To hear the Word, or read the Word

  • Thread starter Thread starter veryconfused
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
V

veryconfused

Guest
Which is better, in your opinion?
The written word, or the spoken word?
I apologise. I’m not sure how to do a proper graphical poll :o
 
Hey again veryconfused, 😃

When you are making a new thread, scroll down a bit below the Submit Reply button and you should see an option for adding a poll. After checking that, and hitting Submit Reply, you’ll be taken to the screen to create the poll.

If you mean hearing Scripture vs. reading Scripture, there is no better or worse. Whatever you comprehend better. I understand better when I’m reading it myself. This goes for everything though for me. I can’t stand professors who just read their lectures to the class.

A lot of times you will hear Catholics talking about the written Word and the spoken Word and that usually means something different. Written Word usually means Sacred Scripture, the Bible. Spoken word usually means Sacred Tradition, the teachings of Christ handed down through the Apostles that aren’t explicitly in the Bible. The latter have all been written down somewhere, just not in the Bible explicitly. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” (loose memory translation. 🙂 ) Jesus is the Word and He has given Himself to us in three different ways. 1. The Written Word, the Bible. 2. The Spoken Word, the teaching of the Apostolic Church. 3. The Broken Word, Christ incarnation and very life among us, particularly in His sacrifice and redemptive work on the cross. None of these is better or worse than any of the others. They are all Jesus and His love for us and they are all infinitely good.

Pax et bonum
 
40.png
luke2219:
Hey again veryconfused, 😃

When you are making a new thread, scroll down a bit below the Submit Reply button and you should see an option for adding a poll. After checking that, and hitting Submit Reply, you’ll be taken to the screen to create the poll.
I think I found that bit 🙂
If you mean hearing Scripture vs. reading Scripture, there is no better or worse. Whatever you comprehend better. I understand better when I’m reading it myself. This goes for everything though for me. I can’t stand professors who just read their lectures to the class.
Understood!
I was just curious as to how much inflexion influenced the listener. Ultimately though, the word of God transcends mere inflexion.
A lot of times you will hear Catholics talking about the written Word and the spoken Word and that usually means something different. Written Word usually means Sacred Scripture, the Bible. Spoken word usually means Sacred Tradition, the teachings of Christ handed down through the Apostles that aren’t explicitly in the Bible. The latter have all been written down somewhere, just not in the Bible explicitly. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” (loose memory translation. 🙂 ) Jesus is the Word and He has given Himself to us in three different ways. 1. The Written Word, the Bible. 2. The Spoken Word, the teaching of the Apostolic Church. 3. The Broken Word, Christ incarnation and very life among us, particularly in His sacrifice and redemptive work on the cross. None of these is better or worse than any of the others. They are all Jesus and His love for us and they are all infinitely good.

Pax et bonum
I understand what you are saying.
For me, someone who finds reading difficult (OK, I’m just lazy:D ), the ‘spoken’ word seems like like an ‘easy option’.
But whatever the ‘medium’, as long as the message gets home…:amen:
 
If you haven’t suffered the idiocy of someone who has decided to get rid of all the missalettes because we are “supposed to listen to the Word of God”, you haven’t really lived.

As I understand it, all things being equal (and they never are), one should listen to the readings at Mass.

There is one slight difficulty with that; not everyone comes wired the same way. Anyone with a rudimentarty knowledge of learing theory should know that some are aural, some kinesthetic, some visual, etc.

One should “listen” in the way most likely to get the point across.
 
I could not vote since I think both are valuable. Sometimes I read the word, other times , (when driving, when doing thing around the house where my hands are not free, or sometimes when drifting off to sleep), I listen to the word. Before Mass I read the readings from my Missal and then listen to the word when the lector or Priest (at Gospel reading time) reads it.
 
