Scripture Study - BSF for Catholics?

[tassitus]

Earlier I had posted a thread on the Non-Catholic Religions forum, but now think it slightly more appropriate to post it here. So…

A non-Catholic Christian friend is recommending I attend Bible Study Fellowship (BSF). I believe he is now or has been a successful and well-liked group leader in BSF. We both understand that I as a Catholic may encounter in the BSF program interpretations of Scripture that are not in line with the understanding and/or teachings of the Catholic Church. Nothing new there.

Our problem is, both of us are curious about this. My friend does not know enough about Catholicism, and I do not know enough about BSF, to determine just what conflicts, if any, a Catholic would encounter should he/she decide to attend BSF, and just how serious the Catholic’s objections might be.

I have read somewhere that BSF holds strongly to the “once saved, always saved” tenet, a tenet I find unbelievably flawed. Does anyone know if this is the case? Does BSF teach (or at least hold to the view) that OSAS is truth?

I also know that BSF has a statement of faith (viewable here: ministrywatch.com/mw2.1/F…?EIN=941514010) that all leaders must agree to. The list includes a few statements a Catholic should most likely question:

*- We believe that the **sixty-six books *of Holy Scripture as originally given are in their entirety the Word of God verbally inspired and wholly without error in all that they declare and, therefore, are the supreme and final authority of faith and life.

So, I know right off that BSF does not recognize the deuterocanonical books as Scripture, nor does it recognize the teaching authority of Christ’s church, espousing what I understand to be the doctrine of sola scriptura. This is not good…

- We believe that salvation from everlasting punishment and entrance into a state of fellowship with God are secured only by a personal belief that Christ bore our sins in His own body on the cross and by a definite receiving of *Christ, through the Person of the Holy Spirit, into one’s inner being. This is to receive eternal life and to be sealed unto the Day of Redemption. *

Does anyone understand the phrase “to be sealed unto the Day of Judgment”? Is this the “once saved always saved” tenet reworded?

It appears I may have come a long way in finding where the BSF/Catholic conflicts lie. I welcome any thoughts to share with my brother.

Peace all.

 

[jmcrae]

I have only one thing to say to this:

If there is no Catholic Bible Study for you to go to, then get some friends togethe, go to your Diocese, get trained as Bible Study leaders, and start a Bible study group in your parish.

The training I took (I took the Little Rock Scripture Study system) lasted five weeks, and I think I paid an optional $20.00 materials fee.

If that’s not doable, then read it by yourself at home, and take any questions that arise to your spiritual director or your priest.

 

[lak611]

Another problem I found other than OSAS is their statement about the “visible earthly kingdom” which means they have a pre-millenial pre-tribulation rapture of the church viewpoint, which is also contradictory to the teachings of the Catholic Church.

 

[djrakowski]

I responded to your other thread, as well. If you’re interested in something that’s organized a lot like BSF, check out Catholic Scripture Study International.

 

[Elzee]

I know a little bit about BSF - a good friend of mine (Catholic) attended it for 9 years. Here are some of her comments:

In her area, it’s offered as an inter-denomoinational bible study and is huge. About 300 people a week would attend, including MANY Catholics. They break into small groups for discussion.

In her particular group, they obviously allowed (encouraged) Catholics to attend, but Catholics could not be discussion leaders. I took offense to this at first, but after thinking about it, I wouldn’t want an evangelical who was committed to his/her particular faith leading a Catholic bible study. But, I think it goes to prove that this isn’t a true “inter-denominational” study - there is an agenda - they obviously want to teach what they believe is the truth. You can’t blame them for that, but I don’t like that they try and pass it off as ‘non-denominational’ or ‘inter-denominational’.

Some people in her study believed in OSAS, others did not. They allowed both sides to speak during discussion. The church sponsoring the studied believed in OSAS.

