I don't like reading the Bible and Jesus isn't my "friend". Oh yeah, I'm Catholic

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ScapularDude

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Is there something wrong with this. I am the way Iam.

No doubt, I AM Catholic. I’m 25 and abandoned Protestantism in high school, and even declared myself atheist for some time. I believe the Catholic Church is the Church of Jesus Christ, and do my best to defend Her with Scripture, Catechism, and history whenever I need to. I also attend Tridentine Mass almost exclusively, just because the Novus Ordo parishes around me are known for being unorthodox.

I absolutely find no enjoyment in reading the Bible. I do know about the it however: history, contents of books, relation toTradition,etc.I just don’t enjoy reading it or find any comfort from it. Listening to the readings is quite enough for me.

Also, I can’t comprehend how people think Jesus is a friend. I do not see Him, God Himself, as a friend at all. I honor Him and fear His Judgement, but do not have warm friendly relationship with him at all…nor do I want one…or anything beyond what I have now.

Am I doing something wrong?

I attend Mass 1-2 times per week, go to Confession every other week, do First Fridays and Saturdays, etc…i just have no interest in reading the Bible any more than I need to (apologetics, etc) and do not see Jesus as a friend.

I notice some other Christians fell all warm and fuzzy over the Bible. I don’t. It’s a collection of 72 books to me.
I do nothing spiritual outside contemplative prayer, rosary, Mass, and Confession.

I devote much time and energy with school (medicine) and my classical music interests (Mozart,opera,composing,piano,etc).
 
Just curious - what does practicing “contemplative prayer” mean in your experience?
 
Forget feelings. If Got gives them to you thank Him. if not, thank Him.

Learn to turn your work into Prayer. Turn diligently done work (medical study) into a prayer. A conversation with God. God is passing by you hourly. He’s in your work, your ordinary day.

God is the tendermost Father. Regain your spiritual childhood. Not naiveté, but childhood.

Father we have an hour and half of hard study ahead of us. I don’t want to displease you, teach me about your wonderful design of the body. Help me learn this, help me master this very well so that I can serve you in my work. Help me learn this so I can serve others. Please lend me your fortitude and patience. Renew in me my joy of the struggle. My Guardian Angel intercede for me.

And off you go into your work with God. Believe me, trust me, it changes everything.

Bring your work to the Holy Mass. At offertory time, ask the Lord to accept your work from the previous day. Lord here is my work as well done as I can do, please do something miraculous with it somewhere in the world. All I do I do for the love of you.
 
You sound like an empty religious. You go through the motions but it doesn’t really mean anything to you.

If you don’t see the Lord as a Personal Creator and friend or Father to be loved (as well as feared and honored), that is almost the same as a fearful pagan-like worship.

The Bible isn’t just a collection of books, its the Word of the Lord. If you don’t read it and feel it profound, then perhaps you worship your hobbies more than the Creator.

I think perhaps you believe intellectually but have not fully surrendered to Christ in totality.
I struggle with this also. Contrite yourself. Think of the passion. Humble yourself. Seek the Lord as a child.

Maybe instead of trite Mozart, try listening to Bach or Handel. Air for G string, Jesus, Joy of man’s Desiring, etc… Some of Vivaldi’s Guitar concertos are outright beautiful as well. Something with the gravity Mozart doesn’t typically seem to have. The Requiem Mass is an exception not the rule.

May this with the Grace of Christ help you find what you lack and the Lord guide you to where he wants you to be, because you asking means you know there is something amiss.
 
You sound fine to me, does this make you unhappy or is it just that other people acting differently makes you doubt yourself?

Remember we all serve God in different ways and we all have different relationships to God. I love God, but not as my friend, I love Him as my Lord and King, my relationship with Him is of a servant to a master, it is like that because that is the kind of relationship He knows suits how He has made me.

Reading the Bible for me is only good because I do it for a purpose, that purpose isn’t pleasure it is to learn who my King is and how best to serve Him and defend Him against His enemies.

But its fine if you don’t read it’s not for everyone.
 
ScapularDude said:
Is there something wrong with this. I am the way Iam.

No doubt, I AM Catholic. I’m 25 and abandoned Protestantism in high school, and even declared myself atheist for some time. I believe the Catholic Church is the Church of Jesus Christ, and do my best to defend Her with Scripture, Catechism, and history whenever I need to. I also attend Tridentine Mass almost exclusively, just because the Novus Ordo parishes around me are known for being unorthodox.

I absolutely find no enjoyment in reading the Bible. I do know about the it however: history, contents of books, relation toTradition,etc.I just don’t enjoy reading it or find any comfort from it. Listening to the readings is quite enough for me.

