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]

Ya can't eat yer cereal dry!!

[Elsie]

The truth and only the truth.

Matthew 6:7-8
And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words.

[Elsie]

...scripture, which was written, edited, transcribed, saved, copied (by hand) by Catholics...

Who weren't smart enough, evidently, to INCLUDE their TRADITIONs so that THEY would be called 'scripture'; too!

[Elsie]

you have to come up with a new attack, this one doesn't work....

SURE it does!

The Lord only knows how many lurkers are reading about these EDVIL POPES for the first time, and working How on EARTH could the CHURCH, infallible as it is in Faith and Morals, elect these IMMORAL men to LEAD her???

It would leave a BAD taste in anyone's mouth after reading about them and doing FURTHER research that the links provide.

Complain all you want and you, too, might turn into a PROTESTer!

[verga]

We disagree on numerous points of faith and have engaged in quite serious debates over the years. The difference is that none of them had the temerity to set up straw man arguments or even outright lie about the Church as many /most of the anti-Catholics here. They also understand the difference between a "teaching", a "discipline", and Dogma. They also know something of history.

While you may not believe this, when I was in the seminary my two closest classmates were a Southern Baptist and an Unitarian Universalist.

[Elsie]

....I couldn't prove my case against Catholicism so I'll rest my case.

Your spellchecker missed the fact that FOR was typed as AGAINST.

[Elsie]

...where the Pope erred in an official declaration on a matter of faith or morals....

No need to, as Catholics themselves get up in arms over stuff the pope says!

[Elsie]

. think about it, Judas may have been the first protestant....

Surely you meant to type 'bad pope'; right?

[verga]

You are saying that all Protestants reject the truth of Jesus Christ and do not follow Him?

Some to a greater and some to a lesser degree.

Definitely ALL that are former Catholics.

[Elsie]

I recorded the number after I posted it; you ring kisser!

(I also wrote down 1006)

[Elsie]

Elsie was bad.....

Bad, and a bit frustrated - butt accurate!

[verga]

"Vain"

is the key word.

[Elsie]

God made the rules, not Catholics,

Then ANY thing the RCC came up with on it's own is to be ignored; right?

[Elsie]

I can prove neither, but they are both true....believe them or not, they are true!!

They are NOT both equal.

Jesus was 'dead' for 3 days; Mary has been dead quite a bit longer - it's TRUE!

[Elsie]

the cherry tree is down, you, of course have proof that George didn't do it.....I didn't think so

I DO???

[Elsie]

Look at it in the original Greek.

1,120 posted on Sunday, October 06, 2013 7:24:01 AM by verga (Si hoc legere scis, nimium eruditionis)

Like your tagline???

[Elsie]

The difference is that none of them had the temerity to set up straw man arguments or even outright lie about the Church as many /most of the anti-Catholics here.

Man up and ACCUSE us by name, showing your EVIDENCE, if you are so SURE about what you so boastfully claim.

[Elsie]

...when I was in the seminary my two closest classmates were a Southern Baptist and an Unitarian Universalist.

And after ALL of that wonderful, truthful teaching they received, are they now CATHOLIC?

[Elsie]

You hope.

Does the Blood that used to be Wine come from a vein or an artery?

[verga]

I "claim" nothing, I simply tell the truth.

Mark 4:9 And he said, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”