Beware of Bible studies!

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cestusdei

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Studying the Bible is a great thing. Now we have some excellent Catholic resources to do it. BUT I strongly advise not attending “interfaith” or “ecumenical” Bible studies. A few are legitmately ecumenical. But most are designed to convert you to the church that sponsors them. They love to get uninstructed Catholics to join the study. When you bring up a Catholic point you are told that this is “non-denominational”. But when they bring up an anti-Catholic point then that is just fine. They will draw you away from the Church and leave you the impression that we have no response to what they say. We do. Catholics wrote the Bible and we have a venerable history of scripture scholarship. So be warned. These groups 9 times out of 10 are traps designed to proslytize you. Go to a good Catholic Bible study, start your own, or study it on your own using good Catholic materials.
 
Okay, so what do you suggest…I started a thread on advice for an Adult Ed. Program, which I have been asked to put together and I was given some good ideas…

So, Father, I have a great deal of respect for the clergy, what do you suggest. BTW, I agree with you on being very careful on the inter-faith groups.
Annunciata:)
 
You can use Scott Hahn’s material. There are new volumes coming out all the time. Also I suggest the Navarre Commentary. Hopefully your priest can teach. I teach a Bible study at my parish. Ask him. If he is already overworked and cannot then maybe a deacon is available. If a layperson wants to teach then they need to really study scripture themselves. Unlike what Protestants think it is difficult to properly understand scripture. It takes a lot of hard work and effort to get beyond the surface reading.
 
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cestusdei:
You can use Scott Hahn’s material. There are new volumes coming out all the time. Also I suggest the Navarre Commentary. Hopefully your priest can teach. I teach a Bible study at my parish. Ask him. If he is already overworked and cannot then maybe a deacon is available. If a layperson wants to teach then they need to really study scripture themselves. Unlike what Protestants think it is difficult to properly understand scripture. It takes a lot of hard work and effort to get beyond the surface reading.
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Hi Father,
I know…that’s why the committee asked me to get something together. I’m afraid nobody will come out for him…he’s turned most of the parish off and they are leaving in droves.
We are the ‘remnant’, as it were, trying to save things… He is 72 , ready for retirement and nobody can talk to him…he’s always right and everyone else is wrong. So…I guess that’s out then…I’m no where near qualified…I can only try to put something together. I think I’m going the way of Scott Hahn and some Corapi…I’ll let the Spirit lead… Thanks anyway.
In Christ,.
Annunciata:)
 
Oh, Father. I have learned this lesson the hard way! I won’t make the mistake, again.

I am currently reading a Scott Hahn book, and loving it!
 
CD,

You are unique.

I have had awful experiences with Priests who do not know scripture or do not know how to teach it. This past year, I tried a Bible study taught by one of our deacons. It was awful.

Remember, you cut your teeth on the Bible.

This year, when I went to my Pastor for the Sacrament for the Sick, I was told all the reasons I shouldn’t believe I would be healed, or that miracles are associated with this Sacrament.
Scripture and the Church tells me different.

CD, this is what many of us Catholics are being faced with.

I have been reading your posts long enough to know that you believe both scripture and the Church. This is not always the case with our Priests.
 
My sister in laws have fallen for this a few times. guess they aren’t being fed in there own parish. The more they study with non catholics the more they start to sound protestant. One actually has been getting the Left behind series for her kids. I agree BEWARE.

I’m a novice apologist but I minister to catholics more than non catholics.

There is no controversy:Jesus didn’t have brothers, the davinci code is ****, vasectomies are not acceptable even if your priest tells you differently, selective reduction is abortion, IVF frequently reqires creation and distruction of embryoes = abortion,

lukewarm cathoilcs might as well be protestant.
Beware,
Don’t be afraid to defend our holy mother church.

www.salvationhistory.com
 
Father, will you please tell me specifically that I should not be attending non-Catholic Bible Studies so I have a good excuse when my friends ask me to go with them. 🙂 I can then say that it is not only a theological issue but an obedience issue too.
 
nu,
Then they will say priests don’t want you to read the Bible. That we are afraid you will discover the “truth” we are hiding from you. It ain’t so, but that is what they will think. Tell them you like reading the Bible and the Church encourages it. But that when you are looking for a guide to scripture study you prefer one from the Church that gave us the Bible in the first place. That way you get not just partial truth, but the whole truth. Doesn’t that sound better, lol?

