I got a Protestant bible for my birthday.

[TheologicalLeft]

I threw mine away when I got it.

 

[TheologicalLeft]

Found it useless.

 

[ready]

So, I got received into the Church a little less than a year ago, and before I wasn’t very religious. Neither is anyone else in my family but my grandma. My grandma is Episcopal, and even though I was going into the Catholic Church she was still excited that I had come to Christianity and now started to live a Christian life. My birthday was yesterday and she got me a gift. It was a Bible, a Protestant one though. I accepted it, and I thanked her and gave her a hug. I appreciate the gift. Especially because I don’t think she is aware that Catholic Bibles have seven more books in the Old Testament then Protestants do. What should I do with it now? Could I read it?

You can’t read it. Bury it or burn it, don’t let it get into anyone else’s hands. You should purchase St. Jerome’s translation of the Bible, the Douay-Rheims Bible. God bless you.

 

[wmw]

You should do the same as you would any ill fitting gift. Return it, or trade it in for what you want.

 

[pianistclare]

You should do the same as you would any ill fitting gift. Return it, or trade it in for what you want.

If it were me? I would donate it to a child of a protestant faith, and get a Catholic Bible. Most people don’t bother doing internet searches for various translations…
I would pay it forward. It was a lovely gift. But myself, for me, I would prefer the NSRV, Catholic Edition. It has large print, LOL!
If you are comfortable with it, use it! It was very sweet of her to buy it for you.

 

[Fidelis]

As far as I know, the NKJV isn’t especially anti-Catholic. Of course, since it is missing 7 books and parts of two others, you don’t want to use it for your primary Bible. It never hurts to have an alternate translation or two around. Since no translation is perfect, different translations often bring out the fuller meaning of a word, passage or phrase.

I would echo the caution against Protestant footnotes and commentary as you may run into interpretations that conflict with Catholic teaching. If you are not VERY well educated in the Catholic Faith (especially in some of the subtle but important theological differences between Catholicism and the various protestantisms), you’d best avoid them.

There are some translations that do have subtle but serious Protestant bias, most notably the NIV. Again. if you are trained enough to recognize error, it should be no problem. If you run into anything in your Protestant Bible that seems to run counter to Catholic interpretations or teaching, the Catholic position should be your default position.

 

[dronald]

This thread took quite a turn. Lol.

 

[MarianCatholic]

You can’t read it. Bury it or burn it, don’t let it get into anyone else’s hands. You should purchase St. Jerome’s translation of the Bible, the Douay-Rheims Bible. God bless you.

Wow, sorry for saying so but you sound awfully extreme in your formulation!
Bury it or burn it? Really?!
I mean come on, it isn’t toxic even though its not a catholic bible (who always are preferable).
I personally would never feel comfortable burning the Holy Bible even if the one I had in hand happened to be a Protestant bible, nah it would feel like some sort of denial of the faith to do so.

I myself has several bibles, but only one of them is Catholic and contains all of the 73 books and its the New Jerusalem Bible.
In my country they don’t make catholic bibles in my native language and its really exhausting to read in English everytime I want to read the bible so I often turn to my “Lutheran bible” when reading.

I think it’s important however to say clear if the “super” Protestantic ones like the Pentacostal ones and so on.
The Lutheran ones are far closer to the catholic ones than the rest of them.

So don’t burn it, if you don’t want it give it to someone who would appriciate it
And if you feel like it, read it

Yours in Jesus and Mary
-MarianCatholic

 

[MarianCatholic]

The Douay-Rheims Bible.

It is by far the best available bible, but unfortunately it’s written in a older form of English and its quite heavy to read especially if one are only speaking English as their second language…

Yours in Jesus and Mary
-MarianCatholic

 

[Furius]

I would keep it simply as a gift reminder of the one who gave it to you. I do this with many Bibles I have been given as gifts. Even Catholic Bibles I purchased because they were aesthetically pleasing, I would not use as readers but sort of decoration.
I have a Protestant Bible I bought one time that I would read, but when I reverted back to the Church, I stopped reading it, but kept it as a sort of memento of my journey so to speak.