My friend went for a few reasons: There was no Catholic Bible Study offered in her area at the time and she wanted to brush up on the figures of the Bible - especially the OT. But she mostly went to present the Catholic view of teachings so other Catholics there would realize when contradictions to their faith were being made. She said it was difficult. For the most part they let her present the Catholic view, but it was not supported and she was never allowed the last word. Everyone was very congenial and welcoming to her, but she said it was obvious they were not going to let her ever have the last word in any discussion. She stuck it out, but she said it was difficult.

Unless you are very well-versed in your faith and the bible, and WILLING TO share that with others, I would suggest you find a Catholic bible study or start one - and encourage Catholics who attend BSF to ‘come home’ to a Catholic study.

 

[Nita]

I attended BSF about 20 years ago - and I loved it. I’m a cradle Catholic, 12 years of Catholic school, and Baltimore Catechism through grade school. I knew going in where most of the differences were. The first year - Israel and the Minor Prophets - was far and away my favorite. Probably because it was the part of the Bible I was least familiar with. (Circumstances caused me to drop out the 5th year - Gospel of John - before we got to John 6. Have wondered ever since how that would have been covered!!)

What impressed me was the love of God that was reflected in the commentary notes; and, I guess, just the amount of focus on God. Some of the Catholic studies are more apologetic in nature - proving the Catholic viewpoint versus the Protestant one. I keep looking for a Catholic one where the primary focus is God Himself; to examine passages for what they reveal about God.

I never had the sense that the “once saved always saved” position was pushed. The notes definitely spoke of the importance of obedience. (Altho I do remember that Matt 25 31-45 was just slipped by, saying it would be discussed later!!! A “later” which never came, unless it was one of the lessons I missed.) But there was certainly no “health and wealth” gospel pushed. Also, I had no problems in the small discussion groups. (I think there were actually a fair number of Catholics in the study.) I’m sure a lot depends on the lecturer and the various discussion leaders - as well as the attitude of the participants. I wasn’t there to push my denomination, but to learn about the Bible. And there were no Catholic studies around.

As I said, that was 20 or so years ago. At that time the lady who originated and wrote the study was still living. A protestant friend of mine, who remained active as a group leader for quite a few years, said they redid the studies after the originator died. She didn’t care for the “redo” and ended up quitting. So, I can’t speak to what the current BSF material is like.

Am glad to hear that they no longer keep it secret that
Catholics (and a few others - Pentecostals also, back then) cannot be discussion leaders. It seemed deceptive to me that the information was deliberately withheld from the group at large. I had sort of figured it out from observing who the leaders were from year to year. (So it was no big surprise when my friend told me.)

I do think that BSF may well have been instrumental in leading some out of the Catholic Church - those who were not well formed in our faith and/or not strongly commited to it. And perhaps even moreso, those who hungered for more adult bible formation, which just wasn’t around in our churches back then. But there are Catholic studies now, and I would strongly recommend them over a Protestant one. Protestant ones are so limiting - there is just so much that never gets brought out because they don’t believe in it. Eg. the Eucharist (OT prefigurements; gospel and epistle passages); Catholic understanding of “grace” (gospel and especially Paul’s epistles); the list could go on and on.

Nita

 

[lak611]

And there were no Catholic studies around.

But there are Catholic studies now, and I would strongly recommend them over a Protestant one.

Have you attended a Catholic Bible study since then? A good one is “Little Rock Scripture Study”. I have been attending it at my parish for the past 5 years. Here’s a link to their website littlerockscripture.org/en/Default.htm. If your parish does not have it, they even have a program that you can order that gives the training needed to become the leader of the study. They have tapes and videos to use for the discussion if speakers are unable to give presentations at the weekly meetings. It’s a great Catholic study. We just finished studying Galatians and Romans in our last study at my parish.

 

[Nita]

Have you attended a Catholic Bible study since then? A good one is “Little Rock Scripture Study”. I have been attending it at my parish for the past 5 years. Here’s a link to their website littlerockscripture.org/en/Default.htm. If your parish does not have it, they even have a program that you can order that gives the training needed to become the leader of the study. They have tapes and videos to use for the discussion if speakers are unable to give presentations at the weekly meetings. It’s a great Catholic study. We just finished studying Galatians and Romans in our last study at my parish.

