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

[editor-surveyor]

Sorry, the scriptures clearly say when Satan entered Judas, and it is months after when you say.

[NKP_Vet]

It has to get really old for Catholics to be so wrong so often about what scripture says.

To be so wrong about what they wrote? That’s interesting.
Oh, I forget, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John were pentacostals and Jimmy Swaggart is the Pope.

[CynicalBear]

>> I will offer my rosary that the scales might be lifted from your eyes.<<

The RCC pagan beads don’t impress Holy Spirit filled believers in Jesus.

[NKP_Vet]

“And a priest can pervert a non Catholic bible just as well as he perverts a Catholic bible and can fool a person into becoming a Catholic with either bible, so long as the person doesn’t personally get to read either bible”.

I’ve read the Bible from front cover to back and have a
Masters Degree in Theology. That’s why I’m Catholic, not protestant.

[jodyel]

Exactly.....the Almighty God’s Spirit lives inside me...why do I need some earthly beads?

Honestly, verga, you really know not what you do!

[editor-surveyor]

>> “Oh, I forget...” <<

.
Yes, you do!

Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, and all the others, were keepers of “The Way” of Yeshua, and about as far from catholic as one could get. Just read what they wrote! The words of Yeshua, telling the world not to do the things that the catholics tell us we must do.

Satan has always been the pope, spiritually. As for Jimmy, I don’t know for sure.

[CynicalBear]

>>And in posting this comment, you have bypassed or ignored this post.<<

Nope, answered, debunked by real scripture on multiple posts and threads. Anyone searching for real truth would have seen them.

[editor-surveyor]

>> “I’ve read the Bible from front cover to back and have a
Masters Degree in Theology. That’s why I’m Catholic, not protestant.” <<

.
Yes, Its been said many times, that ‘theology’ leads one away from the kingdom of Yehova, and the evidence strongly supports that premise.

Read the Bible through again. When you’ve read it twice you may see it differently.

[roamer_1]

And in posting this comment, you have bypassed or ignored this post.

No, I have read it - And this particular fundamentalist's reason for 'evading' Rome's interpretation is that it must plainly be wrong, because Rome's interpretation suggests that Yeshua is willing to break Torah - Which cannot be true.

[jodyel]

Baptized by the Holy Spirit is just that....baptized by the Spirit.

Not water!

Why is is so hard for you to comprehend??? Because you have not been born again of the Spirit.

No idea what you are even talking about. I’ve never mentioned once anything about an altar. Perhaps all that hatred of your youth is coming out towards me now. You can snarl and snipe and call me any name you like, but it does not change anything. You must be born again and filled with the Holy Spirit. You can run away from it all you like, but the Lord knows you heard the truth when you were young and is now coming after you to make you His own. And with the days growing short, you must not delay.

Vet, you are trying to understand spiritual matters with the flesh and it is not possible. So instead of coming down on me for telling you the truth, ask God to give you His Spirit.

[roamer_1]

Judas never left. He was in the “inner circle” until late in the evening before the “trial” when Judas accused Yeshua.

*shrugs* I know he didn't leave - but I thought there was something in the text thereabouts about him looking in askance particularly... I could easy be wrong about that.

[jodyel]

Dear Lord,

Only You can open the eyes of verga, whom you love and want to see filled with your Spirit. We continue to speak Your truth to anyone who will listen, and the days are growing short.

Please make Yourself known to all the Catholics on this forum, so that they might also enter into the kingdom of heaven and spend eternity with You.

In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen.

[CynicalBear]

>>I’ve read the Bible from front cover to back and have a Masters Degree in Theology.<<

LOL So do many of the leaders of many other apostate religions.

[smvoice]

Is popcorn kosher? ‘cause I’m getting ready to pop some and wait for THIS reply, for sure!

[jodyel]

I can’t believe we are sitting here parsing words with people who cannot understand spiritual truths...it is completely mind-boggling.

Thank God the work is done by Him and His Spirit!

[smvoice]

What is it about "a Masters Degree in Theology" that dooms the recipient to the dark side? It's like a fashion designer who dresses in complete black, or an interior designer who ends up with one chair in a huge loft. And thinks it's perfect.

[editor-surveyor]

Pop all the corn you want, just don’t hold your breath for a sensible answer.

[smvoice]

lol! I know THAT’S right!

[editor-surveyor]

>> “What is it about “a Masters Degree in Theology” that dooms the recipient to the dark side?” <<

.
Its all the time they spend studying the ideas of men, rather than simply reading the scriptures prayerfully. To one that accepts the scriptures as written, there is zero need for ‘theology.’

[editor-surveyor]

Yes, Judas always thought carnally, until the crucifixion, when he saw his error, but rather than just confessing and repenting he hangs himself on his sword.