Scribbles in the Bible -- Disrespectful?

[ericc]

I was thinking about highlighting, marking things, underlining, and making notes in a bible to help me memorize and digest scripture. I used to take notes in a separate journal but I’ve found that in-text notes are much more helpful. I can’t help but think that there is some degree of negligence or disrespect when doing this.

I also thought of that but disrespect was never part of the problem. My problem is that what if I made a mistake, I couldn’t reverse it. No undo button. No highlighter undo. What if my understanding changed how can I replace those scribbles without making it so untidy? And there is only so much space there.

Perhaps the better solution is to find a soft copy and do your sticky notes on that copy.

 

[ericc]

I was thinking about highlighting, marking things, underlining, and making notes in a bible to help me memorize and digest scripture. I used to take notes in a separate journal but I’ve found that in-text notes are much more helpful. I can’t help but think that there is some degree of negligence or disrespect when doing this.

I also thought of that but my problem was not disrespecting the Bible, it is how do I undo it if I were to make a mistake. Our understanding may change over time. We can’t un-highlight it. And there is only so much space on the margins. I’ve got about 1/4 inch and my handwriting is “big”.

Perhaps the better solution is to get a soft copy and do your sticky notes on that copy.

 

[onenow1]

Sometimes things just pop out at you may have no other choice ?

God Bless

 

[Ophelia23]

I certainly hope not. I struggle to find a margin or blank space in my bible where there is any room left for writing–I have filled it with so many thoughts and notes and prayers and questions over the years. I cherish my bible greatly, and although the True Words would remain if this physical book disappeared, I would honestly miss the actual book itself. This bible has come with me everywhere. It burned a little once from an errant candle. It got drenched at World Youth Day in Toronto. I’ve spent many a warm summer’s day soaking up the sun on the sandy shores of Lake Superior, and my bible has plenty of grains of sand in its binding to prove it. So, my bible has literally seen fire and it’s seen rain, and it’s seen sunny days it thought would never end.

 

[TimothyH]

actually, I’ve heard it recommended that you get one Bible for study and one for prayer.

Highlight a mark as you need in your study Bible… and keep the other for those times where you need to here the breeze and not the storm.

This is good advice.

Make notes in a paperback. Leave a fine parchment paper Bible unmarked and never put prayer cards or sticky-notes in it.

If you absolutely must mark a fine bible then use gel pens or gel highlighters.

-Tim-

 

[agnes_therese]

I also thought of that but disrespect was never part of the problem. My problem is that what if I made a mistake, I couldn’t reverse it. No undo button. No highlighter undo. What if my understanding changed how can I replace those scribbles without making it so untidy? And there is only so much space there.

Perhaps the better solution is to find a soft copy and do your sticky notes on that copy.

I don’t think of my previous notes or highlights as “mistakes,” at all. It’s interesting to go back and see how your understanding has changed.

 

[Justin61790]

I was taught that it is not disrespectful. I would think that intent is the deciding factor. If its notes to help you study, remember, and grow in your relationship with God then I would think God would approve.

My grandmother’s Bible has some pages where its hard to tell where scripture ends and notes begin. When she is in church she uses every inch of blank space to take down notes. She can make sense of it, but it just sets my OCD into overdrive.

Thats why I dont do it. I dont like to write in any books. If I write notes I keep them separate in a binder or notepad or on some electronic device. This allows me more organization and a better system of note taking, and it doesnt clutter up the pages with my untidy scrawl.

But if writing in your bible will help you then do so. If you want to keep notes separate then do so. As long as you arent drawing silly pictures or profaning the book with vulgarity or blacking out the words you’re not disrespecting it.

 

[agnes_therese]

I also thought of that but disrespect was never part of the problem. My problem is that what if I made a mistake, I couldn’t reverse it. No undo button. No highlighter undo. What if my understanding changed how can I replace those scribbles without making it so untidy? And there is only so much space there.

Perhaps the better solution is to find a soft copy and do your sticky notes on that copy.

I don’t think of my earlier notes & highlights as mistakes. It can be interesting to see how your understanding has changed over time.

 

[TimothyH]

Those who recommend getting a separate softcover Bible give good advice. Mark up a paperback Bible but please don’t mark up a fine leather-bound parchment paper Bible. If you absolutely must mark a fine Bible then use gel pens and gel highlighters so that the paper isn’t ruined.

