AnonymousJuly 3, 2016 at 6:32 PM
Diana @ 1:38 PM, you made a general statement: "as you know most Catholics do not read the Bible." And then @ 5:58 PM you justified that statement by saying "Apologists like Scott Hahn, Steven Ray, and Tim Staples can tell you that."
Sorry Diana but Scott Hahn, Steve Ray and other apologists who converted to the Catholic Church admit that Catholics DO READ the Bible more than the average Protestant, even though they're not aware of it. Scott Hahn said this is true especially for Catholics who attend daily Mass. Hahn even said that in 3 years a Catholic will have read practically the whole Bible, including the 7 books that Protestants don't have in their Bibles.
You really think that only those in the NCW read the Bible and pray the Liturgy of the Hours? Wrong.
Sorry Diana but Scott Hahn, Steve Ray and other apologists who converted to the Catholic Church admit that Catholics DO READ the Bible more than the average Protestant, even though they're not aware of it. Scott Hahn said this is true especially for Catholics who attend daily Mass. Hahn even said that in 3 years a Catholic will have read practically the whole Bible, including the 7 books that Protestants don't have in their Bibles.
You really think that only those in the NCW read the Bible and pray the Liturgy of the Hours? Wrong.
I have books and tapes of Scott Hahn, Steven Ray, and Tim Staples saying that MOST Catholics do not read the Bible. Furthermore, according to the Catholic website CatholiCity:
According to the poll, 25 percent of Evangelical Protestants read the Bible daily, as do 20 percent of other Protestants, while daily Bible-reading is done by only 7 percent of Catholics..........Far more disturbing was the poll result that showed that 44 percent of Catholics "rarely or never" read the Bible, while this is true of only 7 percent of Evangelicals and 13 percent of non-Evangelical Protestants.
You also stated: "You really think that only those in the NCW read the Bible and pray the Liturgy of the Hours? Wrong".
In the first place, I NEVER said that only those in the NCW read the Bible and pray the Liturgy of the Hours. I stated:
What struck me about the prayer vigil last night is the recitation of the evening prayer. This is not new to the Neocatechumenal Way. During our annual retreat, we recite the morning and evening prayers. During our monthly convivience, we always start with the morning prayer. For the older communities, we also pray the Liturgy of the Hours and have Sunday morning prayers.Nowhere in that statement above did I compare any Catholic organization to the NCW. I was simply speaking of what we do in the NCW. How you manage to twist that statement around to mean something that it is not is beyond me. And herein lies the problem.
It is true that many Catholics do not really care about the Scriptures. Just ask the flock coming out of your favorite Catholic church after a Sunday parish mass, ask the simple question what was the Gospel reading they heard about half an hour ago. The sad fact is that most of the people you ask this question from would have no idea how to answer it.
ReplyDeleteI challenge doubters to try this out. They'll be greatly surprised by the abysmal level or Scripture retaining and recognition right after the mass. Is this not strange?
It is quite disturbing what the jungle says about the Word of God. They claim you don't need to read the Bible and don't need to be able to quote it, because "the devil can also quote the Bible"... Lol. This is quite a heck of explanation, isn't it?!
ReplyDeleteIn our communities we think about this differently! We read the Bible a lot and do our preparation for admonishing Scripture reading with full heart and devotion. We give a chance to the Holy Spirit to influence us and lead us when we read the actual words of the Bible for hours after hours! In order to rebut the devil who quote the Bible, you have to know the Scripture BETTER than the devil does!
This is from the Gospel story of temptation when our Lord Jesus rebutted the devil severely, as our Lord knew the Bible much better than the devil! Lol. The devil had to crawl back to his nest of hell in utter shame. This is how you rebut the devil if you read and learn the Scriptures.
The Lord said: “Away with you, Satan! for it is written, ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.’” 11 Then the devil left him, and suddenly angels came and waited on him. (Matthew 4:1-11)
I've actually heard that before--that the devil knows Scripture as well, so it doesn't really matter how much of the Bible you memorized, but how you live out the life that Christ, in Scripture, tells us to.
DeleteIf the devil knows some Scripture, as we know how superficial he is, then the only way to overcome the devil is to know the Scriptures BETTER! Ponder about this for a while my friend...
DeleteAnd that's why we're better than Catholics.
ReplyDeleteDear Anonymous at 9:46 pm,
DeleteMy Protestant brother, the fact that you claim to be better than Catholics is already a sin.....the sin of pride. That is the first issue with your one sentence statement. Christ loves you, but he does not love your sin of pride. In fact, he abhors it.
Secondly, the Bible that you uphold so dearly existed only at the end of the fourth century. Faith came to the Early Christians from hearing the word of God rather than reading it because the Bible did not exist at that time. Most Catholics may not read the word of God, but they hear it in the same way and fashion as the Early Christians did.
Finally, you can thank the Catholics for providing you with the Bible because it came from the Catholic Church, which existed for over 2000 years. It was also a Caholic who invented the printing press so that Europe can mass produce the Bible for all Christians to read.
Nice try of trolling :D
DeleteWe are no better than anyone else. We are only different in our relation to the Holy Bible. We show an option inside the Catholic church for those who feel the Word of God is substantial to our faith. You don't need to accept that but we follow what we believe!
DeleteWe demonstrate to all Catholics that Scripture can be treated by reverence, passion and devotion. We don't count the hours we spend on Bible preparation because it is part of our spiritual journey. But I can tell you, we read more Bible passages from week to week than you can ever imagine.
That is why we are also quiet and withdrawn. By cherishing every hour the Holy Spirit is giving to us to be devoted to the Scriptures, we are more than reluctant to go out to the streets, make noise, stir rebellion, picket and make political demands on the back of the appointed church leaders. It is just not tour style.
We hold dearly every minute the Lord is giving to us to spend on his Holy Word. Therefore we don't have much left to waste on fake activism and similar vanities like jungle Catholics do!
The commenter was trying to argue with a half truth. Hahn, Ray and Staples are apologetics and yes they were converts. Their argument that catholics DO read the bible is true but this is often used in context when other denominations say we DONT. They are using the fact that by attending Mass everyday for three years(Cycle ABC) we would have read the entire bible. True!
ReplyDeleteNow here is the other half. OUTSIDE OF MASS most Catholics DO NOT read the Bible.
Most Catholics have never even heard about the Liturgy of the Hours, Lectio Divina or other gifts that the church has given us as weapons against the devil.
This is what gets me. I was reading a comment just today over at the jungle and Gerald Taitano in response to Saturdays Evening Prayer said, "Prayers that were selected seem to set the stage for a Neo brainwashing convivence". You see even Mr. Taitano has no clue that what we prayed on Saturday evening was in communion with everyone else around the world. Taken directly from the Liturgy of the Hours. I wonder if he even realizes it was a Psalm.
Im very grateful of the NCW for reminding me of the many gifts the church has for me.
Pas!
-Jokers Wild
hey..hey...hey...Mr. Taitano has a very comfortable relationship with the Lord Joker. Who are we to say how Mr. Taitano worships? Lord; I will do this for your but you need to do this for me? Never mind the dying at the cross for us; never you mind the sacrifice; this is not important. What is important is making the deal. Gotta look good. Gotta feel good.
DeleteGerry Taitano is one of those CCOG guys who likes to talk without thinking much.
Delete