Should I keep doing Protestant Bible studies?

  • Thread starter Thread starter 7WatersDaughter
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
7

7WatersDaughter

Guest
Hey everyone!

I’m a 30-year-old mum of two children who are my whole world! My daughter is 5 (almost 6!) and my son just turned two. My husband is my best friend and while not Catholic (or professing any religion, just a belief that there is a God and that he tries his best to be a good person – I pray about this but do not push it on him!) he comes to Mass with us every Sunday that he does not work, he reads the Bible to the kids and prays with us, and is just totally supportive and open to my faith and totally on board with my desire to raise the kids Catholic.

I was a cradle Catholic who was away from the church from my teenage years to just about two or so years ago when I fully came back – went to confession, had my marriage convalidated, and now I am fully practicing. The Holy Spirit kept calling me back that whole time and now I am on a journey of adventure, learning about my faith by reading books and listening to podcasts, and seeing how I can serve my church – this year I will be shadowing the co-ordinator of our very busy catechism program so that I can do it next year when my daughter will be enrolled – but I am sad to say that I have very few Catholic friends – and no close ones at all!

My family and I moved to a small town in the middle of the Canadian prairies just over a year ago. It’s mostly born-again Christians here, but we do have a very vibrant Filipino community that has really breathed new life into our church – such passion and faith is truly amazing! I have one mom friend that is Catholic, but sadly she doesn’t know her faith well and doesn’t seem interested in finding out more. All the rest of my friends are amazing, kind, loving, born-again Christians who go to various Bible churches. They are very accepting of me as a Catholic – I never feel like they are judging me or trying to “save” me. So that’s nice.

My issue is that I’ve taken part now in two Bible studies with these ladies, and neither of them has really sat right with me. The first one was Armor of God by Priscilla Schirer, which was just totally not my theology at all – I didn’t finish it but kept going to the weekly meetings for prayer and fellowship.

This summer I’ve been doing a one-on-one Bible study with the girl that I’ve grown closest to from the group. It’s by Beth Moore and while it’s pretty good, and not nearly as out there as the first study, there is still things I read every day that I just don’t agree with as a Catholic. I still try to glean things from the study, but sometimes it’s quite frustrating and even anxiety producing.

I don’t want to quit the Bible study or not join the next one because being a stay at home mother can get lonely and I really look forward to meeting with these ladies! I’ve asked the priest if I could start a Catholic Bible study in our parish aimed at mothers but he said there’s already one done by an older lady and we don’t need more. I understand.

I’m hoping to make more Catholic friends soon, especially once I am involved in the catechism coordination, but for now what should I do? I’m really self conscious of suggesting a Catholic Bible study to them because I don’t want them to feel uncomfortable or like I’m trying to convert them when they’ve been so gracious to me.

Any advice? Is it worth doing a study when I don’t really believe what they’re talking about? It’s quite intensive and I’d rather be doing a Catholic study.
 
Interesting story and situation. You’re kind of squeezed in between a number of competing factors. Finding Catholic friends, seems to me, to be the best idea. Perhaps take a little ad in the local paper, or Craigslist, or do a MeetMe group or some endless number of things on social media (I know nothing about) looking for local Catholic women who would like to pray together and do a Bible study. Or maybe just a Catholic mom’s group - we have one here, maybe nothing formal but just getting together to talk and build friendships - and a Bible study could follow, or not. Having the Catholic friends and social outlet seems to be a more important thing than the study itself, to my way of thinking.
The Protestant ladies are probably very nice and welcoming, but from my experience, they usually won’t budge on their theology. There are some good things offered, but I think you’ll end up getting irritated about the bad things and then not have a chance to speak about them. I’m guessing they would expect you to take the study seriously and not just as a social gathering also - that means you’d have to spend the time on inadequate theology, where you could (should) spend it on something that would nourish you more deeply.
Just some thoughts. It’s a tough situation!
 
There’s a lot of good Catholic study opportunities online.
You won’t gain anything, and you’ll end up very confused and upset if you meet with these ladies, who are probably nice people. It’s not worth the possible minimization of your faith unless you are VERY strong and well catechized…in which case you should TEACH a Bible study.
 
pianistclare said:
There’s a lot of good Catholic study opportunities online.
You won’t gain anything, and you’ll end up very confused and upset if you meet with these ladies, who are probably nice people. It’s not worth the possible minimization of your faith unless you are VERY strong and well catechized…in which case you should TEACH a Bible study.
Click to expand...
+1

I attended a protestant Bible study a couple of years ago and I did get upset and confused. Jesus might be a common denominator, but we are approaching Him
from different theological paths. I felt uncomfortable after awhile. One lady always wanted to make the point how thankful she was for Martin Luther.
I would focus more on your Catholic faith and what it means to be Catholic.
 
Is it possible for you to do social things with these Protestant ladies that do not involve Bible studies or other religious studies? If they’re your friends, you should be able to have lunch together or take the kids to the park without it being required that you do Bible study with them.

Then you could enjoy time with your friends and perhaps pursue your Catholic Bible study either with the established group at your parish, or through doing lessons on your own, for example through “Walking with Purpose” which I think has self-study lessons and social media groups for people who do not have a parish group doing the program.