Bindings are not designed to have papers shoved between the pages and will eventually fall apart if treated that way. The glue from sticky notes can ruin the paper over time as well.

There is no reason why a fine Bible shouldn’t be passed down to our grandchildren and these are the things which ruin nice books. The last Bible I purchased was over $55. I keep it out of the sunlight, don’t keep it in the trunk of my car, etc., and generally treat it as I would any other fine book.

Paperback Bibles are two or three dollars at Goodwill or the SVdP thrift store.

-Tim-

 

[POJIUJH]

Though I surely wouldn’t, at least promise that you wont take notes on a Bible that has been blessed.

 

[IdiNaPut]

I’ve met priests with scribbled Bibles. It’s helping understanding of the WOrd, so I can’t see a problem.

 

[Mintaka]

1. Personally I wouldn’t do it, but that’s because I like keeping my notes in my head.
2. OTOH, there’s obviously no problem making notes in even a Bible that’s been blessed, because many ancient Mass lectionaries and Bibles come with glosses written between the lines (usually language notes or translations) and in the margins (usually notes on doctrine or what the Fathers said). The margin notes eventually became formalized as the Glossa, a set of medieval commentaries that Mr. Litteral on these forums is slowly getting translated and published. The interlinear notes are the oldest Bible translations into European languages.

So basically it’s yet another place where you get to use your Christian freedom however you want. Yay!

 

[powerofk]

Though I surely wouldn’t, at least promise that you wont take notes on a Bible that has been blessed.

Note on this - a priest once told me that a Bible can’t actually be blessed by a priest. Being the Word of God makes it already sacred.

 

[z_0101]

Though I surely wouldn’t, at least promise that you wont take notes on a Bible that has been blessed.

I’m sorry why not?
Take the Bible you’re going to study from and tell the Deacon/Priest your intent… I guarantee the blessing will include a prayer to help those using the Bible to come to a fuller and better understanding of God’s words. ( sorry, been there when the study Bibles were handed out at RCIA, yep, paperback, but intended for people to highlight and take notes in… with a blessing )

 

[Another_Andrew]

Note on this - a priest once told me that a Bible can’t actually be blessed by a priest. Being the Word of God makes it already sacred.

My Bible has been blessed by a priest. I see no reason why it couldn’t be. It’s like saying churches can’t be blessed because the presence of the Eucharist already makes them sacred, or rosaries can’t be blessed because they are made sacred by the prayers prayed with them. The Word of God can’t be blessed, but the physical medium which holds it can.

 

[POJIUJH]

I’m sorry why not?
Take the Bible you’re going to study from and tell the Deacon/Priest your intent… I guarantee the blessing will include a prayer to help those using the Bible to come to a fuller and better understanding of God’s words. ( sorry, been there when the study Bibles were handed out at RCIA, yep, paperback, but intended for people to highlight and take notes in… with a blessing )

Yes, but you understand that isn’t something that would prove it to be the right thing to do.

I mean I can understand the idea of note taking and highlighting a regular bible used for studying, because that would be something similar to highlighting and taking notes on a digital bible, for instance.

But the pages of a bible that have been blessed have to be treated with more reverence, since after all they have now become sacred objects.

This is an exaggeration to prove a point, but if the ink on the scriptures were the relic-dust sort that some of the Eastern Rite ones use in iconography, we would all instinctively know that highlights and notes would be out of place. Blessed bibles maybe aren’t just as holy, but they are still holy, enough to be processed around the altar.

 

[TimothyH]

Note on this - a priest once told me that a Bible can’t actually be blessed by a priest. Being the Word of God makes it already sacred.

Sacred and blessed are two different things.

-Tim-

 

[z_0101]

(1/2)]
I’m afraid I’ll have to break this post in two… silly 6K Limit

Yes, but you understand that isn’t something that would prove it to be the right thing to do.

I understand that the parish I attend is over 100 years old, Franciscan, and very conservative and orthodox. The only reason girls are allowed to be alter servers is because the Bishop said it is to be allowed - otherwise, only the boys would serve at alter.