Yes, I have been in Catholic ones. The “circumstances” that caused me to drop out of the final year in BSF were because our parish priest asked me to start a bible study in our parish. Because I couldn’t locate a Catholic one, I wrote one!
Between writing it and leading one of the two groups, I didn’t have time to do the BSF one properly, so I dropped out. Later, I did find the Little Rock series and have done several of their studies in a group setting. Also one from Emmaus Road publishers. What I don’t particularly like about the Little Rock series is the St. John’s commentary.

I’ve also pulled some off the internet and just done them on my own (Scott Hahn’s from his salvation history website; several from the Catholic Exchange website, altho you can no longer download those free).

By the way, did you know the Little Rock series was started as a response to BSF? As I understand it, a couple who were concerned about fellow Catholics going to BSF approached a priest and asked him if he wouldn’t write a Catholic study that would be comparable.

Nita

 

[lak611]

Yes, I have been in Catholic ones. The “circumstances” that caused me to drop out of the final year in BSF were because our parish priest asked me to start a bible study in our parish. Because I couldn’t locate a Catholic one, I wrote one!
Between writing it and leading one of the two groups, I didn’t have time to do the BSF one properly, so I dropped out. Later, I did find the Little Rock series and have done several of their studies in a group setting. Also one from Emmaus Road publishers. What I don’t particularly like about the Little Rock series is the St. John’s commentary.

I’ve also pulled some off the internet and just done them on my own (Scott Hahn’s from his salvation history website; several from the Catholic Exchange website, altho you can no longer download those free).

By the way, did you know the Little Rock series was started as a response to BSF? As I understand it, a couple who were concerned about fellow Catholics going to BSF approached a priest and asked him if he wouldn’t write a Catholic study that would be comparable.

Nita

Nice. The only one I didn’t like was “Women in the New Testament”. I did like the one on the Gospel of John and the Johannine Epistles. I was not aware of the origins of “Little Rock Scripture Study”. Did BSF also start in the South? I did find it interesting that a Southern Catholic diocese would start a Bible study, but that makes a lot of sense given that there are so many Baptist Churches in the South who probably would attract quite a few Catholics who were weak in their faith.

 

[richardeekw]

Here is one along the BFF Program format.- arranged by the Religious Sisters

Catholic Scripture Study began in 1985 when several Catholic women attending a retreat asked a retreat director, Sister Marie Therese Wright, SSMN, for a program similar to a national ecumenical five-year study called Bible Study Fellowship (BSF) which they and other Catholic men and women were attending. Sister Marie Therese was very interested, and so she attended a BSF class. She was amazed when she saw 450 women come together in a structured environment studying God’s Word for two hours. This Bible study was written in the 1950s by one Christian woman trained as a missionary and currently has over 900 groups in 25 countries with 100,000 members from all denominations.

This tremendous growth sparked the idea to start a similar Bible study centered on the Catholic faith. Since Sister Marie Therese’s retreat ministry would soon end with the closing of Our Lady of Victory Provinciate, she decided to use her Bible studies and her recent freelance writing course in writing a five-year study. BSF leaders and members encouraged Sister Marie Therese to write a Bible study for Catholics. She followed the very effective administrative and organizational structure of BSF, to which she added a doctrinal basis which is totally Catholic. In the spring of 1992, Sister Marie Therese completed writing the home study lesson material for all five years of the Catholic Scripture Study classes.

We do not know whether the vision Sister Marie Therese had for her Scripture Study Program included virtually unlimited distribution to Catholics and Catholic Parishes through the use of the Internet that we have available to us today. That did not, however, prevent her from answering the call she must have felt to write this five-year Scripture Study Program late in her career. Perhaps it was her faith that guided her actions, faith that others would feel called as she was and would pick up where she would leave off after completing her task of writing.

