Spanning the Protestant / Catholic divide - Part I "Why Don't Catholics Know the Bible"

Intro: I have been interested in improving communication and reducing confusion between Protestants and Catholics for some time. My pet theory is that we often misunderstand and talk at cross purposes because we have different 'culture' and language, and that even when we use the same words, we may not understand them the same way. So this series is not meant to be apologetic so much as it is meant to be focused on the differences in how we approach Faith and the world.

While eating Mexican fast food with a large group of guys after a 12 step meeting last night I got into a conversation with a knowledgeable and fairly open minded Protestant. John mentioned that he was impressed that I was well informed about my faith and that in his experience Catholics have not been able to answer his questions and they didn't know the Bible.

So John asked me “Why don’t most Catholic know the Bible? ” Also I think he asked if reading the Bible on one’s own was discouraged by the Church.Afterward I wasn’t satisfied with my answer, so now I’m blogging about it. The question is not as simple to answer as it is to ask! My response was (roughly): “Catholics should read the Bible more on their own, but probably most don’t read it often. The Catholic Church is a Church of the Bible. I think its partly that it’s very comfortable being a Catholic. The Sacraments are efficacious regardless of my personal understanding.” It was an inadequate response. We were one conversation in a group and it wasn’t a time when we could focus on really fleshing things out.

So I’d like to take a crack at it here. The problems and solutions for dialoguing with Protestants has been one of my main lines of thought over the past few years, so I am planning to make this a series.

Answer Part A
Catholics do know the Bible! Yes, contrary to what nearly all Protestants and most Catholics believe, Catholics do actually know the Bible. I would even say that it is reasonable that in general the average ‘practicing’ Catholic knows the Bible roughly as well as the Average Protestant!

Catholics just don’t ‘know’ the Bible the same way that Protestants ‘know’ the Bible, or at least the way Catholics think that most Protestants ‘know’ the Bible. Usually Catholics feel inferior about our Bible knowledge because we can’t turn right to the Chapter and Verse for hardly anything, and we don’t generally have any verses perfectly memorized.On the other hand, Protestants are often portrayed in fiction and film and occasionally turn up on our door step seeming to know Chapter and Verse all up and down and forwards and backwards through the whole Bible.

And it is generally true that many ‘serious’ Protestants especially those from very Evangelical or Fundamentalist backgrounds will have spent more time personally reading the Bible and will have memorized at least a couple of dozen verses up to maybe a hundred or so. Thus as a Catholic I feel very inferior because I just paraphrase, usually mix up passages from a couple of places and have a hard time locating any of it quickly by Chapter and verse.

On the other hand, Catholics who attend Mass every Sunday hear a lot of scripture! Three readings usually one Old Testament, one New Testament (epistles, Acts and Revelation) and one Gospel each between 5 and 15 verses or occasionally longer. In the 3 year cycle of readings for the Sunday Mass we hear a pretty healthy fraction of the Bible and certainly all of the most significant passages.

From the readings at Sunday Mass alone, nearly every Catholic who consistently attends Mass weekly is very familiar with all the really significant parts of scripture. I’m not implying in the least that we should call that “good enough” or that there is nothing of value or importance that we’re missing. What I am saying is that Catholics who actually attend Mass actually do know reasonably well what is in the Bible – we just aren’t very good at finding it.

At the same time, I’m not convinced that taken as a whole Protestants really know the Bible all that well. Certainly among certain branches of Protestantism there is a very strong tradition of Bible study, and there are Protestants who really do know the Bible in and out. But I have questions. How often is Bible knowledge heavily focused on particular passages and books – spotty? How often is Bible knowledge focused on memorizing isolated verses and proof texting? How often is Bible knowledge distorted by rigorous use of a particular hermeneutic or denominational understanding?

What I quickly discovered in my own journey is that often times the “Commanding Knowledge” of the Bible I was confronting was pretty easy to deflate. Just memorizing 7 verses supporting the Catholic doctrines and insisting on reading verses in context, and having confidence to know that there are answers and I found that most debates with Protestant Bible thumpers ended very quickly and they seldom make another run at me.

Answer Part B
We have tried / are trying. All my lifetime I’ve known that reading the Bible either personally or in a study group is very much encouraged. Certainly since Vatican II the Church has strongly encouraged Bible reading. Every parish I’ve ever attended was continually offering and starting Bible studies.

I think a healthy majority of practicing Catholics have made an effort at one time or another to ‘read the Bible’ and a pretty good percentage has joined a Bible Study group at least once. Yet overall, it doesn’t seem like serious Bible reading has ‘caught on’ among Catholics. Still, I think most Catholics have managed to read Genesis, the Gospels, a healthy selection of the Psalms and a spattering of everything else.

