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

[NKP_Vet]

“And which i knew nothing of as a devoutly raised RC until i became manifestly born again at age 25”.

The absolute worst Catholic bashers are lapsed Catholics. How anyone could give up the Eucharist and follow a faith started by a motal man, instead of the one started by Christ himself, is beyond me.

I also find that that those that gave up the Catholic faith were totally ignorant of it to start with. Poorly catechised is the main reason. No “devout” Catholic would give up their faith. Just ain’t happen.

And I would suspect the reason that the worse Catholic bashers are lapsed Catholics is because deep inside they they know they did the wrong thing to leave the church, so they lash out at and make fun of anything and everything Catholic.........instead of getting on with their new faith. And if that is not the case, why all the anti-Catholic bigotry. Makes no sense. Anyway these people are to be pitied and prayed for.

[daniel1212]

The Church has made mistakes in things not pertaining to faith and morals. When it has, it has corrected them.

Jvette, the seemingly careless statements on this thread are many, and here how can you limit mistakes to things being outside faith and morals? Do you really believe papal and church sanctioned torture and killing of theological dissidents and other uses of bodily compulsion for church discipline was Scriptural?

Or that popes like Boniface the 8th meant the same thing as V2 in EENS (extra Ecclesiam nulla salus)

Perhaps you meant erred in official universal teaching, as defined by Rome.

And actually, Rome does not rejects the very idea that it could possibly be wrong about something only when she says she is speaking in a manner and matter in which she cannot be wrong. For she Rome has presumed to infallibly declare she is and will be perpetually infallible whenever she speaks in accordance with her infallibly defined (scope and subject-based) formula, which renders her declaration that she is infallible, to be infallible, as well as all else she accordingly declares.

However, others levels of the magisterium varyingly allow for some dissent, in a manner Rome teaches (quietly). But which level each teaching pertains so is subject to some interpretation, as is the meaning of such.

[aMorePerfectUnion]

Total projection.

“How anyone could give up the Eucharist and follow a faith started by a motal man, instead of the one started by Christ himself, is beyond me.”

Leaving that which is man made for that which Christ actually taught is no loss, but great gain.

I’ve come to see how much of Romanism is an amalgamation of magical thinking, instead of accepting what God revealed.

[daniel1212]

The absolute worst Catholic bashers are lapsed Catholics. How anyone could give up the Eucharist and follow a faith started by a motal man, instead of the one started by Christ himself, is beyond me.

I also find that that those that gave up the Catholic faith were totally ignorant of it to start with. Poorly catechised is the main reason. No “devout” Catholic would give up their faith. Just ain’t happen.

And I would suspect the reason that the worse Catholic bashers are lapsed Catholics is because deep inside they they know they did the wrong thing to leave the church,

Soldier (and all due respect to being that), once again your argument by assertion is simply an argument against Roman Catholicism, in support of which it is asserted that no Catholics are ever "seen" (by them) engaging in anti-protestant bigotry and such put down of protestants, while you assert converts absolutely could not have been devout and must be ignorant, and acting out of guilt.

Which is so absurd and incredulous that i stand in amazement at it. At least it is different than the other attempts to explain it the vast exodus, which is usually that the RC church was so strict (i remember my mom told me that Catholic church was so strict, while my Nazarene neighbors were gone to church for most of the day and the kids could not come out to play afterwards).

The reality is that the multitudes of Catholics who converted to evangelical churches overall did so due mainly to the spiritual lack in Rome. And this was true in my case, even though i willingly went to mass weekly, and overall on all the days o obligation for years. And during which i taught CDD and served as a Lector as i wanted sincerely to serve God. And i believed and regulatory received the Eucharist.

But which objectively did nothing different in me, nor manifestly in other RCs. What made a profound and life changing difference was becoming born again thru sincere repentance and trusting the Lord Jesus to save me as a damned+destitute sinner. But which hardly anyone i talked to (and i tried to talk to many out of the abundance of my heart) in my RCC could identify with the subsequent relationship with Christ and the changes that went along with it. Most were not interested. The Catholic charismatics were better, but yoked to other things.

