Response: All worth it/Read it for yourself

"In World Religions we are called to read the original texts of our own religion even though it usually is unnecessary or not called for. In Catholicism it is not required to read the Bible, but theydo go over it every Sunday a little piece at a time."

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-de_evilgryphon

In Catholicism it is very much required to read the bible. The Catechism of the Catholic church states in Paragraphs 131-133

131 "And such is the force and power of the Word of God that it can serve the Church as her support and vigour, and the children of the Church as strength for their faith, food for the soul, and a pure andlasting fount of spiritual life." Hence "access to Sacred Scriptureought to be open wide to the Christian faithful."

132 "Therefore, the study of the sacred page should be the very soul of sacred theology. The ministry of the Word, too - pastoral preaching, catechetics and all forms of Christian instruction, among which the liturgical homily should hold pride of place - is healthily nourished and thrives in holiness through the Word of Scripture."

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.

The Church emphasizes that the Scriptures be read and understood in full context especially in light of the Ancient Sacred Tradition and teachings of the Church in order to get a full, complete comprehensible and concise understanding of the Text. If you divorce yourself from the historical interpretation of the scriptures you will most definitely lose the understanding of what certain verses are trying to say. This isn't just for faith reasons, but for a very important historical understanding as well. You will not gain a true understanding of Christianity reading the "bible alone" using an "easy to read" English translation with your modern mind interpreting everything. Though I recommend doing it as part of understanding, you are most likely "not going to walk away a Bible expert."

For example, the point I brought up in Class while professor Lane was explaining Jesus' Reference of "The son of Man" as a humbling and human title. If you read that text with naked eyes you can and will probably gather that's all it may have been. The reality is you would completely miss the fact that the title "The son of Man" is a very special title in reference to King David of the Old Testament and the Jews understood that title as something far from just being a "regular man of sorts". This is crucial in understanding the gospels. This information alone can skew your understanding of the Scriptures. (and it has for many newer Christian Denominations) Another example is when professor Lane quoted the "My God why have you forsaken me" (Matt 27:46, Mark 15:34) at first glance you may read only that this was the man Jesus proclaiming that he has been forsaken by God and that even he probably lost faith in his whole mission at this point. However that exact line in its correct context is the exact opposite. It is in fact known as a "Todah" a Hebrew word meaning "Thank offering" or "Thanksgiving" , (Fun Fact: TheGreek "Eucharist" means the same thing). Far from being an act of loss of faith from Jesus, this line was understood to be a powerful expression of confidence in God's sovereignty and mercy.

Scott Hahn, an ex-Presbyterian minister now Author, Theologian and Catholic apologist writes in his book "The Lambs Supper"

"Perhaps the classic example of the todah is Psalm 22, which begins with "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?' Jesus Himself quoted this as He hung dying upon the cross. His listeners would have recognized the reference, and they would have known that this song, which begins with a cry of dereliction, ends on a triumphant note of salvation. Citing this todah, Jesus demonstrated his own confident hope for deliverance" (pg. 33)

And as far as the understanding that every Sunday the Catholic church "goes over the bible a little piece at a time" in no way should that be understood as the Catholic is lacking in scriptural teachings and or readings. In fact it can be easily shown that one single Catholic Mass is "Soaked and drenched" in biblical verses and language. The readings, hymns, responses, are recognizable from verses all over the bible, New and Old testaments. Another interesting fact is that if you attend Mass every Sunday for 3 years,you will have been read pretty much the entire bible cover to cover. And that's only based on the Readings, not the actual language and songs through out the Mass. Many people, even Catholics are unaware that the Liturgy of the Mass is based on the Book of Revelation and is in fact essential to understanding the meaning of the book of Revelation. Most people think it's a weird and crazy "End of the world book" that needs to be demythologized. But for the earliest Christians, the Liturgy of the Mass was based on the Book of Revelation. (otherwise known as Apocalypse or "Unveiling")

Not to long ago in a debate between apologists from the Catholic Church and the non-denominational church of Calvary Chapel, the members from Calvary chapel made the claim that the "Traditions ofthe Catholic Mass weren't begun until 1394 A.D". This claim is certainly strange, foreign and unsupportable. Especially considering the fact that the Mass was essential for early Christians inunderstanding the book of Revelation which was written as early as 68A.D!

Also I would like to add in personal experience, that recently I was attending a "Christian denomination" of sorts that would fellowship literally from 9 a.m to 9 p.m. on Saturdays. They had Three separate 1 hour services throughout the course of the day. Due, to their deeply rooted anti-Catholic views and misunderstandings, they constantly boasted that they studied the bible more in one of their services than the Catholics did at any Mass. However it was noted by me that contrary to what they believed a single Catholic Mass in fact had more biblical references and language than all 3 of their daily services combined. I will close by stating that though nothing I have stated here can solely prove that the Catholic Church is the true religion. What I have stated helps to show that the Catholic Church does require the study and understanding of Scriptures and is deeply rooted in them in worship and teachings. This post Plus my other post I wrote titled "Why Catholic Bibles are Bigger" helps to show theUnique historical relationship the Catholic church has with the Bible that no other Christian denomination has. This is important to know if we are to understand Christianity to its fullest.