Thus, when our Pastor blessed the study Bibles, I have no doubt in my mind whatsoever that such an act is allowed. I have two “pocket” Rosaries, both blessed, one stays in my car on the gear-shift (we have a lot trains and very few crossings, prayed many a decade waiting on the train) and the other in my pocket. We have a huge Hispanic ministry, deacon has blessed many a Rosary that they then put around their necks and wear… personally, I wouldn’t do that; however in their culture, it’s not an issue because wearing the Rosary is intended to remind them of their faith.

But first lets address the “sacred” nature of scripture
( Vatican: English: ARTICLE 3 SACRED SCRIPTURE)
CCC103 For this reason, the Church has always** venerated **the Scriptures as she venerates the Lord’s Body. She never ceases to present to the faithful the bread of life, taken from the one table of God’s Word and Christ’s Body
CCC104 In Sacred Scripture, the Church constantly finds her nourishment and her strength, for she welcomes it not as a human word, “but as what it really is, the word of God”.67 “In the sacred books, the Father who is in heaven comes lovingly to meet his children, and talks with them.”
This is why there are two parts to the Mass the first being “The Liturgy of the Word.”
We are nourished by the holy word of God. The better we understand the word, the more we are nourished by the word…
CCC141 “The Church has always venerated the divine Scriptures as she venerated the Body of the Lord” (DV 21): both nourish and govern the whole Christian life. “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path” (Ps 119:105; cf. Is 50:4).

So I don’t think that anyone here will argue that the nature of scripture is Holy and Sacred. However, in as much as we venerate the Holy Mother, we venerate the Holy Scripture. The book itself is not to be worshiped… treated with due care and respect for its intended use.
CCC108 Still, the Christian faith is not a "religion of the book." Christianity is the religion of the “Word” of God, a word which is “not a written and mute word, but the Word is incarnate and living”.73 If the Scriptures are not to remain a dead letter, Christ, the eternal Word of the living God, must, ***through the Holy Spirit, “open [our] minds to understand the Scriptures.”***74
I tell you, I would have loved to have GrandPa’s bible (even though it was KJV) the notations and highlights… to have had access to his years of understanding now that I am older and can appreciate what he written. However, that book went to the grave with him.
GrandPa would never have allowed us kids to write in a book, especially a nice leather bound one, and yet, he had that old semi-rigid-paperback bible and wrote in it (of course, it’s not blessed, he was Baptist). When I asked him why he could write there but not in others… he’d smile, and say, "Boy, something caught my attention and the **spirit **told me it needed to be written down so that I could remember it later. "

/(1/2)]

 

[z_0101]

(2/2)]

I mean I can understand the idea of note taking and highlighting a** regular bible used for studying, **because that would be something similar to highlighting and taking notes on a digital bible, for instance…

I just wanted to highlight that sentence in the above to clarify, “regular.” I take you to mean a bible that has not been blessed is suitable for as study bible… However, as we’re not a “religion of the book” then what is a blessed Bible to be considered as? I think that once the Bible is blessed, then that Bible would then fall under the heading of sacramentals?

So I will quote from that section ( Vatican: English: CCC: SACRAMENTALS)

As a sacramental I agree with the following to a point…

But the pages of a bible that have been blessed have to be treated with more reverence, since after all they have now become sacred objects.

However, I think you place too much emphasis on “sacred objects.”
CCC1670 Sacramentals do not confer the grace of the Holy Spirit in the way that the sacraments do, but by the Church’s prayer, they prepare us to receive grace and dispose us to cooperate with it. "For well-disposed members of the faithful, the liturgy of the sacraments and sacramentals sanctifies almost every event of their lives with the divine grace which flows from the Paschal mystery of the Passion, Death, and Resurrection of Christ. From this source all sacraments and sacramentals draw their power. There is scarcely any proper use of material things which cannot be thus directed toward the sanctification of men and the praise of God."176
That last sentence, therein lies the key I think…

But let us read down a tad:
CCC1674 Besides sacramental liturgy and sacramentals, catechesis must take into account the forms of piety and popular devotions among the faithful. The religious sense of the Christian people has always found expression in various forms of piety surrounding the Church’s sacramental life, such as the veneration of relics, visits to sanctuaries, pilgrimages, processions, the stations of the cross, religious dances, the rosary, medals,180 etc.
So where I would not wear the Rosary around my neck, this is not my culture, other cultures may very well do so, because of their understanding… so long as it is in-line with the Church.
Given this, you may have been raised to never write in the bible, any bible, where others may not have that same cultural upbringing… yet both ways may very well fall under this section…

