Another reason my Presbyterian friend said she left the Catholic Church is because she said the Catholic Church isn’t as “Bible focused”. Oh contraire Monfraire. Many Protestants do know their Bible chapter and verse but just as many Catholics know their Bible stories just as well, their just not as good in their ability to find it in the good book. In addition a Catholic who attends daily Mass will hear almost the entire Bible in a 3-year period. Yes, I agree most Catholics don’t attend mass daily but hearing the entire Bible in a 3-year period is pretty impressive for any Christian. Not to mention the Priest must preach from the whole Bible and not just specific areas that he likes.
In a book by David Currie called “Born Fundamentalist, Born Again Catholic” gives an example of two large churches he went to in Chicago, one fundamentalist and one evangelical, In a strict time sense they spent less than 6% of their Sunday service in reading from scripture. Grant it, that’s 2 hand picked examples, but in contrast a Sunday Catholic Mass spends more than 26% of its service reading from scripture, (1st Reading, Psalms, 2nd Reading, & Gospel plus most of the sayings and response during the mass are taken straight from scripture) obviously it probably depends on the length of the readings each Sunday, but when Protestants say there is more Bible in Protestant churches I just don’t see it or buy it. When 1/4th of the Mass is reading from the Bible I don’t see how you can go wrong. There might be more preaching or Bible discussion in the Protestant service but I doubt there is more actual Bible reading.
But when a Protestant attends Mass they might get caught up in the ritual of the Mass and forget the Bible reading. This is certainly understandable to me. I, I know where your coming from. I also get caught up in the fact that the BODY & BLOOD of Jesus Christ becomes physically present during the Liturgy of the Eucharist. Who wouldn’t be caught up in that? Protestants may consider it just to be ritual and symbolic but that is not what the Apostles taught and believed, even Martin Luther knew better.
The Bible is the word of God for sure. But there is more to Christianity than what is written in the Bible, it even says that in the Bible, see 2 Thessalonians 2:15 “Therefore, brothers, stand firm and hold fast to the traditions that you were taught, either by an oral statement or by a letter of ours”. In addition to that there needs to be some type of authority when trying to understand scripture passages correctly. There are parts of the Bible that contradict itself if you take only a literal meaning of what is being said.
The Catholic Church has protected the oral traditions and the written ones. Many of these oral traditions became what are written in the Bible today. But considering the times of Jesus not everything could reasonably be written down. The Apostles weren’t walking around with laptops and laser printers. Oral traditions are to be expected. And, before the Bible there were no “Bible” readings. That means 300 years of Christians lived without the Bible, going with only oral-tradition. Those oral traditions are incorporated in the Mass, and the Sacraments. To live only by the word of the Bible is in folly. Like I said above Bible teachings must be interpreted properly which means you need an authority. That is why Christ gave primacy to Peter and built his Church upon him. Just like the United State Supreme Court you must have a final Authority or else you will have anarchy. Considering it’s estimated that there are more than 20,000 protestant denominations out there that is exactly what exists. (NOTE there are lots of different numbers floating around on how many Christian denominations there are and I’m just trying to be conservative)
When it comes to reading the Bible you must know what to take literally and what not to, I’m always surprised that Protestants are so willing to accept the Bible even though Catholic Bishops and the Pope put it together. Those Catholic Bishops & Pope believed in Purgatory, venerated Mary, and confessed their sins to a Priest. They actually knew people who knew people who knew people that walked and spoke with our Lord Jesus Christ. Some how those Catholic Bishops & Pope can be trusted to put the Bible together but those of today are considered by some Protestants to be spreading false doctrine or even be the Anti-Christ. What kool-aid are they drinking? Did Jesus somehow break his promise to us when he said “And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it.” Matthew 16:18 ? Certainly there were some incorrect things going on at the time of Luther specifically when it comes to indulgences, but I don’t think that gives one the right to break away & lead others down a path that is basically saying “Jesus, I don’t trust your plan, I think there is a better way and I’ll be in charge”
So in closing I say this, Protestants seem to hold the Bible in higher regard than Catholics only because that’s all they have to rely on they have no other authority and even say just that. Now that comment may have just thrown me into the “Arrogant Catholic” group, which my Presbyterian friend also complains about, and I don’t mean to be, but I think one needs to go back and take a serious look at other writings of the Apostles, Saints, and people of the early Church to see and understand everything that was going on at the time of the writings of the Bible. If you look at what those people believed and did, you will see their thoughts and actions are the same things that today’s Catholic Church teaches, does, and believes.
After reading a post at 
I have decided to the dump the “Catholic News” menu and replace it with “Documents & Writings”. Catholic news can be found pretty much anywhere on the web these days with little effort and I didn’t think it’s necessary to have it. I prefer this site to be a Catholic Resources site. I will try to add new documents in PDF format on a weekly basis. I have started the menu out with St. Louis DeMonfort’s – True Devotion and Pope Benedict’s address to Catholic Educators. Enjoy
Testing the Lord
I think many of us look at the Old Testament and find it odd that much of the Jewish religion at that time was based on “burnt offerings”. But offering every tenth ox, sheep, or bushel of wheat, wasn’t the point. The point was that we thank God for what he has given us by giving it back to him and trusting him to provide us with what we need. In our day an age our offering for the most part would consist of our money and our time. God bestows many blessings on us and one of those blessings is money so we can provide shelter, food, and clothing to our families. We are asked to tithe our money and out time and if you ask me that is way easier, and cleaner, than killing a cow up at church.
One interesting aspect about tithing is that only you & God, and maybe your accounting, know if you are tithing. Do we trust God in his promise that he will pour down blessings upon us without measure or are we so attached to our money that we cannot give it back to God what came from Him in the first place?