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]

God would have lost (long?) since destroyed it if it was not devinely inspired.

Yet another Catholic who either does not KNOW what Jesus said or chooses to IGNORE what Jesus said.

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Matthew 13:29-30

29 "But he said, 'No; for while you are gathering up the tares, you may uproot the wheat with them. 30 'Allow both to grow together until the harvest; and in the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers, "First gather up the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them up; but gather the wheat into my barn."'"

[Elsie]

He was executed by the Protestant Church of England, not the Catholic Church.

Wrong yet again!!

---

...Tyndale was betrayed by Henry Phillips to the imperial authorities, seized in Antwerp in 1535 ...

Guess who...

[Elsie]

Protestants were the ones that chased thousands of Catholics out of Europe as well.

"GOD" let THAT happen???

[Elsie]

You are not just repetitious, but repeatedly so.

[Elsie]

Mary is ALIVE! and intercedeing for us in HEAVEN!!!

I sincerely hope you come to realize how ridiculous that statement is.

[NKP_Vet]

With the number of Catholics that don’t attend Mass always being counted by the liberal media as “catholic”, the number of Catholics that attend Mass weekly and live the faith still out number any protestant denomination in the country.

[Elsie]

Arrogance is the hallmark of the proddie errors.

Perhaps you need some less sugar to make YOUR cereal more digestible...

[NKP_Vet]

The Church of England had him beheaded not the Catholic Church.

[daniel1212]

Meanwhile "by who?" is the question asked you, for since Scripture cannot be the real basis for your assurance of truth, nor your interpretation of history, then who or what is?

scripture, which was written, edited, transcribed, saved, copied (by hand) by Catholics is the source, along with the Catholic church herself which, as we all know, is infallible.

Scripture cannot be your real basis for your assurance of truth, as that would align you with evangelical types, and be contrary to the RC claim that assurance cannot be had by the Scriptures, and thus the need for an infallible magisterium. Seeking to ascertain the validity of the truth claims by Rome is not for you to engage in, as unlike what Rome presumes of herself, your interpretation is not infallible.

"...having once found the true Church, private judgment of this kind ceases; having discovered the authority established by God, you must submit to it at once. There is no need of further search for the doctrines contained in the Christian Gospel, for the Church brings them all with her and will teach you them all. You have sought for the Teacher sent by God, and you have secured him; what need of further speculation?"

“All that we do [as must be patent enough now] is to submit our judgment and conform our beliefs to the authority Almighty God has set up on earth to teach us; this, and nothing else.”

"This, too, is why Catholics would never dream of calling in question the utterance of a priest in expounding Christian doctrine according to the teaching of the Church;”

"“He is as sure of a truth when declared by the Catholic Church as he would be if he saw Jesus Christ standing before him and heard Him declaring it with His Own Divine lips.” —“Henry G. Graham, "What Faith Really Means", (Nihil Obstat:C. SCHUT, S. T.D., Censor Deputatus, Imprimatur: EDM. CANONICUS SURMONT, D.D.,Vicarius Generalis. WESTMONASTERII, Die 30 Septembris, 1914 )]

Your argument also presumes the church of Rome is the same as the NT church, despite its contrasts .

along with the Catholic church herself which, as we all know, is infallible.

Once again you are begging the question, stating as fact that which needs to be proved. Are you arguing that being the instrument and steward of Scripture makes it the infallible interpreter of Scripture which must be followed.

[Elsie]

Some kind of ecumenical one?

Like Notre Dame?

(Or does it qualify for being a 'seminary'?)

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Heck; even BYU lets in non-Mormons.

[Elsie]

...even BYU lets in non-Mormons.

'specially if they can play FOOTBALL!

[Elsie]

Jesus answered them, “Did I not choose you twelve? Yet is not one of you a devil?”

Thanks for pointing out how your 'infallible in doctrine and morals' organization could have picked out so many devils to lead it.

[NKP_Vet]

It’s protestants who flatly refuse to believe anything that’s not included in the Bible can not be the Word of God. One question for these intellectual giants. Before the Bible was printed and people could read it, how did the followers of Christ learn about him? Answer: They heard stories of him, passed down through the ages. That is called Tradition.
Catholicism 100.

[aMorePerfectUnion]

This is “evidence” that proves there are 1 billion Catholics??

Really?? That’s all you can put forth?

If that’s it, post your two pictures again...

[Elsie]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holy_Roman_Empire

narses; we need that "When you're wrong..." image right HERE!!!

The Church of England had him beheaded not the Catholic Church.

[narses]

[narses]

My soul magnifies the Lord,
And my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.
For He has regarded the low estate of His handmaiden,
For behold, henceforth all generations shall call me blessed.
For He who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is His name. And His mercy is on those who fear Him from generation to generation.
He has shown strength with His arm:
He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.
He has put down the mighty from their thrones,
and exalted those of low degree.
He has filled the hungry with good things;
and the rich He has sent empty away.
He has helped His servant Israel, in remembrance of His mercy;
As He spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to His posterity forever.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.
As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen

Magníficat ánima mea Dóminum,
et exsultávit spíritus meus
in Deo salvatóre meo,
quia respéxit humilitátem
ancíllæ suæ.

Ecce enim ex hoc beátam
me dicent omnes generatiónes,
quia fecit mihi magna,
qui potens est,
et sanctum nomen eius,
et misericórdia eius in progénies
et progénies timéntibus eum.
Fecit poténtiam in bráchio suo,
dispérsit supérbos mente cordis sui;
depósuit poténtes de sede
et exaltávit húmiles.
Esuriéntes implévit bonis
et dívites dimísit inánes.
Suscépit Ísrael púerum suum,
recordátus misericórdiæ,
sicut locútus est ad patres nostros,
Ábraham et sémini eius in sæcula.

Glória Patri et Fílio
et Spirítui Sancto.
Sicut erat in princípio,
et nunc et semper,
et in sæcula sæculórum.

Amen.

She became the Mother of God, in which work so many and such great good things are bestowed on her as pass man’s understanding. For on this there follows all honor, all blessedness, and her unique place in the whole of mankind, among which she has no equal, namely, that she had a child by the Father in heaven, and such a Child . . . Hence men have crowded all her glory into a single word, calling her the Mother of God . . . None can say of her nor announce to her greater things, even though he had as many tongues as the earth possesses flowers and blades of grass: the sky, stars; and the sea, grains of sand. It needs to be pondered in the heart what it means to be the Mother of God.

(Commentary on the Magnificat, 1521; in Luther’s Works, Pelikan et al, vol. 21, 326)

[aMorePerfectUnion]

If there aren’t one billion catholic Christians, why do you post it?

[aMorePerfectUnion]

God doesn’t seem overly concerned about membership rolls and. Count in His Word. Yet that seems to be meaningful to you, why?

[NKP_Vet]

Of course I can prove otherwise. The Catholic Church gets bigger every year, not smaller.