; but CREATED something totally new.

I thought that it was the purpose of the new testament to end the old and begin the new...you start with a Passover meal, and end with the Eucharist...what could be more PERFECT !!!

[terycarl]

DENIED is not the same as ADMITTED.

[terycarl]

Since they are not in the 'true' church; what ELSE would you expect?

normal human behavior...doesn't matter whether or not they were even Christians, the behavior of these people was reprehensible...kind of like at Penn State....pathetic.