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

[Heart-Rest]

FReeper "aMorePerfectUnion", I see that you've turned your back on the Catholic faith, and converted to some other beliefs.    Recently FReeper ".45 Long Colt" said that, out of his caring for Catholics, he was sharing a link pointing to the conversion story of a Dominican priest who became a Protestant, converting like you did.

With that same kind of caring/sharing spirit in mind, I wanted to put together a few links to share with our non-Catholic brothers and sisters like yourself, "aMorePerfectUnion", who might be harboring misconceptions about the Catholic faith.    (By the way, I see these statistics being bandied about here about the percentage of time devoted to scripture reading during the church services, and I have to tell you they sound like "obama-and-democrat-party-statistics" to me.    Honestly, I personally hear much more scripture and scriptural references during a typical celebration of the Mass than I ever did in my Protestant days, including in various "Bible-thumper" denominations like the Baptists.    Usually those kinds of preachers like to just go on and on with their own personal "words of wisdom", just hopping around between a couple verses here and there every once in a while.    They mostly seem to like to hear themselves talk.)

And, FReeper "Salvation", I wanted to let you know that I borrowed a picture I saw in one of your posts, to include here in this "link and scripture sharing" post, as it is a beautiful painting, and fits with the point of this post.    I hope you don't mind!    :-)

Here are the testimonial and educational links I wanted to share with all of you.    I hope you check them out.    I'll give you all a chance to enjoy all of them, then I'll check back tomorrow for any possible feedback.

Goodnight all!

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   Catholic Conversion Testimonies & Catholic Teachings Explained   

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*****   Brothers and Sisters, please enjoy these "five-star" links, and the Bible texts!   *****

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   Here are some web links I would like to offer to all people of good will, in order to share some Catholic conversion stories, and to try to shed the light of truth on various Catholic teachings, doctrines, and other issues.    During some of the discussions here about Catholicism and Catholic beliefs, it becomes obvious that there exists a lot of confusion and misunderstanding about the teachings of the Catholic Church, and many people who think they understand those teachings, clearly demonstrate that they really and truly do not have a good, honest grasp on them.    None of us (on any side of these discussions) should ever pretend to be "know-it-alls" who know everything already, as that (of course) would just be promoting an obvious lie.    Only God knows everything, and all of us human beings should always do everything we can to learn more about the things God wants us to learn more about.    (And every single one of us, Catholic, Protestant, and everyone else, can learn much more than we already know about God's Holy Written Word, and go much deeper into it, and we should not strut around pridefully trumpeting our vastly superior knowledge, with our nose up in the air like some current politicians, because, "Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall."    Proverbs 16:18.)

   My prayer is that people will listen to some (or all) of these spoken, written, or sung resources, and humbly ask the Holy Spirit for guidance into the genuine truth content contained in these resources (without distortion), and its blessed application to their lives.

   None of us should ever want to be like the pride-filled "know-it-alls" who sneeringly turned away from Jesus, scornfully rejecting the plain teachings that Jesus Himself was personally giving them, and then tragically turned their backs on Jesus, as recorded in John 6:66, where, after Jesus had given them His obvious, crystal-clear, basic foundational teaching on the Holy Eucharist, the Bible records this:    "After this many of his disciples drew back and no longer went about with him".    How heart-wrenchingly sad and pathetic.

   It is hard to believe, but many people are still walking away from Jesus today over that very same teaching He truthfully proclaimed from His own mouth.    They are essentially calling Jesus a "liar".    Please don't do that, and do not be afraid, brothers and sisters, just pray for the courage simply to watch, listen, and read, and for the heavenly inspired wisdom to honestly discern the truth.    You may still disagree with the teachings of the Catholic Church after utilizing all these Catholic testimonial and educational resources, but you will at least have a much clearer and more accurate view and understanding of those Catholic teachings.

  May God bless all of us with a greater openness to, increased desire for, and clearer understanding of His Holy Word and Truth.    Please enjoy as well the beautiful music links here from Catholic and Non-Catholic sources.    (And please share all these valuable testimonial and educational links with everyone you know, and feel free to include these links in any other threads where it becomes obvious that some of the posters are totally lost and in the dark about the true teachings of the Catholic Church founded by Jesus Christ.)

