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How to Read the Bible – A Three Step Plan (written for Catholics - valid for all)
taylormarshall.com ^ | September 30, 2013 | Dr. Taylor Marshall

Posted on 09/30/2013 11:30:08 AM PDT by 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.”

St.-Jerome read the bible

“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:

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



TOPICS: Catholic; Prayer; Religion & Culture
KEYWORDS: bible; catholic
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To: metmom; roamer_1; boatbums; jodyel; Alex Murphy; bkaycee; blue-duncan; caww

I would be livid let alone embarrassed to have put my faith in some organization that claimed that the only way to salvation is to belong to that organization then be told that even those who not only aren’t part of that organization but even those who don’t know Jesus can be saved. That alone should indicate that the RCC is a phony.


821 posted on 10/04/2013 11:17:44 AM PDT by CynicalBear (For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ)
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To: terycarl
>> I don't know, but he is responsible for the loss of more souls than probably anyone else in history.<<

Why would you say that? According to the RCC you don’t even need to know Jesus to be saved.

822 posted on 10/04/2013 11:33:36 AM PDT by CynicalBear (For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ)
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To: roamer_1

Thank you for further proof that protestants on this forum are incapable of intelligent discussion.


823 posted on 10/04/2013 11:35:52 AM PDT by verga (Si hoc legere scis, nimium eruditionis)
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To: NKP_Vet; metmom
>>You can make it to heaven if you have not been exposed to the teachings of Jesus Christ but have lived your life according to the beatitudes. This is the teaching of the Catholic Church. On the otherhand if you have been exposed to Jesus Christ and you flatly refuse to abide by his teachings, you are going South when you leave this earth. When He gives explicit requirements to entering his Kingdom, and you ignore him, and indeed make fun of him, I don’t want to be that person on Judgement Day.<<

So let me get this straight. A guy in some remote island, or anywhere for that matter, never heard of Jesus but is a really nice guy and is going to heaven. So here comes the Catholic missionary and tells him all about Jesus, as we are told to do in scripture, and the guy thinks it’s some kind of nonsense that this guy just came back to life all by himself and says hooey. Now the guy is going to hell!!!! So if the Catholic missionary guy had just kept his mouth shut the guy would have gone to heaven but because the Catholic missionary guy showed up he’s now going to hell?

So Catholics believe that Jesus told them to go tell the guy who was going to heaven about him so he has a chance to not believe and is now going to hell!!!

Is that pretty much what Catholics believe? It’s what I’m getting from the Catholic explanations here.

824 posted on 10/04/2013 11:55:37 AM PDT by CynicalBear (For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ)
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To: NKP_Vet
>>The earliest Church Fathers believed in the Real Presence and taught that if you do not partake in the Eucharist, you can not enter the Kingdom of Heaven.<<

Unless you don’t.

847 Those who, through no fault of their own, do not know the Gospel of Christ or his Church, but who nevertheless seek God with a sincere heart, and, moved by grace, try in their actions to do his will as they know it through the dictates of their conscience - those too may achieve eternal salvation.

You Catholics are real hoot now!!!

825 posted on 10/04/2013 11:57:43 AM PDT by CynicalBear (For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ)
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To: CynicalBear
You know, that explanation is just screwy enough that it COULD be a RCC doctrine!

"Leave me alone! I was going to heaven before you showed up!!!"

826 posted on 10/04/2013 11:58:55 AM PDT by smvoice (HELP! I'm trapped inside this body and I can't get out!)
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To: verga
Thank you for further proof that protestants on this forum are incapable of intelligent discussion.

See Aristophanes. Perhaps you will recognize the double entendre. : )

827 posted on 10/04/2013 12:03:19 PM PDT by roamer_1 (Globalism is just socialism in a business suit.)
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To: NKP_Vet; Iscool
Catholics had better get on hands and knees and thank Judas and venerate him the rest of their days. Without the Judas betraying Jesus you would have never known for sure He was God and be able to have your “mother of god” statues.

A fact is a fact no matter how many times you deny it.

828 posted on 10/04/2013 12:05:42 PM PDT by CynicalBear (For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ)
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To: NKP_Vet; metmom
>> Tell that to one of the foremost PROTESTANT and now CATHOLIC THEOLOGIANS of our time.<<

We were told that would happen.

Matthew 24:24 For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.

