One gets a deep inspiration reading the God’s Word and every Catholic can read Bible if he/she wishes to. Studying the Bible can raise questions about church history and the tenets of faith (Gibson).The Catholic Church emphasizes that only the officially approved translation with provided explanatory notes should be read.
However, church asserts that there is another source of God’s revelation. People need the ancient texts of Bible as “they have something to do with the truth of our lives” (Johnson 1). Scriptures play an important role in Catholic’s life.
Scripture is a sacred manuscript and the primary source of the Catechism (MacDonald). The catholic commentary on Holy Spirit says that Canon is the most truthful version of the original Scriptures. Jim Seghers writes in Luther and the Canon of the Bible that “the canon accepted by Catholics contains 46 books in the Old Testament and 27 books in the New Testament” (Johnson 2). Catholic Church absolves people and allows its members to read the Scripture. The reading of Bible is allowed but it is not necessary.
According to Scripture and Tradition, sacred or apostolic tradition consists of the teachings that the apostles passed on orally through their preaching (Catholic Answers). Bible is followed by the Tradition according to the beliefs of the Catholic Church. It is asserted that the early Christians, not having written scriptures, relied on the oral traditions (Seghers). The truth of Catholics is that the Scripture should be understood and taken within the preserved traditions of the church.
Centuries back, there was no Meryl for the evaluation of the Churches’ teachings. The dogmas of the churches were accepted without critics as the majority of the Catholics were taught mechanically within the lessons of God’s Word.
Nowadays, when there is an opportunity to get the Bible any time, they realize that it is impossible to find most of the dogmas used before in teaching. There are many contradictions in the beliefs, for example, the theory of the immortal souls that can not be judged. It goes along with the theory of the teaching of limbo.
Generally, scripture is taken as an authoritative guidance of the teachings of the church to live, to worship and to keep moral values the way it is written in the God’s Word. Many religious scientists do not keep to the original canons of the Bible and cause misunderstanding of Catholics who see the differences in the original manuscripts and teaching of the modern priests.
There is also a strict belief that a Catholic may be absolutely sure that a church can not simply spread the teachings contradicting the Scripture. Any Catholic doctrine may or may not contradict the Scriptures principles and it is left for people to find out all the niceties, differences and similarities.
The Catholic Church says that ignorance of reading the Bible is compared to the ignorance of Christ that is not acceptable in religion. That is why the main message for the Catholics is “Read your Bibles” (Catholic Answers). The Bible may also be used as the oral teaching that is denied by the Protestants who claim that the true “rule of faith” is just kept on the pages of Bible and that anything extraneous to the Bible is wrong and unacceptable.
Catholics take the Bible as the manifested teaching living authority. There are also many books that serve as an introduction to Scripture study such as “How Do Catholics Read the Bible”, “What the Gospel Meant”, “Jesus of Nazareth” etc. that should be read by every true Catholic (Catholic Answers). Bible is presented as a right world as a garden that God plants for humans to enjoy and cultivate (Johnson 2).
Scripture is the key to know the truth of life but it should be used in a proper way to open the sacred doors to verity.
Works Cited
Catholic Answers. Scripture and Tradition. Web.
Gibson, David. “The State of Catholic Bible Study Today.” America The National Catholic Weekly (2008). Web.
Johnson, Timothy. “How is the Bible True? Let Me Count the Ways”. Business Library. (2009). Web.
MacDonald, David. “Are the Catholics into the Bible?” 1998. Web.
Seghers, Jim. “Apologetic and the Canon of the Bible.” 1998. Web.