And i knew far more about the RC teaching when i left than before my conversion, and was serving God, telling others of their need for salvation as i was. And as God steers an obedient vessel, when i dared to ask God if it was His will for me to go to another church (that i could find fellowship in and was actually evangelizing) then the God Shepherd easily led me to better pasture.

And i know far more of Rome's errors now, yet it is not because of any personal bitterness against Rome that i act, but out of esteem for Scripture truth and the lost for whom Christ died.

And i feel pity for them

[aMorePerfectUnion]

“And i know far more of Rome’s errors now, yet it is not because of any personal bitterness against Rome that i act, but out of esteem for Scripture truth and the lost for whom Christ died.

And i feel pity for them

...........

+1

Amen - to His glory

[daniel1212]

And rather than the testimonies that impugn Rome being bcz such were totally ignorant/poorly catechized, from liberal RCs to conservative evangelicals converts, in reality the former can believe what Rome effectually teaches, that Rome will seen them thru to glory, while the latter overall tried the Roman message and found it wanting.

A 2002 nationwide poll of 1,854 priests in the United States and Puerto Rico reported that 30% of Roman Catholic priests described themselves as Liberal, 28% as Conservative, and 37% as Moderate in their Religious ideology. 53 percent responded that they thought it always was a sin for unmarried people to have sexual relations; 32 percent that is often was, and 9 percent seldom/never.

28 percent judged that is always was sin for married couples to use artificial birth control, 25 percent often, 40 percent never.

15 percent of the clergy polled listed themselves as "gay or on the homosexual side." Among younger priests 23 percent did so.

44 percent of the priests said "definitely" a homosexual subculture'--defined as a `definite group of persons that has its own friendships, social gatherings and vocabulary'--exists in their diocese or religious order. Los Angeles Times (extensive) nationwide survey (2002). http://www.bishop-accountability.org/resources/resource-files/reports/LAT-Priest-Survey.pdf

Those who have left Catholicism outnumber those who have joined the Catholic Church by nearly a four-to-one margin. 10.1% have left the Catholic Church after having been raised Catholic, while only 2.6% of adults have become Catholic after having been raised in a different faith.^

• 4% of Americans raised Catholic are now unaffiliated; 5% are now Protestant. ^

• Over 75% of those who left Catholicism attended Mass at least once a week as children, versus 86% having done so who remain Catholics today.^

• Regarding reasons for leaving Catholicism, less than 30% of former Catholics agreed that the clergy sexual abuse scandal played a role in their departure. ^

• 71% of converts from Catholicism to Protestant faith said that their spiritual needs were not being met in Catholicism, with 78% of Evangelical Protestants in particular concurring, versus 43% of those now unaffiliated. ^

• 50% of all Protestants converts from Catholicism said they stopped believing in Catholicism's teachings overall. Only 23% (20% now evangelical) were unhappy about Catholicism's teachings on abortion/homosexuality (versus 46% of those now unaffiliated); 23% also expressed disagreement with teaching on divorce/remarriage; 16% (12% now evangelical) were dissatisfied with teachings on birth control, 70% said they found a religion the liked more in Protestantism.

• 55% of evangelical converts from Catholicism cited dissatisfaction with Catholic teachings about the Bible was a reason for leaving Catholicism, with 46% saying the Catholic Church did not view the Bible literally enough.

• 81% of all Protestant converts from Catholicism said they enjoyed the service and worship of Protestant faith as a reason for joining a Protestant denomination, with 62% of all Protestants and 74% Evangelicals also saying that they felt God's call to do so. - Pew forum, Faith in Flux (April 27, 2009) http://pewforum.org/uploadedfiles/Topics/Religious_Affiliation/fullreport.pdf

[CynicalBear]

God bless daniel1212! I understand the frustration because of my deteriorating condition due to post polio. Don’t ever stop. We truly appreciate the work you do here.

[CynicalBear]

>> Poorly catechised is the main reason.<<

aka poorly indoctrinated.

>> why all the anti-Catholic bigotry<<

It’s actually not bigotry but love for those who are under the mind control of the RCC and it’s errors.