Answer Part C
Basic Explanation: Reading the Bible is HARD. It’s difficult to build a habit. The Bible is readable in some areas, but many books are very dry, or confusing. Some parts of the Old Testament are difficult to relate to the present. We don’t know the history and background well enough to really keep track of what is going on in the historic books. Romans in particular and large parts of the other Pauline epistles are very confusing to follow and sort out. Not to mention Revelation.

It is generally not something we grew up doing, and seeing our parents do, so we don’t have a framework for it. Generally, Catholic religious education both at the parish and at home, doesn’t focus on the Bible. One result is that the Bible isn’t seen as the source for what we need to know – which is partly true. Another result is that we don’t learn a basic familiarity with Catholic principles for interpreting scripture (literal, allegorical, moral and anagogical senses) and don’t get a ‘feel’ for the various types of literature in the Bible, and a general sense of the history of Israel and how the prophets fit in with the Chronology. Then when we come to the Bible as an adult, we have a hard time ‘developing our sea legs.’

Answer Part D
For Catholics there is no ‘need’ or question that drives us to read the Bible! This is the answer I was trying to get at with my initial reply. As Catholics, we are content with our 'uncertain' salvation. We accept our Sacramental System and that's that. We just don't worry about Calvin, vs. Zwingli vs. Luther vs. Wesley vs. NT Wright when it comes to salvation. The average Catholic seldom or never gets into theological debates unless we’re “attacked” by Protestant evangelizers.

And this is actually HEALTHY. We know that we are justified through Faith in Jesus Christ. We know that we were Baptized and that we receive Communion and go to Confession and most of us have been Confirmed. We know that these Sacraments are Mysterious and real symbols of God’s grace and that we receive the free gift of God’s grace through the sacraments. We understand that our minor sins are forgiven in the two confessions we make during every Mass and that we are united to Jesus Christ by receiving His Body and Blood in the Eucharist. We understand that when we confess serious (or minor) sins to a Priest and receive absolution we don’t have to worry anymore if we are “truly sorry;” the sacrament is not dependent on our subjective emotional feelings. Once we’ve received absolution – from Jesus through the Priest we know for sure that we are forgiven from ALL our sins.

The average Catholic could use a refresher course on the details of being in a “state of grace” and how that relates to what Paul is talking about in Romans regarding being in the Spirit and the Obedience of Faith as opposed to being “a slave to sin” or “in the flesh.” I think that nearly all practicing Catholics have the essential understanding intuitively, even if they are pretty fuzzy on the details and vocabulary. And again, grace doesn't require our knowledge or comprehension.

Having the Sacraments, particularly Baptism, Confession and Eucharist leads to a great sense of security. Catholics who actually attend Mass regularly at least intuitively understand the Sacraments and as a result, the questions, theological or personal or ecclesiastical , that might make Bible study an urgent priority just aren’t there for us.

Conclusion
That leaves a perfect lead in for Part II in this series: Why Do Protestants focus so much on reading the Bible?

Catholic Family Life - In the Bedroom - Part 4

Catholic Family Life - In the Bedroom - Part 3

Catholic Family Life - In the Bedroom - Part 2

Catholic Family Life - In the Bedroom - Part 1

If you start talking about NFP in a group of active young Catholic couples, it won't be long before the discussion starts getting heated. Even spouses seem to get worked up defending their particular take on how and when to use NFP. Sex is a pretty controversial area that goes to the core of the human experience in a way that nothing else can. It's OK to disagree with your friends about pizza toppings and sports teams, but when you start talking sex - things can get uncomfortable.

My wife and I used NFP to avoid pregnancy for the first 3 years of our marriage. At the time, our reasoning was really rather secular. I'm not sure we would have made the same decisions if we knew then what we know now. Our predominant reason was simply that we thought it would be better to have a couple years of marriage to enjoy before we had kids. Really not a very compelling reason in hindsight. A host of smaller reasons were financial, living situation etc.. It's easy for me to see now that most of those reasons are smaller that I thought at the time. I think our secular culture encourages to think that we should wait on marriage and family until we have our lives all worked out, and are financially successful. I think today's economic hard-times might be putting the lie to that philosophy.

After having taken the plunge of marriage and having a family and all the uncertainty, insecurity, responsibility and JOY that came with it I have a different perspective. I say go for it. Don't wait, life is short. Don't count on ever having enough order, money and security in your life to make everything easy. Even if it is easy, it won't necessarily make you happier than struggling.

