Questioning what I read in the Old Testament about God

[donanobis]

I have made it my New Year’s resolution to read the Bible cover to cover. I am starting with Genesis and am up to Abraham.

I can literally envision the pre-figurements in the OT scripture. God told Abraham to sacrifice ‘his only begotten son’.

“…and hast not spared thy only begotten son for my sake…” Chap.22 v.16 (douay-rheims).

I run into trouble, however, when I start to question what I am reading. Like why? would God require of a person (Abraham) to go against His (God’s) very own laws? I believe that at the time when this happened that people actually did sacrifice their children ‘in the hills and on mountaintops’. And I know He is God therefore He can do that sort of testing but is it ok for Him to tell someone to do what is not morally correct even as a test?

I wonder if I am the only person who questions this way? I am half expecting dire consequences for even posing this inquiry.

AND (big and), am I in danger of losing (what I thought was my pretty solid) Faith if I do question?

or will i gain an increase in my Faith by not being afraid to question?

Is it ok to question or do we need to accept all on Faith (as I was taught)?

help! please,

thanks, Dona

 

[crazzeto]

I think you’re getting a little futzed up by losing perspective of time… Try and look at it from Abraham’s perspective, believe it or not child sacrafice was pretty common all around him. It was quite plausable that God would ask for a child as a sacrafice. At this point, there are no 10 commandments, and it’s been quite a long time since Noe/Noah and more over there is not yet any such thing as a “choosen people”.

When you read this part of Genesis in this light, it starts making a lot more sense.

 

[Joe_5859]

Don’t be afraid to ask questions! It is better to go looking for answers rather than simply shoving the questions aside and letting them fester and turn into doubt.

You’re not the first person to wonder about that passage. It helps to understand, as crazzeto suggested, the context of what was going on at the time. Child sacrifice was not uncommon. God’s actions are a way of teaching Abraham (and everyone since) that he does not want child sacrifice.

I would recommend keeping a good Catholic Bible commentary on hand for such questions as this. The Navarre Bible Commentary is a good one. The Ignatius Catholic Study Bible is good, but so far only the New Testament has been published.

If you’re reading the D-R, you would probably also do well to check with the Haydock Bible Commentary, which is available online. Another great online resource is Biblia Clerus, created by the Vatican Congregation for the Clergy. It cross-references passages of Scripture with the writings of the Early Church Fathers and documents of the Magisterium, which gives great insight into how a passage has been interpreted throughout the history of the Church.

Here’s what Haydock says about Genesis 22: haydock1859.tripod.com/id349.html

Here’s what Biblia Clerus has on Genesis 22:1-19: clerus.org/bibliaclerusonline/en/9abu25v.htm

 

[chessmane4e5]

The only way to grow in your faith is to question Or course, I am a convert (I was agnostic) so I obviously had a lot of questions, but it is almost sad that cradle Catholics are not “allowed” (by parents or what not) to question.

I remember being told that the Bible gives accounts of man’s struggle to understand God’s plan. Abraham was asked to sacrifice his only son. Does this sound familiar? It should. It was God that sacrificed His only Son on a cross for us.

Jonah in the belly of a whale for 3 days. Christ descended into hell for 3 days.

The mysteries of God are written on our hearts, and man has always been trying to understand them. This also helps to explain why before Christ we have stories of virgin births (the Buddha) and such.

The events that happened in the Bible happened for the people at that time, but in the grand scheme of things, God was preparing His people for the Big Picture.

 

[donanobis]

To believe that it is “plausable for God to ask for a child sacrifice” is disturbing in light of today’s easy abortions. Is it possible that people got their God’s mixed up? like the One God and other god’s? Might it have been possible that an evil being directed Abraham to sacrifice Isaac and the one God stopped Abraham from doing so?

I believe that at the time when this happened that people actually did sacrifice their children ‘in the hills and on mountaintops’.

QUOTE=crazzeto;6141704 It was quite plausable that God would ask for a child as a sacrafice. … try and look at it from Abraham’s perspective, believe it or not child sacrafice was pretty common all around him.

Dona

 

[Thecapz]

My friend you have only just scratched the surface of what God has done in the Old Testament. From commanding genocide, to accepting a live burnt offering of a king’s daughter to rules on owning slaves.

Ask questions. Don’t settle on half baked answers. You will be rewarded with stronger faith…or an open mind. Again…don’t stop asking questions, there are so many that cannot be answered.

