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

[Iscool]

“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”

How about you show one instance where your religion didn't err in relationship to the bible...

[daniel1212]

“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.

What they mean is that the Word of God is not simply Scripture, but includes things that Rome has channeled out of some Traditions to be the Word of God. Which is proof that Rome did not rewrite the Bible as Islam claims, for they did a very poor job if they did.

[Elsie]

narses, you continue to spam the thread over and over with the same thing. There are medications available for so many things today. Perhaps there is a spam medication?

Or maybe a change of DIET!!!

[Jvette]

****”He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. Those who do not believe, are condemned ALREADY because they do not believe. It can’t be much clearer.*****

BECAUSE HE HATH NOT BELIEVED IN THE NAME OF THE ONLY BEGOTTEN SON OF GOD.....how does one believe or not believe in something when they know nothing of it?

In the parable of the seed, what is the seed? And must it be sowed? If the seed is the Gospel then this parable cannot be speaking of those who have never heard the Gospel.

Jesus says in John 5:24
“Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life.

Jesus often speaks of “hearing and obeying”. What then of those who never hear?

[Elsie]

I'll just quit before I make anyone ANGRY...

[Jvette]

I don’t know what this RCC is, but I know that the Catholic teaches that God is merciful and that Jesus is the Savior and that is enough to know that for those who through no fault of their own do not know Jesus. It is not a question of middle ground, it is a question of whether or not God, who alone knows the hearts of all men, will save those who have not heard of Jesus.

[Jvette]

Well, we can agree that there is no record of what happened to those who rose up when Jesus died.

Why were they raised?

To show that Jesus is indeed the Resurrection and the life.

[NKP_Vet]

You mean the Bible that the Catholic Church compiled and Catholics determined what would be divinely inspired and not be considered divinely inspired and the Word of God.

The Catholic Church has never in 20 centuries erred in any matters pertaining to morality. None. Nada, not the first one. That is because God’s Word never changes and Catholic doctrine is not determined on a show of hands like the vast majority of protestant denominations.

[aMorePerfectUnion]

” What then of those who never hear?”

Romans 1, the grace and sovereignty of God and His amazing love and justice.

Whatever He does will be exactly right. We can trust His character.

[Elsie]

Roman
Catholic
Church

[aMorePerfectUnion]

“You mean the Bible that the Catholic Church compiled and Catholics determined what would be divinely inspired and not be considered divinely inspired and the Word of God.”

I hear the sounds of a prideful rooster claiming he caused the sun to rise...

“The Catholic Church has never in 20 centuries erred in any matters pertaining to morality. None. Nada, not the first one. That is because God’s Word never changes and Catholic doctrine is not determined on a show of hands like the vast majority of protestant denominations.”

Really??? Fascinating, except moral errors of practice are found in those 20 centuries from popes to priests. But you excuse that? Even though they are in charge?

Does that include the actual immoral practices of those who hold/held authority in the church, or just its theoretical teachings and writings, apart from what its leaders actually do?

If you mean the objective statements of God’s word never change, we have common ground. If you mean the institution of the Roman church that shuffled child molesters around to protect them from prosecution while giving them fresh kids to go after, you are wrong. To this we could add additional moral failings of “popes”.

Really, in the end, your statements are just so much bluster. There is a tendency to excuse behavior while claiming supremacy, to the point where the words of your post attempt to steal glory and sovereignty from God, while exalting your Roman group. Never nice to exalt yourself above God.

It is the fast path to the basement.

While you post these things, you try to beat down everyone else who loves and follows Christ.

[Elsie]

[aMorePerfectUnion]

“What they mean is that the Word of God is not simply Scripture, but includes things that Rome has channeled out of some Traditions to be the Word of God. Which is proof that Rome did not rewrite the Bible as Islam claims, for they did a very poor job if they did.”

They are big on claiming the authority of “tradition”, while not having any facts at all as to what was included in the Bible passages that refer to tradition. There are no official Apostolic traditions that they can point to. It is simply a jumping off point to include whatever they want, when they want it.

I’ve asked several. They slink away and never list a single tradition.

Speaking of which, what happened to ol’ terycarl who was going to get back to us with evidence for his claims...????

TC, oh TC? Where are you with that evidence??

[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.

[Jvette]

There is no Roman Catholic church.

There is the Catholic Church, Latin Rite.

[Jvette]

Very true. Jesus says He gives life to whomever He pleases. John 5

Jesus, King of Mercy, I trust in you.

[Elsie]

O...
K...

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

[daniel1212]

No, it isn’t. This is demonstrated by your failure to produce a single example. Put up or shut up.

This still going on? I suppose the solution would be to ping you every time Prots are broadly maligned as you see being done to Catholics.

Certain RC's here have broadly said things denigrating protestants (such as saying they do not use legitimate sources due to being intellectual dishonest, who are ignorant of proper interpretation of scripture, or that most protestants are completely biblically illiterate, or that Protestantism is negative, or that Protestants need to to take responsibility for same-sex marriages, or that overall those in Protestantism are vandals by inclination who should be wiped out, and that anti-Catholic Protestants are damned, etc.), and Prots have done such also towards Catholicism (and been criticized when specifying Roman Catholicism).

However, besides the comparitive validity issue of the generalization one church versus a vast group, the fact is that negatively broadbrushing a group based on general characteristics is seen in Scripture.

Thus the issue is whether such a charge is warranted, and any protest should be based on that.

[metmom]

I’ve asked several. They slink away and never list a single tradition.

Same here.

I've asked these questions of various Catholics numerous times and have yet to receive even an acknowledgment that they were posed.

Just what are those traditions Paul was referring to that he handed down that we are to keep that were not included in Scripture?

How do you know?

How do you know they’re from the apostles, Paul in particular?

How do you know they’ve been passed down faithfully?

What is your source for verifying all of the above?

Please provide the sources for verification purposes.

[aMorePerfectUnion]

Romanism is built on a series of assumptions that assumes the assumptions are infallible.

They cannot produce evidence, only repeat their assumptions as if that should satisfy non-Romans.

Look at the abject failure of posters on this thread to even attempt to provide any evidence. They are a fact-free zone.

How is that “loving God with ALL your mind”?