For Scripture reading, I have a raggedy Catholic student Bible that I mark up and highlight. I bought it in a second hand store for a couple bucks.

 

[captainrick]

I have Catholic Bibles, Protestant Bibles, the Koran, and several volumes of the Talmud. They are interesting, and provide insight into other religions.

 

[cheezey]

If my Grandmother gave me a gift, especially with such excitement, I’d keep it.
If said gift were a Christian Bible not of my faith, I’d still keep because my Grandma gave to me. And it is mostly the same. Just keep the differences in mind. Learn from the differences.

And keep in mind how many Grandmas we get in a lifetime and how excited she probably was to give it to you. And then think how blessed you are to have such a Grandma, who is so pleased with her grandson.

I still have gifts of my Grandmothers, now long passed; didn’t like some of the items at first.
But they thought and thought to get me just the right gift. Nice reminders of them both.

God’s Peace

 

[ready]

It is by far the best available bible, but unfortunately it’s written in a older form of English and its quite heavy to read especially if one are only speaking English as their second language…

Yours in Jesus and Mary
-MarianCatholic

Are you referring to the newer version of the Douay-Rheims Bible in the English language or to the original Old English translation? I don’t think that the newer version is difficult to understand. Really I don’t, but English is my first language. God bless you.

 

[ready]

Wow, sorry for saying so but you sound awfully extreme in your formulation!
Bury it or burn it? Really?!
I mean come on, it isn’t toxic even though its not a catholic bible (who always are preferable).
I personally would never feel comfortable burning the Holy Bible even if the one I had in hand happened to be a Protestant bible, nah it would feel like some sort of denial of the faith to do so.

I myself has several bibles, but only one of them is Catholic and contains all of the 73 books and its the New Jerusalem Bible.
In my country they don’t make catholic bibles in my native language and its really exhausting to read in English everytime I want to read the bible so I often turn to my “Lutheran bible” when reading.

I think it’s important however to say clear if the “super” Protestantic ones like the Pentacostal ones and so on.
The Lutheran ones are far closer to the catholic ones than the rest of them.

So don’t burn it, if you don’t want it give it to someone who would appriciate it
And if you feel like it, read it

Yours in Jesus and Mary
-MarianCatholic

If you don’t feel comfortable burning a Bible, even though it is heretical one, that’s fine. But you should at least keep it from passing into somebody else’s hands, and bury it. It is a sin for Catholics to read Protestant literature or to circulate it. The only time we as Catholics are permitted to read anything Protestant is when we are doing some necessary research. In fact, Catholics are prohibited from having heretical literature in their homes; if they keep heretical books in their home for more than 30 days after being aware that it is prohibited in the home under pain of excommunication, then they get automatically excommunicated. This is the traditional teaching of the Church. God bless you.

 

[cheezey]

everybody’s hands?

 

[Iron_Donkey]

If you don’t feel comfortable burning a Bible, even though it is heretical one, that’s fine. But you should at least keep it from passing into somebody else’s hands, and bury it. It is a sin for Catholics to read Protestant literature or to circulate it. The only time we as Catholics are permitted to read anything Protestant is when we are doing some necessary research. In fact, Catholics are prohibited from having heretical literature in their homes; if they keep heretical books in their home for more than 30 days after being aware that it is prohibited in the home under pain of excommunication, then they get automatically excommunicated. This is the traditional teaching of the Church. God bless you.

Sources please. I’m pretty sure you’re just completely wrong here - it might be that the old law, that is to say the old disciplinary rules had such penalties, but such are not inviolable teachings.

Though I’m no expert and there could be more elsewhere, it seems like the portion of canon law found here would mention any requirements to destroy or get rid of such works, as well as any penalties of excommunication. But while this part of the law seems to put restrictions on the publication of such material, and the distribution by certain groups, I see nothing whatsoever to suggest that anything you said is true. So again - if what you say is true, please provide a source that is currently in force.