NOTE:    If you are too afraid to listen to these resources, or too filled with pride, please say an earnest prayer and humbly ask that God remove your fear and/or pride so that you can listen to these words with an open heart and mind.

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                        The Gold Mine                        

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Dr. Scott Hahn's Conversion Story	Alex Jones Conversion Story (Powerful!!!)	Steve Ray's Conversion Story	Jimmy Akin's Conversion Story
Leah Darrow's Conversion Story	Elizabeth Ficocelli's Conversion Story	Jennifer Fulwiler's Conversion Story	Kimberly Hahn's Conversion Story
Fr. Donald Calloway's Conversion Story	Dr. Peter Kreeft's Conversion Story	Kevin Vost's Conversion Story	Fr. John Markham's Conversion Story
Tim Staples Conversion Story	Jeff Cavins Conversion Story	David Currie's Conversion Story	Dan Burke's Conversion Story
Michael Coren's Conversion Story	Index on "youtube" of many other "Journey Home" conversion story episodes	Debate on Sola Scriptura: Robert Sungenis vs David Hester (1 of 2)	Debate on Sola Scriptura: Robert Sungenis vs David Hester (2 of 2)
"The Real Presence" - Mark Shea	"The Real Presence of the Eucharist" - Tim Staples	"John's Gospel & The Real Presence" - Tim Staples	"Understanding the Eucharist" - Scott Hahn
"Defending the Eucharist" - Steve Ray	"The Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist" - Fr. Robert Barron	"The Eucharist" - Fr. Mitch Pacwa	Sharing His Love Of The Eucharist - Pope Francis
"Jesus & the Jewish Roots of the Eucharist" - Dr. Brant Pitre	"Call No Man Father" - Tim Staples	The Biblical Basis for Purgatory - Scott Hahn	"Science and Faith" - Fr. Mitch Pacwa Interviews Prof. Anthony Rizzi
"Venerating Mary and the Saints" - Patrick Madrid "Significance of Mary and Graven Images" - Jimmy Akin	"Are Christians Assured of Salvation?" - Patrick Madrid	"Walking with God" - EWTN Live - Fr. Mitch Pacwa with Tim Gray and Jeff Cavins	Catechism Of The Catholic Church (searchable)
"The Eucharist / The Real Presence" - Frank Sheed	Ask A Catholic	Bible Christian Society	Biblical Evidence for Catholicism - Dave Armstrong
Catholic Answers	Catholic Convert - Stephen K. Ray	Catholics Come Home	Coming Home Network
EWTN	Fathers of the Church	National Catholic Register	New Advent
Salvation History - Scott Hahn	Word On Fire - Fr. Robert Barron	Men's Morning Talk - Fr. Larry Richards	"Shameless Popery" - Fr. John Riccardo
"The Sacrament of Confession" - Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen	"Why Catholics Are Right" - Michael Coren	"Ave Maria" - Luciano Pavarotti	Gregorian Chant (Monks)
Gregorian Chant (Nuns)	Russian Orthodox Chant	Russian Orthodox Hymn for the Mother of God	Byzantine Catholic Music
"Faith of Our Fathers" - The Armed Forces Radio Network	Light of the East Music (Under "Pictures with Music", click "here")	Radio Walsingham Online (choir music, etc.)	The Seven Pillars of Catholic Spirituality
Do Catholics Pray To Dead Saints - Steve Ray	Praying to Mary - A Biblical Defense - Tim Staples	Did Christians Pray to Mary in the Early Centuries? Yes - Taylor Marshall	"Did the Catholic Church Change the Ten Commandments?" By Tim Staples
The Ten Commandments, as shown in the Catechism of the Catholic Church	"The Catholic Church Changed The Ten Commandments?" - Fish Eaters	How Old Is Your Church? (1)	How Old Is Your Church? (2)
"What 'No Salvation Outside the Church' Means" By Jim Blackburn	Sunday vs The Sabbath - Dr. Tim Gray	"What About the Bad Popes?" (1) - Catholic Answers	"What About the Bad Popes?" (2) - Tim Gray
Book - "Pope Fiction" - Patrick Madrid	Book "Where is That in the Bible?" - Patrick Madrid	Book - "The Lamb's Supper: The Mass as Heaven on Earth" - Scott Hahn	Book - "Consuming the Word: The New Testament and The Eucharist in the Early Church" - Scott Hahn
Book - "Catholicism and Fundamentalism: The Attack on 'Romanism' by 'Bible Christians'" - Karl Keating	Book - "Born Fundamentalist, Born Again Catholic" - David Currie	Book - "Rome Sweet Home: Our Journey to Catholicism" - Scott Hahn	Book - "Crossing the Tiber" - Steve Ray
Book - "Journeys Home" - Marcus Grodi	Book - "Theology for Beginners" - Frank Sheed	Book - "Prayer for Beginners" - Peter Kreeft	Book - "Catechism of the Catholic Church"
Book - "God Is Near Us: The Eucharist, the Heart of Life" - Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger	Book - "This Is My Body: An Evangelical Discovers The Real Presence " - Mark P. Shea	Book - "By What Authority?: An Evangelical Discovers Catholic Tradition" - Mark Shea	Book - "Sober Intoxication of the Spirit: Filled With the Fullness of God" - Raniero Cantalamessa O.F.M. Cap
Book - "Where We Got The Bible: Our Debt to the Catholic Church" - Henry Graham	DVD - "The Bible Timeline: The Story of Salvation 2.0" - Jeff Cavins	DVD - "Catholicism DVD Box Set" - Fr. Robert Barron	Book - "The Last Superstition: A Refutation of the New Atheism" - Edward Feser
Bible - "Catholic Scripture Study Bible RSV-CE Large Print"	CD - "Mater Eucharistiae" - Dominican Sisters of Mary Mother of the Eucharist	CD - "Ave Maria" - Benedictine Monks of Santo Domingo De Silos	Bible - "New Catholic Answer Bible: New American Bible Revised Edition"

