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

[metmom]

[terycarl]

I assume that says, “who became known as Catholics....” I suspect they were long departed for a much better place before a single Christian was ever referred to as Catholic.

possibly departed....early 100's is when Catholic was first used, but it certainly became retroactive to the earliest Christians.

[terycarl]

Is LUTHER the best YOU can do? Why didn't you KILL him when you had the chance?

I don't know, but he is responsible for the loss of more souls than probably anyone else in history.

[terycarl]

At least I produce Names and Evidence - you just mechanically jabber a number as though that is supposed to mean something. Man up, big boy, and produce a LIST for us all to read!

a good start, if you want to see a list, is the yellow pages of a big city phone book....hundreds of protty denominations listed

[aMorePerfectUnion]

“possibly departed....early 100’s is when Catholic was first used, but it certainly became retroactive to the earliest Christians.”

Well, I’d like to read that historical reference. Please do post it and share.

[terycarl]

John the Baptist DID NOT become Catholic...

sure he did.

[Rashputin]

"It's a pity what poor memories some people have. Luther NEVER threw out Hebrews, James or Jude . . ."

Ah, I see it’s back to repeating lies or half-truths in hopes that the repetition of deception won’t be noticed. That “appendix” dodge is a nasty affront to honest readers.

Is repeating a deliberate distortion of the facts by way a half-truth no longer a lie according to the Self and Self Alone doctrine of Christian Liberty because infanticide is already condoned making lies small potatoes by comparison, or was there a distinct point when the definition of Truth was changed like the series of distinct reversals after the Lambert Conference of 1930? Or is telling lies dependent on personal interpretation of the Ten Commandments?

”, Luther moved Hebrews and James out of the usual order, to join Jude and the Revelation at the end, and differentiated these from the other books which he considered "the true and certain chief books of the New Testament.”

Luther included an Appendix of books he said should have never been accepted into the canon in the first place and made it very clear he did not consider them to be a part of the inspired Word of God. That’s clearly throwing out Scriptures whether Marty’s buddy Phil convinced him they’d lose the support of local nobles if those books were removed completely or Luther simply omitted them like a good anti-Christ Pharisee. Either way, the Self and Self Alone deceivers agree with Luther and say those books are garbage as they’re no longer even in the same binding as the Protestant anti-Christ Pharisee Approved Luther Subset of Scripture the Self Alone crowd pretend is a complete Bible.

That “appendix” dodge is an even more lame attempt at misdirection than the usual lame attempts to avoid truth Self Alone folks constantly toss around between taking turns attacking others rather than addressing points they make.

Trying to avoid the truth about apostate heretic Luther throwing Scripture in the garbage and his Self Alone claim to having greater authority than the Holy Spirit and everyone who ever lived including Jesus Christ Himself has been pointed out to folks on FR, present company included, several times. Do those who ignore the facts enjoy trying to mislead others with lies and half-truths or do they just hate the Truth?

People pretending Luther “just” moving books of the Bible to an appendix for non-Scripture being no different than throwing them out of the Bible is typical of those who know there is no honest defense for their Self and Self Alone doctrine of Christian Liberty and their routine reversals of what they teach as the truth in order to “go along to get along” with the Culture of Death. Avoiding the Truth any way they can while spreading their disinformation, distortions, misinformation, and lies, is Standard Operating Procedure the Self and Self Alone folks who constantly try hide the Truth.

Their misdirection tactics along with their ignoring self-identified anti-Christ, anti-Christians, as long as they attack Catholics, violating forum rules, ignoring or even cheering on their pals who clearly and regularly violate forum rules, and playing all sorts of other little games to avoid or bury the Truth are proof beyond a reasonable doubt that the Self and Self Alone crowd do not care about the Truth.

Whether it’s well known, clearly documented, historical facts or anything else, the Truth is not in them.

The “REAL” canon?

Hogwash. Just like the rest of the hogwash flung around by those who cannot resist twisting the facts into a lie rather than face the Truth.

Sorry, people have to accept the lie that Jesus Christ doesn’t care what is accepted as His Word along with the lie that the Holy Spirit cannot and did not protect His Word from the inclusion of and acceptance of error until Luther revived the heresy of Core and invented the lie of Self and Self Alone in order to accept the Luther Subset as complete.

A good many people may be ignorant of the facts or may not have given the mater any thought, but someone who will even lie to avoid the facts is under the strong delusion of Self and Self Alone that keeps their ego fed and avoids uncomfortable commands Christ made like “follow me”.

It is impossible to talk to most Protestants about Jesus Christ and/or His Word. Mostly because they actively fight against the light of Truth to preserve their ego boosting Self and Self Alone view and being comfortable going along to get along.

Some such folks so obviously run away from the Holy Spirit showing them the Grace and Mercy of putting the Truth before them over and over in spite of their Pride that it wouldn’t come as a shock to find out they’re dedicated to making Christianity and Christians all look absurd.

