You may be the exception. From discussions I've had with former catholics they readily admit what metmom has indicated regarding the Word.
To be fair, there are a fair number of Christians who do not know or handle the Word either. However, our discussion on this thread have been regarding catholics.
I've given several examples of catholic misapplication of the Word regarding Mary.
From what I've seen on this board some catholics aren't so up to speed on the CCC either.
To be clear on one thing though....the Bible is not YOUR book.
It is the Word of God and is open to ALL who wish to study and learn.
Of course it is, how would you feel about a muslim telling you what the sixth chapter of the Gospel of St. John meant? Or a mormon, or an SDA, or a JW? That last batch spends a pile of time studying it but they know nothing of to whom it was written or what it means. Let's come a step closer, how about Oneness Pentecostals? They join in on the attacks against Catholicism here and are generally left alone by traditional (if that word can be applied) Protestants, but THOSE people can't even find the Holy Trinity in Sacred Scripture. So too most Protestants can't find Transubstantiation (or any variation of it) in Holy Writ.
Big deal, it's not their book, they're flipping around in someone else's photo album and applying names to the images they find without knowing the history of the family.
HOWEVER, just as Samaritans contemporary to Our Lord's earthly life were not responsible for the sins of their ancestors, modern Protestants are not responsible for the divisions that now exist. That's the only way I can sleep nights. Otherwise you're all damned for being outside the barque of Peter and I just can't wrap my mind around that.
Is it acceptable that many Catholics don't know their own "album"? Certainly not, they're in trouble moreso than those outside the Fold... I hope.
“To be clear on one thing though....the Bible is not YOUR book...It is the Word of God and is open to ALL who wish to study and learn.”
AMEN, Brother! I get mad when Catholics arrogate to themselves the God-breathed Word. It was not Catholics who announced the Gospel in advance to Abraham, but SCRIPTURE:
“And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “In you shall all the nations be blessed.”—Galatians 3:8
Thank you, Father, for Scripture.