I want to speak to those who believe that Protestants don’t really study the Bible, but only know a few verses out of context.
I think you’re kidding yourselves.
Perhaps this is becoming the case nowadays with younger Protestants.
But if you think that’s the way many older Protestants are, you’re really kidding yourselves.
I’m 52, and I spent my first 47 years in the evangelical Protestant churches.
We studied the Bible intensively. Constantly.
As a teenager, I voluntarily memorized most of the Book of James, and studied it verse by verse for several months.
I did several “Memorization” programs, and as a result, memorized hundreds of verses of Scripture.
Most of these studies were done by studying the verses in context, so we didn’t just memorize out-of-context words.
In the Christian and Missionary Alliance (a denomination) Bible quizzing program, teenagers memorize entire books of the Bible, and study them verse by verse. During the Regional and National Quiz Competitions, they are asked questions that require them to not only spit out memorized verses, but also to understand those verses.
Although the AWANA Clubs require rote memorization of verses without necessarily requiring understanding, there are plenty of other Protestant children’s clubs in which kids not only memorize verses, but apply various learning techniques to help them understand the verse. For example, in Pioneer Clubs, we would ask, “Is there a promise? A command? An encouragement? A warning?” And we would train the kids to apply the verses to their lives and help them come up with practical daily strategies to truly live God’s word (Be ye doers of the Word, not just hearers.)
During most of my adult and teen years, I attended at least one Bible study each week, usually more than one. Some of the Bible studies were quite intense. In college, I attended a study of the Gospels in which the pastor helped up to put all the stories and events in chronological order–very fascinating and quite useful.
I attended many book studies; i.e., we would spend a season or an entire year studying one book of the Bible.
On my own, I did many Bible studies of individual books. One of the most fascinating studies that I did was of the Minor Prophets. I was determined to learn and understand the context and history of these small books in the Old Testament.
Many Protestants get involved with multi-year intense studies like Bible Study Fellowship. These programs run for a few hours one evening a week, and the student is required to study for several hours outside of the classes. Truants are not allowed to continue the study.
Finally, most Protestants feel compelled to have a daily Quiet Time (or Morning Watch or Daily Devotions or Personal Bible Study time). They read and pray over the Scriptures.
I could go on and on, but I hope you’re getting the idea. Many Protestants really, truly do have an incredible knowledge of the Bible. If you meet up with Protestants and assume that they know little, you are setting yourself up for defeat bigtime.
IMO, this is one of the major reasons why Protestants convert to Catholicism–because they DO know their Bibles, and when they finally take the time to actually visit a Catholic Church and attend a Mass, they recognize everything as Scriptural! That’s what happened to my husband and me–we couldn’t believe how many things in the Catholic Church made so much sense when we compared it with our Bibles! And many things in our Bibles that had always been confusing to us now made sense!
So be glad that Protestants know their Bibles. It makes your job as a Catholic easier!
Keep in mind that many evangelicals are so involved in various ministries in their churches that they usually don’t have time to visit a Catholic Mass. It was a rare, rare Sunday when I wasn’t playing the piano or teaching a children’s Sunday school or Children’s Church on Sundays. I very seldom missed church, unless I was giving birth or being very sick. I would not have had the time to attend a Mass other than a wedding or funeral Mass. So when Protestants visit your parish and attend Mass, something is happening or has happened. Be kind just in case it was something awful. In our case, we were kicked out of our Protestant church, and attending Mass was our way of obeying Hebrews 10:25.
but even the ones who only go every Sunday… hear an awful lot because in the Catholic Church , @ Mass, there is almost 5 times as much Scripture reading (verbatim) than at a protestant church… At a lot of protestant churches, the pastor reads a LINE of scirpture and then homilizes for … sometimes 20 or so minutes…then he reads another one, homilizes… and so forth… At the Catholic Church, the whole entire passage is read and then another and another before the priest begins to speak on the subject(s) brought up by the passages…
Seriously?