Converts - what did you do with your old Bible?

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Lessofme91

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I have a question for my fellow converts. Did you keep using your protestant translation of the Bible after you joined the Church? I joined the church at Easter, and while I have a great Catholic Bible that I like, the one that feels like home is still my NIV Bible from when I was a Lutheran. I’ve read through it completely twice and is heavily highlighted and noted. Its the Bible that I carried with me 24/7 as a summer camp counselor, and the one that I poured over for countless hours as I was discerning becoming Catholic. Does anybody still use their old Bible? I love knowing that the Catholic one is more accurate and complete, but the NIV one literally feels like an old friend to me. Is it okay to still use it for now?
 
Lessofme91 said:
I have a question for my fellow converts. Did you keep using your protestant translation of the Bible after you joined the Church? I joined the church at Easter, and while I have a great Catholic Bible that I like, the one that feels like home is still my NIV Bible from when I was a Lutheran. I’ve read through it completely twice and is heavily highlighted and noted. Its the Bible that I carried with me 24/7 as a summer camp counselor, and the one that I poured over for countless hours as I was discerning becoming Catholic. Does anybody still use their old Bible? I love knowing that the Catholic one is more accurate and complete, but the NIV one literally feels like an old friend to me. Is it okay to still use it for now?
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I have a Scofield study Bible from when I was Protestant, along with a NABRE study Bible given to me by my RCIA class and an Ignatius Bible. I have no intentions of getting rid of my NIV Bible, since it’s another perspective and because it has Protestant notes to compare to Catholic ones. When I have kids, I want to have all three Bibles around so they are aware of the differences and hopefully are willing to ask questions and discuss them.
 
I’m embarassed to admit that before converting to Catholicism I didn’t really read the Bible much, or at all.:o
 
Fauken said:
I have a Scofield study Bible from when I was Protestant, along with a NABRE study Bible given to me by my RCIA class and an Ignatius Bible. I have no intentions of getting rid of my NIV Bible, since it’s another perspective and because it has Protestant notes to compare to Catholic ones. When I have kids, I want to have all three Bibles around so they are aware of the differences and hopefully are willing to ask questions and discuss them.
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I like the NIV too. I think the only differences are two:
  1. The protestant bible is missing 7 books that the catholic one has. I think we here know what they are.
  2. Some of the passages will be understood differently, for example Mathew 5:26 (catholics believe it refers to purgatory).
Is there more?? What do you mean by perspective??

Fran
 
Still have my RSV (as a former Lutheran, myself). And it is now 40 years old, spit in two at Jeremiah, but full of notes, highlights, etc.
It is the Oxford Annotated, and the only “new” part of it is the Apocrypha at the end, books I never read until now.
I would like to find a good Catholic RSV (somewhat larger print) with the Apocryphal books where they belong. Not “New RSV”, etc. - I find the original RSV was very close to the Greek and Hebrew in not forcing protestant understanding on passages (not forcing any that I can find). And this allows me now, as Catholic to see it from a Catholic vision with the same words supporting my understanding anew.
 
Still have them all. My convert husband’s note encrusted NKJV is what brought him around to the ancient faith. Truth is truth, now with a Catholic Bible we have more truth, with the church and tradition we have the whole truth.
 
I kept them. It contains the Word of God.

The NT contains the same books. The OT may be light 7 books, but when I need/want to read those I pick up a Catholic Edition.

As far as the translation, that is a non-issue. The linguistic translation is not the point, the point is the spiritual interpretation.

Footnotes and commentaries included in other bibles may not support church teachings, so perhaps I don’t use them to help me understand the spiritual sense of scripture; instead I rely on Church teachings and tradition to give me that guidance.

I also have orthodox bibles and Jewish Scriptures, which are not “Catholic Bibles”, and I have no intention to discard them or feel guilty about using them in my devotion and study.
 
Johann_du_Toit said:
I’m embarassed to admit that before converting to Catholicism I didn’t really read the Bible much, or at all.:o
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I was in somewhat the same boat, but had essentially left the Presbyterian Church for 15 years and became an agnostic before returning to the Church. As such my King James Bible had likely been relegated to the trash years before my conversion. I don’t remember tossing it, but I no longer have it and I don’t think it evaporated. 😉

I am curious for those that keep their Bible from their “former” lives if they still actively use them as your primary source for prayer and study or do you use a Catholic translation as your primary now? I can understand keeping them to understand the differences in belief or historical reference, but do you also keep it as a sentimental attachment to your former religious life? Not saying it is right or wrong, but since I had a long gap away from religion I really have no attachment to my protestant heritage and am curious how one lives with reminders of a beloved life that they rejected in part or full through their conversion (likely a topic for a different thread).
 
I still have a NKJV Bible and a huge NIV study Bible (which was a gift). I enjoy comparing passages and footnotes between my Catholic and Protestant Bibles.
 
I’m Catholic but I mainly use my NIV Bible. The English is closer to what I remember as a boy in Catholic school.

Any convert who has notes & highlighted passages should never get rid of that Bible. :nope:
 
My NIV/King James parallel is still next to the bed. I’ve been wanting to get a Catholic Bible and want to stay with a parallel format but haven’t found one that fits my likes, unfortunately with so many things I want (size, font size, parallel, look) nothing really fits.
 
frangiuliano115 said:
I like the NIV too. I think the only differences are two:
  1. The protestant bible is missing 7 books that the catholic one has. I think we here know what they are.
  2. Some of the passages will be understood differently, for example Mathew 5:26 (catholics believe it refers to purgatory).
Is there more?? What do you mean by perspective??

