Posted on 12/18/2014 5:00:17 PM PST by Salvation
Why Don’t Catholics Read the Bible?
by Dwight Longenecker
The independent Evangelical church I went to as a boy gave me a fantastic amount of Bible knowledge. There were Bible drills in Sunday School classes, Bible memory contests and Bible quizzes, not to mention a complete grounding in all the Bible stories—illustrated with those wonderful flannelgraph figures. As I got older I listened to long Bible sermons, went to home Bible studies, youth Bible camps and a Bible holiday club. I ended up going to a Christian University where Bible study was part of our everyday schedule.
Our Christian home wasn’t particularly anti-Catholic, but some of our preachers were, and the general impression I got was that Catholics not only didn’t read the Bible, but that they weren’t allowed to. They didn’t go to church with their big black Bibles under their arm. They didn’t have long Bible sermons or home study groups or youth Bible camps. How could Catholics believe the Bible if they didn’t read it and study it like we did?
Its true that many Evangelicals know their Bible upside down and backwards, and compared to them Catholics sometimes seem ignorant of the Bible. But that's only an appearance.
The truth is simply that Catholics and Evangelicals use the Bible in different ways and therefore have different kinds of Bible knowledge. Evangelicals use the Bible as a source book for doctrine and right moral teaching, and that's good. 2 Timothy 3.16 says the Scriptures are 'useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness.' Evangelicals also use the Bible for personal devotions and inspiration. This too is Biblical. Psalm 119.27 says, 'Let me understand the teaching of your precepts; then will I meditate on your wonders.'
Ordinary Catholics might not be so adept at quoting chapter and verse, but they do know and use Scripture regularly. Its just that they use it in a different way. For a Catholic, Scripture is not so much a book to be studied as a book to worship with. (Ps. 119.7) For Catholics the Bible is almost always used in the context of worship. Did you know that a survey was done to check the amount of Scripture used in the Catholic Mass? The Catholic service was almost 30% Scripture. When the same writer checked his local Bible-based Evangelical church he was surprised to find the total amount of Scripture read took just 3% of the service.
When Catholics go to mass they hear a reading from the Old Testament, they say or sing one of the Psalms, then they listen to a reading from the epistles, then a gospel reading. The whole structure fits together so the communion service if focused on Christ in the gospels. Catholics follow a three year cycle of Scripture reading so a Catholic who goes to church faithfully will--over the three years--hear almost all of the Bible read. Furthermore, the responses, and the words of the communion service are almost all from Scripture. So a church-going Catholic does know and use Scripture--its just that he uses it primarily for meditation and worship (Ps.119.48)--not for personal information and instruction.
And when you think about it, isn't this actually the way Scripture is meant to be used? The Jews recite the Old Testament law in their worship daily. The psalms were the hymn book of the Jews. In the New Testament church they read the letters of the apostles, recited the psalms and used portions of Scripture to praise and worship God just as Catholics do today.(Eph.5.19) We know from the records of the early church that Scripture was used primarily for worship, and only secondarily for study.
Of course, like Evangelicals, Catholics also use the Scripture to determine doctrine and moral principles--its just that the Catholic lay person or pastor doesn't do so on his own. As Paul gave Timothy the apostolic authority to 'rightly divide the word of truth' (2 Timothy 2.15), so Catholics believe their bishops have inherited the authority of the apostles to teach doctrinal and moral truth faithfully. They base this on Paul’s clear instructions to Timothy, ‘the things you have heard me say …entrust to reliable men so that they man in turn teach others.’ (2 Timothy 2.1-2) Therefore, it is the bishops—living, praying and working in a direct line from the apostles-- who use the Bible to determine Christian doctrine and moral principles. That Catholic doctrine and moral teaching is biblically-based is easy to see. Try reading any official Catholic teaching documents and you will find they are--and always have been--permeated and upheld with Scripture.
