Catholic Faith

Discuss how the Bible is a norm for the Christian faith. (See G. Baum’s New Horizons, pp. 35-50, and/or G. O’Collins’ The Bible for Theology.) In each religion, there are guidelines and standards that are recommended to be lived by. In Christianity, we as Christians find these guidelines in the bible. We look to the Bible to tell us what it is to be a follower of Jesus Christ. In most churches, the Bible is held to be the sole authority, using it to bring order to chaotic situations. Calling the Bible the “norm” means the structure of what we think, do, and teach must measure up to the standards of Scripture. Simply put, Christians follow the teaching and life of Jesus Christ. Christians believe in a creator, being made in the image of God. They believe in a God who loves all equally, and they are to reciprocate the love of God and direct it both towards God and towards their fellow human, regardless of sex, creed, or race. It is said that the Bible is made up of simple instructions to follow before leaving earth. In 2 Timothy 2:15, it states “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing of the word.”(KJV) A person studies to “shew thyself approved” so that they will be knowledgeable of the scripture. We cannot preach or teach the word to someone if we do not know it ourselves. We have to know, live, and breathe the word in preparation in our daily walk with Christ. We have to be an example to others and that is by first walking on the righteous path with God. Christians over periods of time have been going through or shall we say have had experiences that are less than desirable and they turn to their Bible. Although in today’s times we have psychiatrist we as Christians tend to go to our church leaders for advice. They go to the leader because he has more knowledge of the Bible than they have. He reads the verses from the Bible and explains it to them the best way that he knows how and explains the