Only Catholic Priests Can Read the Bible?
Greg answers a listener’s question, “How should I respond to a Catholic friend who says only Catholic priests have the ability to read the Bible?”
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Only a few will be saved. Wide and broad is the road that leads to destruction. Satan has a firm grip on Catholics.
Greg, as a (formerly close) friend of Francis Beckwith, I am astounded that you could so misrepresent the Catholic stance of the reading of Scripture. For 8 pages of quotes by Catholics on the importance of Scripture in the life a Catholic, you can follow this link – https://docs.google.com/document/d/1mYOvl7O4xdb8VjXxizdHUq3uMO1lsYLp/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=106316762263722807219&rtpof=true&sd=true
For Catholics the bible is not a book to be studied it is a book to worship with. We dont study it like a historical text that would be disrespectful. The way protestants quote it etc can seem disrespectful to us. I know its a cultural difference but often protestants will quote scripture at catholics that seems to catholics like they treat it as a college text book. It shouldn't be a book that you take out unless you intend to do something spiritual and pray with it. Its not a text book. Its not for study its for prayer and revelation. That power can be misused. Evangelicals use the Bible as a rule book. Catholics use it as a prayer book. And Catechism is the rule book. So often bibles in catholic churches were kept locked up. I can't stress how much to catholics view it as a talisman of divine power Jesuits for example would take certain bibles into battle. For catholics the bible is a divine entity it is LITERALLY the word or the logos of god. Protestants will often quote it to prove a point in an argument. To a catholic this is an abuse of the bible. It is there to worship god it can be used for protection etc. But its stilly to try and use its power for your own purposes. It doesnt work like that. I realize we Catholics have to understand that protestants see the bible as a rule book and something to bring them closer to god. And maybe we can learn from you too. But just so you understand what traditional catholics think and how they understand things so we can better understand each other. Peace.
Im Irish and in Ireland we were always taught its best for only catholic priests to read it and UNDERSTAND IT PROPERLY. Im not a christian myself though but still people are kind of afraid of it partic really traditional catholics. We read the catechism tho which you guys dont have. But ritual and doing is prized over bible reading.
LOL, Catholics read the bible. That is insane. The Catholics WROTE THE BOOK. Why do people keep forgetting this LOL.
2 Points:
1. Just because there was no mention of bishops or priests in the Corinthian church does not mean they weren't present (argument from silence). We know that there clearly are bishops, priests, elders and deacons present from other NT scriptures.
2. Ever since the reformation people have been given the green light to start their own denomination. Hundreds of years later we have countless denominations who claim to be led by the Holy Spirit yet contradict each other in many different doctrines. If God is not the author of confusion then is it not plausible for Jesus to have established a Magesterium by the Holy Spirit through people in the same way He established the Bible by the Holy Spirit through people?
Proddyism was invented to 1) steal the Church’s land, and 2) legalise usury, which the Church still condemns…consequently the usurers have been stealing everyone’s wages for 500 years…dumb proddies
Very good insight, Greg! It has always bothered me how Catholic and “Orthodox” Christians have this attitude towards scripture.
So what was your family's excuse and yours for not reading Scripture
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. Catechism Of the Catholic Church
Pope St. Gregory I (died 604 AD) “The Emperor of heaven, the Lord of men and of angels, has sent you His epistles for your life’s advantage—and yet you neglect to read them eagerly. Study them, I beg you, and meditate daily on the words of your Creator. Learn the heart of God in the words of God, that you may sigh more eagerly for things eternal, that your soul may be kindled with greater longings for heavenly joys.”
Pope Clement XI (1700 – 1720) To forbid Christians to read Sacred Scripture, especially the Gospels, is to forbid the use of light to the sons of light, and to cause them to suffer a kind of excommunication.
Pope Pius VI (April 1st 1778 AD) “the faithful should be excited to the reading of the Holy Scriptures: for these are the most abundant sources which ought to be left open to every one, to draw from them purity of morals and of doctrine”
Pope Pius VII (1800 – 1823) "encourage their people to read the Holy Scriptures ; for nothing can be more useful, more consoling, and more animating, because they serve to confirm the faith, to support the hope, and to influence the charity of the true Christian."