 

[crazzeto]

My friend you have only just scratched the surface of what God has done in the Old Testament. From commanding genocide, to accepting a live burnt offering of a king’s daughter to rules on owning slaves.

Ask questions. Don’t settle on half baked answers. You will be rewarded with stronger faith…or an open mind. Again…don’t stop asking questions, there are so many that cannot be answered.

And on what basis do you Judge God? You really seem to be roming around different threads looking for oppertunities to post random posts like this, with out any form of proof, scripture, support and certainly with out any form of understanding of Salvation history.

 

[Joe_5859]

Remember, too, what the Bible is: it is the story of God revealing Himself to humanity. This revelation happened gradually. God did not give us everything all at once. God’s pedagogy is incremental. He revealed Himself gradually because that is what we needed in order to process it and come to faith.

Many things in the OT don’t make sense to us today on first read because we are coming at them already knowing the end of the story. We know that things like human sacrifice are wrong, but it was something God had to teach us. This is one way that God chose to do it.

 

[chessmane4e5]

Actually I do not think God ever actually required any human sacrifices. Abraham and where he was living, may have been sacrificing humans. God required animal sacrifices, but I do not recall any actual human ones.

We also need to understand that this was a test. This was Abrahams only son. Talk about being obedient to God.

 

[cheeto1]

We know that things like human sacrifice are wrong, but it was something God had to teach us.

There was another thing like that. Jesus had told the disciples that divorce was
wrong, and they said “then why did Moses say a man could divorce his wife?”
Moses got all he had from God, and why would God instruct the people to do
something wrong? In answer, Jesus replied, “because your hearts were hard”.
Another way of saying the people did not have an understanding capable of
accepting it at the time. So I wonder if this will happen with wars too. God
commanded much war and bloodshed in the Old Testament, then Jesus said
“offer no resistance to violence”. Yet John the baptist never told the soldiers who
asked him that they must leave the army to be saved. One thing we know about
God, He always comes down to our level of understanding and works with what
He has to slowly teach us correctly. When you get to the book of Leviticus, you’ll
see many awful things the people were told not to do by God. When I read some
of those, I thought, “they were doing THAT?” and these were God’s chosen
people. They all had to be taught slowly, like us. We have no idea, but maybe
people in the future will be appalled by our behavior, because they have learned
more about God and what pleases Him.

 

[EnterCanaan]

well to answer your question, you use the bible to define the bible. why did God command Abraham, lets look at what the bible says about this.

Romans 4:2
For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory; but not before God.

Romans 4:3
For what saith the scripture? **Abraham believed **God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.

Romans 4:9
Cometh this blessedness then upon the circumcision only, or upon the uncircumcision also? for we say that **faith was reckoned to Abraham **for righteousness.

Romans 4:13
For the promise, that he should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith.

Romans 4:16
Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all,

Galatians 3:6
Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.

Galatians 3:7
Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham.

Galatians 3:9
So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham.

Hebrews 11:8
By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went.

Hebrews 11:17
By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac: and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son,

James 2:21
Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar?

James 2:23
And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God.

So we see from the bible a couple of key words

Faith
belief
works
righteosness

lets see what these all mean

Faith and belief is the same word. Except one is a verb and one is a noun. They are two words that mean the same thing. lets see what the bible has to say about faith and belief

Hebrews 11:1 (King James Version)
Now **faith is the substance **of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

God is telling us through His word, that faith, which is the same as believing, has SUBSTANCE. Substance implies energy is expelled, and expelled energy is considered work. Thus ur faith and belief in God has substance, which is considered work.

Now we are not saved by our works. Abraham was not saved by his work, However the bible clearly tells us that Abraham was accounted to God for his righteousness and his good work. So how do we tie all these in together. How did Abraham have faith if having faith of itself is considered work. How did Abraham do good work, if we are not saved by our work, what work is in question here.

Galatians 2:16 (King James Version)
Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.

It is because Abraham was accounted for righteousness because God, who is Christ, had faith in Abraham.

So to break this down.

God has saved Abraham. God has faith in Abraham, as a result of being a saved man, you have the faith of God, not your faith of your own desire to love God, but actual spiritual faith which is the faith that counts, given by God. As a result you have good works in your life.

If faith is the substance of things hoped for, then that is work, if faith is given you because Christ has paid for your sins, then that faith which is bestowed upon you is called a good work. Love is a good work. Reading the word of God and obeying it, is a good work. That is the only work that matters.