‘If you haven’t suffered the idiocy of someone who has decided to get rid of all the missalettes because we are “supposed to listen to the Word of God”, you haven’t really lived.’

lol! thanks for the chuckle. very entertaining.

i voted for ‘reading’ because i read ALL of the time, and understand things 1000000 times better when i read (or see) them than when they’re TOLD to me. i’m a visual learner, in other words.

but, i know that for centuries, the only way that people were able to experience the Word (i mean this in the Jesus sense as well as the Bible sense) was through the mass, hearing the words read, and experiencing Him in the eucharist. so, in a way, i enjoy the depth and historicity of taking part in the mass, and hearing the word rather than reading it.

but if i’m gonna think about it, memorize it, or understand it, i’d better be reading it, or you better be ready to repeat it. 😉
 
ha!ha! did your church acutally have a choice to get rid of the misalettes? My impression was that it was an expense they could easily get cut out because we could listen, which became we chould listen. too bad that the microphone barely works and with the accent of the priest, what I hear some times ends up paralleling the part of Monty Python’s “Life of Brian,” where Jeus is preaching on the mount, and the back of the crowd thinks "blessed are the peacemakers is “blessed are the cheese makers.”

When I attend mass, I try to listen, but I like to have the option of reading, in case I can not hear well. But on my own, I prefer to read. Then I can think things through more and go over it agian and agian. Sometimes I underline sentences that seem to speak to me, and then go back and see what I hear from the underlined parts; if they have something in common.
 
Some people learn best by listening. Some people learn best by reading. And most people learn best by a combination of both.

So, when one teaches a group of people one uses both. And when one is reading to a group of people, one gives people a book or printout so that they can follow along.
 
We have the daily Mass books but they do not contain the readings, therefore many of us have purchased our own daily Missals. In that way we can read and listen at the same time.

However, yes there is a proviso here: when there are daily Mass lectors who are bad readers then it is very hard not to cringe at the mispronunciation of words, or even the total change of words. As a lector I have been guilty of mispronunciation too, but if you heard what I hear from certain others then you would understand why it is so hard not to cringe.

I prefer to read the Word and not to listen to a tape. In that way I can sit down and I can read and contemplate upon what I am reading. It is harder to do that when one is listening to a tape.

MaggieOH
 
Due to the condition of my vision, I prefer listening. However, there is still something about picking up the Bible and reading it.
Seems MORE reverent to ‘Hold’ the Word in your hands.

God IS with Us!
Edwin
 
I like reading it for understanding, I can take it apart & really mull it over. However, when someone else reads they might emphasize something that I wouldn’t; bringing out a new focus or meaning (another layer) to the passage. Both are important.🤓
 
Personally I get a great deal out of reading the Bible myself…although Scriptures do speak a great deal a out “hearing” the word of God.
 
Hello And God Bless All

Reading is hearing if you remember what you read .
Ears and eyes are great gifts from God but I must say using the heart works best for me . God speaks to us all every day but has of yet my ears have failed me but my heart has always come thru. Just look at the Shroud of Turin and you will see better than you can ever read or hear.


Let he who is without sin cast the first stone

Love The Lord With All your Heart and you will see and Hear More
**** HEAR t = HEART
:love:
 
40.png
veryconfused:
Which is better, in your opinion?
The written word, or the spoken word?
:o
The problem for me with hearing the Bible read aloud is that most of the readers I’ve heard don’t have a clue how to read aloud. Reading aloud effectively requires special training, and a good voice. Without both what comes out too often is a dreary and monotonous delivery that can murder the most beautiful passages. That’s why I’d much rather read the Bible quietly, or try to read it aloud myself, than hear it read.
 
thirsty4uolord said:
Hello And God Bless All

Reading is hearing if you remember what you read .
Ears and eyes are great gifts from God but I must say using the heart works best for me . God speaks to us all every day but has of yet my ears have failed me but my heart has always come thru. Just look at the Shroud of Turin and you will see better than you can ever read or hear.

Let he who is without sin cast the first stone

Love The Lord With All your Heart and you will see and Hear More

HEAR t = HEART
:love:

The operative words are "if you remember what you read " :D;)

Maggie
 
I say the Spokenword, Maybe thats not a fair question to ask me? 😃 God Bless
 
serendipity said:
“blessed are the cheese makers.”

Of course you can’t take it literally. Rather, what he means is “blessed are all makers of dairy products.” 😃
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top