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

[metmom]

I didn’t think so. Because there IS NO verse in Scripture that says that salvation is only through the Catholic church and that all who believe are Catholics.

Another fairytale made up by Catholicism.

[metmom]

FOTFLOL!!!!

Great way to start the day, Elsie.

[NKP_Vet]

“It will be those who follow that false gospel who will be sadly condemned on Judgment Day. THAT is a given”.

Over a BILLION people worldwide care to disagree with you.
Have a nice day and a special prayer for Catholic bashers at this mornings Mass.

[aMorePerfectUnion]

“people, no....Popes, yes....Infallible....if you argue the piont, give a situation where the Pope erred in an official declaration on a matter of faith or morals.....2,013 years, no errors!!!”

“Popes, yes....Infallibl”

I responded to your truth claim that the Ronanesqe version of the church is infallible. My claim is that Christ is infallible and all people are fallible.

Your claim of infallibility of your church and all popes of that church are infallible is an opinion, held by Romans.

... But is a total, unsubstantiated false statement, offered without evidence from you. In fact I’ve yet seen any evidence to back up any claim you’ve made in your posts on this thread...

Please post what you have. I’d like to see it.

[aMorePerfectUnion]

“
every official proclamation from the Vatican, having to do with matters of faith and morals has been true......find one for me that was in error...”

I do not have to disprove your truth claim. You have to show it is true. You, apparently cannot. That is called “your opinion.”

[aMorePerfectUnion]

“I post “Jesus is God”, I post “Mary was assumed into Heaven””

The first I accept based on Gods Holy word. The second is the opinion of a Pope and you. No evidence.

[aMorePerfectUnion]

Placemarker

More than a thousand posts in this thread, many claims by poster terycarl, many requests for ANY evidence to back up his truth claims...

AND NOT A SHRED OF EVIDENCE YET.

[count-your-change]

How does one determine what is “an official proclamation”?
Is there a list of official proclamations as distinguished from advice and opinion from the Vatican?

[Iscool]

think about it, Judas may have been the first protestant....he had the truth, he knew Christ, he rejected the truth, he decided that he knew better how to obtain salvation without following CXhrist.....sounds familiar to me!!

Think about it??? Judas wanted to rob the treasury...He likely was a homosexual and wanted to live a life at the top of the heap...You can bet Judas would have ended up with a gold embroidered robe with a funny fish hat to top it off...

And seeing Judas' antics with the offering, we can rest assured that he would have been selling seats at his table...He would have been selling prayers to the rich people and would have gladly taken property in trade from widows to get there loved ones out of purgatory, or hell...

So let's line up Judas Iscariot on one side and Jesus Christ on the other...And here comes the Catholic religion along with the Catholic Martin Luther...

We know the Catholic religion went over to Judas' line and now we know that Martin went over to line up behind Jesus...

You're in the wrong line buddy...

[Iscool]

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

Didn't you also post Luke Skywalker was a real Jedi??? If you did, I believe you...

[Iscool]

The church hierarchy is not infallible...there are bad bishops, maybe Cardinals and certainly Popes....however, even the "idiots" who were elected Pope could never err, nor did they, in official pronouncements concerning faith and morals....

Well you see, we don't have a record of the faithless and immoral pronouncements of your old pople...They no doubt have been laundered quite thoroughly...

But, we do have Francis...

Atheists are going to heaven...What was the other one about the homos??? Francis seems to be stirring the pot of faith and morals...

It's good to see one of you finally admit that God (the Holy Spirit) plays no role in the election of your popes...

[Iscool]

point out 1 time in history (we're 2,013 yewars old you know) where the Pope has erred...........just 1

Which pope was it that claimed Mary was sinless...We can start there...

[Iscool]

common sense prevails here, there is only one, true, complete Christian Church on Earth....as the unlearned figure it out, they will come back to the Catholic Church.....not many are dumb enough to completely ignore reality.

You talk like you are living in the eight Century...

We have a bible...The written Holy words of God...Written in our own languages...

Brings to mind the one politician who said to the other, 'I know Jack Kennedy, and you ain't no Jack Kennedy'...

Well, I know Jesus Christ and I know what he taught, and your relgion ain't no Christian religion taught in the scriptures...I'll stick with what God taught us and avoid your pagan inspired religion...

[metmom]

Over a BILLION people worldwide care to disagree with you.

Inflated numbers.