In any event, we feel that she is still guiding our actions and urging us on. Today, CSS has over 2500 Catholics meeting weekly in group discussion to study Holy Scripture. Millions more in Parishes across America and the English speaking world now have this same opportunity without limitations of cost. It is truly the dawn of a new day for the religious education of Catholics. Sister Marie Therese Wright must indeed, be looking down upon us, blessing our efforts and our achievements and smiling.

  Visit the website of the Sisters of St. Mary of Namur

catholicscripturestudyinc.org/history.php

 

[Nita]

Did BSF also start in the South? I did find it interesting that a Southern Catholic diocese would start a Bible study, but that makes a lot of sense given that there are so many Baptist Churches in the South who probably would attract quite a few Catholics who were weak in their faith.

BSF started in California I believe - or somewhere out that direction. The lady had been a missionary in China and was forced out of the country (or chose to leave when persecution started). At some point she came to the US. Some women approached her to have a Bible study. I gather she wasn’t very interested at first; not too impressed with us well-to-do pampered Americans!! She eventually agreed to do it, but said she wasn’t going to do all the work, the participants were going to have to study also. And that’s how BSF started. And, boy did it grow. They didn’t want people in “just for the fun of it” when I was there. If you missed more than 3 lessons (can’t remember now if it was “in a row” or “during the year”) without a really good reason, you were dropped from the study. Also, there was homework, and if you didn’t do the homework, you were asked not to participate verbally in the discussion session. The reasoning behind this regulation was that answers were far better if one had given the question some thought first, rather than just responding off the top of one’s head. Good Rule.

But any who are thinking of joining - please remember what my friend told me. They’ve redone the lessons and they’re no longer as good.

Nita

 

[Nita]

Here is one along the BFF Program format.- arranged by the Religious Sisters

Catholic Scripture Study began in 1985 when several Catholic women attending a retreat asked a retreat director, Sister Marie Therese Wright, SSMN, for a program similar to a national ecumenical five-year study called Bible Study Fellowship (BSF) which they and other Catholic men and women were attending. Sister Marie Therese was very interested, and so she attended a BSF class. She was amazed when she saw 450 women come together in a structured environment studying God’s Word for two hours. This Bible study was written in the 1950s by one Christian woman trained as a missionary and currently has over 900 groups in 25 countries with 100,000 members from all denominations.

This tremendous growth sparked the idea to start a similar Bible study centered on the Catholic faith. Since Sister Marie Therese’s retreat ministry would soon end with the closing of Our Lady of Victory Provinciate, she decided to use her Bible studies and her recent freelance writing course in writing a five-year study. BSF leaders and members encouraged Sister Marie Therese to write a Bible study for Catholics. She followed the very effective administrative and organizational structure of BSF, to which she added a doctrinal basis which is totally Catholic. In the spring of 1992, Sister Marie Therese completed writing the home study lesson material for all five years of the Catholic Scripture Study classes.

We do not know whether the vision Sister Marie Therese had for her Scripture Study Program included virtually unlimited distribution to Catholics and Catholic Parishes through the use of the Internet that we have available to us today. That did not, however, prevent her from answering the call she must have felt to write this five-year Scripture Study Program late in her career. Perhaps it was her faith that guided her actions, faith that others would feel called as she was and would pick up where she would leave off after completing her task of writing.

In any event, we feel that she is still guiding our actions and urging us on. Today, CSS has over 2500 Catholics meeting weekly in group discussion to study Holy Scripture. Millions more in Parishes across America and the English speaking world now have this same opportunity without limitations of cost. It is truly the dawn of a new day for the religious education of Catholics. Sister Marie Therese Wright must indeed, be looking down upon us, blessing our efforts and our achievements and smiling.

  Visit the website of the Sisters of St. Mary of Namur

catholicscripturestudyinc.org/history.php

Thanks for the website Richard. Am looking forward to ordering some of the materials.

Nita

 

[carol_marie]

I did several years of BSF as a Protestant. I enjoyed it and learned alot, but I clearly remember a woman in my group who announced at the end of year that she “found Christ” and would no longer attend the Catholic Church but would instead find a church that preached the Bible. We all rejoiced at her decision. One year I had a discussion group leader who’s husband was a devout member of the Orthodox Church… we prayed all the time that he would “come to Christ.”

