Quick question about The Catechism of the Catholic Church

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annad347

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What exactly is it and is it equal to the bible?

and please don’t post a lot of links to explain what the Catechism is… I could do that. 🙂

I want to hear how the Catechism equates to the bible by you, Catholics, who live breath and worship with the Catechism of the Catholic Church on a daily basis.
 
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annad347 said:
I want to hear how the Catechism equates to the bible by you, Catholics, who live breath and worship with the Catechism of the Catholic Church on a daily basis.
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Well, first of all, it doesn’t equate to the Bible. And we don’t worship with it. I doubt many people live and breathe it, either. It’s a very important document on the Faith, but your question makes it sound like something else entirely
 
annad347 said:
What exactly is it and how does it equate to The Bible?

and please don’t post a lot of links to explain what the Catechism is… I could do that. 🙂

I want to hear how the Catechism equates to the bible by you, Catholics, who live breath and worship with the Catechism of the Catholic Church on a daily basis.
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Have you tried just reading it?

It really is self explanatory once you start…you can find a free copy online and read at your leisure.

I think once you do it will answer your own question.

To Edit: I worship Christ and His church, not the catechism.
The Catechism is both a skeletal system and roadmap for Catholic belief.
It never contradicts the bible, it reenforces it.
 
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annad347 said:
Doesn’t equate mean equal too?
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Well, “equate” is a verb, so to equate means to be equal to or to make equal to. That’s why I think you’ve chosen the wrong verb in your question.
 
“On a daily basis?” I’d be surprised if one Catholic home in 20 even has a copy.
 
The Catechism and the Bible are two different things for two different purposes.

The Catechism is based on both Scripture and Sacred Tradition and includes appropriate footnote references to its sources.

The vast majority of Catholics do not look things up in the Catechism “on a daily basis” and as Phemie said most households don’t have a copy. It is available online via the Vatican if someone really needed to look something up. We reference the Catechism on here a lot because this is a Catholic Q&A forum and many of the answers to people’s questions are in the Catechism. If you understand basic Church teaching, it is not necessary to be reading the Catechism every day because you know most of what’s in there that you need to know.
 
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BartholomewB said:
Well, “equate” is a verb, so to equate means to be equal to or to make equal to. That’s why I think you’ve chosen the wrong verb in your question.
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fixed it… is the Catechism of the Catholic church equal to the bible? better?
 
puer.dei said:
Better” than the Bible? No offense, but how is that a serious question?
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that was for @BartholomewB, I was trying to fix my original question from saying equate (a verb) to equal (adjective)

so now my question is “Is the Catechism equal to the Bible?” not equate to the Bible. I was asking if that was better, meaning a better way to ask my question.
 
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Sacred Scripture is definitely superior to the Catechism. Scripture is inspired and we use it for both devotional purposes and in divine worship. The liturgy, the official prayer of the Church (Mass, the Divine Office, etc.), draws heavily from Scripture.

The Catechism is a teaching tool. It summarizes the Church’s teachings into one relatively concise (800 pages or so?!) and relatively easy to read document so easy reference. It quotes / references Scripture, the Fathers, the Popes, the Doctors, and the Councils heavily…it isn’t a source document, its a summary document.
 
puer.dei said:
No, it’s not.
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Okay so if its not equal to the Bible, what exactly is it?
How is it suppose to be used?
When something is in the Catechism but not in the Bible which is correct?
Is everything in the Catechism in the Bible?
^should I add these questions to the original post^

and I understand this is a Catholic forum… that’s why I’m asking… because sometimes when I ask a question the answer that’s given to me is from the Catechism but not necessarily in the Bible, I don’t understand that?
 
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BlueMaxx said:
Have you tried just reading it?

It really is self explanatory once you start…you can find a free copy online and read at your leisure.
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I have a hard enough time reading the Bible ;), but yes I have tried reading it the few times someone uses it to answer a question… now my question is how am I suppose to use that information.

When I read something from the Bible, I understand it as The Word of God. I understand what it is and how I should use The Word of God… so if the Catechism is not equal to the Bible, how am I suppose to use what I read it, if it is not the Word of God?

God’s Word tells me about who God is, what God did for me, what God wants from me… its a guide for my life… its God speaking directly to me. If the Catechism is not equal to that then like I said how am I suppose to use it?
 
annad347 said:
fixed it… is the Catechism of the Catholic church equal to the bible? better?
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Now you’re just being silly.

The Catechism is meant to TEACH Catholics about what’s IN the Bible.
How could it be “better” than the Scripture it is trying to explain?

I would further note that the Bible is the divinely inspired Word of God.
The Catechism is not considered to be divinely inspired, nor is it the Word of God except where it’s directly quoting the Bible.
annad347 said:
if the Catechism is not equal to the Bible, how am I suppose to use what I read it, if it is not the Word of God?
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Because the Catechism sets forth Catholic teachings, explained in the context of our time and culture.

Remember the Catholic faith is based on Sacred Scripture AND Sacred Tradition, so the Catechism also explains and interprets Sacred Tradition for us. We’re not a Sola Scriptura church.

Also remember that Catholics are encouraged to read Scripture, but NOT to iinterpret Scripture themselves. People trying to interpret Scripture on their own has led to a huge amount of wrong ideas and many Protestant churches breaking away from God’s One True Church. The Catechism provides the official teachings of the Church based on the correct interpretations of both Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition.

As for how you yourself are supposed to use what you read in it, it’s pretty easy to do if your mind is actually open to learning what Catholics believe, rather than you just wanting to read a Bible and decide on your own what God meant by A, B and C, while ignoring Sacred Tradition.
 
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The Bible is the source of our faith.

The Catechism is an attempt to explain our faith, largely by explaining the Creed, the Sacraments, the Ten Commandments and the Our Father. It is not a source for our faith, just an explanation of it. It is cited to explain.

Didn’t Luther write a couple of Catechisms? How do you use them?
 
annad347 said:
Okay so if its not equal to the Bible, what exactly is it?
How is it suppose to be used?
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I use it as a reference book. When I want to know what the Church teaching is, exactly, on a given subject, I look it up in the Catechism. It has an alphabetical index at the back, for that purpose.

It’s not “equal” to the Bible, in any sense. It’s not intended to be “equal.” It’s a different kind of book altogether.
 
I’m sorry if I’m asking stupid questions.

I’m trying to understand, but even though I was baptized Catholic I wasn’t raised Catholic… believe it or not, never even heard of the Catechism of the Catholic Church until I started posting here.

Now my question is because of how its used here, how its used to answer questions… I can get specific but I don’t want this to be about a specific topic but the Catechism in general.

If I ask a specific question where the answer is given to me by (what?)… a passages, quotes, statements, rule, comments from the Catechism but isn’t in the Bible, should I believe it’s based on Sacred Tradition?

so then I guess my next question would be is Sacred Tradition equal to Sacred Scripture?

and if that’s a stupid question then just ignore it.
Dovekin said:
Didn’t Luther write a couple of Catechisms? How do you use them?
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I don’t know did he? Thank you, I didn’t know the Lutherans had a Catechism… when I look up the word I only get Catholic Catechism.
 
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The CCC isn’t equal to the Bible, but it is, in my opinion, the very best resource for interpreting and applying the messages of the Bible to our daily lives.
And if you use it, or even just look at it, you will see that everything in there is based on a scriptural foundation.
 
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