Catholic Church against Bible Reading?

  • Thread starter Thread starter AlphaOmega
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
Our priest frequently exhorts us, as well, to read the bible. It’s not an unheard of concept, contrary to what my non-catholic friends may tell me:).

Notworthy
 
40.png
NotWorthy:
Our priest frequently exhorts us, as well, to read the bible. It’s not an unheard of concept, contrary to what my non-catholic friends may tell me:).

Notworthy
Click to expand...
We have regular Bible study in our parish.
 
I lead the Bible Study in our parish (for almost a year now). I was heartened to find out that my group was displeased to find out that we weren’t having it this weekend, due to the holidays. I would have done it, but our priest had already told several people it was cancelled and they went home.

NotWorthy
 
40.png
NotWorthy:
Our priest frequently exhorts us, as well, to read the bible. It’s not an unheard of concept, contrary to what my non-catholic friends may tell me:).

Notworthy
Click to expand...
Ditto for our parish priest.
 
40.png
Sherlock:
CCC 133: The Church “forcefully and specifically exhorts all the Christian faithful…to learn the ‘surpassing knowledge of Jesus Christ’ by frequent reading of the divine Scriptures. ‘Ignorance of the Scriptures is ignorance of Christ’”

CCC131: “And such is the force and power of the Word of God that it can serve the Church for her support and vigor and the children of the Church as strength for their faith, food for the soul, and a pure and lasting font of spiritual life.” Hence “access to Sacred Scripture ought to be open wide to the Christian faithful.”

I would suggest reading the entire chapter (article 3, paragraphs 101 to 141) on Sacred Scripture in the Catechism. I’ve only listed two quotes above, but you can certainly use the whole chapter as an answer to your question.
Click to expand...
But I dont see the word Bible. Sacred Scripture,Devine Scripture,Word of God in catholicism can be read outside the bible. Does the Rcc use an actual bible in its sevices? I personally never saw one read from one. :confused: God Bless
 
But I dont see the word Bible. Sacred Scripture,Devine Scripture,Word of God in catholicism can be read outside the bible. Does the Rcc use an actual bible in its sevices? I personally never saw one read from one. :confused: God Bless
Click to expand...
Ah, but the Holy Mass is quite enriched with Scripture. Half of the Liturgy–the Liturgy of the Word–is devoted to the Bible. There are four readings: An Old Testament reading (usually one that prefigures the day’s Gospel reading), a reading from one of the Epistles or Acts (and occasionally Revelation), a Psalm, and the Gospel reading.

Nearly all of the prayers in the other half of the Mass–the Liturgy of the Eucharist–are at least in part derived from Scripture.

I would know about the readings–I am a reader and about once a month proclaim one of the readings–never the Gospel though, as only a priest is allowed to proclaim the Gospel during the Mass.

The readings are the same throughout the Church for each day (at least in each particular country, as the Bishop’s councils set the cycle for readings).

-ACEGC
 
Hardly ever is an actual Bible used, but a book that has all the readings & Gospels from the Bible inorder for the proper passasages of the Sacred Scripture of the day.
 
40.png
SPOKENWORD:
But I dont see the word Bible. Sacred Scripture,Devine Scripture,Word of God in catholicism can be read outside the bible. Does the Rcc use an actual bible in its sevices? I personally never saw one read from one. :confused: God Bless
Click to expand...
Good grief—the term “Sacred Scripture” refers to the Bible. It’s simply another term for it.

And yes, readings from the Bible (aka SACRED SCRIPTURE) are used at every Mass. It is brought in as part of the procession, and treated with respect (unlike the Baptist services I used to attend, where the pastor strolled in with the Bible tucked casually under his arm). And not only the “Rcc” use Sacred Scripture, but all Catholics do–no need to leave the other rites out.

I don’t know how it is possible that you “personally never saw one read from one”—if you had ever attended a Mass (it’s a “Mass”, not a “service”), then you heard someone recite readings from the Old Testament or Non-Gospel New Testament readings, followed by the singing or reading of a Psalm, followed (with greater ceremony) by a reading from one of the four Gospels. These readings are included in a large book that also contains the prayers of the Mass for each day. It’s called a Lectionary. If you are objecting to reading Scripture from a lectionary, then I don’t know what to say—this is nit-picking. My own priest also has a Bible that he has available when giving homilies.
 
40.png
SPOKENWORD:
But I dont see the word Bible. Sacred Scripture,Devine Scripture,Word of God in catholicism can be read outside the bible. Does the Rcc use an actual bible in its sevices? I personally never saw one read from one. :confused: God Bless
Click to expand...
“The Bible” as we know it is a fairly recent development – in Christ’s time there was no "The Bible.’ There were Sacred Scriptures – that is scrolls of the various books of the Old Testament.