All,
If you have no one in your parish then I would say go with Hahn, the Ignatius Catholic Study Bible, or the Navarre Bible commentary and do it on your own. If you can get a small group started then by all means to so. But as long as you use good solid orthodox material you will be fine. Another possiblity is to read scripture commentary directly from the Fathers. Maybe start out by saying the Office of Readings every day. Can’t go to far wrong with the saints.
 
Posted by cestusdei

Studying the Bible is a great thing. Now we have some excellent Catholic resources to do it. BUT I strongly advise not attending “interfaith” or “ecumenical” Bible studies. A few are legitmately ecumenical. But most are designed to convert you to the church that sponsors them. They love to get uninstructed Catholics to join the study. When you bring up a Catholic point you are told that this is “non-denominational”. But when they bring up an anti-Catholic point then that is just fine. They will draw you away from the Church and leave you the impression that we have no response to what they say. We do. Catholics wrote the Bible and we have a venerable history of scripture scholarship. So be warned. These groups 9 times out of 10 are traps designed to proslytize you. Go to a good Catholic Bible study, start your own, or study it on your own using good Catholic materials.

Fr. I wholeheartedly agree with you regarding Bible Studies. My priest who is a convert from the Anglican Church calls it “getting together to share bible ignorance”.

I know the dangers of getting together with non-catholics too well. One of my brothers and his wife left the church because they were “just getting together to share the Word”. They were soon pointed to supposedly “church errors” and they wound up leaving the Church and now they say that they are “Christians” and have set up their own church. It seem like that she is now the “popette” and he is the “bishop” and only they have the correct word of the Lord. Personally I feel that it’s OK to get together to share how the Lord has worked in your life regarding some verses in scripture. Like me for example Matt 6:25-34 (Trust in Providence) helped me in my life to make decision and put my trust in God. I have at times shared with others that particular scripture and given testimony as to what that verse meant to me. Again, nothing having to do that went against Church Teachings.

To have a Bible Study, one needs to have somebody who has the resources and knowledge and is able to lead others in the study of certain books. Our priest every year announces that he will be covering certain Gospel or Letter for that year in his weekly Bible Study. All of it thought with the Mind of the Church. That is what is important that the person leading the study is not doing his own interpretation and influencing others to “do their own thing” with no regard to Church Teachings. Personally I chuckle when people say that they are getting together to have a “Bible Study”. Could we say that we can by a medical book and get together to “study brain surgery” without a qualified person to lead us? That would be absurd. So how can people who are ignorant of the Bible, Church History, early teaching of the Fathers of the Church, The Catechism, etc. get together and say they are going to have a “Bible Study”.

God Bless.
 
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cestusdei:
Studying the Bible is a great thing. Now we have some excellent Catholic resources to do it. BUT I strongly advise not attending “interfaith” or “ecumenical” Bible studies. A few are legitmately ecumenical. But most are designed to convert you to the church that sponsors them. They love to get uninstructed Catholics to join the study. When you bring up a Catholic point you are told that this is “non-denominational”. But when they bring up an anti-Catholic point then that is just fine. They will draw you away from the Church and leave you the impression that we have no response to what they say. We do. Catholics wrote the Bible and we have a venerable history of scripture scholarship. So be warned. These groups 9 times out of 10 are traps designed to proslytize you. Go to a good Catholic Bible study, start your own, or study it on your own using good Catholic materials.
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Beware that you rebel Vatican Council II that encourange interfaith and ecumenical.

Beware of Traditionalists extremists who rebel Vatican Council II. They are anti-ecumenism, and preaches that “outside rome” is condemned. Basicly their preachings are nothing else than “men’s authority over other men”.

Everytime you listen to any preachings, seminar, sessions, etc.
please think this way : “Where is the good news?”

God bless.
 
toby,
You hit the nail on the head. I argued once with a principal who wanted me to let the kids discuss the Old Testament. I said how can they discuss something they know absolutely nothing about, have never read, and resist reading? Whereas I studied it and even studied Hebrew, so exactly what were they going to teach me? She backed off. I am glad the Ignatius Study Bible is coming out. It will be most helpful and I highly recommend it.

As to Vatican II and ecumenism. I am all for it. But I am not stupid. When someone says they have an interfaith Bible study and use it to steal my parishioners that isn’t ecumenism. It is wolves in sheeps clothing. We don’t have to allow ourselves to be taken advantage of. I have never been asked to teach an ecumencial Bible study. I volunteered once just to see what would happen. I mean it is interdenominational right? They never got back to me. Go figure.
 