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- All salvation comes through Jesus Christ.    (See Acts 4:12)

- Jesus is the Head of His Church, and we (the members of the Church Jesus built) are His Body.    Together, Jesus (the Head of His Church), and we (the body of His Church) form the Church.    (See Ephesians 5:23)

- Therefore, all salvation comes through His Church (via Jesus, the Head of His Church).

- In His Sovereign, Almighty, Holy Will, God chose to have His Church play a part in helping to bring people to that salvation, which comes by and through Jesus Christ only, the Head of His Church.

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And Jesus answered and said unto him, "Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.    And I say unto thee, that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.    And I will give thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven."

Matthew 16:17-19

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Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you.    As the Father has sent me, even so I send you.”    And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.    If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”

John 20:21-23

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"The Church is the pillar and bulwark of the truth."

>1 Timothy 3:15

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So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you; he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.    For my flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed.    He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him.    As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats me will live because of me."

John 6:53-57

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  The Holy Eucharist  

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"The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light."

Matthew 4:16   

[terycarl]

Other than a typo, I’m not sure why you are posting to me, but be well.

sometimes I, like others, see a comment that we feel compelled to respond to and don't know how to find the original poster without re-reading a zillion posts, so we take the comment out of your box and use you to post a comment to the person who posted to you.....is that clear?????or maybe not!!

[terycarl]

Catholics believe what Jesus said. LITERALLY?? Everything he said. You SURE???

positive, we wrote it down.

[rbmillerjr]

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

Typical selective choosing of God’s Word. Accept all of Jesus’ teachings.

[terycarl]

I can only assume that YOU have not followed your own recommendation Absolutely correct, I find being a Catholic difficult but very rewarding...I think that the easy yoke thing was VERY relative, following Christ and doing things as He told you to can be difficult. For example, He started a church, on the Apostles and indicated that it was the only true church and should be followed....some people find it too difficult to do so and they branch off into various denominations.

[editor-surveyor]

>> “For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.” <<

.
Are you telling me that it ain’t okay to just keep on keepin on being a sinner?

Even iffin I eats the cookie?

Bummer!

[boatbums]

These are just a small sample of the way the train can "jump the tracks". It was the Catholic Church ALONE that fought these early heresies. If you look closely at the early heresies (There are many more you can see listed at Wikipedia.) you will see many of them repeated through the ages into modern time.