Works of law needs to be defined as vanity and your own will and desire for salvation. These dont count. Nothing you do will get you one step closer to heaven and being saved. you cannot take one giant step towards salvation by getting baptised, that is a work, you cannot take a step forward by accepting Christ, that is work and also called believing which is the substance of things hoped for. that is work and will not get you saved, charity, volunteer, tithing, adopting, giving, loving, these are all work that any person in the world can do, does this necessarily mean that person is saved… no.

only one indicator, and that is haveing absolute trust in the bible as the word of God. Even if you don’t understand, that is not the point, the point is that you trust what you read with all your heart. that you say i dont understand it, but i know it is perfect and absolute truth.

Good works are works that come as a result of being a saved person.

As we read the bible we will undoubtedly come across many verses that just make absolutely no sense. However the indication of a true child of God is to look at it and say, hey i may not understand it, but this is truth. This is exactly the way it is suppose to be. And you don’t question the validity of the account, or the merit, or the brutality, or the lesson, you accept it completely and trust it as being perfect. If you have this mentality, then asking a question is just fine because you seek to learn wisdom and bible doctrine never even once questioning if it is absolutely true or not.

i lost my train of though somewhere, if somebody is interested in a more succint answer let me know.

 

[juliamajor]

'Aqedath Yishaq-Midrash on Abraham and Isaac
(The sacrifice [lit. binding] of our father Isaac).
At the age of one hundred years and ninety years respectively, after numerous years of waiting, when all thought it could not be done, Abraham Abinu and Sarah Immenu were blessed with a son – Isaac (Yishaq Abinu).
Then one day, G – d called out to Abraham: “Abraham”, and he replied: “Here am I”. And G – d said: “Take now your…only son …Isaac, whom you love and go to the land of Moriah and offer him there for a burnt-offering, on one of the mountains that I will tell you of.”

Abraham did not know how to approach Sarah, as he knew that her soul was bound up with that of her son’s. He told her that their son was now grown but had not had the opportunity to learn how to serve G-d. He would take him to the Midrash of Shem and 'Eber where he would learn the ways of the L-rd.

All that night Sarah held her son tight and instructed Abraham to take good care of him for she had no other son. In the morning, all cried hard and long as Abraham took two of his young men with him and Isaac his son and they set off on their way.

On the way, Satan came to Abraham in the guise of an old man of lowly spirit. “Have you lost your mind,” he said to Abraham, “that you are going to slaughter your only child, whom G-d gave you late in life? Surely you realize”, he added, “that this is not G-d’s beckoning. The Al-mighty would never command you to do such a thing as take your son’s life!”

Abraham paid him no heed for he realized that this was Satan and scolded him and chased him away. But Satan returned.

This time he came in the guise of a very good-looking young man and approached Yishaq. “Did you know”, he said to him, “that your old father has lost his mind and is going to slaughter you today for naught?”

“Ignore him,” Abraham Abinu said to his son Yishaq, “for he is Satan and has come to turn us away from the Miswah (commandment) that G-d has instructed us to perform”. And they continued on their way.

On the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place from afar. He saw a pillar of fire from the ground to the Heavens and a heavy cloud in which he saw the Glory of G- d. He asked Yishaq if he too could see the mountain, to which Yishaq replied that he could also see a pillar of fire and the Glory of G-d in a cloud.

However, the two young men he took with him (Yishma’el and Eli’ezer) could only see the mountain. From this Abraham deduced that they were not to accompany him. So he put the wood for the sacrifice on his son Yishaq, took the fire and knife in his hand and he and his son continued on alone.

When they reached the place, Abraham built the altar and laid the wood upon it. Yishaq, knowing he was to be the sacrifice, helped his father to prepare it. Abraham then bound his son to place him upon the altar.

Yishaq requested his father to take the remaining ashes and give them to his mother Sarah, “But please do not tell her of this while she is near a well or a high place”, he added, “lest she throw herself off because of me, and die”.

Upon hearing this Abraham cried exceedingly, as did his son, till Yishaq requested him not to delay what the Al-mighty had commanded him to do. With that Abraham placed him upon the altar and stretched forth his hand to slay his son.

And the angel of the L-rd called to him from Heaven and said: “Abraham, Abraham,” and he replied: “Here am I.” And he said: “Lay not thy hand upon the lad… for now I know that thou art a G-d fearing man, seeing that thou hast not withheld… thine only son from me.” Then Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked and behold… a ram was caught in the thicket by his horns and he offered it as a burnt-offering instead of his son.

In the meantime, Satan, in the guise of a very humble old man visited Sarah. “Do you know”, he said to Sarah, “what Abraham did to Isaac your son? He built an altar and sacrificed him on it – mercilessly – while Isaac was crying and screaming.”

