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]

why don't you repost that inane post of naughty Popes to prove your point of how asinine reposts are???? pathetic

Mine are historical FACT.

Got a problem with that?

It sure seems so!

[Elsie]

only if they can play basketball or football...

You seem to know the stories, too! ;^)

[Elsie]

jesus made that choice, not the Catholic Church.

Wow!

Now THAT's a take on "The devil made me do it!" that I had not expected!

[Elsie]

Perhaps you need to study the history some more?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhzG9aeOn9w

[Elsie]

Kenny is a Christian that happens to attend a Unitarian church. Is that hard to understand?

Uh...

It's sure hard for ME to 'understand'!

[Elsie]

Contemporary Unitarian Universalism espouses a pluralist approach to belief, whereby members might describe themselves as humanist, agnostic, deist, atheist, pagan, Christian, Muslim, monotheist, pantheist, polytheist, or use no label at all. The Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) was formed in 1961, a consolidation of the American Unitarian Association, established in 1825, and the Universalist Church of America,^[7] established in 1866. It is headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, and serves churches mostly in the United States. The Canadian Unitarian Council became an independent body in 2002.^[8]

 

^{http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unitarian_Universalism} 

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Scripture	All sources admissible, none required. Members are free to observe their own personally-favored literature.

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Remember folks: do not be so OPEN MINDED that your brains fall out!

[Elsie]

Thank you for suggestion to correcting my earlier statement.

No; the thanks goes to YOU; for showing us that you somehow know what ANYONE sees.

[Elsie]

Could HE be accused of not showing *Christian charity*?

Of COURSE not; but you bigoted catholic haters are NOT showing Christian Charity when you do EXACTLY the same things.

--Catholic_Wannabe_Dude(Come back to the Mother ship; Separated Brethren)

[aMorePerfectUnion]

“it is impossible for me to print everything that the church has proclaimed that is true...however it is even more impossible for you to print even one...1....one...1 thing that the dhurch has proclaimed that is in error.....1 one”

I am not asking you to list everything the Church proclaimed that is true. Prove your claim that is infallible. Post facts, logic, evidence.

Realize you keep making false claims and then not backing them up with anything but bluster in your posts.

[aMorePerfectUnion]

“I say all scripture is true, you say it isn’t and ask me to prove that it is/??? I say that all Catholic Church proclamations are true,”

Oh, no. I agree that all Scripture is true. I disagree that all Catholic proclamations are true.

Focus on proving the second. BTW, your specific claim isn’t that the Roman church proclaims true things. It is that the Roman church is infallible.

Have at it. I just saved you HALF of what you thought your task was.

[aMorePerfectUnion]

“Jesus promise, whatsoever you bind on earth will be bound in Heaven....do you suppose that He left room for error???”

Ah. I see. That’s all you have?

[aMorePerfectUnion]

“traditions aren’t scriptures, but both are equally important”

Wow. Your biggest truth claim so far. Prove it. Provide facts, evidence and logic to demonstrate that a reasonable person reviewing your evidence would come to the conclusion that your claim is true.

[aMorePerfectUnion]

“Christ established a church through which they, and mankind could seek salvation...that was the Catholic Church”

Wow. Big day for truth claims.

Prove it. Use evidence, facts or logic to demonstrate that a reasonable and objective person would reach the conclusion that you proclaim as true.

[aMorePerfectUnion]

“written by.....get ready....Catholics “

I’ll help, since you cannot prove this claim. I’m starting to feel for you. You have a series of claims that are getting more outlandish all the time, but can’t prove or support any of them.

Scripture says GOD inspired, moved and demonstrates HE preserved his word.

To watch a prideful rooster think his crowing makes the sun rise is silly.

[aMorePerfectUnion]

“the Catholic Church has sinners in it?????????who’d have thunk it?? “

Sinners belong in Church. What’s with catholics ignoring it completely and yet still being counted??

[metmom]

Do you understand the difference between a "Rite" and a denomination?

Yes.

Because some of the differences between what are counted as different denominations are of less significance than those separating Catholic *rites*. It's a name game on the part of Catholicism to foster the pretense of unity.

[daniel1212]

>are you arguing that being the instrument and steward of Scripture makes it the infallible interpreter of Scripture which must be followed.

yes, in addition to Christ's promises ..

Thank you for your forthright answer, which unlike your affirmation that Scripture is your source for real assurance of truth, is consistent with the premise that Rome is your real source of assurance, as it alone claims to be authoritatively define what Scripture consists of and what it means. Thus, like the Mormons and other sola ecclesia cults, Rome effectively claims to be the sole and autocratic supreme authority above Scripture. As also forthrightly stated by another RC, the Church is its own law.

However, an argument by assertion is just that, while your premise that being the instrument and steward of Scripture, and inheritor of promises of God (and having historical descent i am sure you could add) makes it the infallible interpreter of Scripture which must be followed, effectively nukes the church.

For rather than as under the RC model, the church actually began in dissent from those who were the stewards of Scripture, (Rm. 3:2; 9:4) and inheritors of promises of Divine guidance, presence and perpetuation, and who had historical descent, (Lv. 10:11; Dt. 4:31; 17:8-13; Is. 41:10, Ps. 89:33,34; cf. Mt. 23:2 etc.)

In contrast, the Lord established His claims upon Scriptural substantiation, in text and in power, as did the apostles and early church. (Mt. 22:23-45; Lk. 24:27,44; Jn. 5:36,39; Acts 2:14-35; 4:33; 5:12; 15:6-21;17:2,11; 18:28; 28:23; Rm. 15:19; 2Cor. 12:12, etc.)