To the OP - barring any manifestation of sources backing up the claims made above, just use your prudential judgement. If you think that it is likely to confuse you beyond your reasonable ability to resolve, then don’t read it. If you think that you possess the means to resolve any confusion that may occur, then feel free until something causes you to feel otherwise.

It would probably be a good idea to keep a Catholic source nearby in case you run into something that seems off, but with the internet these days that’s hardly a problem (many full Catholic bibles and the Catechism are online for free). Should you decide to limit your reading to Catholic bibles for now, I personally would probably keep it as a memento and get another Catholic Bible - unless (and only you would know this) your Grandmother would be just as excited if the two of you went out bible shopping together to exchange it or similar.

 

[Furius]

If you don’t feel comfortable burning a Bible, even though it is heretical one, that’s fine. But you should at least keep it from passing into somebody else’s hands, and bury it. It is a sin for Catholics to read Protestant literature or to circulate it. The only time we as Catholics are permitted to read anything Protestant is when we are doing some necessary research. In fact, Catholics are prohibited from having heretical literature in their homes; if they keep heretical books in their home for more than 30 days after being aware that it is prohibited in the home under pain of excommunication, then they get automatically excommunicated. This is the traditional teaching of the Church. God bless you.

This interests me. I would like clarification on this and source material if you could provide it. You would be saving me time and effort to research myself.
Strangely, another reason I kept the Protestant Bible’s in my possession were to keep them from being distributed. I didn’t think keeping them was a problem. I also felt that my keeping them from being distributed was not a requirement, but rather something I decided to do of my own volition.
I also should mention that I have a Koran and Book of Mormon that I read, not for any other reason than to learn what they believe so that I can better dismantle them in debate. It is pure research. I also bought a “Christian Science” Hymn book at a second hand store. I don’t read it as for reading it is worthless to me, but I bought it so no one else would get it; and also because it strikes my funny bone as a secondary reason. I of course do not think heresy is funny, but some just strike me as so ridiculous that I find them funny. (Not trying to offend anyone by this, but I am being honest here about my reasoning and I can’t help what strikes my sense of humor)

If it is of course revealed to me that your assertion here is right, I will eradicate said books. I do not play around when it comes to the binding orders of the Faith. I must admit though, it would pain me to eradicate the Bibles. I am really hoping that I would not be bound to do that, even if they are lacking in some way.
I am aware the Church has had to eradicate heretical Bible’s in the past, as they should have. I guess what would make me satisfied to eradicate them would also be an explanation in the heretical elements in them that were purposely placed inside them their pages to deceive. But of course, a binding order is a binding order, so even if one such explanation doesn’t come, I would still follow to order. I just would really like to feel good about it if I have to.

 

[Mystophilus]

Protestant bibles contain error and anti catholic slant.

That second claim is untrue if applied to all Protestant Bible translations. While some translations (e.g., the notorious NIV) certainly do show evidence of translation according to the doctrinal biases of the translators, others (e.g., the NKJV in question) are entirely the product of the translators’ attempt to faithfully render the original, in which there is no anti-Catholic slant.

 

[Mystophilus]

It’s NKJV, I don’t think Protestant Bibles are different in doctrines than Catholic Bibles are. It’s still the same books. Protestants miss-interpret scripture but I don’t think there would be any false doctrine in it.

That translation is not doctrinally biased, and so you are fine there. What I would suggest is getting a Catholic Bible, because it has the other books/parts and because it is the form of Scripture which you will hear read in church, but keeping the NKJV for the sake of the giver.

Also, unless you read Hebrew and Aramaic and Greek, it is very useful to have multiple translations, because comparing them can help you to understand better what the translators were trying to convey.

 

[Mystophilus]

You should do the same as you would any ill fitting gift. Return it, or trade it in for what you want.

Maybe there is some cultural difference in play here, but, if my grandma went out and bought me a jumper which she loved but which did not fit me, I would never return it or trade it in.