The Catholic “signs and wonders” do deceive many.

829 posted on 10/04/2013 12:09:50 PM PDT by CynicalBear (For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ)
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To: verga; roamer_1

>> “Thank you for further proof that protestants on this forum are incapable of intelligent discussion.” <<

.
“Intelligent” meaning in full agreement with Satan’s Earthly representative: the pope?

BTW, has he followed Yeshua’s commandment, and sold off all the vatican’s earthly goods to follow Yeshua?


830 posted on 10/04/2013 12:10:25 PM PDT by editor-surveyor (Freepers: Not as smart as I'd hoped they'd be)
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To: CynicalBear; Iscool; roamer_1; metmom

You know, I’m curious about something here. If Judas partook of the Last Supper and drank Jesus’ blood and ate His body, what happened to that consecrated blood and body in HIS BODY? According to Catholics, that bread and wine was part of Judas’ salvation. That bread and wine would have made Christ a part of Judas’ body. Now if Judas hanged himself BEFORE the daily human operation we all perform, that means Christ was STILL in him. Is it possible he could actually be saved right now?? Maybe we’ve been going about this all wrong.


831 posted on 10/04/2013 12:12:34 PM PDT by smvoice (HELP! I'm trapped inside this body and I can't get out!)
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Comment #832 Removed by Moderator

To: verga

Some discussion regarding electing the wrong man as pope in this thread.

www.freerepublic.com/focus/religion/3073621/posts

Here’s an interesting summary of papal infallibility. It appears to be a fairly recent doctrine, which is a change from the previous doctrine.

So, are you saying that the church can never elect the wrong man as pope?


833 posted on 10/04/2013 12:19:36 PM PDT by metmom ( ...fixing our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of faith....)
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To: smvoice; CynicalBear; Iscool; roamer_1; metmom

>> “You know, I’m curious about something here. If Judas partook of the Last Supper and drank Jesus’ blood and ate His body...” <<

The term “hanged” at that time meant either that he was impaled on a pointed pole driven up through his torso, or that he fell on his own sword, so maybe all the blood and flesh of Yeshua leaked out?


834 posted on 10/04/2013 12:21:37 PM PDT by editor-surveyor (Freepers: Not as smart as I'd hoped they'd be)
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To: editor-surveyor

Hmmmm...I don’t know...maybe one of the early Catholic church fathers knew what happened...all I know is if they can make a doctrine, tradition, or saint out of something...


835 posted on 10/04/2013 12:25:52 PM PDT by smvoice (HELP! I'm trapped inside this body and I can't get out!)
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To: smvoice

Yeah! And Jesus command to “go into all the world” was only to “mess up a good thing” for those who would have gone to heaven. Catholics are a hoot I’m telling ya!


836 posted on 10/04/2013 12:26:08 PM PDT by CynicalBear (For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ)
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To: CynicalBear; smvoice

>> “ And Jesus command to “go into all the world” was only to “mess up a good thing” for those who would have gone to heaven.” <<

.
By Jove, I think you’ve got it!

You must be the True Pope, else how would you have been able to discern that!


837 posted on 10/04/2013 12:30:05 PM PDT by editor-surveyor (Freepers: Not as smart as I'd hoped they'd be)
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To: editor-surveyor; CynicalBear; metmom

Il Pappa Bear! We KNEW you could do it!


838 posted on 10/04/2013 12:34:34 PM PDT by smvoice (HELP! I'm trapped inside this body and I can't get out!)
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To: roamer_1; verga
Let's not forget the FACT - so easily ignored by some who want to smear ALL non-Cath Christians by association - that it was the ROMAN Catholic Church which first arrested and imprisoned Servetus and would have been his executioner had he not escaped. Funny how that simple point is left out of the narrative.
839 posted on 10/04/2013 12:50:53 PM PDT by boatbums (God is ready to assume full responsibility for the life wholly yielded to Him.)
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To: smvoice; editor-surveyor; metmom

LOL How they are not embarrassed making the comments they make and following that apostate organization I will never know. I had someone tell me that it was only in my fantasy world when I said the RCC believes you don’t need to know Jesus to go to heaven. I haven’t heard from them after I posted proof that they do believe that. I can only imagine the thoughts. “We believe what”?


840 posted on 10/04/2013 12:55:39 PM PDT by CynicalBear (For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ)
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