How Do Protestants Memorize Scripture?

[Pokedaughter]

Memorization of scripture is important to me because I am then able to “pray” that scripture in my heart as a promise of God.

Example: I was encouraged in a bible study I did last year to memorize Daniel 2:21:
“And he changeth the times and the seasons: he removeth kings, and setteth up kings: he giveth wisdom unto the wise, and knowledge to them that know understanding”

Through this verse I am able to pray for wisdom and knowledge regarding this election season.

To memorize scripture, I simply write the verse on a note card and I carry it in my bible, in my car, and use it as a book mark. I then look over it, say it, and pray it. That’s it!

Scripture has to mean something to me before I can memorize it because then I have “hidden it in my heart…”.

Peace.

 

[Contarini]

I had the same question. I don’t know what the problem is with memorizing Scripture - after all, we memorize pretty much everything else - the Rosary, the Mass, one’s favourite Novena, and so on.

Well, I have problems with some of the memorization that has gone on in Catholicism as well.

However, I don’t have a problem with memorizing Scripture. My problem is with the use of memorized proof texts out of context. It is the product of a particularly barren and untenable version of Sola Scriptura.

Edwin

 

[eucharisteo]

How do Protestants memorize verses of Scripture?

I really admire the fact that many protestants really immerse themselves in scripture and are able to recall verses from memory in order to provide evidence for their beliefs. I know that their interpretation is wrong, but I like the fact that they are able to support what they say without having a bible at hand.

I would also like the ability to do this during religious debates. It would be great to be able to provide and quote scripture verses to support and defend Catholic doctrine.

How do I do this? Is there a method commonly used to memorize Scripture?

This is a nice thread Dempsy, However I know cradle catholics that know scripture more readily available at their lips. In fact, I’ve memorized quite a bit of scripture to before I became Protestant and now that I’ve walked on the other side of the Nave for a while, I’ve become quite familar with scripture. The real talent is realizing the meaning. Far too many folks come up with the strangest meanings and end up making up scripture to justify their beleifs…like the rapture…only about 150 years old and really elevated withint the past 50 to 80 years in its current popular forms…not just one.

Faith alone…no…just Faith as one example. Most Protestants are unaware that the original King James Version of the bible contained the full canon of scripture. I have a copy of that one. It’s true. Later on they removed it entirely yet references remained to it. Eventually the references were removed.

 

[Cat]

I was reading a bio this weekend of one of my favorite saints, St. Anthony of Padua.

According to the bio, he had memorized the Old and New Testaments, and this is one reason he was such a riveting preacher. He KNEW the Scriptures.

Honestly, I can’t understand why anyone would argue about this subject! When an actor memorizes a script, he/she tries to gain an understanding of the lines as they go, but it is only when the director starts working with them that they are able to fully interpret the part. However, the director can’t do a whole lot with them until they KNOW THEIR LINES.

I see nothing wrong with memorizing Scripture that you don’t understand with the idea of gaining understanding as you mature in the faith. I think the act of memorizing helps you to pay closer attention and gain understanding.

 

[jmcrae]

Well, I have problems with some of the memorization that has gone on in Catholicism as well.

You are right that sometimes there is memorization without understanding. I remember working with a Catechism teacher some years ago who was teaching Grade 2 children to recite the prayers of the Rosary, but she thought they “weren’t ready” to know what the Mysteries were. I was shocked, and told her I thought she should have taught them the Mysteries first, and then added the prayers later, so that the children would understand what it was that they were doing when they were reciting the prayers. She said, “Oh. Yeah, I guess that would make more sense, wouldn’t it?”

However, I don’t have a problem with memorizing Scripture. My problem is with the use of memorized proof texts out of context. It is the product of a particularly barren and untenable version of Sola Scriptura.

I’m with you on that one, too.

 

[Dr_Kevin_Vost]

This is a fascinating thread. There are indeed many good ways to memorize scripture and many reasons for all Christians to do so. I’ll put my two cents in on a couple of issues.

1. When a previous poster referred to the “correct” Catholic listing of the 10 Commandments and another poster asked from which scriptural list this derived, I believe the original poster was simply referring to their rendering as “A Traditional Catechetical Formula” deriving from Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5 that appears after paragraph 2051 in the Catechism of the Catholic Church.
2. Memory certainly need not oppose understanding. After all, it is hard to think deeply about things that we cannot remember. We are called to glorify God with all of our mind and memorization calls forth many mental faculties including our capacities to focus our attention and to reason. When Catholic theologians like St. Albert the Great and St. Thomas Aquinas studied the nature of human memory and the techniques invented to improve it, they had far more than rote, parrot-like repetition in mind. In fact, they considered a powerful, trained memory an integral part of the virtue of prudence (practical wisdom). In other words, we should seek to memorize scripture so that we may act on it in our daily lives. St. Albert wrote in the 13th century, “among all those things that point to ethical wisdom, the most necessary is a trained memory, because from past events we are guided in the present and the future, and not from the converse.” The greatest champions in the history of memory improvement methods have been no shallow charlatans, but among the most profound thinkers in history, these including Aristotle, Cicero, St. Albert (the patron saint of scientists), and St. Thomas Aquinas (the patron saint of scholars.)

Good memorizing, understanding, and applying!

 

[system]

Well, speaking as a convert to Catholicism from Protestantism, I read Sacred Scripture a lot and, if there’s a certain passage that jumps out at me, or that I find especially encouraging, or a Psalm I want to carry with me, I repeat it over and over until I’ve drilled it into my head. It just takes time and a constant devotion to Sacred Scripture. God bless!