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

[Mariusioannesp]

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?!

You ever try meditating on Scripture while praying the rosary. That’s what I do.

 

[Dorothy]

You ever try meditating on Scripture while praying the rosary. That’s what I do.

Meditating on the mysteries of the Rosary is the main thing about the Rosary! That is why I find the Scriptural Rosary so helpful…said slowly and thoughtfully.

 

[KShaft]

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.

I have the Mass in C Minor performed by the Atlantic Symphony Orchestra under Bob Shaw.
I don’t think I liked it that much, I do remember the soprano solo being quite incredible.
It may have been more of an engineering problem. The recording sounded flat if I remember correctly… Telrac recordings sounded like that on all of my Beethoven recordings but the Ninth luckily. They are all the Cleveland Orchestra, and I personally think they handily beat Karajan’s recording with the Berliner Philharmonic. The Karajan was excellently engineered however. London records are typically well done in sound quality.

 

[ScapularDude]

Thanks everyone for sharing. We all have different experiences as Catholics. It may seem like I’m just going through the motions but I’m not. The Latin Mass I go to is anything but motions. It’s almost exclusively contemplative. Jesus is who He is to me. Still not a "friend"type. I don’t see that happening any time soon.

BTW I read the Catechism more than the Bible. I see the Catechism as kind of a Catholicism and Bible in a nutshell. I get easily irriated by extraneous information or information that is not outlined like a nice and tidy textbook.

 

[Dorothy]

Hi Scapular Dude,

You wrote: <<Still not a "friend"type. I don’t see that happening any time soon.>>

Don’t resist it when it does!

Peace,

Dorothy

 

[Hoosier]

Thanks, Dude, for posting your thoughts. You’re not the only one who feels that way. I’m older than you and I definitely have the same reactions to Christianity. I have compassion for other people, but I did that before I believed. I didn’t all of a sudden notice my fellow human beings just because I came to Jesus.
I wish you well, and appreciate all the thoughtful replies.

 

[EmeraldWings]

(part 1)

My friend, The first thing you have to dismiss is this idea that friendship or religion is based on “feelings”.
to base any decision or any belief on our feelings is irrational and unreasonable, because you have a mind and a free will, you have the choice to decide based on what you know rather than what you feel,
do you think Jesus felt any love from those who crucified Him? He loved them anyways. and do you think all those He calls “friend” consider Him a friend to? you can personally agree that that’s not so.

the question is, what makes someone your friend? the word friend has quite a few origins, but most of them are “I Love”, as in, one who you love,
and so what is love? it’s not a feeling, although feelings come from it,
true love is selfless, there are two kinds of love, the love of self-interest, and the love of friendship, the love of self-interest loves someone because they are useful or pleasant, and the love of friendship loves someone for their own sake, their own good, and to please them.
true love is willed, it goes against your own selfish inclinations, and does what we know to be for the best,
it desires the good of others, and by good i do not mean their happiness or good pleasure, but what is really and truly good for them, even if it is not what they want, because if they want something that is bad for them, and even though you know it will please them temporarily, what kind of true friend would let their friend get hurt? whether they want it or not, that’s not wanting to be a friend, that’s just wanting to be popular.

well i’m sure i could go on and on defining love, but i think that’s enough…
the fact of the matter is, Jesus loves you, He does everything for you, He has even died for you and every second of every day He walks with you guiding you and helping you, and not demanding anything in return, but simply hoping maybe for a glance His way.
it may seem like all the things we do are for God, and although we personally do them for Him, God is perfect and does not “need” anything from us, the simple truth of it is, God knows what is best for us and what will make us perfect, and has instituted all these things, such as prayer, confession, communion, worship, and everything else, for our sake, for our own spiritual growth, to help us grow in love, to help us grow in every virtue.

you don’t have to feel warm fuzzies for Jesus to consider Him your friend, you just have to do for Him what you know is good, what you know God wants from you,
but if you have trouble even wanting to do that, then perhaps the problem is not that you don’t love Him, but simply that you do not know Him,
how do you make friends? you generally start out by getting to know them right? well that’s what you must do, and don’t tell yourself that you have already tried that or that you know Him enough, because you will really never learn all there is to know about God in all of eternity,
the first step in loving someone is knowing them, why? because how can you know what you want if you do not know what it is?
reading the bible is one thing, and although it’s fine for some, it may not be for others,
i personally do not “love” reading the bible, perhaps that’s because of the way everything is phrased, i don’t really know, but there are more sources for learning to know God other than the bible,
for one there is the Life of Jesus Christ And Biblical Revelations according to Ann Catherine Emmerich - tanbooks.com/index.php/page/shop:flypage/product_id/610/keywords
that tells you about Jesus on a much more personal level which really helps you to see Who He is and how much He loves you,

and although i do not love reading the bible itself, i do love contemplating on it’s mysteries and on all of the things we are taught by it, such as the virtues.
being a good Catholic does not consist of loving everything or enjoying everything that has been given to us, sometimes if we do not enjoy what many others do, it simply means that that will not help us the same way, and that we will have better results by other means,
you just have to do what works for you, let’s not forget, we did not have the finished bible in the beginning of our religion, and even still for a long time after that it could not be reproduced as easily as it can be now, so not many had it, and yet still we have hundreds of saints from that time,

 

[EmeraldWings]

(part 2)

you’re having trouble loving God now, but i have no doubt that some time in your life you will fall head over heals for Him, God is going to enter your heart as soon as it opens up for Him, even if it’s just a sliver of an opening, and you will not be able to resist His love, after all, God is love, and who could resist love itself? if you have ever truly loved, if you have ever had a true friend, then you have loved God, because God is love, and He is in everyone.