[Alex Murphy]

It is impossible to talk to most Protestants about Jesus Christ and/or His Word. Mostly because they actively fight against the light of Truth to preserve their ego boosting Self and Self Alone view and being comfortable going along to get along.

You might want to have a look at this post, dsc.

[editor-surveyor]

You obviously have no grasp of irony.

The entire theology of the RCC is hung on one poorly translated verse in the most corrupted chapter in John’s gospel, and the entire chapter taken as a whole refutes that one verse as taken by papists.

[boatbums]

All protestants owe the Catholic Church a world of gratitude for bringing the Word of God to them.

The real truth is that we ALL owe the gratitude and glory to Almighty God who used the Jewish nation to first bring forth His everlasting word into the world and then through the nascent Christian church the teachings of Jesus Christ, God incarnate, so that the entire world might give praise to God for His amazing grace. Those who want to assert that it was the "Catholic" church who did the work, should remember that ALL those who follow Christ and are members of His body through faith are the descendants of that universal (what the adjective "catholic" really meant) body that spread the gospel to all the world through the power of the Holy Spirit.

But, “Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.” For it is not the one who commends himself who is approved, but the one whom the Lord commends. (II Cor. 10:17-18)

[boatbums]

Yikes, elsie. It wasn’t intentional! ;o)

[boatbums]

Christ started one Church, not 35,000. If Martin Luther had never lived you would be a Catholic and we wouldn’t be having this ridiculous conversation.

I have a hard time believing someone who claims to have a masters in Theology could say something this devoid of facts.

[roamer_1]

If Martin Luther had never lived you would be a Catholic and we wouldn’t be having this ridiculous conversation.

LOL!... Cathars, Poor Men, Waldensians, Wesley, Tyndale... the list goes on and on... While y'all tried REAL hard, you can't kill them all. Had it not been Luther, another would have been raised up. And rightly so.

And no, I would not still be 'catholic', YHWH willing... I would be among the many, many martyrs who would be dying by Rome's sword even yet, had it not been for the Reformers.

[roamer_1]

they said nothing about her death and where she was buried....surely they would have recorded that and honored her burial place, but they didn't.

Why? They didn't record where very many were buried at all. If they recorded the burial of anyone (I honestly don't recall any right now) it was just in passing. Never a peep about honoring anyone's grave, so why Mary's?

[roamer_1]

More than that. It was the Catholic Church that copied the Bible by hand before the printing press. We were the ones that protected it from the barbarian hordes that sacked from and later when the Vandals and Vikings etc... invaded from the north.

Yeah... I don't think you get to claim that when y'all were killing anyone else who tried to copy the Bible and burning their work.

[boatbums]

possibly departed....early 100's is when Catholic was first used, but it certainly became retroactive to the earliest Christians.

The adjective catholic (note, lowercase) was first used in the Letter to the Smyrnaeans that Ignatius of Antioch wrote and he meant the universal faith of Jesus Christ. Though the Roman Catholic Church co-opted the term many years later does not give it the right to apply the term "retroactively" to the earliest Christians. I think it is presumptuous to think Peter, Paul, James and John would have called themselves "Catholics".

Cyril of Jerusalem, in the fourth century, says that the Church is called Catholic not only 'because it is spread throughout the world', but also 'because it teaches completely and without defect all the doctrines which ought to come to the knowledge of men'. This secondary sense arose out of the original meaning because Catholics claimed to teach the whole truth, and to represent the whole Church, while heresy arose out of the exaggeration of some one truth and was essentially partial and local. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_term_Catholic

If believers today hold to the same truths as taught in Holy Scripture - as would have those earliest Christians - then ALL can lay claim to being descendants of the early church. The label outside the building where they worship together matters not as long as the faith is pure.

[boatbums]

Is LUTHER the best YOU can do? Why didn't you KILL him when you had the chance?

I don't know, but he is responsible for the loss of more souls than probably anyone else in history.

Just to clarify...are you actually saying that one man can stand in the way of God reaching the hearts of those who diligently seek Him? Are you claiming that all those people who left Roman Catholicism for a purer faith in Jesus Christ and all those Christians who are not Roman Catholics today are lost souls? Think carefully before you answer.

[boatbums]

Anyone can go back over this thread and see just who is doing the lying and deceiving here. I’m not worried.

[roamer_1]

[roamer_1:] What makes it a hoot is that by their own admission, their 'separated brethren' can be saved, no matter how imperfectly... rendering their whole system wholly unnecessary - After all, the very concept pf a thing made absolutely necessary loses every bit of it's force the very moment it is admitted there is another way.

A little detail that completely escapes the attention of virtually every FRoman Catholic on this forum.

IKnowRight? And you'll note, not a single one has stepped forward to set us straight on it... Reams and reams of bandwidth arguing that which is already rendered moot.

Hiya metmom, btw... nice to see you : )

[verga]

poorly translated verse in the most corrupted chapter in John’s gospel,

Now you claim that God can't protect His inerrant word pure and unscathed. That is irony.