Not until book binding developed in the late 4th Century AD could there be a single book that incorporated all those scrolls which could be called “the Bible.”

And for another thousand years or so, it was customary for “the Bible” to be produced in multiple books, not in a single, cumbersome volume.

The Church reads the Bible, or Sacred Scripture (the theological meaning is the same – inspired writings, which do not exist outside the Bible.) The Bible is woven throughout the Mass and other rites of the Church.

And the Church exhorts Catholics to read and study the Bible regularly.
 
40.png
SPOKENWORD:
But I dont see the word Bible. Sacred Scripture,Devine Scripture,Word of God in catholicism can be read outside the bible. Does the Rcc use an actual bible in its sevices? I personally never saw one read from one. :confused: God Bless
Click to expand...
Just what exactly do you call these? The readings for today’s Mass? Easily as Biblical and extensive as any readings from any n-C sermon. You just chose not to pay attention.
Code: 
November 23, 2005
Wednesday of the Thirty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time
Wednesday Psalm: 50
Code: 
Reading I
Dn 5:1-6, 13-14, 16-17, 23-28

King Belshazzar gave a great banquet for a thousand of his lords,
with whom he drank.
Under the influence of the wine,
he ordered the gold and silver vessels
which Nebuchadnezzar, his father,
had taken from the temple in Jerusalem,
to be brought in so that the king, his lords,
his wives and his entertainers might drink from them.
When the gold and silver vessels
taken from the house of God in Jerusalem had been brought in,
and while the king, his lords, his wives and his entertainers
were drinking wine from them,
they praised their gods of gold and silver,
bronze and iron, wood and stone.

Suddenly, opposite the lampstand,
the fingers of a human hand appeared,
writing on the plaster of the wall in the king’s palace.
When the king saw the wrist and hand that wrote, his face blanched;
his thoughts terrified him, his hip joints shook,
and his knees knocked.

Then Daniel was brought into the presence of the king.
The king asked him, “Are you the Daniel, the Jewish exile,
whom my father, the king, brought from Judah?
I have heard that the Spirit of God is in you,
that you possess brilliant knowledge and extraordinary wisdom.
I have heard that you can interpret dreams and solve difficulties;
if you are able to read the writing and tell me what it means,
you shall be clothed in purple,
wear a gold collar about your neck,
and be third in the government of the kingdom.”

Daniel answered the king:
“You may keep your gifts, or give your presents to someone else;
but the writing I will read for you, O king,
and tell you what it means.
You have rebelled against the Lord of heaven.
You had the vessels of his temple brought before you,
so that you and your nobles, your wives and your entertainers,
might drink wine from them;
and you praised the gods of silver and gold,
bronze and iron, wood and stone,
that neither see nor hear nor have intelligence.
But the God in whose hand is your life breath
and the whole course of your life, you did not glorify.

By him were the wrist and hand sent, and the writing set down.

“This is the writing that was inscribed:
MENE, TEKEL, and PERES.
These words mean:
MENE, God has numbered your kingdom and put an end to it;
TEKEL, you have been weighed on the scales and found wanting;
PERES, your kingdom has been divided and given to the Medes and Persians.”

Responsorial Psalm
Daniel 3:62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67

R. (59b) Give glory and eternal praise to him.
“Sun and moon, bless the Lord;
praise and exalt him above all forever.”
R. Give glory and eternal praise to him.
“Stars of heaven, bless the Lord;
praise and exalt him above all forever.”
R. Give glory and eternal praise to him.
“Every shower and dew, bless the Lord;
praise and exalt him above all forever.”
R. Give glory and eternal praise to him.
“All you winds, bless the Lord;
praise and exalt him above all forever.”
R. Give glory and eternal praise to him.
“Fire and heat, bless the Lord;
praise and exalt him above all forever.”
R. Give glory and eternal praise to him.
“Cold and chill, bless the Lord;
praise and exalt him above all forever.”
R. Give glory and eternal praise to him.

Gospel
Lk 21:12-19

Jesus said to the crowd:
“They will seize and persecute you,
they will hand you over to the synagogues and to prisons,
and they will have you led before kings and governors
because of my name.
It will lead to your giving testimony.
Remember, you are not to prepare your defense beforehand,
for I myself shall give you a wisdom in speaking
that all your adversaries will be powerless to resist or refute.
You will even be handed over by parents,
brothers, relatives, and friends,
and they will put some of you to death.
You will be hated by all because of my name,
but not a hair on your head will be destroyed.
By your perseverance you will secure your lives.”
 