Upon hearing this Sarah cried an exceedingly loud and bitter cry. She then went with her servants to Hebron to ask if anyone had seen her son, but she received no reply. Then Satan returned, in the guise of a man, and said: “I lied to you, for Abraham did not slaughter Isaac and he is not dead.”

When Sarah heard this her joy was so great that her soul left her and she died and was gathered unto her people.

Abraham and Isaac met up with the two lads whom they left on the way and all returned home. They asked of the whereabouts of Sarah and they were told that she went to look for them because of the thing that was told to her.

So they went to Hebron in search of her and Found that she was dead. And Abraham, Isaac and all their servants raised their voices and cried a long loud cry and mourned over her a very great mourning.

 

[juliamajor]

Another Jewish perspective-
The Akedah Gained Prominence in the Late Roman Period
The Akedah, or"Binding of Isaac", is the account in the book of Genesis (22: 1-19)of Abraham, at the command of God, taking his son, Isaac, to be offered as a sacrifice on Mount Moriah. Abraham binds his son (hence “the Binding of Isaac”) to the altar and is ready to perform the dreadful deed when an angel appears to tell him to stay his hand and to promise him that his seed will increase.

There is no reference to this episode anywhere else in the Bible. Nor does it feature very prominently in post-biblical Jewish literature until the third century CE. Some biblical scholars, Jews included, have read the story as a protest against human sacrifice, the significant point being that the angel intervenes to prevent the murder as an obscene act that God, unlike the pagan deities, hates and could never really have intended.

But in traditional Jewish thought, the Akedah is used as a paradigm for Jewish martyrdom; the Jewish people are ready at all times to give up life itself for the sake of the sanctification of the divine name (Kiddush Ha-Shem).

The Prime Proof Text for Mercy
On the judgment day of Rosh Hashanah at the beginning of the year, God is entreated to show mercy to His people in the merit of Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his son. A prayer of the day reads: “Remember unto us, O Lord our God, the covenant and the loving-kindness and the oath which Thou swore unto Abraham our father on Mount Moriah; and consider the binding with which Abraham our father bound his son Isaac on the altar, how he suppressed his compassion in order to perform Thy will with a perfect heart. So may Thy compassion overbear Thine anger against us; in Thy great goodness may Thy great wrath turn aside from Thy people, Thy city, and Thine inheritance.”

“Thy city” in the prayer is a reference to the ancient tradition that Mount Moriah, the site of the Akedah, is the place in Jerusalem where the Temple was built. Thus, contrary to the “happy ending” theory mentioned above, the traditional view, whether historically accurate or not, is close to that of Kierkegaard, who reads the Akedah as an illustration of how far the “knight of faith” is ready to go in his “teleological suspension of the ethical.”

Did He Never Return?
The commentators find some features of the Akedah puzzling. Why, for instance, is there no mention of Isaac returning with his father after the ram had been substituted for him? Abraham is said to have returned together with the lads who accompanied him, but nothing is said of Isaac. Abraham Ibn Ezra (a 12th century Spanish commentator) records an opinion that the angel’s call came too late and that Isaac was, in fact, killed by Abraham. (On this opinion, Isaac, who reappears in the later narratives, was resurrected from the dead.)

Ibn Ezra rejects this as contrary to the plain meaning of the biblical text. But Shalom Spiegel, in a famous essay (The Last Trial), shows that such an opinion came to be widely held in the Middle Ages, possibly in order to deny that the sacrifice of Isaac was in any way less than that of Jesus; or as a reflection of actual conditions in the Middle Ages when the martyrdom of Jewish communities demanded a more tragic model than that of a mere intended sacrifice.

Scrutinizing God’s Intentions
Nevertheless it is constantly stressed in the literature that God never intended that Abraham should actually sacrifice Isaac. A Talmudic comment on Jeremiah 19: 5states: “’which I commanded not’- this refers to the sacrifice of the son of Mesha, the king of Moab (2Kings 3: 27); ‘nor spake it’; this refers to the daughter of Jephthah (Judges 11:31); ‘neither came it to My mind’; this refers to the sacrifice of Isaac, the son of Abraham.”

Philo (a first-century CE Jewish thinker and biblical interpreter) goes to the opposite extreme, defending the Akedah against the charge that it is by no means unique since, in the history of mankind, many people have been prepared to lay down their lives and the lives of their children for a cause in which they believed: Moloch-worshippers (those who offer their own children as sacrifices) for instance, who are condemned by Moses, and Indian women who gladly practice suttee (self-sacrifice). Philo replies that Abraham’s sacrifice was unprecedented in that he was not governed by motives of custom, honor, or fear, but solely by his love of God.

