Non-Catholic Study Bible for my son

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bowmandj

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Does anyone know if there is a non-Catholic Study Bible that is at least somewhat consistent with, or does not contradict, Catholicism? My boy wants one, but I cannot succeed in interestinng him in a Catholic one. He is stubborn about wanting to keep an open mind. I am happy with this much, since his Mom is Hindu and I am a non-practicing Catholic and am reintroducing myself to the faith. I believe my son is picking up on my interest, and I have to be careful about how to approach this. He has an NSRV Bible, and I saw him looking at the Study Bibles at Borders (they have a going out of business sale), and he remarked at how expensive they are. I don’t care about the price, but want to get him one that will not lead him astray.

If anyone knows who I can best put this question to, that information will be appreciated as well.

Thanks!
 
Can’t help you on the study guide, but he isn’t being" open minded" if he refuses to use a Catholic guide and will only look at a Non-Catholic one. He will only see one side. Does he understand how he’s being close minded to the Catholic viewpoint?
 
There’s a Catholic Bible that’s out right now for teenagers. It’s called the Catholic Teen Bible, you can find it here store.lifeteen.com/catholicteenbible.aspx. Try to see if that one will interest him if you haven’t tried yet. He really isn’t being open minded if he’s refusing a Catholic Bible.
 
I also want to add that most Non-Catholic Bible’s will contradict Catholicism. They are mostly coming from a Protestant view point.
 
kaneata and La Vie Sainte:

Thank you for your viewpoint. I see it is another “open-minded” trap I have to help him avoid. I will look into the Catholic Teen Bible. I guess Protestantism is, after all, protestantism. I will still entertain any “neutral” (bad word) study Bible, though, from anyone if such exists. Else, plan B.

I’m amazed at the quick replies. I feel bad I went away for a short while.

Thanks again.
 
The key thing about a study Bible is that it explains the Scripture readings. So, for example, in John 6 (one of the most important chapters in the Bible because it deals with the Real Presence in the Eucharist), Jesus gives the Bread of Life Discourse. In the commentary for a protestant Bible, it will say that when Jesus said “You must eat my flesh and drink my blood” he meant it as a symbol, not literally. But Catholics will read it and see that Jesus repeated this 3 times, and after that many of his followers left him because “This is a hard saying.” He didn’t call them back - he let them go. So, I’m with the others who encourage a Catholic Study Bible (Ignatius is great. Also the New Catholic Answer Bible - Librosario - is great because it includes apologetics. Catholic Teen Bible good too.)

Perhaps God is calling you home through your son. Isn’t that cool!
 
I have to agree he is not being open minded with refusing a Catholic Study Bible. I see you recieved some suggestions for a good Catholic Study Bible. Now if he still insists on a non Catholic Bible what I would do is pair them. Get a good Catholic Study Bible and a good none Catholic. I guess if I had to make a suggestion it would be the Lutheran Study Bible. It can be found by clicking here It is at cph.org.

But like I said I would make it a package deal. Just my :twocents:
 
Perhaps I am being presumptous but the issue may not be one of having an open mind or finding the right study Bible at all. When I hear someone say that they have an open mind yet they reject Catholicism out of hand, I have to ask what clear and obvious teaching of the Church they have difficulty with and why.

I ask myself if this person doesn’t have some present habitual behavior or some past event which the Catholic Church teaches is sinful. Is this causing the person to reject Catholicism and search for a faith which does not demand that they change their behavior but justifies it instead? An indication that this might be the case is when you ask the person why they won’t look at Catholicism and they cite something about Church authority or the Church being an institution of men, claim that men can’t forgive sins, or talk about papal infallibility stating that the pope is an ordinary man like everyone else. A clear indication is when they are asked point blank if they will consider Catholisism and they hesitate, then bring up the Church sex scandals powerfully.

Again, please pardon my presumption. I don’t mean to accuse anyone. I’m simply making an observation from what I have experienced in the past. It has been my experience that when people dismiss Catholicism out of hand, especially ex-Catholics, they just don’t want to deal with something Catholicsim clearly teaches. I mean, lets face it, if I were in sin and looking for a religion, Catholicism wouldn’t be my first choice. Catholic teaching on contraception, the indissolubility of marriage, and sex in general, are not the easiest things to embrace. Even the example of priestly celibacy puts many ill at ease with their own behavior.

My recommendation would be to get the **Ignatius Study Bible, New Testament Edition **for yourself and let the boy know that he can borrow it whenever he wants. It’s an awsome Bible with word studies and topical essays.

