One of the chief complaints of the Protestants during the Reformation was that the Catholic Church essentially prevented common folks reading the Scriptures by forbidding to translate the Bible into vernacular from church Latin. That's what Martin Luther did, he translated the whole Bible into vernacular and the newly invented printing press did the rest.
Fast forward 500+ years, I'm going to tell you a true story. There is someone born and raised in a Christian (Protestant!) household and has been attending church their whole life (60+ years). And then this person switches churches and for the first time in their life hears the story of Jacob and his 4 wives (OK, 2 wives and 2 concubines, to be precise). How is it even possible? I realise it's OT, but still it's Genesis not some obscure story we are talking about here.
Another individual also has been a Christian their whole life. Born and bred in a very religious family. And yet, this person has never read the whole of New Testament, only fragments. How is it even possible??? You'll never get the full picture until you have read it in its entirety, the way it is written.
Is this what our ancestors were fighting for in the 16th century? If more Christians bothered to read their Bibles it would be much more difficult for snake oil preachers to deceive them with political agendas, whether from the Left or from the Right. Christianity is not about politics. It's about Jesus Christ. Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life.
But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s
special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called
you out of darkness into his wonderful light.
AMEN! Thank you for pointing this out. You would not believe the number of people out there in churches who have not read the Bible, don't know where to find things in it, or feel like they are "too dumb" to understand it and so they trust their pastor to explain it (thinking that somehow they get the whole of it from him). Yes, even people born and bred in the Christian faith can miss entire sections.
ReplyDeleteSome people in liturgical groups are under the impression that they get the whole Bible read to them out loud during the year. Even the "clergy" class can be stuck in their particular set of memorized verses or fed the liturgy and not read the Bible on their own. One Orthodox priest (who used to be a Lutheran) told us, when my husband quoted Romans 1:16 to him, that he was "unfamiliar with it."
It is important to read through it over and over and get familiar with it when you are young!
Churches would print calenders with Bible verses for every day + explanation. But you never get the whole picture by only reading a couple of verses out of context plus the ideas of some obscure preacher (often biased as more liberal versions literally promoted feminism and other stuff). The best way is just to read a chapter (or a part of it) by chapter every day and then to look for good commentary online. Preferably from several sources. I've been to Catholic churches and even they encourage people to read Scriptures nowadays. They always read 3 fragments during a sermon, one from OT, one from the Gospels and one from Apostles' writings but they usually preach about the Gospels. As far as I know, Lutherans do similar stuff.
ReplyDeleteYes, I have also found blogs online where Orthodox encourage private Bible reading, too (as long as you take the questions to a priest in their church and not try to figure anything out on your own).
ReplyDeleteI think daily Bible reading as a "habit" is important for a Christian, and there are many reading plans online for reading it through in a year, or chronologically, or OT & NT together, etc. My family tries to read a chapter a night together and discuss, besides everyone's individual readings of their choice.
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DeleteI think most churches nowadays would tell you to read your Bible. It's a pity so few people appear to follow this advice.
ReplyDeleteLots of interesting material out there. One can even find older published Bibles at the Internet Archive.
ReplyDeleteWhat Hebrew Taught Me About Scripture (That English Never Could)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tz4S4X7WP4U
This guy passed away a year two ago. The churchians would burn him at a stake if they could.
1A Hidden Meanings In Bible
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FdSVl_HOo8Y
Thanks, will check!
ReplyDelete