Nevertheless, memories are long. Some extreme Protestants like to say that the Catholic church not only forbade people to read the Bible, but they deliberately kept the Bible in Latin, chained it up in churches and even went so far as to burn popular translations of the Bible. Its true Bibles were chained in churches. Before the days of printing presses books were precious items. They were chained for security reasons—the way a phone book is secured in a phone booth—to make it available to everyone. The Catholic Church allowed translations into the vernacular from the beginning. The earliest English version of the Bible for instance, is a paraphrase version of Genesis dating from the year 670. In a few places the authorities did burn some translations of the Bible which were deliberately faulty or which carried heretical notes, but this was an attempt to preserve the purity of the scriptures, not to keep it from God’s people. Remembering that in the Middle Ages most people were illiterate, the pastors and teachers of the Catholic Church instructed the people about the biblical stories in many creative and dramatic ways—not unlike my Sunday School teacher’s use of the flannelgraph.
But in saying all this, ordinary modern Catholics could learn a few lessons from Evangelicals about Bible knowledge. We Catholics need more Bible scholars amongst our pastors. We need more resources for personal Bible reading. We need to understand the Scriptures better to see how our faith is rooted and grounded in the Bible. Our own official teachings encourage us to read, study and learn the Scriptures. Dei Verbum--a document about the God's Word from Second Vatican Council says, "...all clergy should remain in close contact with the Scriptures by means of reading and accurate study of the text...similarly the Council earnestly and expressly calls upon all the faithful...to acquire by frequent reading of holy Scripture the excellent knowledge of Jesus Christ (Phil 3.8) for as St.Jerome said, "Ignorance of the Scriptures is indeed ignorance of Christ."'
Ecumenism is a two way street. If we have lessons to learn from Evangelicals, many Evangelicals could learn fresh ways of using the Scriptures from us too. Singing the psalms in worship is something Catholics can share with Evangelicals, using a lectionary helps pastors choose Biblical readings which harmonise Old Testament and New Testament, taking the congregation on a logical process through each year of worship. Finally, using chosen readings from the Old Testament, the epistles and then the gospels helps focus the worship on Jesus Christ. Using the Scriptures like this is a practical way for the whole word of God in Scripture to point to the Word of God in the flesh-- our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
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Catholics and the Bible
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When I took a Education for Ministry course years ago. Our Old Testament Instructor told how she had to teach teenage boys some of the “colorful” parts of the OT. I just can not imagine doing it. :)
“..Why don’t Catholics follow the bible?”
Why don’t protestants? Sola scriptura is NOT in the bible. The instruction to follow traditions taht are handed on IS in the bible, not the written word alone. All scripture is profitable, but not ONLY scripture is profitable.
Why do protestants ignore John 6 - clear instructions for the eucharist?
Protestants are the ones who do not follow the bible and ignore very important chapters (or delete entire books if they don’t like them).
Here is a link.
We used Ruth 1:16-17 in our wedding.
What years did you go? They get more of it now. Of course it does depend upon the local ordinary.
Even when we were little they were teaching us the Bible, we just didn't memorize it.
I have taught Bible School and Religious Ed and have done Confirmation prep and RCIA. The Bible is always present, we just don't sit there and memorize it. It's so easy to find a verse if you really need it for something.
It’s in the missal, it’s in the bulletin and it is in fact a psalm. DUH! The Psalm ALWAYS comes after the FIRST reading. That’s how he knows. If you could not read and write but are Catholic you know this. From the time you are big enough to sing.
“In Catholic schools, it was hit or miss...”
I think this is right. I graduated high school in 1968.
In Catholic grammar school, we read Old Testament Bible stories in the lower grades, and studied the New Testament in higher grades - I remember doing an in-depth study of the Acts of the Apostles in 8th Grade.
We all had to buy Bibles in freshman year of Catholic high school, and used them as we went through the Old and New Testaments in 4 years of Theology classes.
Although the Novus Ordo Mass leaves me cold, I really like the three-year cycle of readings in the New Mass as compared to the 1-year cycle in the Traditional Mass, which I otherwise strongly prefer.
I also agree with the author of the article that in Catholicism, the Bible is used more as a tool of worship at Mass, much like the Missal, rather than as subject of independent study in an of itself.
