Why you need to read the Bible
A Catholic view
Introduction
This article is published with Ecclesiastical Permission, Dublin, Ireland. It is also available in printed form (details at bottom of page), and is being distributed to every Catholic parish in Ireland. This is to fulfil the Second Vatican Council injunction:
Pope John Paul has dedicated the next three years to the Trinity, with 1997 being specifically dedicated to Jesus, the Word.
1. Because it is God's inspired word
(Also 2 Tim. 3: 16 & 17)
In encouraging us not to neglect reading the Old Testament as well as the New, Vatican Council states that "God, the inspirer and author of both testaments, wisely arranged that the New Testament be hidden in the Old, and the Old be made manifest (clear) in the New...The books of the Old Testament ..show their full meaning in the New Testament .. and shed light on it and explain it."
2. Because the Bible is true and essential for today as always
That's why Vatican Council states that, "The books of Scripture must be acknowledged as teaching firmly, faithfully, and without error, that truth which God wanted put into the sacred writings for the sake of our salvation."
3. Because Jesus said:
4. Because it shows the way you can have a personal relationship with God
Vatican Council specifically asks all Christians to read the Bible frequently in order to know Jesus.
"This sacred Synod earnestly and specifically urges all the Christian faithful... to learn by frequent reading of the divine Scriptures the excelling knowledge of Jesus Christ. For ignorance of the Scriptures is ignorance of Christ...And let them remember that prayer should accompany the reading of sacred Scripture, so that God and man may talk together."
Jesus himself said:
And this is eternal life that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.
If you do not have a personal relationship with God, then ask Jesus to take over your life and be your personal Saviour and Lord. He will transform and change your life and bring meaning where there was emptiness.
5. Because it challenges us to spread the Good News of Salvation
Jesus said to His disciples:
Go into all the World and preach the Gospel to the whole creation. He who believes and is baptised will be saved, but he
who does not believe will be condemned.
Vatican Council states what the first, primary duty of a priest is - namely:
"Since no one can be saved who has not first believed, priests...have as their primary duty the proclamation of the
Gospel of God to all...For through the saving Word, the spark of faith is struck in the hearts of unbelievers and fed into the
hearts of the faithful."
Let us encourage our priests and ministers and pray that they will be filled with the Holy Spirit as they fulfil their primary duty of proclaiming the Gospel.
This command of Jesus is not just to be obeyed by priests and ministers, but by all Christian lay people as we allow the Holy Spirit to empower us for this task.
Vatican Council affirmed this when it stated that all Christian lay people should "look for opportunities to announce Christ by words addressed either to non-believers with a view to leading them to faith, or to believers (both Catholic and Protestant) with a view to instruction and strengthening them and motivating them toward a more fervent life".
