[babygene]

It seems to me, as a Catholic, we need to turn our conscience over to God the Father and Jesus Christ... That’s it, no bible studies, no translations no nothing. It then becomes automatic.

[smvoice]

Your comment sounds nice, but that is not what God says in 2 Tim. 2:15. He tells you what He desires in order that we will not be ashamed workmen for Him. Study and rightly divide His word of truth.

[RnMomof7]

It seems to me, as a Catholic, we need to turn our conscience over to God the Father and Jesus Christ... That’s it, no bible studies, no translations no nothing. It then becomes automatic.

How is one "conscience" informed?

How does one know who God is without knowing Him through His word?

[Iscool]

It seems to me, as a Catholic, we need to turn our conscience over to God the Father and Jesus Christ... That’s it, no bible studies, no translations no nothing. It then becomes automatic.

It becomes the automatic road to deception...

Mat 11:28 Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Mat 11:29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
Mat 11:30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

You are going against the will of God...

[Old Yeller]

It seems to me, as a Catholic, we need to turn our conscience over to God the Father and Jesus Christ... That’s it, no bible studies, no translations no nothing. It then becomes automatic.

God wants us to know Him through His Word. To not study His Word is spiritual laziness.

[ronnietherocket3]

Is there any reason for engaging in the degree of antagonism present? Not every single thread needs to be turned into Catholic/Protestant bashfest. Unity will not be built in Christianity by attacking people at every single opportunity.

The original post presented no direct attack on RC or EO. The groups criticized are:

1. Those that criticize seeking deep knowledge of Scripture
2. Those that seek deep knowledge and use it to puff themselves up
3. Those that practice magic and superstition

None of these groups are exclusively Catholic, though RC does present an danger of 2 a lot more easily than Protestantism. On the whole, I think a lot of serious Catholics would benefit from reading the first paragraph multiple times. If you are going to respond that it was written by a Protestant, it is a good expansion of St. Jerome's statement, "Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ."

[CynicalBear]

>>It then becomes automatic.<<

What becomes automatic?

[Faith Presses On]

“It seems to me, as a Catholic, we need to turn our conscience over to God the Father and Jesus Christ... That’s it, no bible studies, no translations no nothing. It then becomes automatic.”

When you speak of conscience, though, you are speaking of right and wrong, and that makes God as our ultimate judicial system the focus. He is that, but so much more. Do we think of ourselves as consciences?

The Bible is a record of man’s relationship with God, and includes some actual encounters that people have had with Him. And God Himself directed the selecting of and writing about these encounters, which He had recorded in order to teach more people about Himself, and impart to us life-giving spiritual knowledge. From the Bible we know how we and the world came about, and how Satan tempted Eve by getting her to doubt God’s word, and so how sin came into the world. We also learn from it about God’s plan for man’s redemption, and a lot about the Lord Himself and His will for us. We learn that He is the God who sees our needs and provides for us, because when Abraham in obedience to Him was about to sacrifice his own son, the Lord stopped him and provided a ram in the place of Isaac; and how He commanded the judge Gideon to go against a great army with just hundreds of men so that He would get the glory for the victory, and the Israelites couldn’t say that they had saved themselves; and how the Lord gave the wicked king Ahab a victory over the Syrian army when Israel was also vastly outnumbered, because the Syrians had said of Him that He is God of the hills, but not God of the valleys. Those are just but a handful of things that the Bible reveals to us about God, which, if we don’t know them, there is an empty place in us that, due to our deep need for knowledge of God and the spiritual, gets filled with other things, which aren’t of God.