Also, I can’t comprehend how people think Jesus is a friend. I do not see Him, God Himself, as a friend at all. I honor Him and fear His Judgement, but do not have warm friendly relationship with him at all…nor do I want one…or anything beyond what I have now.

Am I doing something wrong?
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You don’t seem too bad. The only cause of concern is the part I bolded, the “or anything beyond what I have now”. We should always seek to come closer and closer to God and love Him more and more (affection/feeling is not to be confused with love), and not idle along the way. Feelings may or may not be apart of this. But thank God for them if He sends them. If not, thank Him for still giving you the grace to come closer to Him. Also Jesus is your friend, whether or not He is Master or God. It’s always good to have friends in high places. :rolleyes:
 
But Jesus IS your friend. 🙂

Remember what He said : “15 I will not now call you servants … but I have called you friends: because all things whatsoever I have heard of my Father, I have made known to you.” (John 15:15) So He indeed wants a relationship of friendship (and more) with us. Not a mere distant master-servant relationship.

Perhaps it might help to reflect on Him at His most tender-hearted and human moments:

Hungry in the wilderness.
Thirsty on the Cross.
Asleep from fatigue in the boat.
Taking pity on the embarrassed hosts at the Wedding at Cana or the woman caught in adultery.
Weeping over Lazarus’ death.
Telling the Apostles how much He longs to share the Last Supper (his last bit of real friendly human contact) with them before He suffers.
Begging them to stay awake and watch with Him through His agony in the Garden.
Shrinking from the cup of suffering and begging the Father to take it away.
Sparing a thought for Mary’s and John’s welfare and entrusting them to each other as He dies.
Gently calling Mary’s name at the tomb when she doesn’t recognise Him.

There’s a reason He became Man, and part of it was to have a human as well as spiritual connection with us.
 
TheQuestioner said:
You don’t seem too bad. The only cause of concern is the part I bolded, the “or anything beyond what I have now”. We should always seek to come closer and closer to God, and not idle along the way.
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Hey if the guy doesn’t get any warm fuzzy feelings from God, no need to act like he should.

To the OP: I think you’re fine (for now at least). You actually kinda remind me of myself only a bit more religious (pretty much the only religious thing I do is go to Mass every Sunday and hope I get the guts and time to go to Confession at least once a year >_>;; ).

The benefits of your kind of thinking? You’re less likely to rely on feelings and more on your head to stick to your faith and beliefs.

At least that’s my experience. 😛

P.S.

Oh and like you, I also see the Bible as less of an entertainment tool and more of an instruction manual… unless of course I need apocalyptic references and a bit of Hebrew Mythology for my stories. 😛
 
Jesus is my friend. Jesus even says in the Bible “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” (John 15:13). “You are my friends” He says right after that (verse 14). Jesus considers us His friends. Return the favor and be His friend.

Also, I like reading the Bible. I find it spiritually enlightening and … on occassion… I find it entertaining. I don’t know if that’s appropriate but that’s how I feel.
 
Lost_Wanderer said:
Hey if the guy doesn’t get any warm fuzzy feelings from God, no need to act like he should.
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That’s not what I meant by getting closer to God. Getting closer to God involves greater devotion and worship, stronger faith, further reliance on God, continuing hope, growth in love (again not affection), acknowledgment of and detachment from sin and constant self-abandonment to the Will of God.

None of this involves feelings, just ask Mother Theresa
 
Soime people relate to the world primarily through feelings, and some throuth thinking. It’s a matter of how we pop out, I think, and one isn’t better than the other - although they each have advantages and disadvantages. I’m in the latter group, as I suspect you are. I find feelings more obscure, and ideas more clear - the concrete is less clear to me, and the abstract more real.

There are some really great things about this. It can be easier to relate to the idea of God than for those who are very focused on concrete things. You probably find you can grasp theological ideas well, and not be led by appeals to your emotion.

Don’t let people tell you that way of relating is not “real”. It is just as real as the emotional way - and both are really a bit one-sided. Remember to that it isn’t all “fuzy” emotions - anger, sadness, and fear, can all be part of it.

However, you don’t want to limit yourself. You still have emotions, and God created us with them for a reason. Over time you may find your emotional relationship with God increases, and that is ok. I’ve found over the years, that at certain times e I related much more at that level, for instance when I had my children. Also, I experience much of my emotional connection to God through music. I sometimes find it a bit disconcerting because I am not used to it, but I think it is important not to run away from that.

Also - in my experience myself and with others, people who operate in this way can sometimes be really overwhelmed if there are sudden strong emotions for some reason - a marriage break up, a death, whatever. Someone who is good at dealing with emotions actually manages them better, which is logical enough. Being overwhelmed like that can make a person really lose control of that emotion which they are not used to, and do crazy things, so that is something to watch out for, including in your relationship with God. Not so much with the fuzzy emotions perhaps, but when we are called to suffering, it can be difficult to integrate that intellectually.
 
