Comments on Johnny Dangerous: Why Don't Catholics Know the Bible?

While you've left the Catholic Church, I hope you ...

2009-10-10T08:08:30.440-05:00

While you've left the Catholic Church, I hope you have found a church home elsewhere where you can worship God 'in spirit and in truth', as Jesus told the Samaritan woman in John 4. It is really too bad your aunt was told not to read the bible because she might misinterpret it and go to hell. That is the absolute wrong thing to say. The Bible is not difficult to understand; it is mostly in the form of historical narrative (that is, stories) and poetry. Some of it requires a bit more historical background, which isn't hard to get. Reading the bible ought to illuminate and deepen one's faith and one's practice within the Catholic Church, where the scriptures are a major part of the Mass.

I can only speak to my experience and the experien...

2009-10-09T23:53:56.749-05:00

I can only speak to my experience and the experiences of those around me...I was raised Catholic and I never read the bible because the personal reading of it was not something that was elevated in importance either by my parents, our priets and pastors or my teachers in Catholic high school. The same goes for my friends and extended family members in my peer group (I'm 34). I think if you are told that there's a good chance you will misinterpret it if you don't have the Catholic church's teachings and interpretations well learned or at your side, you have no motivation to read it. If I can't understand it, why would I waste my time - the church has already done it for me, so I just need to go to them for everything I need to know in the bible. Even if the official doctrine says that it encourages bible reading, I never saw that in practice. I have never seen my mother (the Catholic of my parents) read the bible. As you stated, the traditions and obedience to the church were taught to me to be of the highest importance. But being literate in the bible was never mentioned. I think that our parents' generation still held to the pre-Vatican II notion of reading the bible to be dangerous, because I did hear that told to a friend by one of her aunts. My aunt has told me that she was instructed to not read it because she could misunderstand it and go to hell.It is worth mentioning that I am half Filipino through my mother's side and the Philippines is where she and my aunt were raised. It's also worth mentioning that when I decided to read the bible from cover to cover, I made the decision to leave the Catholic Church. It's a tragedy, in my opinion, because I think I would have not chosen to do some of the hedonistic things I did had I known God personally without the intervention of the church.

Greycat, you are completely right, and I'm glad th...

2009-09-21T14:58:46.505-05:00

Greycat, you are completely right, and I'm glad the Catechism and the current pontiff, who is a fine theologian and pastor, encourage Bible reading and study.

http://www.vatican.va/archive/catechism/p1s1c2a3.h...

2009-09-21T09:36:10.389-05:00

http://www.vatican.va/archive/catechism/p1s1c2a3.htm#I

133 The Church "forcefully and specifically exhorts all the Christian faithful. . . to learn the surpassing knowledge of Jesus Christ, by frequent reading of the divine Scriptures. Ignorance of the Scriptures is ignorance of Christ.
Catechism of the Catholic Church

I would add too that I learned to love and read Sacred Scripture-- as a Catholic...since I converted...

Also I would note Pope Benedict is a great lover and promoter of Sacred Scripture --and he is not a convert from Evangelicalism....

(as were Popes before him...just cause culturally some Catholics did not read the Bible as much --due to problems after the Protestant movements --does not mean the Church was not asking them to!! they were..just think of the great encyclicals from Popes of the 1800's and 1900's)

Hi Johnny, I'm an adult "convert" (from agnostici...

2009-08-19T08:54:53.696-05:00

Hi Johnny,

I'm an adult "convert" (from agnosticism) to Catholicism who knows his Bible well, and your post seems fair and balanced. I am not familiar with the reasons as to "why" most Catholics don't know their Bible very well because it is very foreign to me to not know the Bible. I think it may be that those Catholics simply trust the Church and that allows them to more innocently practice their devotions. Plus I feel that Bible study itself is more of an intellectual path to holiness, as where devotions are more of a path via the heart. Everyone has their own path I guess.

Also, among your links to consider, I think your "coming home network" link is out of date as it leads to a financial site. You might mean "http://www.chnetwork.org/".

Thanks for your post.