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]

you need more than the word of God?????You are a tough sell!!!

Ah HA!!

So you are NOT a CAtholic; just POSING as one!!

[Elsie]

...and drink his blood,

[Elsie]

That’s right, it’s not. If you think it is, you should try—really, really try—to find someone who can help you understand what bigotry is.

It'll be a while, as I'm only up to "A" in the dictionary.

I've good a pretty good idea what ARROGANCE is though.

[Elsie]

This is demonstrated by your failure to produce a single example.

Mary is dead.

[Elsie]

Jesus opened the gates of heaven that were closed to man/woman with the disobedience of Adam and Eve.

Oh?

Just WHY were A&E tossed out of EDEN?

Sin; or something else?

[Elsie]

Can you list ANYTHING that has been BOUND?

One thing that seems to have NO bounds:

Your hubris!

[daniel1212]

The Catholics should have copyrighted the Bible and kept it from all those heretics interpreting it now every which way. Next time.

She basically tried that in the past. But having lost her means of warring after the flesh now she enables and promotes free access to the Scriptures in the common tongue, while her own approved notes often promote interpretations of liberals, which most of those whom Rome counts as members are, in contrast to evangelicals.

[metmom]

and through the Catholic Church Jews....you have God's word, the Bible Scripture

Fixed it for you.

[metmom]

the Immaculate Conception, the Assumption, they don't do it very often, but it is never wrong....Oh yes, infallibility!

Prove it. Prove the Immaculate Conception is true.

Chapter and verse or historical evidence.

[metmom]

Moses was a Catholic? Who knew?

David? Daniel? Jeremiah?

[metmom]

did He err in destroying property that didn't belong to him, did He fall short by depriving people of their livlihood???

Cheating people out of their money to skim a profit off of Passover is a livelihood?

Catholics sure have a weird set of morals.

[metmom]

I can prove that every Catholic teaching is true. "whatever you bind on Earth will be bound in Heaven, whatever you loose on Earth will be loosed in Heaven"

A verse taken completely out of context. The context has to do with church discipline, not randomly dictating whatever doctrine that suits your fancy.

[metmom]

ampu:Scripture says GOD inspired, moved and demonstrates HE preserved his word.tc: that He did, by using the Catholic church to do so...there was no one else around...

Sure there was. The Jews who wrote it under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

Are you saying that the Jews are Catholic?

[Elsie]

Are you saying that the Jews are Catholic?

Nah...

MORMON!

---

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/03/us/jews-take-issue-with-posthumous-mormon-baptisms-beliefs.html?_r=0

[aMorePerfectUnion]

“I can prove that every Catholic teaching is true.”

I don’t think I’ve seen you prove a single truth claim on any thread I’ve witnessed - even when repeatedly asked.

“if you want to deny that the Catholic Church is infallible, just show 1 incidence, over the 20 centuries of her existance where she has erred in any matter pertaining to faith or morals.....just 1”

Again, YOU are claiming it is infallible. Prove it. I do not have to try to disprove your claims. If you make them, don’t assume anyone else will agree without facts, evidence or logic. So far, you’ve not provided any evidence that a reasonable and objective reader would agree supports your truth claim.

YOU want to believe it fine. It is an opinion. You want anyone else to believe it, provide support for your claim.

[aMorePerfectUnion]

“you need more than the word of God?????You are a tough sell!!! “

No, I simply examine the passage and find it does not mean what your interpretation claims it means. If you want someone else to believe your opinion, provide facts, evidence or logic that would support it.

[aMorePerfectUnion]

“that He did, by using the Catholic church to do so...there was no one else around... “

I hear you. God was so very, very, very lucky that the Church stepped in to make it happen, or He would have been up a creek!!!

[daniel1212]

I did not see anyone painting Jesus as a sinner, while making an individual mortal or ruling body as possessing assured infallibility (whenever speaking universally on faith and morals) is cultic. Even those whom Scripture affirms sat in the seat of Moses did not possess this, though they much acted as if they did, and were thus reproved the Lord using Scripture.

And as i often have said, which, as the assured word of God, is the infallible standard, while apostolic authority was established based upon Scriptural substantiation, in word and in power.

[Iscool]

Exactly...

The religion makes it up and the members blindly repeat it...