[daniel1212]

Thanks for the empathy and encouragement, and your being post polio is not an excuse i do not have. May we find God’s grace sufficient, which is most necessary.

[daniel1212]

Correction: Being post-polio is not the cause of my lack of dexterity. Genes and working in freezers i guess.

[terycarl]

the link in post 1683 leads to nonsense

[terycarl]

I usually type less than 25 words per minute. Use smaller words

FINALLY....you give advice that might work

[NKP_Vet]

“Protestant converts from Catholicism said they enjoyed the service and worship of Protestant fait”

Like I said before anyone that would give up the Eucharist for Jimmy Swaggart waving a Bible around were totally ignorant of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. It is absolutely impossible to be raised a devout Catholic and leave the faith for a man-man faith that has no sacraments and no structure. It shows a lack of understanding and never taking the faith seriously to start with.

And by they way there are percentage wise more sexual abuse in protestant faiths than the Catholic Church. If you care to see the numbers I can certainly get them.

AMEN.

[Just mythoughts]

“He who is separated from the body of the Catholic Church, however laudable his conduct may otherwise seem, will never enjoy eternal life, and the anger of God remains on him by reason of the crime of which he is guilty in living separated from Christ.” ~ St. Augustine & the Council of Cirta (412 AD).

Strangely Christ forgot to mention during His flesh walk to follow St. Augie... Now follow St. Augie if that be your will, but, Augie does NOT speak for Christ.

Augie's own words make the church an object of worship, and leave out, fall away, from that first love that Paul describes in Ephesians 1.

There is so much clutter in the traditions of the Roman Church, that the WORDS of Christ have become diluted to have no relevance.

[NKP_Vet]

This is also in the poll, but not being played up by the liberal media and certainly not anything you would find interesting.

“While the findings of the survey are an obvious concern to Catholics, they first must be understood within the larger context of the study, something that many of the sensational stories did not do. The survey showed that 44 percent of adult Americans are no longer practicing the religious affiliation in which they were raised as children, which means that, across the board, only 56 percent of American adults are still adhering to their childhood affiliation. Since 68 percent of those baptized and raised Catholics are still Catholic, that means that the Catholic Church is doing well relative to the American norm.

Compared to Catholics, only 60 percent of Baptists, 58 percent of Lutherans, 49 percent of Pentecostals, 48 percent of Methodists, 48 percent of Church of Christ members, 44 percent of Episcopalians, and 36 percent of Presbyterians, are still practicing in the Church of their childhood. The only major religious affiliations that are doing better than the Catholic Church in retaining their members are the Jews at 74 percent and the Mormons at 72”.

[boatbums]

Christ’s church HAS NEVER BEEN a body of invisible people. It is a very visible body of Christians and has been for the last 2,000 years. It is called the Catholic Church. All others are ecclesial communities, with the exception of Orthodox faiths, Orthodox faith communities are called “churches,” though separate from the Catholic Church, as they have retained apostolic succession, the ordained priesthood and the Eucharist. Because of those close bonds, they merit the title of churches and are seen as “sister churches” of specific Catholic churches. Yet, Christian .....

Uh...which Catholic propaganda document did you copy THAT from? We are supposed to show where we do that, you know?

[boatbums]

Some people need to seriously spend some time with a mirror!

The absolute worst Protestant bashers are failed Protestants. How anyone could give up the assurance of salvation and follow a faith directed by the whims of mortal men, instead of the one started by Christ himself, is beyond me.

[boatbums]

MAJOR dittos!

[daniel1212]

Forgot to ping you to http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/religion/3072978/posts?page=1764#1764

[daniel1212]

And by they way there are percentage wise more sexual abuse in protestant faiths than the Catholic Church. If you care to see the numbers I can certainly get them.

I overlooked this, yet i never claimed abuse figures were higher among Catholic clergy, and i know the figures vary in percentages among studies and reliability, and subject to debate, but that the highest abuse is in the sacrosanct secular world.

Nor do i defend all that is called Protestant, though exposing RC anti-protestant bias, and defend a faith based on Scripture, not one church.

And Scripture commands, "But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named among you, as becometh saints;" (Ephesians 5:3). Thank God for His mercy, but may we never presume upon it.