Thank you for that list of various and sundry heresies concerning Jesus. If you boil them all down, however, they STILL come down to the question of Jesus' divinity. He is either truly God or he is a mere man. The many different concoctions that were thought up over the ages by unlearned and unstable men prove that outside of Scripture no one can know what IS the truth. Your list also demonstrates my further point that there cannot POSSIBLY be "tens of thousands" of different interpretations of the truth as was brought up in an earlier post. That was just plain hyperbole intended to provoke and incite.

I also go back to what I have said many times in response to this rhetoric - on the MAJOR doctrines of the Christian faith, genuine Christians are united across the board and it is only the offshoots and cults that come up with those novel eisegesis invented by the leaders within them. The church of Jesus Christ will NEVER cease from being the support and pillar of the truth - though, what may call itself "THE Church" is far from the way we can be sure. The authority for us all is the God-breathed sacred Scriptures and the Holy Spirit will always be who illuminates the truth to those hearts who are open to Him.

[editor-surveyor]

You should know that you have to read the complete thought, not just pick a verse out of the middle because you like it.

Doing that picking and choosing is where the catholic apostasy came from.

[boatbums]

Kinda hard to maintain a persecution complex without the persecution! ;o)

[editor-surveyor]

What an incredible spam post!

Trying to shout down the word of Yehova with some childish anecdotes and quips!

[terycarl]

>> “This would seem to fly directly in the face of the one-hour fast before taking Communion.” << . Scripture???? (not holding my breath)

that's an organizational rule, not scripture...like not eating meat on Friday....strictly organizational rule....didn't even apply to much of the world......So???.

[editor-surveyor]

>> “ Accept all of Jesus’ teachings.” <<

.
A perfect formula to eradicate the Roman catholic apostasy!

[editor-surveyor]

We all know that the reason for not eating meat on friday was to affirm the worship of Dagon the catholic fish god.

[WVKayaker]

You search the Bible which Catholics wrote ...

So, now Paul was a Catholic? How about Jude? They both call themselves servants of Jesus Christ, in the various letters they wrote to new Christians all over the world, not Roman Catholics, since they are only usurpers! Once again, we see the blasphemy of the Roman horde. Roman Catholics are trying to take the place of the Holy Spirit in everything, and that is blasphemy.

As for insanity, I would think that someone following after a bunch of men telling them “look, that bread is not really bread it is Jesus's flesh"and drinking some wine or grape juice, supposedly Jesus's blood, is more insane. The idea that through those actions one can be part of the family of God, assured of salvation, is truly insane. I can say that because we have the Scriptures that describe the truth. The error is not in the Scriptures, it's those gaudy guys prancing around pretending they speak for God! Those same guys will tell you that they can be arbiters of your salvation and if you don't toe the party line they will kick you out of the church.

Good luck with that!

[rbmillerjr]

“ Accept all of Jesus’ teachings.” <<

.
“A perfect formula to eradicate the Roman catholic apostasy!”.

Ok...see you at Holy Communion.

[boatbums]

[johngrace]

You pinged me. Great source material. Thank you. But too many usual suspects......................... But here is a great video for these long religion threads. Enjoy. lol

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qhPCCAQdtOE

[johngrace]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qhPCCAQdtOE

[caww]

:)

[boatbums]

Just get on with it, throw out Hebrews, James, and Jude like Master Hu Flung Dung Luther said to and demand proof for why those books shouldn't have been thrown out.

It's a pity what poor memories some people have. Luther NEVER threw out Hebrews, James or Jude and he also even included those seven books he's accused of tossing out in his German translation of the Bible. Those FACTS have been posted WITH links numerous times, as well. It borders on comical how frothed up some people can get over what they presume others are doing when they are doing the very SAME thing!

Just as expected, you have failed to provide all those verses you claim Jesus and the Apostles directly quoted of those Apocryphal books and used words that implied their authority as divinely-inspired sacred Scripture. The reason you cannot is because they never did. Haven't you ever wondered why the Catholic Church waited until the sixteenth century to formally place those books in the canon as equal to all the other commonly accepted ones? Doesn't it bother you that those "questionable" books contain numerous errors and NEVER claim to even BE God-breathed Scripture? It does me and men like Jerome AND Luther, among others, had very good reasons to reject them in the REAL canon.

Continue frothing if it helps with coping but it won't do much to convince anyone else.