If your Protestant friends are only being friends with you in hopes of converting you over via their Bible studies, then you’ll also find that out soon enough and better to do it before they damage your Catholic faith in some way.
 
Have you tried the Bible Study at your parish? :confused: I’m not sure why you prefer to attend a Protestant one or start your own instead of going to that one?
 
Take a look at the Ignatius Study Bible.
Excellent books, easy to follow.
 
I have been involved in a number of interdenominational bible studies, but I already knew my faith very well. Still, sometimes, it’s tough to just keep your mouth shut instead of saying what you know from your Catholicism.

I’d suggest trying to start a Mom’s group within your own church since there apparently isn’t one. Then use it as a jumping off point for a Catholic study for Mom’s. There are numbers of bible studies that are done using DvD’s so you wouldn’t have to try and lead one yourself. You could just be the facilitator. I’d strongly suggest stuff from Ascension Press. The Bible Timeline is really good and they have a number of others. Then take things at your own speed though they are geared for completion within a certain number of sessions.

I am sure there are a lot of others, but the Timeline is a good basic place to start. We have done it in our church a few times for a small group during the day and then later in the evening for church group.

I should say that our parish has about 300 families so it’s not large. The small group was probably 10 people if that. You could of course get the materials and just do it on your own, but it’s more fun, I think, when you can share with others.

I hope that some of the suggestions made already and this one will help you.
 
If you are strong in your faith, it doesn’t seem like a bad thing to me to have Bible studies with non-Catholics. If you are reading ahead, and discussing what you read, learn the Catholic Church’s teachings and understanding of these things. Share your thoughts and the Church’s perspective of the things they may not fully understand.

It’s amazing how little most Protestamts know or understand what/why the Church teaches. Archbishop Fulton Sheen said this
There are not one hundred people in the United States who hate The Catholic Church, but there are millions who hate what they wrongly perceive the Catholic Church to be.
Click to expand...
This has been my experience with most Protestants. Once they hear why the Church teaches something, and where it comes from, they don’t have as much of an arguement against it. They still may not accept it, but they aren’t nearly as disdainful of it. And more than a few teachings they do seem to accept.

I’m grateful to people like Scott Hahn and this website for helping me to better understand and share my faith with non-Catholics. There are many more Catholics in this area now than there were 20-30 years ago, and I could go weeks and never talk to a Catholic outside of church or my family. I still have many more Protestant friends than Caholic friends. Maybe these relationships help bring a little more unity to the Body of Christ.
 
We have a group at our church called Blessed Is She for Catholic women. They have developed a curriculum we are going to begin. They used to be online, but now they
are encouraging parish groups from what I have been told. BlessedIsShe.net is the
website. (Not sure if it is lower or uppercase).
 
Change gears entirely. Start a mid-week babysitting cooperative with some of the other moms from the parish. You need friendship, and you need to look for it in the pew next to you. The Protestant ladies are well-meaning, but don’t get sidetracked. If the studies didn’t sit well with you, that’s the still small voice of the Holy Spirit whispering. Listen to it. Agree with previous poster on the KC self-study course.

And now you have us! Welcome!
 
7WatersDaughter,

I highly recommend this site where Father Venard Poslusney, O. Carm. has many of his tapes on MP3’s available.

advancedchristianity.com/

When I lived up north many years ago, for about four years I attended his monthly Days of Prayer on excellent topics. It was an extraordinary benefit to several of my friends and myself. There were two conferences, Mass, and questions and answers after the conferences. The above site has many of his conferences to listen to. They are awesome. The tapes are not professionally made, so the question and answer period may end abruptly on some of them.

Peace,

Dorothy
 
You should pray much about your situation.
I think hearing people promoting ideas contrary to your faith isn’t a good situation. I wonder what happens if you try to provide a Catholic idea that they don’t believe in?
 
Thank you thank you

I downloaded the books and they teach content . context. And application .

There is nothing anti catholic.

These books teach you to learn scripture and apply it to your life.

I sent the. e books to a friend. They are that good
 
Evangelical_chr said:
Thank you thank you

I downloaded the books and they teach content . context. And application .

There is nothing anti catholic.

These books teach you to learn scripture and apply it to your life.

I sent the. e books to a friend. They are that good
Click to expand...
Hi Evan …
You’ve got some replies waiting for you here:
forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=1059220
If you want to read and join!

p.s. It’s great that you read and enjoyed this material!
 
I attend a non-Catholic prayer group and have done non-Catholic Bible studies without much problem although I imagine it depends on the content. That said it does sound like you have a good opportunity to get involved in your parish so maybe you should prioritize that for a time.
 
Hi!

So, I talked with my husband about it and I think I will keep an open mind to future Bible studies with these ladies but really research it and preview it to see if it will have anything that goes against my Catholic theology that I can’t get past.

On the bright side, I’ve recently volunteered to co-coordinate my parish’s catechism classes, and next year I’ll be the sole coordinator (in time for my eldest to start catechism!) so I have a feeling I’m going to make a lot of good Catholic female friends this way as most of the Sunday School teachers I’ll be working with are women and mothers.

I thank you so much for your help with this. I really appreciate it and know that you are all wonderful! I pray for all of you.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top