For so long we have been harboring the wrong notion that Catholics do not use the bible. If we see people roaming around carrying bibles, we can be sure they are not Catholics. The practice is still true in this era and generation, for Catholics are not even required to own a bible. While other sects are using the bible in their activities, Catholics do not as they are just made to listen to the Word of God during Holy Masses. The faithful are not obliged to carry the Holy Bible during liturgies. Studying the Word of God is not part of the liturgy unlike other sects where bible reading is done as part of their activities.
While young Catholic kids are made to attend Catechism before receiving first communion, other sects expose their kids to the bible based on their misconstrued explanation of the faith. We adhere to the teaching authority of the Catholic Church and do not delve studying the bible on our own personal interpretation. Other sects are too assuming in making private interpretations and teaching the word of God to their followers without consulting the Church magisterium as to how bible is to be reflected on and understood.
It is precisely the wrong practice of reading the Bible and delving into private interpretations that do not conform to the teaching of the Catholic Church that was built and established by Jesus Christ that had caused the proliferation of many sects. The Church which Jesus Christ entrusted to Peter had been given the authority to teach the faith when the apostles were commanded to go and preach the good news. No one of the apostles was told to write the teachings. This is why the Holy Bible came much later as a compilation of product of the discernment of the Catholic Church. It was compiled from manuscripts that were scattered in different places and times.
Sects that make the Holy Bible the fundamental source of their faith and teaching are lost in their chosen path. The fundamental truth that these non-Catholic sects miss or just refuse to recognize is that the Catholic Church was established by Jesus Christ long before the Holy Bible was completed. This means that the Catholic Church had already been preaching the Good News immediately when the apostles received the command to preach which was too long before the Holy Bible came into being. This shows that not all teachings on the faith are contained in the Holy Bible as teaching begun even without the Holy Bible yet. This fact is supported in the last verse of the gospel of Saint John where it was mentioned that not all that was taught be Jesus Christ were written in the Holy Bible.
Ignorance of the Bible is ignorance of Jesus Christ according to the great theologian Saint Jerome. He it was who painstakingly gathered the various manuscripts that were included in the Holy Bible. The compilation of the sacred writings was completed with the grace and enlightenment of the Holy Spirit guiding the judgment and discernment of the Catholic Church. The Holy Bible that we now have is the product of a long and tedious process undertaken by the Catholic Church. The challenge for us Catholics is to learn our faith by knowing Jesus Christ through the Holy Bible, that Sacred Scriptures that truly belongs to us. We must be able to defend our faith against the attacks emanating from the misguided misuse of the Holy Bible by non-Catholics who make wrong interpretations in affront to the teaching authority of the Catholic Church. Divine revelation comes from three sources, church magisterium, sacred tradition and the holy bible. It is not bible alone.
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