To Test or Not To Test
Another puzzling feature of the Akedah is the opening statement that God tested Abraham, as if the purpose were to provide God with information about Abraham’s trust He did not previously possess. According to Maimonides (Guide of the Perplexed, 3. 24) the words “God tested Abraham” do not mean that God put Abraham through a test but that He made the example of Abraham serve as a test case of the extreme limits of the love and fear of God. Nachmanides (also known as the Ramban, a 13th century Spanish rabbi), onthe other hand, states that God did indeed know beforehand how Abraham would behave but, from Abraham’s point of view, the test was real since he had to be rewarded not only for his potential willingness to obey the divine command but for actually complying with it. The implications of the Akedah are that, despite what appears to be a contradiction, divine foreknowledge is compatible with human free will.

That Abraham went to the Akedah in “fear and trembling” (the title of Kierkegaard’s work on the subject) is expressed in the Talmudic legend that as Abraham went on his way he was met by Satan, who tried to stop him by arguing that God had promised him that his future, and the future of all his teachings about the One God, would depend on Isaac and now he was about to frustrate that promise

 

[donanobis]

Thank you for the Jewish perspective.

The Bible is supposed to be God’s inspired Word. How did these accounts become part of bible history? Did Abraham tell someone what happened and it was handed down? or did an angel relate this happening?

*note: I didn’t say story because story sounds like a fable (to me) and I don’t liken the Bible as a ‘fable’.

[miriam-webster::fable- a fictitious narrative or statement: as a : a legendary story of supernatural happenings b : a narration intended to enforce a useful truth; especially : one in which animals speak and act like human beings c : falsehood, lie]

Dona

 

[Fidelis]

*Catholic Answers *apologist Jimmy Akin has written an outstanding treatment of this topic which has helped a lot of people get a good grasp on this concept. It can be found here.

 

[donanobis]

*Catholic Answers *apologist Jimmy Akin has written an outstanding treatment of this topic which has helped a lot of people get a good grasp on this concept. It can be found here.

Thank you! Those are some very thought provoking possible answers. Ultimately, it sounds as though, if I am reading it right, that God IS the law and is only bound by it as He binds Himself.

“…the fact that God is not duty-bound should alert us to the fact that he may well have prerogatives (for example, taking human life at his discretion) that are forbidden to us. Taking the life of an innocent person is something we have no right to do; but God is not similarly restricted … God can command a person to perform an action that would be sinful were the person to undertake such an action on his own initiative, but that is his moral duty in virtue of God’s command. The most celebrated example is Abraham’s sacrificing his son Isaac … in the extraordinary case of Abraham and Isaac, it was not unloving of God to so try Abraham’s devotion, and God had good reasons for testing him so severely.”

jimmyakin.typepad.com/defensor_fidei/2007/02/hard_sayings_of.html

 

[Fidelis]

Thank you! Those are some very thought provoking possible answers. Ultimately, it sounds as though, if I am reading it right, that God IS the law and is only bound by it as He binds Himself…

That is essentially what it boils down to. It was entirely God’s own initiative and power that created everything in the Universe, including us. Anybody wise and powerful enough to do that knows a lot more about what he is doing and the designs behind them than I do. Like it says in Isaiah 45: 9-12:

Woe to him who contends with his Maker; a potsherd among potsherds of the earth! Dare the clay say to its modeler, “What are you doing?” or, “What you are making has no hands”? Woe to him who asks a father, “What are you begetting?” or a woman, “What are you giving birth to?” Thus says the LORD, the Holy One of Israel, his maker: You question me about my children, or prescribe the work of my hands for me! It was I who made the earth and created mankind upon it; It was my hands that stretched out the heavens; I gave the order to all their host.

 

[Traditional_Ang]

Donanobis:

A question - Have you read the Gospels through yet? If you haven’t, I really would start there, and I would make sure I’m finished reading ALL of the Gospels before I started reading the Old Testament. Second, unless you can find a GOOD Catholic Bible Study, I would strongly urge you to consider Lectio Divina, reading the Scriptures meditatively and allowing the Lord to speak to you through them.