you also have no need to fear His judgment unless you are willingly and purposely living in sin,
God does not cause us to suffer, sin causes us to suffer, and unfortunately, our sins cause us and others to suffer, and their sins cause us to suffer as well, so even if we do not sin, we will still be effected by sin, even if only in a physical way,
and any suffering going on such as starvation, or homelessness, or poverty…they are so rampant in the world right now because of two things, sin, and lack of charity…so many are willing to complain and point fingers for the suffering in the world, and yet so few are willing to give a helping hand…why do we blame God for all of these things? for all of our own problems? Jesus suffered intense tortures, He died for us, opened the gates of heaven, made forgiveness easy by the sacrament of penance, and so many other things, is this not wonderful and spectacular enough for us?? we are so unworthy, we deserve nothing, we don’t even deserve the clothes on our backs, but God gives anyways, He gives because He loves, we deserve hell and He has offered us heaven! why do we ask for anything more?

well…i’m getting kinda carried away here, and i’m not sure i helped at all, but before i go, i will give you two things that i think will help, since priests are so much better at reaching hearts then me d: especially these ones -

youtube.com/user/CatholicClips#g/p
audiosancto.org/

I call you “my friend”, not because i know you, but because i care about you, and i sincerely hope that you will find a friend in Jesus, because He certainly has one in you.
ok, i’ll be praying for you, take care.

 

[Edward_H]

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?!

ScapularDude,

Pick just the Gospels at first. And read them much more slowly, almost like a detective. What was the women doing at the well by herself at noon? Why was she by herself? Wasn’t it interesting how Jesus used his own tiredness and thirstiness to draw a woman into a conversation that could help her see things more closely. Do I often use such opportunities to raise the spiritual tone of conversations around me as naturally as Jesus did? Am I, even in my tiredness, often able to put others first? Do look for opportunities to help others even when I am tired? Do I put souls higher in priority than my comfort?

Why did a single boy have so many fishes? Was he chubby? Was he just one of those people who is prepared? Was his mother one of those generous, pack-heavy mothers?

If you slow down and take on a more detective style of questioning you can get much more out of it. This is a different mindset than the scholarly one-ups-manship style of Bible study that some take to the Bible…word origins and derivations, and so forth.

It’s a much more “pastoral approach” to reading the Bible, one that causes more self-examination, and draws out more practical lessons for you.

It’s an in-exhaustible way. I’ve read through the Bible cover to cover several times and I’ve never gotten tired of reading it. There’s always more to discover and learn and especially to challenge your own approach to generosity and apostolate.

Read the Bible with God and the apostles. Place yourself into the scene. Use all your senses and imagination. Be a detective.

God Bless.

 

[LegoGE1947]

Cracked.com has a list of the 9 most bas***** Bible quotes (pardon my French) here cracked.com/article_15699_9-most-badass-bible-verses.html. Are you going to tell me that none of these are remotely entertaining?

I have generally been turned off by magazines such as “Cracked” so no I didn’t find them entertaining just disgusting.

 

[kweschnz]

Anyone else just not want to read parts of the Bible they already read?!

There are a whole bunch of books I can simply NOT wade through yet a 4th time (I’ve read the Bible thru cover to cover 3x), while others, I relish over and over, way past 4x. Like, I won’t touch prophecy books anymore (except for a few verses in them that are useful devotionally), nor have I any use for Chronicles, Judges, Samuel, Kings, Joshua. On the other hand, a lot of folks don’t like Lev. & Deut., but I cherish those because they really open up the 10 Commandments for us and also show us what to avoid (all the New Age stuff ain’t new one jot: it’s as old as Babylon, and L & D tell us exactly what it consists of). And Jonah and Job? Both of those characters, I can TOTALLY relate to.

You might simply be a cerebral person (a “T,” to use Meyers-Briggs/Kiersey terminology), which means that even in your spirituality, you won’t be heavy duty into smarminess.

 

[kweschnz]

ScapularDude,

Pick just the Gospels at first. And read them much more slowly, almost like a detective. What was the women doing at the well by herself at noon? Why was she by herself? Wasn’t it interesting how Jesus used his own tiredness and thirstiness to draw a woman into a conversation that could help her see things more closely. Do I often use such opportunities to raise the spiritual tone of conversations around me as naturally as Jesus did? Am I, even in my tiredness, often able to put others first? Do look for opportunities to help others even when I am tired? Do I put souls higher in priority than my comfort?

Why did a single boy have so many fishes? Was he chubby? Was he just one of those people who is prepared? Was his mother one of those generous, pack-heavy mothers?

If you slow down and take on a more detective style of questioning you can get much more out of it. This is a different mindset than the scholarly one-ups-manship style of Bible study that some take to the Bible…word origins and derivations, and so forth.

It’s a much more “pastoral approach” to reading the Bible, one that causes more self-examination, and draws out more practical lessons for you.

It’s an in-exhaustible way. I’ve read through the Bible cover to cover several times and I’ve never gotten tired of reading it. There’s always more to discover and learn and especially to challenge your own approach to generosity and apostolate.

Read the Bible with God and the apostles. Place yourself into the scene. Use all your senses and imagination. Be a detective.

God Bless.

Wow! That’s my type of approach, Ed. Thanks for this post!

 

[jdc209]

It’s perfectly fine that you’re not into the whole emotionalism some people expect from religion. Faith isn’t about getting spiritual highs all the time. Sometimes it’s enough just to pray, participate in Mass, etc. but as long as one does centered on God and not as part of a monotonous boring routine. We must seek to find joy in our spiritual lives or some emotion that helps us feel connected to God, but this doesn’t mean we must depend on emotions to feel connected to the Lord.

Actually there are 73 books in the Bible But you should learn to appreciate them. I may not be an avid reader of the Bible, but I know its importance and value. I kind of like it when I have time to peruse its contents because I always find something new that I can meditate upon.