Fran
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By different perspective I mean I have the Scofield notes to compare to my NABRE and Ignatius notes.
 
frangiuliano115 said:
Thanks. And yes, I hear the Ignatius is really good.

Fran
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I rather like it. It’s the most literal translation I have. I wonder if I should have waited for the Ignatius study bible to come out, but I can get one later if I really want to when they’re published.
 
I still have them though they don’t see all that much use anymore, unlike my Catholic Bible, which do. My personal favorite n-Cs are an Amplified Bible and a 4 translation New Testament. Both are handy for study. I also have a NKJV NT which I like.

I don’t bother with the NIV because the NABRE is about the same reading-wise and has all the books.

My Catholic favorites are my Ignatius RSV-CV2 and my Confraternity Bible , with my DRB coming in at a very close 2nd.

I would never just dump any of them. I’d take them to a nearby n-C community and donate them.
 
I had a KJV bible that I only occasionally read, it did not have modern English language which I did not like. It did have a section for our family tree, so I passed it along to my daughter who is a protestant. Once I became a Catholic convinced the Church held the full Truth, and complete Bible with accurate translations, I could not see a reason to hold onto an incomplete bible. I also did not like how the KJV would omit certain words or replace a single word to give the sentence a different meaning according to their interpretation. The newer KJV may not be the same as my old one, I do not know.

I have the 'New American Bible (official Catholic bible) in a beautiful leather bound, red letter edition.
And I have 'The Catholic Study Bible (NAB) which is enormous in its thickness. It is a complete guide to bible study, has authoritative Catholic translation of the bible w/over 600 pages of comprehensive reference materials, including: Reading guides to every book of the bible, Essays on biblical history & Catholic teaching, A Glossary of specialized terms, Color Bible maps, and Full lectionary tables & guide. Awesome!
I would recommend the Catholic Study Bible to anyone, especially a convert. I’ve come to understand so very much more with this bible.

Question: Someone told me the NIV try’s to turn Paul into a protestant. Is that true?
 
Faithful_Seeker said:
I had a KJV bible that I only occasionally read, it did not have modern English language which I did not like. It did have a section for our family tree, so I passed it along to my daughter who is a protestant. Once I became a Catholic convinced the Church held the full Truth, and complete Bible with accurate translations, I could not see a reason to hold onto an incomplete bible. I also did not like how the KJV would omit certain words or replace a single word to give the sentence a different meaning according to their interpretation. The newer KJV may not be the same as my old one, I do not know.

I have the 'New American Bible (official Catholic bible) in a beautiful leather bound, red letter edition.
And I have 'The Catholic Study Bible (NAB) which is enormous in its thickness. It is a complete guide to bible study, has authoritative Catholic translation of the bible w/over 600 pages of comprehensive reference materials, including: Reading guides to every book of the bible, Essays on biblical history & Catholic teaching, A Glossary of specialized terms, Color Bible maps, and Full lectionary tables & guide. Awesome!
I would recommend the Catholic Study Bible to anyone, especially a convert. I’ve come to understand so very much more with this bible.

Question: Someone told me the NIV try’s to turn Paul into a protestant. Is that true?
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What does your last sentence mean???
Paul was Jewish –
How could it be true??
 
frangiuliano115 said:
What does your last sentence mean???
Paul was Jewish –
How could it be true??
Click to expand...
I wasn’t sure what it meant myself which is why I asked the question. Just recall a few years ago, I heard someone make that statement which I thought was odd but I never knew what it meant or what they based that idea on. I’ve also never read a NIV bible so do not know why anyone would think that. I thought they may have meant that The NIV was worded to read Paul as a being protestant, separate from the other apostles? Which didn’t make sense to me. I’ve never known anyone who read an NIV bible so had no one to ask. At any rate I just wanted to clarity as to whether that was true or not.
If posters here have an NIV and don’t understand it that way then I would take them at their word, and then I’d have to suppose the person I heard say that was wrong.
Again it is why I ask for clarification.

Paul was also a Follower of Jesus wasn’t he? Which would’ve made him a Christian and my understanding is that he was in line with other apostles who founded the Catholic Church per directions from Jesus.
 
Fauken said:
I rather like it. It’s the most literal translation I have. I wonder if I should have waited for the Ignatius study bible to come out, but I can get one later if I really want to when they’re published.
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I’m thinking of getting the study bible. I don’t really like bibles that don’t have a study element to them. Also, I’ve found that each one tells you some little bit of information that might be different so I like to read a few. I also use Young’s Literal Translation a lot. I don’t know Greek and that really helps every now and then. In the bible words, and how they’re translated, are very important! (as I’m sure you know).

Fran
 
frangiuliano115 said:
I’m thinking of getting the study bible. I don’t really like bibles that don’t have a study element to them. Also, I’ve found that each one tells you some little bit of information that might be different so I like to read a few. I also use Young’s Literal Translation a lot. I don’t know Greek and that really helps every now and then. In the bible words, and how they’re translated, are very important! (as I’m sure you know).

Fran
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🙂 Boy, you might have had a problem if you’d lived in the early church wouldn’t you?

You might also look into that Amplified Bible I mentioned. It can be difficult to just read because it is so wordy, but as I understand it it gives multiple meanings of words in each verse, which makes it excellent for study.
 
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