In my opinion it is VERY Protestant: OSAS - no infant baptism - no praying to Saints - no big deal made over Mary - Bible only - and here’s the thing… the format is so Protestant in nature. You read the verses and then everyone chimes in about “what they mean to me…” Isn’t that the very essence of the Protestant Chruches? It’s all own’s own personal interpretation. As Catholics, we do not believe we can just read the Bible and figure it all out… the Magisterium has the God given authority to teach us what it means.

I would never attend BSF as a Catholic. Unless I wanted to plant Catholic seeds or remind the Catholics in attendence that we already have the fullness of truth.

 

[lak611]

I did several years of BSF as a Protestant.
I would never attend BSF as a Catholic. Unless I wanted to plant Catholic seeds or remind the Catholics in attendence that we already have the fullness of truth.

Have you attended any Catholic Bible studies since then?

 

[carol_marie]

Have you attended any Catholic Bible studies since then?

Unfortuntatly, no. I had our 5th child last January so I haven’t gotten out much.

While I was pregnant, my husband and I were doing Jeff Cavins Bible Timeline study which was just awesome… I hope to get back to that.

 

[richardeekw]

Thanks for the website Richard. Am looking forward to ordering some of the materials.

Nita

Welcome. If you have a team have you considered this?

css.catholicexchange.com/
Several yrs ago I downloaded some free studiese and I think they are very good too.
Gail Buckley
Scott Hahn
Mark Shea
Fr. Winslow
Fr. Kautheb

 

[Nita]

Welcome. If you have a team have you considered this?

css.catholicexchange.com/
Several yrs ago I downloaded some free studiese and I think they are very good too.
Gail Buckley
Scott Hahn
Mark Shea
Fr. Winslow
Fr. Kautheb

Yes, I did the Catholic Exchange studies when I could get them free. Managed to download the Genesis, James, John, and Revelation studies before they changed their policy. Now you have to pay (wouldn’t mind that at all)- but you can’t just order materials for one person. Think they want the study to be used in groups - and it almost seems like you had to order materials for around 10 people. (I’m really not sure about the minimum number.) We used to live in St. Paul, MN, but now we’re in a very small town (pop. approx 450) and there are not many who are interested in a Bible Study that requires homework. Guess most people are just too busy nowadays. We did have some studies here with the LRS and a women’s bible study on holiness from Emmaus Road press. I prefer the studies that cover a whole book of the bible, rather than topical studies (like the Emmaus one).

Are you involved in Bible studies Richard? Running or participating in a group one?

Nita

 

[Bwavenit]

Anyone ever try this one?
amm.org/chss.htm

 

[scriabin]

In my opinion it is VERY Protestant: OSAS - no infant baptism - no praying to Saints - no big deal made over Mary - Bible only - and here’s the thing… the format is so Protestant in nature. You read the verses and then everyone chimes in about “what they mean to me…” Isn’t that the very essence of the Protestant Chruches? It’s all own’s own personal interpretation. As Catholics, we do not believe we can just read the Bible and figure it all out… the Magisterium has the God given authority to teach us what it means.

That’s why I left the Little Rock Bible Study at my parish. After a speaker gives his slant on the passage for the night we break into discussion groups, pass around a rock, and everyone has a chance to give her opinion on what they think the Bible verse means.

I left. It was not a good experience, just like any Protestant Bible “Study.”

 

[AELondon]

My advice, like that of many others, is to avoid the BSF and look for a Catholic study group. These fundamental protestant groups are likely to see you as an apostate who needs saving. That said, I also think there is a tremendous opportunity here for true evangelization. If you are rock-solid in your Faith and well versed in apologetics, this might be a good opportunity to witness to others about the True Church. However, don’t make that decision lightly and don’t do it if you think you might “blow your top” when the Church, Mary, the sacraments, and the saints are insulted.