Once you KNOW what Christ did for you on the Cross, and have read about it and experienced it in your soul, the Old Testament will begin to make sense. But, It won’t make sense until you’ve read and meditated on the Gospels and on the Passion and death of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ

Another question, do you have access to a modern translation? I’m not a fan of modern scholarship, but I am a fan of being able to understand what I read, & of not having to deal with words that have dramatically changed their meanings. With so many good translations out there, you really shouldn’t be relying on the Douay-Rheims as your only translation. For the record, I have 3 “Catholic” Bibles, an Orthodox Bible, 2 “Ecumenical” Bibles, a Protestant Bible, and a misc, Greek-Eng Interlinear N/T.

The Ignatius Bible (RSV-2nd Catholic Ed.) is very good, so is the Jerusalem Bible (Study Edition) if you can get one (I bought one used). I actually wish I had the New Jerusalem Bible instead of the New American Bible I do have, but I gave it away to someone who needed a Bible… The English Standard Version with Apocrypha is a good Formal Equivalence Translation as is the RSV that comes in the The New Oxford Annotated Bible with the Apocrypha - Expanded Ed… and, The New International Version doesn’t come in either a “Catholic” or “Ecumenical” Edition, but the NIV - Archeological Study Bible is worth consideration.

If you want a Catholic Edition of a Dynamic Equivalence Try
The Good News Translation - Catholic Edition
New Living Translation - Catholic Edition (no Imprimatur - “One Year Bible”)

I don’t have the last two on my shelf, but I access them on BibleGateway.com. BibleGateway is a great resource for researching Scripture. Actually, before buying the NLT - Catholic Ed., please look at the One Year Version of the RSV-Catholic Ed. – My Daily Catholic Bible. My Daily Catholic Bible divides the Old & New Testaments into 365 readings each (so you get one of each each day), and uses a pretty reasonable translation. I think you’d do better with this than the NLT, and better than trying to read straight through on your own.

I hope this has proven to be helpful. Good Night.

Your Brother & Servant in Christ, Michael

 

[donanobis]

Donanobis:

A question - Have you read the Gospels through yet? If you haven’t, I really would start there, and I would make sure I’m finished reading ALL of the Gospels before I started reading the Old Testament. Second, unless you can find a GOOD Catholic Bible Study, I would strongly urge you to consider Lectio Divina, reading the Scriptures meditatively and allowing the Lord to speak to you through them.

Michael,

10 years ago, I read the entire, My Daily Catholic Readings. The translation was ridiculous in spots. It said things like; God said, “If you will be my partner, I will be your God”. But God can work through and speak to anyone, even me. In the process of reading the Bible, I found myself quoting Scripture, mainly in my head, unless I was with a believer. Bible verse seemed to jump out at me in everyday situations, like verses from Job. I’m not sure I can adequately explain what I mean.

I made it my New Years resolution this year to read the whole Bible again, brought on by a crisis initiated by faith killings remarks by a self proclaimed nihilist whose email list I innocently subscribed to, not expecting to have my faith challenged in such a manner as what it was. He basically subscribes to all christianity being rooted in pagan concepts and what I thought was a firmed embedded Catholic belief was thrown for a virtual ‘loop’.

Reading the Bible, I only got as far as Abraham, when I got ‘stuck’ so I sought the counsel of, what I think was a more accuretly but archaically translated Bible, the Duoay-Rheims. It said basically the same thing as the Daily Bible Readings.

I then took the ‘challenge’ to the internet and found this website, chock full of answers and holy, informed people, such as yourself, who have a lot of Catholic answers.

I realize nothing happens by accident and this challenge to my faith, hopefully will have a positive outcome. Please pray it does.

Michael, thanks for the bible references!. I will check in my library for the ones you suggested as I have a couple of boxes of bibles I have collected from book sales.

I appreciate all the suggestions any one may care to share. I looked up the previous Jimmy Aiken reference and it gave a lot of insight. I NEED that right now. The Jewish perspective given was also immensely helpful.

thanks much to all and God Bless,
Dona

I hope this has proven to be helpful. Good Night.

Your Brother & Servant in Christ, Michael

 

[donanobis]

to all,

If I may? If it is my goal to read the whole Bible this year, and I get ‘stuck’ (have doubts, questions, etc) as I am on the sacrifice of Abraham, what amount of time or suggestions would you have for proceeding? Should I limit my study time if I am stumped? Is quantity, right now better than quality? Should I crank out the reading now and hope answers come later?

As I have read both testaments in the past, is it still more fruitful to start with New Testament first? The daily Catholic Bible has both old and new testaments for every day.

Would appreciate your (name removed by moderator)ut.

thanks,
Dona