On the Bible,

Get hooked first on the Gospels. Read just a page or so a day, and “enter the scene” as one of the characters. Put your imagination (your whole heard, mind, soul, strength) to work for you in your relationship with God. Imagine the scene…what’d the boat look like, the cushion that Jesus laid down on on the boat, what’d it smell like, what did the apostles faces look like when the storm kicked up. Etc.

Get into the scene. It comes alive. As St Luke, St Matthew, etc. to help you get something out of it. Tell them to read it to you.
 
I’m having a great time with the Ignatius Study Bible—I get excited enough to read some of it aloud.
 
Mariusioannesp said:
Jesus is my friend. Jesus even says in the Bible “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” (John 15:13). “You are my friends” He says right after that (verse 14). Jesus considers us His friends. Return the favor and be His friend.

Also, I like reading the Bible. I find it spiritually enlightening and … on occassion… I find it entertaining. I don’t know if that’s appropriate but that’s how I feel.
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I have a real problem finding the Bible entertaining or even believable. Less so now that I have become Catholic. When I was a “born-again” evangelical it was all about “feelings” and calling God “Papa” and Jesus was"Big Brother" and that kind of Schtuff.:eek: Thanks be to God I was delivered from “deliverance.” I’m still not “entertained” by Scripture but at least I find it more believable than when I was forced to believe it! And anyone who thinks Acts Chapter 2 about speaking in tongues is for everyone, they are welcome to my share!
 
If you are not at this point in your spiritual life seeing and knowing Christ in scripture and in your prayer, look for him where he is to be found, in the face of the poor. The materially poor, the spiritually poor, the poor in health, the psychologically poor and so forth. Find someone to serve and serve as if that person is Christ. Service is the answer.
 
See if you can take the 8 week Great Adventure Bible Study by Jeff Cavins…it will open your eyes to the story of our salvation and it will most likely change your mind about reading the Word of God. I also do all the things that you do…and it was taking that class that has led me into a much deeper level of interest in my faith. I am now doing the deeper study in 24 weeks and have learned so much.
 
Knowing these things you are having trouble with (that is, if you see it as trouble; maybe hinderance), takes a great deal of patience for some. Not so much for others. I too was an atheist (for 10 years) and it can leave a mark unfortunately. Reading the Bible is a discipline (until it becomes a joy that is) and it does take time. I am a musician (trumpet and piano, mostly trumpet) and I understand that we have other stuff to do. But, I cannot even imagine medical stuff and music!
Try this if you wish to start to make it a daily thing. 3 minutes is all you need. Look for Bible verses or chapters that you like and just read them for 3 minutes. Or just read a chapter a day or something. You will begin to HEAR the message as you read it. Trust that God is with you. Try this prayer also (if you want):
“Lord, I believe but help my unbelief.”
I hope your faith grows. Take care
 
KShaft said:
You sound like an empty religious. You go through the motions but it doesn’t really mean anything to you.

Maybe instead of trite Mozart, try listening to Bach or Handel. Air for G string, Jesus, Joy of man’s Desiring, etc… Some of Vivaldi’s Guitar concertos are outright beautiful as well. Something with the gravity Mozart doesn’t typically seem to have. The Requiem Mass is an exception not the rule.

.
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Mozart’s music is hardly all trite. I consider myself quite versed in classical music(baroque, etc). I seriously composed music from ages 9-18…I’ve done little since.
Mozart’s operas are magnificent. His Mass in C minor (K 427) is awesome. He wrote that Mass as an act of thanksgiving to God.

I listen to other music also…including more modern composers like Mahler, Stravinsky, Shoenberg.

Mozart is not limited to light and trite dinner music.
 
Edward_H said:
On the Bible,

Get hooked first on the Gospels. Read just a page or so a day, and “enter the scene” as one of the characters. Put your imagination (your whole heard, mind, soul, strength) to work for you in your relationship with God. Imagine the scene…what’d the boat look like, the cushion that Jesus laid down on on the boat, what’d it smell like, what did the apostles faces look like when the storm kicked up. Etc.

Get into the scene. It comes alive. As St Luke, St Matthew, etc. to help you get something out of it. Tell them to read it to you.
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I’ve read the NT at least once time through already. I know enough to defend the Church. I pray the Rosary instead of read the Gospels. I just have no interest in re-reading and meditating on Scripture when I can pray the Rosary in front of the Blessed Sacrament.

Anyone else just not want to read parts of the Bible they already read?!
 
Lifeisawesome said:
Just curious - what does practicing “contemplative prayer” mean in your experience?
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While I’m walking, jogging, walking from class to class, study breaks…etc…lifting my heart to God with no words…etc
 
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