Since you operate under a different basis than that which the church began, and thus do not look to Scripture the transcendent standard for obedience and testing and establishing truth claims, as is abundantly evidenced to be, you are not to ascertain the veracity of Rome's claims by Scripture, but are to submit to it more like Mormons are required to do to their supreme authority.

[Elsie]

Since you operate under a different basis than that which the church began, and thus do not look to Scripture the transcendent standard for obedience and testing and establishing truth claims, as is abundantly evidenced to be, you are not to ascertain the veracity of Rome's claims by Scripture, but are to submit to it more like Mormons are required to do to their supreme authority.

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What Joseph Smith Means to Us  (From: various sources )

 

 

 

"He (Joseph Smith) is the man through whom God has spoken... yet I would not like to call him a savior, though in a certain capacity he was a god to us, and is to the nations of the earth, and will continue to be."

- Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses 8:321

 

 

 

 

"You call us fools; but the day will be, gentlemen and ladies, whether you belong to this Church or not, when you will prize brother Joseph Smith as the Prophet of the Living God, and look upon him as a god..."

- Herber C. Kimball, Journal of Discourses 5:88

 

 

 

 

"If we get our salvation, we shall have to pass by him [Joseph Smith]; if we enter our glory, it will be through the authority he has received. We cannot get around him [Joseph Smith]"

- (as quoted in 1988 Melchizedek Priesthood Study Guide, p. 142)

There is "no salvation without accepting Joseph Smith. If Joseph Smith was verily a prophet, and if he told the truth...no man can reject that testimony without incurring the most dreadful consequences, for he cannot enter the kingdom of God"

- Joseph Fielding Smith, Doctrines of Salvation, vol. 1, p.190

 

 

 

 

"I tell you, Joseph holds the keys, and none of us can get into the celestial kingdom without passing by him. We have not got rid of him, but he stands there as the sentinel, holding the keys of the kingdom of God; and there are many of them beside him. I tell you, if we get past those who have mingled with us, and know us best, and have a right to know us best, probably we can pass all other sentinels as far as it is necessary, or as far as we may desire. But I tell you, the pinch will be with those that have mingled with us, stood next to us, weighed our spirits, tried us, and proven us: there will be a pinch, in my view, to get past them. The others, perhaps, will say, If brother Joseph is satisfied with you, you may pass. If it is all right with him, it is all right with me. Then if Joseph shall say to a man, or if brother Brigham say to a man, I forgive you your sins, "Whosoever sins ye remit they are remitted unto them;" if you who have suffered and felt the weight of transgression—if you have generosity enough to forgive the sinner, I will forgive him: you cannot have more generosity than I have. I have given you power to forgive sins, and when the Lord gives a gift, he does not take it back again."

- Orson Hyde, Journal of Discourses, Vol. 6, p.154-155

 

 

 

 

"It is because the Lord called Joseph Smith that salvation is again available to mortal men.... If it had not been for Joseph Smith and the restoration, there would be no salvation,"

- Bruce McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, p. 396, 670

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They succeeded in killing Joseph, but he had finished his work.

He was a servant of God, and gave us the Book of Mormon.

He said the Bible was right in the main, but, through the translators and others, many precious portions were suppressed, and several other portions were wrongly translated; and now his testimony is in force, for he has sealed it with his blood.

As I have frequently told them, no man in this dispensation will enter the courts of heaven, without the approbation of the Prophet Joseph Smith, Jun.

Who has made this so?

Have I?

Have this people?

Have the world?

No; but the Lord Jehovah has decreed it.

If I ever pass into the heavenly courts, it will be by the consent of the Prophet Joseph.

If you ever pass through the gates into the Holy City, you will do so upon his certificate that you are worthy to pass.

Can you pass without his inspection?

No; neither can any person in this dispensation, which is the dispensation of the fulness of times.

In this generation, and in all the generations that are to come, everyone will have to undergo the scrutiny of this Prophet.

They say that they killed Joseph, and they will yet come with their hats under their arms and bend to him; but what good will it do them, unless they repent?

They can come in a certain way and find favor, but will they?

Brigham Young,

--JOURNAL OF DISCOURSES, vol. 8, p. 224

[aMorePerfectUnion]

“For rather than as under the RC model, the church actually began in dissent from those who were the stewards of Scripture, (Rm. 3:2; 9:4) and inheritors of promises of Divine guidance, presence and perpetuation, and who had historical descent, (Lv. 10:11; Dt. 4:31; 17:8-13; Is. 41:10, Ps. 89:33,34; cf. Mt. 23:2 etc.)”

+1

“In contrast, the Lord established His claims upon Scriptural substantiation, in text and in power, as did the apostles and early church. (Mt. 22:23-45; Lk. 24:27,44; Jn. 5:36,39; Acts 2:14-35; 4:33; 5:12; 15:6-21;17:2,11; 18:28; 28:23; Rm. 15:19; 2Cor. 12:12, etc.)”

+1

“Since you operate under a different basis than that which the church began, and thus do not look to Scripture the transcendent standard for obedience and testing and establishing truth claims, as is abundantly evidenced to be, you are not to ascertain the veracity of Rome’s claims by Scripture, but are to submit to it more like Mormons are required to do to their supreme authority. “

+1

[Elsie]

I'm working on this: If you have any sources worthy of inclusion; please send them my way by Freep Mail

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What the Pope Means to Us  (From: various sources )