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

[terycarl]

So your religion picks an obscure verse

I think he means obscure verses like you can handle serpents and they won't harm you......oh wait, that's a protty denomination.

[terycarl]

The early Church in Scripture was simply local gatherings of believers.

[aMorePerfectUnion]

“so far, the Immaculate Conception and the Assumption, I’ll try to come up with some more....oh yeah, the infallibility of the Pope....these declarations don’t happen often, but they are NEVER wrong. “

Proof please, otherwise it is bluster and opinion.

[terycarl]

Being good won’t get you into the kingdom of God

while that is probably true, salvation is a gift, the opposite is true also, being bad will keep you out of Heaven. We are perfectly free to ignore Christ and refuse His gift of salvation and far too many people who are ignoring the original and true church are putting themselves in jeopardy.

[terycarl]

You mean the ones the Catholics use with all the errors in them?

the Catholics wrote the Bible and did not include any errors...God said so.

[Religion Moderator]

Stop making this thread "about" individual posters.

Discuss the issues all you want, but do not make it personal.

[vladimir998]

“common sense would tell me I do not want to be involved in anything that requires so much and yet gives no assurance that I can even be saved in the end.”

That’s not common sense. That’s presumption. The Church teaches assurance, but not the presumptuous kind: http://www.catholic.com/tracts/assurance-of-salvation

“Jesus said it was finished and I believe Him.”

I do too. I just don’t believe phony Protestant doctrines invented by Luther while he sat in the cloaca.

“I also think Catholics need a big ole dose of HUMOR! So maybe you guys can work on that.”

Protestant anti-Catholics need a “big ole dose” of REALITY - which they’ll get on the Day of Judgment if not sooner.

“Perhaps then, and only then, I will consider not kicking you to the curb. lol”

You couldn’t kick me anywhere.

[terycarl]

That make me spit out my Coke....diet, that is. LOL

you are very easily entertained.....

[rbmillerjr]

“Hey! Wait a minute. I thought Jesus said we had to eat His literal flesh and blood to be saved. Which is it now?”

Your disagreement is with Jesus.

[terycarl]

I read where one of the Catholics was touting the fact that he had read through twice, and laughed to myself. I do that about four times a year, and that is just the straight through reading Genesis through Revelation. It does not include my searches for Scriptures to refute the Catholic errors, nor specific things that the Holy Spirit is trying to lead me for edification.

lets see here, you read the Bible four times a year and come up with erroneous interpretations....isn't there a description of insanity that closely parallels that????doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results???You search the Bible which Catholics wrote expecting to come up with Catholic errors...good luck with that, why would they have put errors in a book that they wrote (new testament)??

[terycarl]

Gotta have the Spirit, Thomas, to rightly discern what is meant by the “church.” Until you do, you’ll keep thinking it’s the one you’re in.

it's the only one there is, the rest are Protestant denominations.

[editor-surveyor]

>> “lets see here, you read the Bible four times a year and come up with erroneous interpretations.” <<

.
Erroneous interpretations are the purvey of catholics, primarily. They have a need to twist scripture til it bleeds to fit their satanic theology.

[editor-surveyor]

>> “Hey! Wait a minute. I thought Jesus said we had to eat His literal flesh and blood to be saved. Which is it now?”

“Your disagreement is with Jesus.” <<

.
No, catholics disagreement is with Yeshua Messiah. He said plainly that “the flesh profiteth not, it is spirit.”

[terycarl]

What? Did Jesus lie then?

of course not, but "easy" is not the same to everyone.....Mother Theresa found serving the poor easy, I would find devoting my life to doing so very difficult....you would too, I assume.

[Salvation]

Then why would Jesus say this?

"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"  (Jn 6:53).  

[terycarl]

INCLUDE the 'fact' that she assended to Heaven.

she didn't, she was assumed into Heaven, taken there by the power of God, not ascended on her own power.....see the difference???

[editor-surveyor]

Truly laughable.

The average professional football player hears more scripture in one pre-game huddle than any catholic does in a year!

[editor-surveyor]

>> “This would seem to fly directly in the face of the one-hour fast before taking Communion.” <<

.
Scripture???? (not holding my breath)