Should Catholics Attend Ecumenical Bible Study Groups?

[tinytherese]

What do you think?

[Selah]

Do you mean Protestant Bible groups?

[philothea]

I'm not so sure about the "should"... it might depend? A friend of mine invited my husband and me to one, and I decided not to go. I always wear my Catholic medals in public. I figured they would notice, and it could turn into a debate. While I would enjoy a debate I didn't think my friend or my husband would have been comfortable.

I don't see anything inherently wrong it, though. As long as you're not going to get upset by what might be some anti-catholic sentiment, it could be useful.

[CatherineM]

I attended a Fellowship of Christian Athletes bible study in highschool a couple of times, and was so uncomfortable that I quit. If you want a bible study, find a Catholic one, and if you can't find one, start one.

[Saint Therese]

I know that I won't, just because I can't tolerate innaccurate inteptretations of scripture.

[Fidei Defensor]

If you want to learn more about their beliefs (either out of curiosity or in order to understand better what you're up against), then yes. If it would harm your faith, no.

[tinytherese]

[quote name='fidei defensor' post='1676838' date='Oct 13 2008, 11:57 PM']If you want to learn more about their beliefs (either out of curiosity or in order to understand better what you're up against), then yes. If it would harm your faith, no.[/quote]


Good spin!

My secular college has a non-denominational bible study group and has saturday night chapel services where students sing, pray together, and one person shares their personal faith walk story. I don't want to look holier than thou for not attending. It's a pretty well known fact among the large majority of the campus that I am Catholic. It might be good evangelization to share my own personal faith walk and to tell them about what the church means to me, so that they'll see the beauty of catholicism.

[MissyP89]

I tend to like them, actually. Diversity, and a chance to share where the Church gets her teaching.

[eagle_eye222001]

Depends on where you are in your faith.

Are you strong? Can you defend most Catholic principles without too much effort and at least be able to look the ones you don't know pretty readily?

fidei defensor has it correct. If you want to see the other side as a learning experience to help you understand the other side....then it's fine.

Although if you are not comfortable being challenged...the bible study will probably do more harm than good.

I have not been to another faith's bible study...although I have thought about it. Right now I am getting my claws wet with some debating on beliefnet.com. It's been interesting on that site. Thought I was entering a Christian debate thread and glided into a nest of atheists. Not a pleasant surprise when all your prep work was meant for Christians. I'm surviving though. It has definitly been a learning experience.

Bottom line. Make sure you have a priests or someone you can fall back on if you lose too many feathers. Sometimes the flak gets crazy and even if their arguments are not logical, they can be psychological damaging if you are outnumbered. It's like I log on that site and I can sense all the flak guns turning towards me. (no anti-aircraft emoticon? Just kidding. I think the number of emoticons on this site is AWESOME.)
[b]
Phatmass. You are my nest at night when the day becomes weary. [/b]

[Apotheoun]

As long as your faith is strong, I really don't see any problem with attending an ecumenical study group.

[Majella]

NO;NO;NO;!

It is hard enough to keep thye faith without compromising with protestants; try to keep the faith ; don't COMPROMISE!!!!!!!
Don't mix with protestants!!! (an ex-protestant!)

[homeschoolmom]

[quote name='Majella' post='1677115' date='Oct 14 2008, 02:57 AM']Don't mix with protestants!!! (an ex-protestant!)[/quote]

Uh... would you like 'em to sit at separate lunch counters? Ride in the back of the bus?

[Selah]

[quote]Don't mix with protestants!!! (an ex-protestant!)[/quote]

Wow, talk about bigotry... Like it or not, they are still our brothers and sisters.

I guess it depends on what is being taught there...each Protestant Church teaches something different about the Bible. Might get confusing, especially for a new Catholic.

Edited October 14, 2008 by Selah

[Archaeology cat]

As others have said, it really depends on the format of the group, as well as where you are in your faith. When I was converting, I continued going to a small group through the Methodist church I had attended, and my husband (then fiance) attended with me. The format of the group was such that the people in it decided together what study we were going to do, with one or two exceptions when the pastor wanted all the small groups doing the same study. It turned out that quite a few people in the group had a lot of misconceptions regarding Catholicism, and listening to my husband gently explain things from a Catholic perspective really impressed them. One of the group even came to my confirmation.