If I’m not mistaken, one way to gain a plenatary indulgence (in addition to the other elements of confession, communion, prayer for the Pope, being free of all sin and all attachment to sin, etc.) is to spend half an hour reading the bible. – That’s a pretty clear sign of how important the Catholic Church feels about people reading the bible.
 
40.png
SPOKENWORD:
But I dont see the word Bible. Sacred Scripture,Devine Scripture,Word of God in catholicism can be read outside the bible. Does the Rcc use an actual bible in its sevices? I personally never saw one read from one. :confused: God Bless
Click to expand...
Spokes! You gotta be kidding! (Reaching for my smelling salts here.)

The word “Scripture” ***means ***“Bible.” Yes, we believe the word of God comes to us also from Sacred Tradition, but there is only **one **meaning of the word “Scripture.” Anything we call “scripture” comes from the Bible.

Do we use an “actual” Bible in our services? We use what we call a “Lectionary” – that is a book of Scripture passages laid out in portions for reading at each Mass. We have 3 readings on Sundays: an OT lesson, a second reading either from the Epistles or from Acts, and a third from the Gospel (we get through virtually the entire Bible in 3 years of Sundays). The OT lesson is always thematically linked to the Gospel reading, but the second reading is most often what we call “lectio continuo” – we just keep on a-readin’ from one book and move along to the next. So, no: it isn’t laid out the way our personal Bibles are organized: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges . . . but the whole Bible is there. In fact, the lectionary is so well done that many Protestants have adopted it.

Spokes, you left the Church too soon. You have some amazing ideas about what goes on in a Catholic church.
 
40.png
AlphaOmega:
Please help!
A false accusation by a non-Catholic on the Catholic Church.
Need true history experts. Good historical interpreters. Thanks.
Click to expand...
It is completely groundless and simply comes from hatred of the Catholic Church.
 
40.png
SPOKENWORD:
But I dont see the word Bible. Sacred Scripture,Devine Scripture,Word of God in catholicism can be read outside the bible. Does the Rcc use an actual bible in its sevices? I personally never saw one read from one. :confused: God Bless
Click to expand...
It is the Catholic Church which, with the guidance of the Holy Spirit, determined the Canon of the New Testament. Do a search for the term “Canon of the New Testament” and you will find that it is from the Catholic Church, long before any protestant denominations existed.

In answer to your last question, yes the readings in the U.S. are generally from the American Standard Version and some from the NIV.
 
I would like to clear up what is probably the reason for Protestants saying that Catholics are not to read the Bible. I have been a “Protestant” all my life and am now seriously considering joining the Catholic church. In my youth many of my Catholic friends told me that they can’t read the Bible on account of they could not understand it and that only a priest that has gone to school many years can properly understand what the Bible means. A lot of things have changed in the RCC over the years and encourging Bible reading is one of them…Also they all told me that I was going to Hell because I was not a Catholic.
 
A P.S. to my message above. No It is not because we hate Catholics. I for one am learning to love the RCC as the church that Christ found
 
Big Dave, a lot of your Catholic friends were misinformed; whether from poor teaching or poor learning (or both). I encourage you to either buy a copy of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, or go online HERE .christusrex.org/www1/CDHN/ccc.html
and read it through.

I think it’s great that you want to learn what the Church REALLY teaches, not rely on hearsay, not even from an “average Catholic”. “Average Catholic”, “average Protestant”, “average ANYTHING” really doesn’t cut the mustard when it comes to knowing the basis of the Catholic faith, the Protestant faith, or even DNA sequencing or how to double crochet for that matter. Go to the source.

One small caveat: The “things” that may have “changed” in the Catholic Church are incidentals. No DOGMA OR DOCTRINE HAS CHANGED, or WILL CHANGE.

The Catholic Church has not decided to worship the Hexagon instead of the Trinity. It has not decided to consecrate pizza and Kool Aid for the Precious Body and Blood. It has not decided to allow contraception. It has not added one iota to the Scriptures.

It has decided that while Latin is stil expected for parts of the Mass, because this makes those parts able to be understood by all and expresses unity, other parts may be said in any of the world’s languages. This decision does not “change” any part of Catholic teachings, it doesn’t say that what was done in 600 AD, or 1600 AD, was WRONG, and that we are changing now to do it RIGHT.

God bless you in your search and may you be ever near to Him, in your heart, mind, and soul.
 
40.png
Ignatius:
It is completely groundless and simply comes from hatred of the Catholic Church.
Click to expand...
However, wasn’t William Tyndale strangled and burned at the stake in 1536 for translating the Bible ?
 
40.png
stanley123:
However, wasn’t William Tyndale strangled and burned at the stake in 1536 for translating the Bible ?
Click to expand...
No, there is nothing wrong with translatin the Bible, Jerome translated the Bible and he became a Saint.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top