I see the Bible as the basis of my Catholic belief, and have been trained to understand the Old and New Testament readings as the underpinnings of Church teachings. In other words, Catholics use the Bible on a more contextual basis, both in study of out Faith and in our worship during the holy sacrifice of the Mass.
And, of course, the reason that Catholics don’t take Bibles to church is that the biblical readings for that particular day (i.e., the Proper of the Mass) have always been in the Missal - therefore, no need to carry the Bible when you have your Missal or a misssalette at Mass.
He not only encourages us to read scripture, but during the homily keeps all of us on our toes, by asking us questions about the Sunday scripture readings.
My favorite is always Jonah I think. When I taught Bible School we tended to stick with the OT for the Bible stories and the NT for the Sacraments. But I digress. Someone came up with a way to but a bunch of black plastic together and used some fans. It was big enough for the kids to go in and experience being inside the belly of the whale. It was a great teaching tool. The little ones really got it.
I have this really old game that a friend gave me. It's called Limbo, so that gives you an idea how old this game is. But it has everything. If you are old enough to have had the Baltimore Catechism, you have a great advantage in the game. :)
. . . If you believe that the core of evangelization is the Word, then you need to make the Word front and center . . .
And the Word is Jesus Christ. The Catholic mass is all about Jesus. He is front and center.
I love the Douey-Rheims! It’s not the one I use most frequently, but it is the one that sounds the most beautiful to me. For seven years, I participated in a non-denominational Bible study, that met each week throughout the school year (off in the summer). It was intense and wonderful! So I used the DR alongside my New American heavily during that time.
Many of my Protestant friends would ask me if it didn’t make me want to stop being Catholic, and I told them no, that it made me understand the richness and beauty of the Catholic faith even more. I remember that one of them remarked one time how many people had come to participate in this Bible study group, all because I had invited a few friends to join me every so often. The joke was, “Look how many of us are here, and how we all got invited by our Catholic friend. Who would’ve thought it possible? A Catholic bringing people to Bible study!” We all shared a good laugh, because they realized that Catholics can be good and faithful people, too. Oh, and I was invited by one of my Catholic friends.
This I know, Salvation. I’ve always admired your sweet spirit, so, please do not be offended when I say that there are various reasons why I could not return to the Catholic Church, mostly because several major areas of their doctrine do not conform to the Scripture. If it was only minor areas (as is often the case with churches, denominational or non-denominational) and I believed attending would provide spiritual growth and maturity, I would not necessarily be opposed.
So while I may not know which chapter and verse I am singing, I remember the words. I don’t guess that matters to Protestants though, because I don’t remember which psalm it is.
If you don’t know the exact verse and it’s context how do you know it hasn’t been twisted or altered?
Remember, when Lucifer tempted our Lord in the wilderness he used scripture. Jesus understood and responded with scripture.
False teachers want you to lack intimate knowledge and understanding of God’s Word.
You are still a Catholic and can come back at any time.
“There’s plenty of room at the Hotel California; you can check out anytime you like, but you can never leave!”
“Hotel California”
Now that’s a scary thought!!
Until I stopped going to Catholic Church, I never read a Bible, nor was encouraged to read a Bible, not by the Priest and not by the Catechism class I used to take (that was what it was called at the time).
Same here, we had a huge Catholic Bible stored in a cubby of our china cabinet. It was never taken out or used.
We had the two readings from Scripture and one reading from the Gospels each week. I’ve seen claims by Catholics on FR that the entire Bible is covered in three years. I’ve posted passages that I’d never heard in my 20 years attending Mass. None of them bothered to respond.
To be quite honest, when I sat down and read God’s word I became really angry. I can forgive someone for being misguided. To be willfully ignorant while misleading others is an entirely different situation!
I don’t even know if we had a Bible...it’s possible, but I don’t remember ever seeing one (not until after I started attending another church). It’s troubling that those who know so much of the Scriptures do not with it feed the sheep. Reminds me of the Pharisees, they had all this knowledge but with them they used it against their flock.
Man is evil and there is no good thing in him (without Christ).
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