Anyway, I sometimes feel a little guilty about the time my wife and I spent avoiding pregnancy. There are many who toss out the term "contraceptive mentality" about other couples who use NFP to avoid pregnancy for reasons that are perceived as not really all that serious. The idea being that a couple can use NFP improperly or sinfully. That marriage is to be "open to life" (CCC 1652, 2366-7) and NFP is only to be used to space children for "serious reasons"(CCC 2368) The Catechism of the Catholic Church wisely leaves the discernment of "serious reasons" up to the couple but states in section 2368 that it must not be "motivated by selfishness but is in conformity with the generiosity appropriate to responsible parenthood."

However, I've found not shortage of fine Catholic folks that will readily share their opinion that many or even almost all couples using NFP to avoid pregnancy do not have a serious enough reason. There is the specter of the 'contraceptive mentality.'

I must admit, that in recent years, as I've begun to see that our reasons for avoiding pregnancy weren't really all that well thought out, and were mainly the secular culture norms of our day, I've felt maybe my wife and I had used NFP inappropriately and committed the sin of having a 'contraceptive mentality.'

Actually, writing Part 3 of this series has changed my thinking significantly. I'm not saying that maybe my wife and I couldn't have made different decisions. However, when I wrote Part 3 I realized that had we taken the approach of planning children immediately and not using NFP to space or avoid pregnancy in anything but the direst of circumstances, I probably wouldn't have learned to be a real Catholic husband and that frequent sex wasn't my right, or necessary for me male ego.

That got me thinking. I know quite a few couples non-Catholic and Catholic who are on the 'whatever God gives us' program. I started thinking abut the men, several of whom I know very well. I realized that sexual problems and attitudes similar to my own distorted sexuality show up in some of these men too and you can see the effects in their marriages. In fact, at least a few of them have had serious marriage problems - separations and a divorce. I don't know enough details, but I have enough clues to speculate. Broadening out beyond families I actually know well, I realize I know, or know of, quite a few Christian families with 6 or more kids that have ended in tragic divorces. Mel Gibson comes to mind also.

This is a tentative thought, but one I think worth considering carefully. Perhaps there are actually dangers to the absolute 'place everything in God's providence' approach to family planning. Maybe that isn't inherently most sanctifying approach.

I'm leaning toward the view that NFP and self-control can be good in and of themselves. And it isn't just for me individually. It is also in the decisions my wife and I made together. We had to learn to listen to each other, and understand each other, and most importantly consider the needs of the other person. I had to learn to accept that my wife was more committed to avoiding pregnancy at that time than I was. Truthfully she always is more committed to avoiding than I am. In fact, early in our marriage my commitment to avoiding evaporated at about 10:00 every evening and didn't return until 8 or 9 hours later. Learning to really respect, and not just grudgingly tolerate my wife's desire to avoid was extremely beneficial to me. The fact that we were in a more challenging than average NFP situation, having to use special rules and not getting many green non-fertile days was actually a blessing (I'll get in to more ways - probably in the next post).

In fact I will say unequivocally that for men who have been severely affected by pornography, promiscuity and related issues, practicing NFP to avoid is more than just practical, it is a highly beneficial if not essential experience for such men growing up and breaking free from the bondage of sexual selfishness.

The Contraceptive Mentality

Now I'm not sure that a 'contraceptive mentality' is really an issue for a couple actually practicing NFP. I think it's easy to speculate about a theoretical couple that is using NFP but is somehow sinfully rejecting God's intended gifts of a child, or another child in their family. In reality, I don't see how that is going to happen. The fact is that practicing NFP to avoid pregnancy is fairly challenging for a fertile couple. NFP promotes communication, trust and understanding between the spouses. The fact that every month the couple has to decide to have intercourse on fertile days or not I think makes it pretty hard to have a contraceptive mentality. When every conjugal act is open to life, even if the couple is somewhat closed, I think the openness of the acts will lead to openness in the couple. When the reasons for avoiding pregnancy are something short of grave necessity, I think the attitude of opposition will soon be overcome by the openness of the acts.

In my own case, my wife used NFP to avoid for almost 3 years. At that point, if anything we were further away from feeling ready for children than we were when we got married. Our economic circumstances were more uncertain, we were living in a smaller apartment, our bank account was smaller. Yet, we had grown together as a couple, and we had grown spiritually. We had gone through some very uncertain and difficult changes in life and learned that we probably weren't ever going to get to the point where we could be certain of providing the ideal life for children. We decided to take the plunge and trust. And it really required trust. Our combined income was less than half what it had been when we got married. We were living in a one bedroom apartment, and we had one working car. 6 weeks pregnant my wife had complications and had to take leave from work so we lost even more of our income. Yet, we didn't have any problem at that point joyfully welcoming a child into our family.

You know, it all just works out. It isn't always easy. Expect the unexpected. Trust in God, open your heart to Jesus, say a Rosary and live. Life is precious life is sweet. And Babies are the best gifts of all.