I spent 5th and 6th grade in a private Baptist school. We had daily Bible Study as coursework and were tested on it. Memorization of key passages featured prominently, and occasionally went so far as entire books of the Bible. I can’t honestly say that I liked it at the time.
There’s a certain variety of Baptist that to this day I tend to avoid, there’s no excuse for telling a 5th grader he’s going to hell because he had been raised Lutheran up to that point. I’m somewhere between amused and befuddled by the constant bashing of Martin Luther by the RC faithful here on the FR Religion Forum, because he’s the most Catholic of the Reformers. Matter of fact, I got teased mercilessly then as being “almost Catholic” because of it.
That’s the not-so-good, now on to the good. All those verses, passages, chapters and entire books committed to memory and graded upon it are still there, quite actively kicking around and welling up. They rise unbidden at times and it’s always appropriate to the circumstance at hand.
The Bible is quite the guide for living, if you get close enough to it to see and understand it in that manner. I’ve come to understand that and appreciate it. For that I thank those Baptists. I love certain varieties of Baptist and have quite a few in my family, so I couldn’t be completely put off.
From what I see here, your church keeps the Bible on something of a pedestal and at arms’ length. An intimate familiarity with the text is not an objective and applying it to daily life is not encouraged. All the learned elders cited like a sort of Greek chorus along with any passage deemed important to Catholicism, well, it’s certainly intellectual but intellectualizing a matter of faith is sometimes not the most constructive thing to do for the majority of laity, from what I’ve seen and experienced.
God is very real and very present in the day to day, and does speak to you through those verses that arise out of memory. It’s an excellent guide through life, having that at one’s disposal. You would benefit yourself, of that I have no doubt.
Your word have I hid in my heart, that I might not sin against you. (Psalm 119:11)
But his delight is in the law of the LORD, And in His law he meditates day and night. (Psalm 1:2)
Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. (Joshua 1:8)
I meditate on your precepts and consider your ways. (Psalm 119:15)
I delight in your decrees; I will not neglect your word. (Psalm 119:16)
interesting; tx