Has anyone ever heard of the Metro Bible Study? There is a large group of people at a nearby Catholic parish using this method/approach. My mother-in-law helps run the group and has invited me a few times. I have never gone because I know you have to be very careful about which Bible study group you get into. I have heard little bits and pieces about the group, thinking it might be more on the liberal side. For example they use the Collegeville Commentary *. I have heard that that one is not very sufficient or accurate. I love the Navarre Bible and I have heard they also use bits and pieces from that one also.

I think Metro Bible Study began in MN, and has spread at least to WI, maybe other areas. I would really appreciate it if someone could fill me in on this Bible group.

Thanks.*
 
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cestusdei:
You can use Scott Hahn’s material. There are new volumes coming out all the time. Also I suggest the Navarre Commentary. Hopefully your priest can teach. I teach a Bible study at my parish. Ask him. If he is already overworked and cannot then maybe a deacon is available. If a layperson wants to teach then they need to really study scripture themselves. Unlike what Protestants think it is difficult to properly understand scripture. It takes a lot of hard work and effort to get beyond the surface reading.
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I would just like to say, I think it is KOOL to see a Priest in here! 😃
 
:bigyikes:
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cestusdei:
Studying the Bible is a great thing. Now we have some excellent Catholic resources to do it. BUT I strongly advise not attending “interfaith” or “ecumenical” Bible studies. A few are legitmately ecumenical. But most are designed to convert you to the church that sponsors them. They love to get uninstructed Catholics to join the study. When you bring up a Catholic point you are told that this is “non-denominational”. But when they bring up an anti-Catholic point then that is just fine. They will draw you away from the Church and leave you the impression that we have no response to what they say. We do. Catholics wrote the Bible and we have a venerable history of scripture scholarship. So be warned. These groups 9 times out of 10 are traps designed to proslytize you. Go to a good Catholic Bible study, start your own, or study it on your own using good Catholic materials.
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A Catholic friend of mine went to a “non-denominational” bible study, and when she went to pick up her son in the babysitting room he wasn’t there. They told her that he had been taken to another room where he was accepting Jesus Christ as his personal Lord and Savior. Not very non-denominational of them.

In Christ,
Nancy 🙂
 
Thank God my son and his wife have joined a Bible Study given by their priest and deacon at their parish…

They were going to go to a Protestant study with friends of theirs when he happened to metion it to me…I freaked! I explained pretty much what Father CD has already stated (not as well though).

There is such a hunger out there for understanding of the Scripture…I was fortunate to havebeen introduced to it as a child as a Baptist.
Now that I’m in the Fullness of the Faith I have even a deeper appreciation and hunger.🙂
 
I suppose there are dangers in attending disingenuously “interfaith” Bible Studies to those Catholics without a very strong grasp of their faith, but can’t the influence go the other way? Most of the people on these forums seem to be pretty well grounded in their faith and to read scripture with the mind of the Church. Couldn’t the presence of a strong Catholic (or two) at such a Bible study open up our separated bretheren to the fullness of the truth? I’m just askin’. I’ve not had any such experience; my only experience with interdenominational Bible Study occurred in college, and actually I think all involved were able to deepen their relationship with the Lord. I stayed Catholic.
 
I’ve gotten several non-Catholic studies over the years. WBS, AmazingFacts, Discover. I use them to pick out their errors and see how I can go about refuting them. Of course, I can’t tell them they’re all wrong or else they won’t send me more, so I tell them the answers they want and in turn strenghten my knowledge of the Catholic faith.
 
You shouldn’t attend bible studies unless you are prepared to be exposed to ideas that you can’t handle as catholics. However, if you have the confidence that Jesus gave us to discern what He taught, ther should be no problems.

Use the standards Jesus taught with special attention paid to treating the least like they may be Jesus, and everything will come into perspective.

Peace
 
thank you father cestusdei for your advice iam recently taking a bible study from a minister woman name beth moore the book is called breaking free. this is been my first experience in a bible study.i think the book is not bad but iam the only catholic in a group of baptist. it hasn’t been easy an i can wait to finish. they question me a lot about my faith an thank god to the priest of my parish and catholic answer online i was able to answer there question although they wasn’t happy. anyway after i finish with this one i will be doing one of scott hann online. one more question an if you can feel free to email me what do you know sir about bibles codes in the torah, i will appreciated any information you can provide me. thank you. god bless:blessyou:
 
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