-Tim-
 
Thank you all - Orchanian, workingman, hn160, and Miriam1947.

You are all giving me material to work with. I have made false starts to get some help on this issue, and now and here in CAF non-Catholic Religions forum I hit a wellspring. I was very worried about this issue. I hope to now proceed with some confidence.

Thanks for your thoughtful consideration of my “problem” (opportunity).
 
Thank you, TimothyH. My boy did remark that Catholicism is “too strict”. So your presumption does not appear to be presumptuous. You simply give me more to consider and.more to work with. Orchanian says God is calling me home through my son. So, I kinda gotta get this right for both of us. If my son is falling into this trap. I must help him see it and avoid it, and avoid it myself.
 
bowmandj said:
Does anyone know if there is a non-Catholic Study Bible that is at least somewhat consistent with, or does not contradict, Catholicism? My boy wants one, but I cannot succeed in interestinng him in a Catholic one. He is stubborn about wanting to keep an open mind. I am happy with this much, since his Mom is Hindu and I am a non-practicing Catholic and am reintroducing myself to the faith. I believe my son is picking up on my interest, and I have to be careful about how to approach this. He has an NSRV Bible, and I saw him looking at the Study Bibles at Borders (they have a going out of business sale), and he remarked at how expensive they are. I don’t care about the price, but want to get him one that will not lead him astray.

If anyone knows who I can best put this question to, that information will be appreciated as well.

Thanks!
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bowmandj - I totally agree with your approach.

When I want my kids to eat something “new” (which in our house means gluten and sugar free) I prepare it for myself and quietly eat it. I am amazed at the response!

If I would have brought it to my kids they would have complained and possibly refused to eat it - when I eat it myself they ask for a bite!
Kids can be very funny about this kind of thing. I would handle it the same way you are.

I don’t know the age of your son, but my 17 year old has recently been reading the YOUCAT which is the new Catechism written for teens (and possibly a little younger). He gives it a very strong recommendation for young people wanting to learn about the faith in a very easy-to-read format. It is not intimidating and he even likes the pictures.

You have great insight to your son and his learning style. Keep up the good work! 👍

ps - I agree with others that we have to be careful when tip-toeing around our Catholic faith so I find it helpful to discuss the many contributions that Catholics have made to society. For example, hospitals, orphanages, universities, scientific discoveries…This is a great way to look at the service aspect of our faith which, in this day and age, many kids like.
 
Thanks, lax16, for the encouragement and ideas, and the analogy to your family. My son is 16. I am off to a good start, now. Unfortunately, I wish I had started this thread months ago. School has started, and he is making up a class as well, so he’s loaded down. So I will proceed deliberately, in full view of my boy, all the while learning about all the wonders of Catholicism myself. Once a week or so we can go through the study Bible(s), allowing him to use his own and I will have one like the Ignatius one.

I will look into all the resources mentioned by all of you who have responded to me. I’m not averse to piling up on references.
 
bowmandj said:
Thank you, TimothyH. My boy did remark that Catholicism is “too strict”. So your presumption does not appear to be presumptuous. You simply give me more to consider and.more to work with. Orchanian says God is calling me home through my son. So, I kinda gotta get this right for both of us. If my son is falling into this trap. I must help him see it and avoid it, and avoid it myself.
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Catholicism is too strict? Ask your boy if Heaven is “too strict” to get in? 🤷 It is not about God conforming to us;moreover,us conforming to Him. Your son seems very young those words usually come from a teenager or young adult.

May I make a suggestion? Tell your son to have one Catholic Study Bible and one Protestant one,thus he can compare differences and similarities. Now, at the same time,I would not let your son get confused by the differences. Also get a Youth Catechism which may or may not be available.

Good Luck!
 
Nicea325 said:
Catholicism is too strict? Ask your boy if Heaven is “too strict” to get in? 🤷 It is not about God conforming to us;moreover,us conforming to Him. Your son seems very young those words usually come from a teenager or young adult.

May I make a suggestion? Tell your son to have one Catholic Study Bible and one Protestant one,thus he can compare differences and similarities. Now, at the same time,I would not let your son get confused by the differences. Also get a Youth Catechism which may or may not be available.

Good Luck!
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Get the YOUCAT. New Catholic catechism for young people.

You can buy it online at Ignatius.com or at your local Catholic bookstore.