Pope Leo XIII (1893) “The solicitude of the apostolic office naturally urges and even compels us…to desire that this grand source of Catholic revelation (the Bible) should be made safely and abundantly accessible to the flock of Jesus Christ”
Pope Pius X (1903 – 1914) “Nothing would please us more than to see our beloved children form the habit of reading the Gospels – not merely from time to time, but every day.”
Pope Benedict XV (1914 – 1922) “Our one desire for all the Church’s children is that, being saturated with the Bible, they may arrive at the all-surpassing knowledge of Jesus Christ”
Pope Pius XII (1943) “… This author of salvation, Christ, will men more fully know, more ardently love and more faithfully imitate in proportion as they are more assiduously urged to know and meditate the Sacred Letters, especially the New Testament …”
Pope John Paul II (1979) “catechesis must be impregnated and penetrated by the thought, the spirit and the outlook of the Bible and the Gospels through assiduous contact with the texts themselves”
Pope Benedict XVI (2006) “I urge you to become familiar with the Bible, and to have it at hand so that it can be your compass pointing out the road to follow. By reading it, you will learn to know Christ.”
Pope Francis (2015) “The Bible is not meant to be placed on a shelf, but to be in your hands, to read often – every day, both on your own and together with others”✨✨
This video is ludicrous. I urge you to read the earliest writings you can find by Christians who literally gave up everything, including their very lives for the Christian Faith. Those Christians of heroic virtue are the Catholics you so readily disparage. I pray we may all be united in love through our Lord Jesus Christ to the glory of God the Father.
Great point! I was really hoping for some scriptures to back that answer too
This may not be practiced in every Roman Catholic Church but I’m sure the majority do.
My R. Catholic family doesn’t read their bible and are not encouraged to do so. They carry it to mass but it’s not cracked open. It’s easy to let someone else interpret and just tell you what to do. This whole process shows proof of a heart that has not been transformed and needs salvation. There is no love for God’s word or concept of mourning toward your sins. Great video and great reasoning. 🙏
other religions also does the same when they have something to hide or a shame of or have an agenda to control the people.
Ridiculous
What absolute nonsense. No Catholic would ever say this. Catholics read the bible and we are encouraged to do so. This 'Question' is a set-up. How pathetically dishonest.
There is no such Catholic teaching that says only priests have the ability to read the Bible. When it comes to interpretation of Bible, then there is official interpretation of the Magisterium. There is no such thing as inspired interpretation as Greg said. If everybody is given freedom to interpret the Bible, which is common practice in non-Catholic churches, then we have a number of conflicting interpretation and every one claims he/she has the right one. It is common sense that the same Holy Spirit would not guide different persons into different interpretations.
Clearly neither one of you understand the Catholic Church. You should first seek to understand the Catholic Church before trying to explain it
On the Corinthians example: Who was that letter delivered to? One would think it was given to the leaders of the Church in Corinth, because they would be the ones who could best disseminate the information to the other Christians (bear in mind that reading was not a common skill at that time). The Church did not have official titles or stations back then, but I think those who the letter was actually intended to be delivered to were the equivalent of priests.
On the magisterium: One of the chief purposes of the magisterium is to ensure that scripture is taught consistently and with its fullness in mind. They work to ensure that everything about Catholic theology is internally consistent; essentially that no book, chapter, verse, or word is taken out of context or misinterpreted. One example I can think of is the use of the word "homosexual" translated from "arsenokoitai" in Saint Paul's words (sorry, I don't have a Greek keyboard); some Protestants have reinterpreted this word to mean men who are attracted to young boys, but world history, language, Old Testament morality, and the context of the word itself tells us that it does not mean what they say it does. This is what the magisterium does: It acts as an authoritative source that compiles the information that would otherwise be hard to find in one spot or simply ignored by parties wanting to confirm their bias.
I was raised Catholic, I have never heard of a priest saying ,” don’t read the Bible”. Or only a priest can decipher the Bible. What I will say is the Mass was not Bible oriented, although quotes were read, Catholics didn’t seem to focus on the Bible as Protestants do, the Homily was written by the priest and that was the main message.
Tracey Burroughs from South Africa 🇿🇦 watching your episode. Thank you for another good episode.