catholic.com/thisrock/2004/0402fea3.asp
**
Catholics neeed to read their Bibles!**
The Bible-reading habits of Catholics lag far behind those of Evangelical Protestants. For their part, Evangelicals are usually ignorant of Church history, at least those nearly fifteen centuries before Martin Luther came along. It’s a sad fact of human nature that people tend to pit things against each other that don’t need to be opposed logically (or biblically). It should be both/and, not either/or. Catholics ought to do more Bible reading, and Evangelicals ought to read more Church history. We can learn from each other…
Protestants often find it difficult to reconcile Catholics’ lack of Bible reading with our claims to possess the fullness of Christian truth. Any viewpoint that is self-confident and healthy needs to engage criticism openly and honestly, no matter what the forum is. Protestants do that all the time. They write whole books about problems in their ranks. It is a sign of health and vigor…
For non-Catholics to respect us, they have to see us criticizing ourselves and not closing ranks and pretending that we are above all the errors with which everyone else struggles. This truth is obvious, and outsiders see it already, so we have to deal with it frankly. I’m not advocating a neglect of anything else in the Catholic spiritual or liturgical life. I’m maintaining only that too many Catholics neglect or try to minimize or de-emphasize the Bible…
If a Catholic truly does know Scripture, he also needs to demonstrate that in conversation: “Walk the walk,” don’t just “talk the talk.” The more we show that Bible and Catholicism are not contradictory terms, the more we appeal to Protestants with the truth of our overall message. A Catholic who is properly prepared can easily go head-to-head with a Protestant exegete…
Dave Armstrong, webmaster of Biblical Evidence for Catholicism (
www.biblicalcatholic.com), is the author of A Biblical Defense of Catholicism (Sophia Institute Press, 2003). He writes from Detroit, Michigan, where he lives with his wife, Judy, and their four children.
I have personally found that the Catholics that I have had the privilege to discuss Christianity with in general… handle Scripture very weak and anemic. Scripture interprets Scripture, or we need to consider all of Scripture before we come to a conclusion on a particular doctrine. You can’t debate something and just say the Catholic Chruch believes this or that; therefore it is true.
Here is your chance to sharpen your iron with a sola scritpura Christian Brother. However, we need to discuss a doctrine within all that is written in the Scriptures about a particular topic. We cannot be cafeteria Christians, ignoring parts of what is written to fit a preconceived idea, and expect to find the truth. We also cannot debate biblical doctrine by stating our personal views and opinions apart from Scripture proof. If you believe something, support it with Scripture in its proper context within clear biblical doctrine. I agree with this article from Catholic Answers in the sense of the lack of biblical knowledge of most Catholics that you meet. Do you want to sharpen your skills in the Scirptures? Of course, we need to debate the more essential issues like the gospel. But we can also discuss issues of Calvinisim if you’d like… if you stay within the Scriptures.