It's funny how Catholics love to appeal to numbers to make their church look great until it's pointed out to them that they number Kennedy and Pelosi and Chavez in their number and all of a sudden, those have *ex-communicated* themselves.

Not to mention, that I believe since I am a baptized Catholic I am still counted in that number, as are multitudes of other former Catholics who have left the church.

So the 1 billion plus is only trotted out when someone wants to make the church look good. Otherwise, those people are thrown under the bus with Catholic voting patterns are discussed, for example.

[aMorePerfectUnion]

“Over a BILLION people worldwide care to disagree with you.”

Of course this counts, not the people who attend Mass every week, but everyone who claims they are catholic, despite their despicable lives and lack of involvement in following Christ.

Look at the largest catholic countries in the world and the character of the people. The claim doesn’t match the people’s character and actions. Sure, you can still claim them, but what does that mean?

Romans claim the syncretic religions that mix catholic teaching with paganism (not always clear in the best of cases anyway). Still, claimed as catholic.

Romans claim everyone in the mob who go to confession and get catholic funerals in churches.

Maybe there is a billion of something, but the argument that there are a billion actual Christians in the Roman church is only true if you change the meaning of Christian.

I can tell you for a fact that our local Roman parish has something like 2500 registered members. On any given Sunday, a few hundred show up. What does that mean?? I don’t know. Still, the big number is reported and acted on like it is true.

So, a billion? Probably not really. And the number that is less than a billion that is closer to the truth is composed of those that are not following Christ.

Example:

Belgium

57% Catholic according to Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_Belgium)

Here is the rest of the story...

“Roman Catholicism has traditionally been Belgium’s majority religion; being especially strong in Flanders. However, by 2009 Sunday church attendance was 5.4% in Flanders compared to 12.7% in 1998. [7] For the total of Belgium, Sunday church attendance was 5% in 2009 and 11.2% for the total of Belgium in 1998.[8] Despite a 6% drop in Sunday church attendance from 11 to 5% in 9 years, Catholicism nevertheless remains an important force in Belgian society.”

“Until 1998, the Roman Catholic Church annually published key figures such as Sunday mass attendance and the number of baptized children. (Refer to the table for an overview 1967 - 2009.) In 2006, the church published the mass attendance figure for the Christmas period being 11.5%, and 7% average weekly (note not only Sunday) mass attendance [9] for the Flanders region. Since 2000, Sunday church attendance in Flanders drops by 0.5% on a yearly basis whereas this rate of decrease was previously 1%.[10]”

You could go down every country and find pretty much the same. Still the majority who never go to church are counted as part of your billion.

1 billion seems more than doubtful. To be clear, regardless of church, I wish everyone followed Christ. There are protestant denominations where the same could be said. They don’t seem to brag quite so much.

[Iscool]

Look at it in the original Greek.

You don't have any original Greek...

[Elsie]

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

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

You are an accusing, evidenceless claimer.

[Elsie]

Is there a list of official proclamations as distinguished from advice and opinion from the Vatican?

Well; this is PROBABLY the wrong thread for it; but...

Where can we find an 'OFFICIAL MORMON' teaching website??

Official sites are sites supported by LDS officials unless said official sites are considered unofficial by said officials.

 

At that point such sites are unofficial unless officially referenced for official purposes by officials who can do so officially.

 

This should not be misconstrued as an indication that official sites can be unofficially recognized as official nor should it be implied that unofficial sites cannot contain official information, but are not officially allowed to be offical despite their official contents due the their unofficialness.

 

Official sites will be official and recognized as official by officials of the LDS unless there is an official reason to mark them as unofficial either temporally or permanently, which would make the official content officially unofficial.

 

This is also not to imply that recognized sites, often used on FR by haters and bigots cannot contain official information, it just means that content, despite its official status, is no longer official and should be consider unofficial despite the same information being official on an official site elsewhere.

 

Even then the officialness my be amended due to the use of the unofficial information which may determine the officialness of anything be it official or unofficial depending on how and where it is used officially or unofficially.

I hope this clear things up for the lurkers out there.

The haters tend to make things complicated and confusing when it is all really quite crystal clear.

--Ejonesie22

[Elsie]

Your work has been highlighted above!

[Elsie]

On this date in history; English theologian and scholar, William Tyndale, who was the FIRST to translate the Bible into Early Modern English, was executed for heresy.