CCC1678 Among the sacramentals blessings occupy an important place. They include both praise of God for his works and gifts, and the Church’s intercession for men that they may be able to use God’s gifts according to the spirit of the Gospel.
The Holy Father has in as many word has told the faithful to read and study the bible so that we can be better Christians thru a better understanding of the word. If the Holy spirit moves one to make a note in a Bible that is intended to be studied from, and blessed for that use… then would this not fall under 1678?

This is an exaggeration to prove a point, but if the ink on the scriptures were the relic-dust sort that some of the Eastern Rite ones use in iconography, we would all instinctively know that highlights and notes would be out of place. Blessed bibles maybe aren’t just as holy, but they are still holy, enough to be processed around the altar.

This is an extreme case to use a relic in the production of ink used to inscribe the word of God as Holy Scripture. And yet, I say still fails to prove any point, the word as written and where it is written are still objects. Inspired by God, yes, to be cared for and treated with the respect proper to the context of their usage, yes; however, such a Bible as described above, would be created to endure the test of time - by its very presence to inspire ( I’ve seen such illuminate texts, I would think that no sane person would think to add their own footnotes to the pages therein). What I am talking about is a $5 - to around $21 for the Ignatius Catholic Study Bible paperback - new testament. The Ignatius is/was intended to be used for study, and to have it blessed for use in that context isn’t any different from the Blessing used at the beginning of the school year that Father used to bless the students, the teachers, the books, and the classrooms - which, if we used the same standard as blessing a Bible, Prayer Card, Holy Image, then all of the school so blessed also become sacred objects… are we not to use them for study now? Shall we not write on the white-boards, use the crayons and markers, and the PAPER therein to study… Math, Science, English, and our Catholic Faith? Same type of blessing, holy water and all… in every classroom and during the Mass for the students. Wish he’d used the incense too…

One must keep in mind the context of blessing any object used in our worship. The blessing carries the weight of the prayers of the entire Holy Catholic Church for the intention of the blessing to help use to be able to receive God’s grace for the the intended use of that sacramental. To me that is simply wonderful, to have the Church praying that I would (or any student would) be more deeply touched by the holy spirit while using that study bible… WOW -

BTW: I would point out, the “Bible” persay is not processed around the alter, it is the book of the gospels (at least in RC rite). You will not find the old testament therein.

I do apologize for the length of the post… hard to keep things down to 6K when our faith is so rich…

God Bless you and Keep You Safe.

 

[POJIUJH]

Good Lord. You have vastly overcomplicated this. Blessed things are blessed before being put to a holy purpose, yes, but the objects themselves carry a real metaphysical holiness and have to be treated with reverence.

This statement doesn’t in any way equate to a question of what scripture is, what scripture says it is, what the Church teaches scripture is, or that I insist that we ought to bow down and worship a book. You realise that this is quite ridiculous and insulting.

Blessing yourself with holy water doesn’t help you only because of what it signifies.

Blessed things terrify demons and possessed people, even when they aren’t being used and yet represent the same thing as they did when they weren’t blessed.

A blessed Rosary doesn’t frighten a possessed person because the demon thinks that the person is more likely to use it. It is frightened because the item itself carries a particular sanctity.

Second class relics aren’t holy because of a nostalgia of being touched to the body of a saint. They are holy because they have been made holy by being touched to the body of a saint.

The pages of a bible might well be made out of plain paper. But the pages of a blessed bible have to be treated with greater respect.

Just because someone trustworthy does something doesn’t mean that the thing they do is right. Good people can do things that aren’t right even though they think it is. This doesn’t make it right, it just means that they won’t be culpable.

The entire Bible isn’t processed around the altar but an entire Bible obviously contains the 4 gospels.

I have no idea why you have gotten your back up about this. If you have a blessed bible with scribbles all over it and you are only now aware that it ought to be treated with greater reverence then simply use a non-blessed bible in future, or use sticky notes if you have to. It isn’t exactly charitable to go off on me, assume that I know nothing and that I must be taught to suck eggs.