I have them in stock if you need one. 😃
 
Thanks. The idea of prowling around Catholic bookstores sounds appealing to me. Better than wasting my time at Borders or Starbucks. We need Catholic coffee shops! Too many communists in those other places. Have you noticed that young people take religious studies in secular universities to refute religion? That’s the conclusion I’ve come to. I hope I’m wrong.

I talked openly to some Catholics at Borders coffee shop recently, and I guess that was too much for them. They had obvious Catholic material with them. I guess we don’t talk out loud, given the way we are portrayed and perceived. Well, I went ahead and talked unabashedly about the books they had. I wanted my boy to hear me. I noticed the woman kept glancing my way after that. like she had something in her that wanted ears to listen. Is that how we are?

Now, back to love thy neighbor.

Good question, Nicea325. I’ll be waiting for the best opportunity to use that line. He’s 16. As to your idea of two study Bibles, I I think he would actually be happy with both. He has questions often enough.

Thanks again, Miriam 1947. Prove It and YouCat are on my list.
 
bowmandj said:
Thanks, lax16, for the encouragement and ideas, and the analogy to your family. My son is 16. I am off to a good start, now. Unfortunately, I wish I had started this thread months ago. School has started, and he is making up a class as well, so he’s loaded down. So I will proceed deliberately, in full view of my boy, all the while learning about all the wonders of Catholicism myself. Once a week or so we can go through the study Bible(s), allowing him to use his own and I will have one like the Ignatius one.

I will look into all the resources mentioned by all of you who have responded to me. I’m not averse to piling up on references.
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Having one of each (yours and his) is an excellent idea that will promote lots of dialogue between you and your son about the scriptures which will in turn strengthen the faith and theology of both of you. That would be much better than no (or minimal) dialogue at all.

One thing to be careful of is not to make it a “mine is right and yours is wrong” type of discussion. That would be very counterproductive and likely turn him off to the whole idea in the future. As parents, we can’t make our faith our kids’ faith no matter how much we want to. All we can do is encourage and pray. And how much more faith will our children have when they make the decision themselves instead of “Dad or Mom says so”!

👍

Just to add my study Bible recommendations… I have a MacArthur and a Ryrie (both NASB) study Bibles which are two of the most popular. Both are good and have their pros and cons. Both are the same physical size.

I generally prefer the MacArthur one because the notes are more exhaustive and better, in my opinion, in all regards—especially the historical and cultural details. The text is written in paragraph form and the font is smaller than the Ryrie. My biggest complaint about the MacArthur one is that it does not have the words of Christ in red. The MacArthur definitely has a superior layout for the notes in that it bolds the keywords or scripture phrases at the beginning of each note. That makes it a LOT easier to quickly find the note to the verse you just read.

The Ryrie is red letter and larger font (it can be printed in larger font and keep the physical size of the Bible the same because there are fewer notes). The Ryrie has one verse per line which is helpful for quickly looking up verses but a little more cumbersome with reading. The margins are nice and wide for making your own notes, if you like to write in your Bible. I also prefer the layout of the cross references in the Ryrie.

Theologically, in the “controversial” verses on salvation, MacArthur’s bias is more to the Calvinistic side and Ryrie tries to be more generic/neutral. I wouldn’t let that deter you from the MacArthur, though, as long as you’re aware of it, because the rest of the notes are absolutely excellent.

All in all, though, both are very good and I’m sure your son would be happy with either.
 
FaithfulAnd True - I will try very hard not to be “right” all the time, understanding that this will put him off. Just good dialogue will be much safer, I agree. This is new territory for me, so I hope one screwup doesn’t undo five good discussions. I must be extra careful, calm, and definitely no caffeine. No dialogue sessions when I’m tired (and easily irritated) or not feeling well, either. This could turn me into a new person.

I had never heard of those two study Bibles, and your description of them raises my interest. My Bible is an NAB, so I don’t know what an NASB is but I will find out. It is interesting that one exists that is neutral/generic, but the MacArthur does seem better anyway. I really don’t think I would have a problem with the Calvinistic bent, because I will be equipped to deal with it.

I will have to look at all these and decide what to get my son and what I will use. It may well be more than one.

I did pick up a copy of the Prove It - The Catholic Teen Bible, and Ignatius Catholic Study Bible - The New Testament. At the same time, I want to have some other resources, such as you and a few others have recommended.

Thanks you, and all of you, for your interest in helping my son and me. I will refer to all of your kind notes - advice, encouragement and admonitions - as guideposts to help me in this exciting and important new endeavor.
 
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