That being said, it would have been nice to have a small group Bible study at my Catholic parish. Perhaps I should have spoken with the priest about it. Or maybe there was one and I missed it.

Edited October 14, 2008 by Archaeology cat

[LouisvilleFan]

Might be worth adding that, at least in my experience, Protestant Bible study groups tend to focus more on devotion, prayer, confession, and other practical matters that concern every Christian. Catholic Bible study groups (again, only in my experience) focus more on theology, apologetics, and knowledge. Few of my Protestant friends would have any problem with a Catholic coming to their Bible study who happened to wear a medal or believe different things about prayer to saints and the Eucharist. These things concern fundamentalists a lot more than they concern your average evangelical. So, what you'll likely find is not much in the way of learning what you're "up against," but you may just want to be open to the fact that they have the Holy Spirit too and actually do get a few things right.

That may all depend on where a particular group lands in the Fundamentalist-Evangelical spectrum.

Edited October 14, 2008 by LouisvilleFan

[RandomProddy]

[quote name='LouisvilleFan' post='1677155' date='Oct 14 2008, 03:10 PM']Might be worth adding that, at least in my experience, Protestant Bible study groups tend to focus more on devotion, prayer, confession, and other practical matters that concern every Christian. Catholic Bible study groups (again, only in my experience) focus more on theology, apologetics, and knowledge. Few of my Protestant friends would have any problem with a Catholic coming to their Bible study who happened to wear a medal or believe different things about prayer to saints and the Eucharist. These things concern fundamentalists a lot more than they concern your average evangelical. So, what you'll likely find is not much in the way of learning what you're "up against," but you may just want to be open to the fact that they have the Holy Spirit too and actually do get a few things right.

That may all depend on where a particular group lands in the Fundamentalist-Evangelical spectrum.[/quote]

Spot on.

[Noel's angel]

I would say no. I've seen too many people go to them and then fall away from the Catholic Church, and eventually from any sort of Christian faith.
If you want to study the Bible, you may as well be studying it right.

[BG45]

While I can see the value in attending one, I'd honestly have to say "probably not". Minus one Bible study, every one I've ever attended was filled with pretentious people who were more interested in pushing their values than God's.

[Archaeology cat]

[quote name='Noel's angel' post='1677200' date='Oct 14 2008, 05:14 PM']I would say no. I've seen too many people go to them and then fall away from the Catholic Church, and eventually from any sort of Christian faith.
If you want to study the Bible, you may as well be studying it right.[/quote]
That is definitely a danger, and I, too, have seen that. However, to be fair, when I've seen that happen it's been someone who perhaps wasn't as strong in their faith to begin with. I've also seen non-Catholics in an ecumenical group treat a Catholic as a "project" to convert away from the Church (and I've unfortunately seen that work). So yes, there can definitely be a danger, which is why I think it is better to attend a Catholic Bible study, or, if you are going to attend an ecumenical one, to be sure you are well-grounded in your beliefs. I doubt I'd go to an ecumenical one now, even being fairly well-grounded, because I'd probably get irritated, but that's me.

[LouisvilleFan]

Yeah, it is certainly a personal decision, and if you're unsure, it's probably best not to go. I continued attending a community group with people from my former Baptist church even after I became Catholic (in fact, there was also a married couple in our group who became Catholic at about the same time, but they had to move to Seattle). Being converts who had already been attending this Baptist church for several years, we knew exactly why we were Catholic, and we mainly continued going for the fellowship and Christian support (and we did have a monthly potluck, which I have to admit was a strong draw for me ).

Perhaps the one thing I really do miss about being Protestant is that sense of community and regular encouragment in prayer and devotion. While I attend Catholic Bible studies, and they are good (currently going through Fr. Pacwa's St. Paul study for the Pauline Year) for learning new material, gaining some insights, and building relationships, there isn't much emphasis on devotion and training in leadership. Of course, there's no reason we can't fill in these gaps... attending a Protestant/ecumenical study group would definitely provide some hands on experience so you could do the same sort of thing in your parish.